Beginner Maps

Francisco Opazo, Founder of Led by Community, shares his journey from a one-man newsletter to organizing a global community conference, Community Week. He discusses the challenges of bootstrapping the event, including securing sponsorships and venue logistics. Francisco emphasizes the importance of community support, grassroots initiatives, and personal growth throughout the process. His insights on effective marketing strategies and building attendee lists provide valuable lessons for solo creators looking to make an impact in their communities.

Paz Pisarski, Co-founder of The Community Collective, dives into the secrets of scaling a successful cohort-based community. She discusses her journey from a small meetup to a thriving membership, revealing how a 'hidden curriculum' has kept participation growing across five cohorts. Paz shares insights on building authentic relationships during the pandemic and the importance of alumni engagement in community programs. Her strategies for fostering collaboration and choosing the right technology tools highlight her innovative approach to community building.

Running Remote is the best case study in building a paid community of practice. Run by Kasia Triantafelo, this is community of 250+ remote work leaders from companies like GitLab, Dropbox, and Zillow who share everything—from compensation strategies to retreat venues. In this episode, Kasia tells how she slowly shifted the culture of this community over 3 years to the one of radical openness. We discuss: • "4 essential touchpoints" for member success • Co-creating knowledge base with members • Her strategy for running masterminds • What it takes to build a culture of trust If you enjoyed this episode, you should sign up for Beginner Maps to get the "magic sauce" of top creators like Carrie - https://beginnermaps.com/ Resources: • Curated Connections, the automated matchmaking platform that Kasia uses - https://curatedconnections.io/ • Running Remote community - https://runningremote.com/community/ • Kasia's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasia-triantafelo/ • Nityesh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:52 From conference to community 05:26 Who's in the community 10:13 Masterclass on shaping community culture 13:38 Doing things that don't scale 16:30 "Actionable now" strategy 18:51 Emailing members with questions 22:04 4 essential touch points 24:18 Why People Ops is incredible at community 25:40 Co-creating a knowledge base 31:03 Running virtual workshops 35:48 Engagement Challenges in Remote Companies 36:41 Get togethers with Nini 41:14 Masterminds playbook 47:30 Managing Global Timing and Recruiting 56:15 Marketing and Growing the Community 01:02:21 Building community as a non-expert

Building a 5,500+ member paid community isn't easy. Abbey is one of the rare people who's managing just such a community at Health Tech Nerds. This episode is a must-watch for newsletter creators who are looking to turn their audience into a paid community. We cover: - Why direct member outreach drives 10x better results - How to collect and act on member feedback effectively - The power of constant, "annoying" reminders - Why Slack remains the best platform despite its limits - Key pillars of HTN community If you enjoyed this episode, you should sign up for Beginner Maps to get the "magic sauce" of top creators like Carrie - https://beginnermaps.com/ Resources: • Curated Connections, the automated matchmaking platform that Abbey uses - https://curatedconnections.io/ • Health Tech Nerds - https://healthtechnerds.com/ • Abbey's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/petersonabbey/ • Nityesh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:44 Understanding Health Tech Nerds Community 05:02 From newsletter to community 06:42 Always collecting feedback 12:01 Acting on Feedback 13:49 When to collect feedback 19:18 Key pillars of community 25:47 Hosting workshops 28:47 Setting up Curated Connections 33:57 Onboarding New Members 37:25 Get annoying with your reminders 40:22 Curated Connections vs. others 42:54 Growing the membership 44:09 Tech Stack and Tools 49:22 Why Slack wins 52:40 Hardest part of Community Building 54:40 Advice for newsletter creators

John Faulkner-Willcocks built a 250+ member paid community in just 4 months with an astonishing 1.5% churn rate. His inspirations? On Deck and World of Warcraft (yes the video game). He's the cofounder of Open Org, a paid community for progressive People & Culture leaders who believe in the radical new idea of leaning into transparency as a way of building companies. We spent an hour diving deep into his "transparency playbook" for building highly engaged communities, including: - How they get 3-5 high quality responses within hours for every question - Why he prefers a monthly pricing model over an annual one - Giving personalized onboarding quests to new members - Why they chose Slack over other community platforms - Running community hackathons - Lessons from World of Warcraft If you enjoyed this episode, you should sign up for Beginner Maps to get the "magic sauce" of top creators like Carrie - https://beginnermaps.com/ Resources: • Curated Connections, the automated matchmaking tool - https://curatedconnections.io/ • Open Org community - https://www.openorg.fyi/community • John's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfw/ • Nityesh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ Chapters: 00:00 Intro 03:46 John's Productivity Hacks 10:04 Who's in OpenOrg 12:11 Competing with free HR communities 19:16 Onboarding new members 21:16 Building a mini database of members 24:21 First 100 customers 27:23 Embracing Transparency with pricing model 32:04 Member Selection 36:21 Secret sauce: Personalized Quests 41:18 Why Slack wins as the Community Platform 44:55 Building an extremely engaged community 50:08 Community hackathons 55:35 Lessons from On Deck 57:46 Lessons from World of Warcraft 01:01:29 Final piece of advice

In this insightful discussion, Anthony Nardini, Program Director at On Deck and founder of Next Careers, shares his expertise in helping senior operators transition in their careers. He reveals how 60% of members refer friends to his community by fostering a supportive environment and ensuring careful curation of participants. The conversation covers the importance of storytelling, structured practice sessions, and how personalized experiences enhance engagement. Anthony emphasizes building genuine connections while navigating the complexities of job searches in a collaborative setting.

Carrie Melissa Jones, author of "Building Brand Communities" and founder of CMJ Group, discusses essential strategies for solo creators. She shares insights on transitioning from cohort-based to evergreen community models, highlighting the importance of continuous engagement. Carrie emphasizes automated matchmaking for effective community building and preventing creator burnout. With her experience consulting for major companies like Discord and Google, she provides invaluable tips on platform selection and creating welcoming experiences that enhance community dynamics.

Discover how to successfully convert online courses into thriving communities. Explore the innovative accelerator model that enhances engagement without live sessions. Learn about the importance of authentic connections using the Curated Connections tool. Delve into essential platforms like Circle and monday.com for effective community management. Hear about structured routines that include 'routine roulette' for vibrant interactions. Uncover strategies for selecting impactful topics and promoting member-led initiatives.

In a lively discussion, Jordan Godbey, who builds communities for top creators like Justin Welsh and Ali Abdaal, shares his insights on launching successful Circle communities. He unveils his $10k MRR community blueprint and emphasizes the power of authentic member connections. The trio discusses the delicate balance between community management and content creation, exploring effective strategies to maintain engagement. They also tackle the challenges of selecting the right platform, and how genuine testimonials can fuel community growth.

Stephanie Baiocchi is the community team of one at IMPACT where she manages the membership behind the bestselling book - They Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan. She single-handedly manages a 3,000+ member community, runs masterminds, hosts 2 annual conferences, and creates manages the on-demand course library. We spend an hour diving deep into her playbook for building a thriving community around a bestselling book. Resources: - Curated Connections, the tool to foster authentic connections - https://curatedconnections.io/ - Stephanie’s guide to online community management - https://www.impactplus.com/online-community-management - They ask you answer book - https://marcussheridan.com/they-ask-you-answer/ - The Membership Economy book - https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/the-membership-economy/ - The Art of Gathering - https://www.priyaparker.com/book-art-of-gathering - Stephanie's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebaiocchi/ - Nityesh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ - Magic sauce of 20 top community creators - https://beginnermaps.com/ Chapters: 0:00 Intro 04:22 Community Structure and Membership 07:04 The 'They Ask, You Answer' Framework 08:44 Adapting to Market Changes 09:32 Stephanie's responsibilities as a Community Lead 13:29 Favourite communities 17:03 Community platform of choice 19:24 Notification blindness problem 21:34 Getting members to open an email digest 24:36 Creator to community 26:29 Scaling a community 30:08 Free to Paid Memberships 33:17 Hosting Mastermind Sessions 37:03 Challenges with Masterminds 40:28 Anti-lesson for masterminds 41:39 Events and conferences 44:14 Making events memorable 46:07 Don't start with administrative stuff 48:18 Fostering Community Connections 50:34 A strong end