The Community Experience

#012 Today we're talking about a major hurdle almost all community leaders will face at some point: burnout.

What starts as a "refrigerator hum of anxiety" (as one of our roundtable participants puts it) can quickly turn into a total lack of joy, general irritability . . . even forgetting why you're involved with your community at all. Learning better energy management skills, boundary-setting, recognizing the "danger zone" — these are all strategies that can help anyone involved in community to better mitigate burnout. (Which is ultimately great for everyone involved. Whether you work with a community directly, are thinking of starting one of your own, or are just curious — managing burnout is critical, so this episode of The Community Experience is critical listening. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx012

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#011 Kat Vellos helps people forge better friendships through fresh, thoughtful, new (and classic) mediums. By using her roots in design thinking — not to mention her incredible book, We Should Get Together — she's tackling the loneliness epidemic head-on. And if you want to know how to make friends as an adult, or how to facilitate that experience for others, this episode is a must-listen. She's got a bunch of advice and knowledge in this department — from "intimish" events to platonic speed dating — plus some wonderful alternatives to overused conversation starters. (Can we please stop defaulting to "how are you?")

Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx011

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#010 Great leadership is only one component of what makes a community truly thrive: a community needs influence and energy from more than its actual leadership or membership base to stay healthy.

Matt Sonnenberg is on the show today to speak to his experience becoming well-regarded in the niche community of the Skylanders games, some of the first collectibles in the "toys to life" gaming genre. We get into all kinds of interesting questions like this today: like the pros and cons of participating in a community under an alias and how to successfully enter or re-enter a niche community. Not everyone has to lead a community to be massively influential in it, and Matt's story is full of great takeaways on doing exactly that.

Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx010

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#009 TikTok can be a powerful platform for building a community, a brand, and a following. Yet it's often plagued by many of the same issues as other social media platforms — trolling, for example. Fortunately, Keenya Kelly is on the show today, someone who embodies all the best of what TikTok can be. She has built an incredible audience on TikTok by being vulnerable, helpful, and entertaining.

How do we jump into the world of TikTok? How do we handle trolls and haters, call out comments effectively, and become radically authentic while doing all of that? Keenya's the woman to talk to, so press play, and let's get going! Show notes and more at SmartPassiveincome.com/cx009

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#008 Espree Devora, our guest today, has been prominent in the Los Angeles tech scene for a while now — she's the founder of WeAreLATech. But her drive to build a vibrant community has also challenged her to find balance, something community leaders are all too familiar with. Heading off community overload before it becomes a problem is the name of the game, and Espree knows how to play it very well.

Today you'll get to hear all sorts of insights from Espree: her advice on creating flow, finding that equilibrium between generosity and not burning out, changing your mindset around transactions as a community builder, and much more. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx008

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#007 Online conferences aren't a brand-new concept; they're just more prominent now than they ever have been.

Today, we'll be talking with Robert Gelb, CEO of HeySummit. His platform makes it easier to run big events online. When should you run an online summit, why, how do you pick your topic — we're getting into all of it today. And in case you haven't heard, we're hosting our very own online summit with Team SPI: Audience Driven. So to that end, we're also tagging in our very own Matthew Gartland, SPI Media's COO, CFO, and head of innovation.

Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx007

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#006 MRR, or "monthly recurring revenue" is a common, critical metric that businesses key into. Well, today's guest, Rosie Sherry, says that for community-builders that's better expressed as "monthly recurring relationships." In this episode, she offers an array of sound advice. Here's how she came to specialize in community, her approach to transitioning a community to new leadership, and why you should consider using data to better understand your community. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx006

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#005 When it comes to helping companies understand remote work, Marissa Goldberg is the person to talk to. And with remote work now fundamentally altering the way many of us work, there's no better time to have this conversation.

For a lot of us, our sense of identity is or has been closely tied with work. Well, Marissa says that's all changing (and about time, too). We get into a lot of best practices for remote work today, as well as waxing poetic on all that remote work can do for all kinds of different folks. We also talk about the new community Marissa's designing to reject hustle culture, the power of introverts in digital communities, architecting a community to avoid burnout, and a lot more. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx005

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One of the most fascinating types of communities to observe and learn from recently have been religious communities, particularly in pandemic times. How have these communities — which are often fundamentally in-person groups — adapted to multi-access engagement? How have they shifted (or not) as the demands of congregants have shifted?

Here to give us a powerful example of how to pivot a community in the face of unprecedented change — and benefit massively from it — is Rabbi Esther Lederman. There's a ton to learn from the way that Esther's congregation accelerated digital adaptation in the wake of the pandemic and how the future of multi-access for Reformed Jews is being reimagined as a result. Plus, learn how the pandemic has helped leaders in the community hone in on what they're best at and increase creative collaboration. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx004

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#003 How do you reconcile community-building with the metric-driven goals of CEOs or shareholders? Even if you're building a community that's not tied to a business, how do you make that community financially sustainable?

David Spinks has been at the forefront of the community movement since he was 14, and he's here with a wealth of advice for community-builders everywhere who want to design successful communities holistically.

How do you approach community building the right way? What platform should you use? We talk through these questions, common mistakes community-builders make off the bat, effective strategies like identifying "super members" early on, the importance of ritual in modern community settings, and how some companies are able to run massive communities with only a few people at the helm. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx003

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.