Welcome to The Dear Bri Podcast, an advice column for community conundrums, fiascos, and drama. In this episode, we’re hearing from Frazzled Fairy-Marketing-Godmother. Our letter today comes from someone who clearly has a big heart for their community, but is also really struggling to draw boundaries.

To better help Frazzled Fairy-Marketing-Godmother, I invited Taylor Harrington — Head of Community at Groove— as my guest expert. I knew this letter would be perfect for Taylor because this is a topic we’ve discussed often behind the scenes as community builders.

So, tune in for a remarkable episode as we talk about making tough calls and standing by them, some awesome practical ideas for how to create boundaries to protect your time and energy, releasing the identity of the community leader who has to be everything for everyone, and much more.

In this episode:

(03:56) Taylor’s dicey sunset scenario

(11:41) Bri’s worst leadership failure

(15:31) The communitea: Frazzled Fairy-Marketing-Godmother’s letter

(18:25) Boundaries for ourselves, coworkers, and community members

(23:32) The cost of saying yes to something

(29:37) Shifting away from the identity of being the person who's there for everyone

(32:46) The importance of establishing boundaries upfront

(35:00) The “Yes, and/No, but” concept

(39:50) The secret ingredient for asserting boundaries

(42:19) Giving yourself grace and being willing to pivot

Expect: Community management best practices and lots of support for community builders and community managers.

Resources Mentioned:

🙌 Ready to start Grooving and building meaningful relationships from home? Use the code BRILEEVER for 30 days free on Groove.

❤️ Sign up for Heartbeat. Bri’s favorite all-in-one community platform.

💛 Join Ember. The place for go-getter community creators building community-powered businesses.

Noteworthy quotes:

“When you are someone who loves to run an experiment and try new things, and not commit to it being something that's going to happen forever, that means that you're going to fail. Things are going to flop. Things are going to be learning moments that you weren't expecting.“ - Taylor Harrington

“ In community work, going above and beyond… there are certain seasons for it, I will say, but as a practice, it's unsustainable.“ - Bri Leever

Taylor Harrington:

Taylor is a big fan of board games, bookstores, running, hosting gatherings, and finding new Airbnbs to visit. She lives in NYC and is the Head of Community at Groove, the online coworking community for people who work from home and whose work doesn't fit into a neat little box.

🖥️ Website

📱 Linkedin

Bri Leever:

Bri got her start building a community and growing it to a multi-million dollar revenue stream for a social enterprise in Portland, OR. Now, she supports folks used to running their business on content, coaching, and consulting to create their community offer. She's a Community Strategist by day and a Campervan host by night on the Big Island of Hawaii and you'll usually find her on, in, or under the water.

🖥️ Website

📩 Newsletter

📹 Youtube

📱 Linkedin

And before you go…

💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

💚 Leave a review on Spotify

That helps the podcast more than you know and I deeply appreciate it. 🙏

Want your story to be next? Submit an anonymous letter about your community conundrum, fiasco, drama, or other dilemma here.

*Dear Bri is produced by Ideablossoms.