1125: How Get-Togethers Can Help you Cultivate Your Community w/ Kevin Huynh & Bailey Richardson

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:04.160 There's a ton of noise out there. So how do you get decision makers 2 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:09.310 to pay attention to your brand? Start a podcast and invite your ideal clients 3 00:00:09.550 --> 00:00:19.469 to be guests on your show. Learn more at sweetfish Mediacom you're listening to 4 00:00:19.629 --> 00:00:24.179 be tob growth, a daily podcast for B to be leaders. We've interviewed 5 00:00:24.219 --> 00:00:27.859 names you've probably heard before, like Gary vanner truck and Simon Senek, but 6 00:00:27.980 --> 00:00:32.259 you've probably never heard from the majority of our guests. That's because the bulk 7 00:00:32.299 --> 00:00:36.810 of our interviews aren't with professional speakers and authors. Most of our guests are 8 00:00:36.890 --> 00:00:41.729 in the trenches leading sales and marketing teams. They're implementing strategy, they're experimenting 9 00:00:41.770 --> 00:00:45.770 with tactics, they're building the fastest growing be to be companies in the world. 10 00:00:46.409 --> 00:00:49.289 My name is James Carberry. I'm the founder of sweetfish media, a 11 00:00:49.409 --> 00:00:52.439 PODCAST agency for B to be brands, and I'm also one of the CO 12 00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:56.640 hosts of this show. When we're not interviewing sales and marketing leaders, you'll 13 00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:00.399 hear stories from behind the scenes of our own business. Will share the ups 14 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:03.079 and downs of our journey as we attempt to take over the world. Just 15 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:14.310 getting well maybe let's get into the show. Welcome back to be to be 16 00:01:14.430 --> 00:01:18.939 growth. I'm your host for today's episode, Travis King at Sweet Fish Media. 17 00:01:19.540 --> 00:01:23.819 I'm joined today by Kevin Wynne and Bailey Richardson partners at people and Company. 18 00:01:25.379 --> 00:01:27.459 Kevin, Bailey, what is up, my friends, what is going 19 00:01:27.579 --> 00:01:34.769 on? Let's we made it here today. You're both going to be sharing 20 00:01:36.049 --> 00:01:41.650 how be tobe organizations can build and cultivate their communities. First, you're going 21 00:01:41.650 --> 00:01:45.489 to share with us what should have business think about first when considering how they 22 00:01:45.489 --> 00:01:49.239 might build a community. Next, we'll dive a little bit into what to 23 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:55.680 think about when designing a shared activity and we'll finish up with sharing what warnings 24 00:01:56.159 --> 00:02:00.000 you both have for businesses wanting to build a community. But before we get 25 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:02.349 into that, I'd love for you both to share with listeners a little bit 26 00:02:02.390 --> 00:02:07.629 of about yourselves and what you and the team and people in company are up 27 00:02:07.670 --> 00:02:10.669 to these days. So people in Company, at people in company, we 28 00:02:10.789 --> 00:02:15.979 try to help organizations get their people together. For me, this starts honestly, 29 00:02:16.060 --> 00:02:23.379 like growing up. I think I always found myself working on things that 30 00:02:23.419 --> 00:02:25.900 involved in person events, always planning and organizing, and I think I found 31 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:30.810 it as my outlet to connect with other kids at a time when I didn't 32 00:02:30.810 --> 00:02:34.650 always feel like I fit in. And, you know, fast forward, 33 00:02:34.650 --> 00:02:38.009 that theme of getting people together and carrying about community really stuck with me and 34 00:02:38.090 --> 00:02:44.840 I had this formative work experience moving to New York, organizing conferences, helping 35 00:02:44.919 --> 00:02:49.280 this chapter organization called creative mornings build up community and over a hundred cities. 36 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:53.639 And at some point there was a really pivotal moment and when I realized that, 37 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:57.319 Hey, this isn't just about me and my community. I had other 38 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:01.069 people in other companies reaching out asking for advice around like Hey, if I'm 39 00:03:01.069 --> 00:03:05.710 thinking about starting a community, whether it's, you know, an ambassador program 40 00:03:05.789 --> 00:03:10.110 for my business or a meet up of fellow like Asian American women, what 41 00:03:10.189 --> 00:03:13.379 should I be thinking about? And I realized, you know, it's bigger 42 00:03:13.419 --> 00:03:16.780 than me, like this idea of community, of just groups of people who 43 00:03:16.819 --> 00:03:22.219 come together over what they care about, applied to more than my own interests. 44 00:03:22.699 --> 00:03:27.930 And from there I would eventually link up with Bailey and our other business 45 00:03:27.969 --> 00:03:30.530 partner, Kai to start people and company with this mission of like, how 46 00:03:30.569 --> 00:03:35.849 can we help people get their people together? And as a business we take 47 00:03:35.930 --> 00:03:39.330 on clients where we teach organizations on how to build a community, how to 48 00:03:39.370 --> 00:03:44.360 build an authentic community, whether that's, you know, they're starting something under 49 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:46.840 the Marketing Department or some you know, new superhers or program under you know 50 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:52.000 product but then we also run our own podcast, I'll get together, where 51 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:55.349 we interview community leaders and we just published this book called get together, which 52 00:03:55.509 --> 00:03:59.990 is a handbook on how to build a community, currently available on it and 53 00:04:00.110 --> 00:04:04.270 Amazon. Mam's on best seller in its category at some point. Yeah, 54 00:04:04.430 --> 00:04:09.389 so that's really exciting for us. My name is Bailey. Kevin and I, 55 00:04:09.550 --> 00:04:12.979 fun fact, were born in the same hospital one year apart. So 56 00:04:13.180 --> 00:04:16.420 this was a really well, is a faded, faded partnership. But yeah, 57 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:21.220 my experience growing up, I my mom was one of she was the 58 00:04:21.259 --> 00:04:27.089 first female luggage loader at San Jose Airport and then she worked at United Airlines 59 00:04:27.089 --> 00:04:30.329 and worked her way up to become one of the first female pilots. So 60 00:04:30.370 --> 00:04:34.290 I had this amazing experience of a mother who I was really proud of, 61 00:04:34.649 --> 00:04:39.879 but also the story she would come back with. We're like pretty gnarly just 62 00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:44.480 in terms of there were people who would refuse to taxi her airplane because a 63 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:46.920 woman was in the cockpit. She'd have to sit in the cockpit with a 64 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:51.199 lot of older ex military guys for hours who really didn't want her in there 65 00:04:51.319 --> 00:04:57.750 with them. And so I think I just saw what hierarchy and what non 66 00:04:58.029 --> 00:05:03.470 welcoming environments feel like for people like up front, and I think that is 67 00:05:03.670 --> 00:05:08.740 like the seed of my interests and just trying to figure out better ways of 68 00:05:08.860 --> 00:05:13.740 people collaborating and working together. And I think, you know, Kevin said 69 00:05:13.779 --> 00:05:17.500 everything really in his intro except we're just really collaborative people, like we're people, 70 00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:20.689 people, and I think what we're trying to teach more people to do 71 00:05:20.970 --> 00:05:27.209 is how to work in a more equitable, non hierarchical, like democratized way, 72 00:05:27.250 --> 00:05:30.850 where you're not just like I'm the king of the castle talking at people, 73 00:05:30.970 --> 00:05:34.009 you're like giving folks a way to express themselves participate. And if you 74 00:05:34.089 --> 00:05:39.040 want to work like that, we want to help people do that. We 75 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:42.000 want to work in more collaborative ways with each other and that's what we're really 76 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:45.800 interested in. Awesome. So, to kick us off, what should a 77 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:49.389 business think about first when considering how they might build a community? Yeah, 78 00:05:49.550 --> 00:05:54.910 for us, you know, we end up working with a number of clients 79 00:05:55.069 --> 00:05:59.029 that don't have a community but are interested in when they have. Some people 80 00:05:59.029 --> 00:06:01.230 are raising their hands that feel like they might be able to participate, maybe 81 00:06:01.269 --> 00:06:04.939 some super fans. So we spend a lot of time in this early phase 82 00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:11.339 with businesses where they're trying to just get clarity around what the word community means 83 00:06:11.620 --> 00:06:15.379 and also, like, what is the value to them or to these potential 84 00:06:15.540 --> 00:06:18.410 community members? And the way we break it down is if you can answer 85 00:06:18.490 --> 00:06:23.649 two questions, which is, who is going to be in this community and 86 00:06:24.050 --> 00:06:28.490 why are these people coming together, you can answer those two things, designing 87 00:06:28.529 --> 00:06:34.480 everything else down the line, like what when, becomes so much easier. 88 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:40.279 So those two questions of like who am I bringing together and why am I 89 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:45.639 bringing them together, is something it will spend, I mean hours, more 90 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:50.509 than hours, with clients trying to really nail down into specific language. Do 91 00:06:50.509 --> 00:06:54.990 you want to jump in a little bit with some examples of those peeps? 92 00:06:54.990 --> 00:07:00.149 Yeah, I mean one example that comes to mind is this community indie hackers, 93 00:07:00.350 --> 00:07:04.819 which was actually started independently and then was acquired by Stripe, the Payments 94 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:08.899 Company, I think a year or two ago. And indie hackers is this 95 00:07:08.939 --> 00:07:14.060 community started by courtland and his brother Um. That's for independent entrepreneurs, mostly 96 00:07:14.100 --> 00:07:17.290 like web developers and APP developers, starting some sort of online business without taking 97 00:07:17.329 --> 00:07:20.970 on funding, and they have this community where they help each other kind of 98 00:07:20.970 --> 00:07:27.129 navigate the complex hard parts of like bootstrapping a business, and part of it 99 00:07:27.250 --> 00:07:30.120 is a forum and part of it ends up being meetups and, you know, 100 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:35.240 they were acquired by stripe and are now sort of incubated as like the 101 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:41.360 community still somewhat runs like independently within stripe. The fact is that a lot 102 00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:46.709 of these business owners, if they use the stripe product, and stripe kind 103 00:07:46.750 --> 00:07:50.750 of knows that as long as more people are starting online businesses, a good 104 00:07:50.790 --> 00:07:56.069 number them are going to utilize the stripe product. So if they are sort 105 00:07:56.069 --> 00:08:00.939 of investing in cultivating a community like indie hackers, that is helping more people 106 00:08:01.420 --> 00:08:05.379 do this thing, then stripe benefits it up from it. So I think 107 00:08:05.420 --> 00:08:09.500 from there there's like one clear understanding of who sort of like independent online entrepreneurs 108 00:08:09.939 --> 00:08:13.889 and as far as why I like I think there's a a nuance and what 109 00:08:13.970 --> 00:08:18.810 Bailey said around why. It's not just why you want to build a community 110 00:08:18.290 --> 00:08:22.610 and not only why I like the people want to get together, but really 111 00:08:22.649 --> 00:08:26.170 the intersection of that. You know, why does this why should this whole 112 00:08:26.250 --> 00:08:30.240 community exist? That is really sort of a resonating purpose for the people who 113 00:08:30.279 --> 00:08:31.960 want to get involved. Like starting a business is hard. We want other 114 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:37.039 folks to like help each other do it, and stripe wants to like be 115 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:39.919 part of of more people starting those businesses. So I think there's a really 116 00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:43.909 clear alignment there. And when you're thinking about doing starting some sort of community 117 00:08:43.909 --> 00:08:48.750 around your product, your service, really getting clear and kind of understand yourself 118 00:08:48.789 --> 00:08:52.950 as well as understanding what the people you want to bring together want is hugely 119 00:08:54.029 --> 00:08:58.659 important. Yeah, I'll jump into another favorite story. I feel like I 120 00:08:58.740 --> 00:09:03.580 should be on the instant pop payroll because I am so like the biggest fan 121 00:09:03.620 --> 00:09:05.860 of this company. But instant pot, if you don't know, it, 122 00:09:07.299 --> 00:09:11.769 is this insane CROC pot that has like AI technology baked into it. So 123 00:09:13.210 --> 00:09:16.289 this this freaking CROC pot knows what your latitude and longitude is, which your 124 00:09:16.289 --> 00:09:20.690 altitude is, and it keeps your food from burning and it cooks things like 125 00:09:20.850 --> 00:09:24.960 beings, which otherwise would take hours to cook, in like fifteen minutes. 126 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:31.759 It's this amazing tool, but it's a little bit complicated and the the founder 127 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:37.159 of instant pot, very early on he didn't have many resources at his disposal 128 00:09:37.399 --> 00:09:41.029 and he was like should we start an email marketing effort within the company or 129 00:09:41.830 --> 00:09:48.830 should we open up a facebook group? And he decided to start with a 130 00:09:48.950 --> 00:09:54.620 facebook group because he could connect people using instant pot to each other to help 131 00:09:54.659 --> 00:09:58.500 lighten the burden on the customer support team at instant pot, because the tool 132 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:01.179 just has a lot of like bells and whistles. There's a lot you can 133 00:10:01.220 --> 00:10:05.940 do with it. So in terms of like an aligned to incentive, like 134 00:10:05.059 --> 00:10:09.730 Kevin said, that like sort of overlapping. Why? What the business wants 135 00:10:09.809 --> 00:10:13.970 and what the customers want? People want to know how to use their instant 136 00:10:13.009 --> 00:10:18.289 pots better and instant pot also wants them to have that information than to have 137 00:10:18.809 --> 00:10:22.240 the education they need to do that. So by creating spaces where their community 138 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:26.960 could share information with each other and fostering that space, they've been able to 139 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:33.000 scale customer support and also on the back end. Now they've created advocates, 140 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:35.509 like people have sprung up out of this facebook group, as a woman named 141 00:10:35.509 --> 00:10:39.870 the butter chicken lady, who has sold like multiple Amazon best sellers and if 142 00:10:41.309 --> 00:10:43.990 the New Yorker wrote a profile on the butter chicken lady, which is fun 143 00:10:45.190 --> 00:10:48.990 read. But yeah, I think that's like another interesting example of the aligned 144 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:52.740 incentive. There is just like customer education. There's a product, they want 145 00:10:52.740 --> 00:10:56.700 to help people understand use cases. The company at scale can't do all of 146 00:10:56.779 --> 00:11:01.419 that one on one, and so they helped foster our community to do that 147 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:05.090 for each other. Well, it just doesn't seem too different, for me, 148 00:11:05.250 --> 00:11:07.210 at least, when I think about be tob and BTC. They both 149 00:11:07.769 --> 00:11:13.690 involve like a business trying to get something valuable to like a group of people, 150 00:11:13.809 --> 00:11:18.519 and sometimes that group of people are like independent humans in their homes buying 151 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:22.279 something as a consumer, and sometimes there's group. That group of people are 152 00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:24.840 like CMOS that are different companies, or you know what I mean. So 153 00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:31.039 to me it's like if you are offering a product or service to folks within 154 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:39.710 companies, there's an opportunity to bring together those people from like across those different 155 00:11:39.870 --> 00:11:45.309 companies for like a common source of value or purpose, and I think education, 156 00:11:45.350 --> 00:11:48.139 as Bailey mentions around in Sipot, is one sort of obvious way. 157 00:11:48.299 --> 00:11:52.179 What can do it? It's like, is it challenging? But valuable to 158 00:11:52.259 --> 00:11:56.220 sort of utilize the service that you have to offer. If so like, 159 00:11:56.659 --> 00:12:00.860 can you, instead of trying to be the central hub where you just publish 160 00:12:00.899 --> 00:12:03.929 information on, like how to get best get the value out of your own 161 00:12:03.929 --> 00:12:09.450 platform, could you actually spotlight interesting stories from community, from like your consumers, 162 00:12:11.049 --> 00:12:13.970 that highlight how to best do it? Who is what is the butter 163 00:12:13.009 --> 00:12:18.679 chicken lady of like you know of that is the CMO had, that company 164 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:20.759 that the like is doing something really interesting? Can help others, or can 165 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:24.879 you bring those people together in some sortay so they can exchange knowledge and better 166 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:28.799 get value from this like product or service that they seem to like already, 167 00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:35.710 really like? Today's gross story revolves around search engine marketing. Delphis, a 168 00:12:35.789 --> 00:12:39.789 big data platform, had hired an agency to manage their Google adds a few 169 00:12:39.830 --> 00:12:43.830 years ago, but they weren't seeing the results they wanted to see. Being 170 00:12:43.990 --> 00:12:46.419 such a technical be tob solution, they set out to find a team that 171 00:12:46.500 --> 00:12:52.460 could take on their challenge. After countless proposals, they found the perfect fit 172 00:12:52.019 --> 00:12:58.289 directive consulting the BB Search Marketing Agency, and just one week after launching directives 173 00:12:58.370 --> 00:13:05.929 campaigns, delphics saw their lead volume double and their costper lead drop by sixty 174 00:13:05.210 --> 00:13:09.850 percent. I have a haunch that directive can get these kind of results for 175 00:13:09.929 --> 00:13:15.720 you to so head over to directive consultingcom and request a totally free custom proposal. 176 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:20.080 That's directive consultingcom. All right, let's get back to this interview. 177 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:26.480 What do they think about when designing a shared activity? Well, first, 178 00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:28.909 like you know this term shared activity. I'm just going to define it for 179 00:13:28.950 --> 00:13:33.990 everybody. So in our research, when we wrote our book, we interviewed 180 00:13:35.110 --> 00:13:39.629 hundreds of different communities. So we interviewed the instant pot CEO and we interviewed 181 00:13:39.669 --> 00:13:43.340 people that started run clubs up, you know, a hundred ninety of street 182 00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:48.100 in Manhattan. We went all the way across the spectrum and one of the 183 00:13:48.139 --> 00:13:52.779 key in sites we found was that every community has a shared activity, something 184 00:13:52.860 --> 00:13:56.970 that is purposeful. It's tied to the reason that they're all coming together in 185 00:13:56.009 --> 00:14:01.250 the first place. Participatory people can contribute to it. It's not just like 186 00:14:01.289 --> 00:14:05.450 an audience leaning back and listening to a lecture, and it's also repeatable, 187 00:14:05.250 --> 00:14:09.200 so something that they can do over and over again together. And when we 188 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:13.840 say shared activity, what we're saying is it's something that's really great for a 189 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:18.240 group. It's more fun with other people or it's something that you just can't 190 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:22.480 do alone. So that's what the communities come to get there to actually sort 191 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:28.149 of realize their purpose is an activity that is done as a group. So, 192 00:14:28.309 --> 00:14:30.509 just as if to make sure we have a clear definition of what we're 193 00:14:30.549 --> 00:14:33.990 talking about here, that's what I shared. Activity is and we wanted to 194 00:14:33.029 --> 00:14:37.740 share a couple of our favorites with y'all today because there's some weird ones out 195 00:14:37.740 --> 00:14:41.419 there and I think a lot of times people just like lean back for like 196 00:14:41.539 --> 00:14:43.820 the coffee hang out or like the meet up, and there's just like some 197 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:48.539 really creative things that people have done out in the world. So one of 198 00:14:48.620 --> 00:14:52.730 my favorite ones is the world aeropress championship. And if you don't know what 199 00:14:52.769 --> 00:14:58.730 aeropress is, it's basically a coffee making device. So a man named Alan 200 00:14:58.769 --> 00:15:03.330 Adler, who is a engineering professor at Stanford, wanted to make a cup 201 00:15:03.370 --> 00:15:07.559 of coffee, one cup. He didn't want to do the big brewing pot, 202 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:09.840 he didn't want to get an espresso machine. He was just like I 203 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:13.279 need one good cup of coffee, and so we made this device that's sort 204 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:16.480 of like a plunger, plunger coffee, plunger, Google it, Google it, 205 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:20.950 but it's this actually remarkable invention and people who make coffee like this is 206 00:15:20.990 --> 00:15:24.950 an amazing cup of coffee with such a simple tool. And when it first 207 00:15:24.950 --> 00:15:28.750 came out, some of the biggest barristas in the world like we're distributors for 208 00:15:28.870 --> 00:15:33.389 it. So they were taking it to their countries, in Denmark or in 209 00:15:33.830 --> 00:15:37.940 Spain or whatever, and they they felt like they had to figure out how 210 00:15:37.980 --> 00:15:41.419 to use the aero press really well. They didn't have that many recipes for 211 00:15:41.500 --> 00:15:46.460 it and so they're like let's host a world championship and aeropress World Championship. 212 00:15:46.700 --> 00:15:50.529 And it was like a very low key idea, like they had add a 213 00:15:50.649 --> 00:15:54.289 cake and like a small room and Oslo and a couple of people competed to 214 00:15:54.330 --> 00:15:58.129 try to come up with new recipes for this tool and a bunch of people 215 00:15:58.129 --> 00:16:00.370 saw what they were doing and they're like can we have one of those? 216 00:16:00.889 --> 00:16:04.440 And so now there are World Arrow press championships and I think eighty countries around 217 00:16:04.519 --> 00:16:10.039 the world. They have one grand finale each year in Sydney and it's just 218 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:14.879 like this very playful, energetic way for people to come together over a passion 219 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:18.309 and that competition side. I think it's really a great way actually just to 220 00:16:18.429 --> 00:16:22.830 enable people to bump into each other and interact. It's less about like the 221 00:16:22.990 --> 00:16:27.389 winner and more about just like. It makes the activity more engaging and I 222 00:16:27.549 --> 00:16:32.389 loved that they did that. The other one that I want to mention really 223 00:16:32.429 --> 00:16:37.220 quickly is if you haven't heard of Lego ideas, I also love this shared 224 00:16:37.259 --> 00:16:41.460 activity. So lego. I I grew up, like my brother played with 225 00:16:41.580 --> 00:16:45.460 them, but I wasn't super into them. But there are lego super fans. 226 00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:48.970 Actually, I think it's a Danish company as well. It's like the 227 00:16:48.049 --> 00:16:52.970 number one toy company in the world. They've been around for forever and the 228 00:16:52.049 --> 00:16:57.610 Lego ideas portion of Lego was a way to open up ideas for Lego kids 229 00:16:57.809 --> 00:17:03.559 to the community of Lego fans, and so people can pitch ideas for like 230 00:17:03.160 --> 00:17:07.279 different types of Lego kits that don't exist on seems that they think are really 231 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:11.000 interesting. So do you remember what some of them are? I know by 232 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:14.559 making some up now. It's like if I thought like a Yankee Stadium, 233 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:18.349 like I go like kits should be made or like, you know, a 234 00:17:18.430 --> 00:17:22.349 New York City subway. If it doesn't exist yet, you, as sort 235 00:17:22.349 --> 00:17:26.910 of a passionate community members, could sort of like pitch this and get it 236 00:17:26.990 --> 00:17:30.539 voted on and eventually it could be made. Yeah, so they would had 237 00:17:30.579 --> 00:17:34.339 a whole portal of a website where people could upload like models that they were 238 00:17:34.380 --> 00:17:37.140 like, I think Lego should make this, and then people would up vote 239 00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:41.700 the ones they loved and then Lego engineers would go and realize these like sourced 240 00:17:41.819 --> 00:17:45.809 from the community, that these were things that people were really interested in, 241 00:17:45.930 --> 00:17:49.569 and I thought that that act of like opening up your doors to let people 242 00:17:49.569 --> 00:17:55.890 participate in like creating ideas that Lego could build and vote on them was like 243 00:17:55.970 --> 00:18:00.000 a really interesting, innovative thing for a company to do. Yeah, I 244 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:03.720 think this is you don't necessarily like need to run a toy company or a 245 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:08.319 coffee competition to or a coffee company to take from these examples. I think 246 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:12.789 that the point is, Hey, you know, communities form around shared activities. 247 00:18:12.789 --> 00:18:15.309 It's just something you do together. That could be online, that could 248 00:18:15.309 --> 00:18:19.150 be in person, and you have the opportunity to think creatively about that. 249 00:18:19.349 --> 00:18:22.549 Like, is there a way to think about how you're getting your community together 250 00:18:22.869 --> 00:18:26.819 in the form of maybe a competition or challenge. Could that be interesting or, 251 00:18:27.539 --> 00:18:30.299 you know, for your BB company. Is An interesting thing about how 252 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:37.099 those folks might contribute, shared contribute ideas to something new you want to build. 253 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:42.369 So think really creatively about it. One that they really hadn't mentioned yet 254 00:18:42.529 --> 00:18:47.009 is this idea of an unconference. Like I'm on the Board of a nonprofit 255 00:18:47.210 --> 00:18:52.890 that is for teachers to help run professional development for other teachers, and the 256 00:18:52.970 --> 00:18:56.200 idea is, you know, this power points that usually heard at schools just 257 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.759 weren't meeting their needs. They like, why we meet up on a Saturday 258 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:03.240 and just do this better than like the quote unquote professionals will tell us how 259 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:06.240 to do it and as so it add at an Ed camp, you show 260 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:08.960 up and the teachers there isn't a set agenda. They actually, in the 261 00:19:10.109 --> 00:19:14.910 morning, put up post it describing like different topics they would either love to 262 00:19:14.990 --> 00:19:18.990 teach or they'd love to learn about, and the organizing team helps like put 263 00:19:18.029 --> 00:19:22.470 those into an agenda and folks get to choose and sort of this like the 264 00:19:22.589 --> 00:19:27.180 days agenda of topics and things to learn about is created live and then during 265 00:19:27.220 --> 00:19:30.579 the day you get to show up at these sessions and it's such a more 266 00:19:30.700 --> 00:19:37.180 participatory way to think about like truly serving the needs and curiosities of a community 267 00:19:37.220 --> 00:19:42.410 versus defaulting to, Hey, I got to go design a eighth hour agenda 268 00:19:42.650 --> 00:19:45.529 for the next conference or summit and we know everything that needs to be done 269 00:19:45.569 --> 00:19:48.369 and it has to be these keynote talks, like at camps, are a 270 00:19:48.410 --> 00:19:52.920 lot more lightweight, but they provide so a ton of value and I think 271 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:56.319 the thing that's important to note there is people are doing that because you're hitting 272 00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:02.160 on a passion point with them and this is not something that you're just going 273 00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:07.309 to mark it to the average person, like communities are for people that have 274 00:20:07.509 --> 00:20:12.589 an overlapping passion with you and if you are lucky enough to activate a passion 275 00:20:12.829 --> 00:20:18.230 and people out in the world, then you can like welcome them into the 276 00:20:18.309 --> 00:20:22.779 party, basically. But you know, that's the amazing thing about I was 277 00:20:22.819 --> 00:20:26.980 an earl employee at instagram and you have this experience that created warnings and working 278 00:20:26.019 --> 00:20:32.460 closely with Ed camp, but we had people that were so passionate about what 279 00:20:32.619 --> 00:20:34.339 we opened up for them, like what we gave them a space to do, 280 00:20:34.700 --> 00:20:38.970 that they would just show up and do like the post their own events, 281 00:20:40.009 --> 00:20:42.769 like organize their own stuff, contribute their stories, and I think that 282 00:20:44.769 --> 00:20:47.690 it's important, though, to note that this isn't just like the average person 283 00:20:47.730 --> 00:20:49.160 that's going to show up on a Saturday. This is someone that's almost like 284 00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:53.119 a semi partner in your business. You should see them that way. What 285 00:20:53.319 --> 00:20:57.759 warnings do you have for businesses wanting to build a community? The warning is, 286 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:03.279 if you think you're going to be able to control everything, you're not 287 00:21:03.589 --> 00:21:11.269 meant to go down this path of building a community around your business. So 288 00:21:11.349 --> 00:21:15.029 the key, the caveat is you could run a very successful business without investing 289 00:21:15.069 --> 00:21:18.779 in, like really cultivating a community. My personal opinion is that there's a 290 00:21:18.819 --> 00:21:23.059 lot of potential and what you can do if you start thinking about either, 291 00:21:23.299 --> 00:21:26.900 you know, your customers or some other group of stakeholders as a community. 292 00:21:27.059 --> 00:21:30.539 I also think that you may have more fun in the process. I think 293 00:21:30.579 --> 00:21:36.650 you also might make decisions in a probably a more ethical way if you do 294 00:21:36.849 --> 00:21:40.970 so, but you don't have to so if you choose to go down this 295 00:21:41.170 --> 00:21:44.970 path, are big sort of piece of advice and thesis is that you build 296 00:21:44.970 --> 00:21:48.920 a community with your people, not for them, and what that means is 297 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:52.039 you in mayways let them in, as Bailey said, as like a semi 298 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:56.839 partner, and that involves relinquishing control. So, you know, one example 299 00:21:56.119 --> 00:22:00.670 is notion is sort of a with the with the they're probably still considered a 300 00:22:00.750 --> 00:22:03.750 start up, but there are a tech company that has sort of a note 301 00:22:03.829 --> 00:22:07.670 taking platform. You can have spreadsheets in their notes, wiki's, all sorts 302 00:22:07.710 --> 00:22:11.789 of stuff, and they, you know, have a model like slack, 303 00:22:11.869 --> 00:22:15.299 where a lot of independent employees in the company start using something and eventually, 304 00:22:15.420 --> 00:22:21.220 like that business, buys like a full license for their whole company to use 305 00:22:21.339 --> 00:22:27.140 notion, and notion is encouraging folks that really like to use it to they 306 00:22:27.220 --> 00:22:30.609 can host their own events or that are like notion meetups. You can host 307 00:22:30.609 --> 00:22:34.769 an event where either you showcase how you're using notion within your company or how 308 00:22:36.009 --> 00:22:41.490 are you know as an individual, and notion realizes that, like you, 309 00:22:41.289 --> 00:22:45.759 with this sort of model, when you spread out leadership in that sort of 310 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:48.480 way, like you, just not going to be able to control everything. 311 00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:51.720 That isn't to say that you don't provide any sort of guidelines around what what 312 00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:56.680 works or what is successful. What is like a code of conduct, because 313 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:00.390 people need a certain amount of structure to like take up this challenge, but 314 00:23:00.470 --> 00:23:03.069 there's an amount you have to leave open for people to Remix, to choose 315 00:23:03.109 --> 00:23:06.869 a little bit about what the programming is going to be about, to add 316 00:23:06.869 --> 00:23:08.910 their owns, a local flare to it, and that really is where the 317 00:23:10.029 --> 00:23:14.619 scary stuff of the magic happens. That that is how someone you know in 318 00:23:14.779 --> 00:23:19.619 Austin, Texas takes your software and like runs in an event around it and 319 00:23:19.740 --> 00:23:23.180 sort of blows your mind. And this is like running education around it in 320 00:23:23.299 --> 00:23:29.490 interesting way or showcasing ideas that you didn't even think of. So to recap 321 00:23:29.609 --> 00:23:33.690 by I think the big warning is if you think your you can control everything 322 00:23:33.730 --> 00:23:37.490 that happens within your community and you're seeing yourself as more of like a compliance 323 00:23:37.650 --> 00:23:41.319 police. Like that stuff is important, because there's obviously fears about folks like 324 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:47.440 misrepresenting the brand or not holding up a certain standard, and you do need 325 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:51.160 to like think about those. However, you're going to have to relinquish more 326 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:55.240 control than you're capable of, but if you do, I really believe you 327 00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:59.950 can accomplish more together with these people then you can alone. BEDB growth has 328 00:23:59.990 --> 00:24:04.029 always been about highlighting tactics and strategies be to be leaders can apply to their 329 00:24:04.069 --> 00:24:08.509 own teams to achieve explosive growth. So, Kevin and Bailey, quick question 330 00:24:08.630 --> 00:24:14.700 for you guys. What new sales or marketing strategy is your team currently trying 331 00:24:14.779 --> 00:24:18.700 or thinking about in the near future? This is an old one. I 332 00:24:18.779 --> 00:24:19.900 don't know if this is annovador frame one, but I feel like this year 333 00:24:19.940 --> 00:24:25.890 I rediscover the power of personal outreach. Like I think there's a at least 334 00:24:25.930 --> 00:24:29.650 in my brain, I had sort of I felt myself falling into this assumption 335 00:24:29.769 --> 00:24:33.170 that I needed to just produce more kind of out there for people to find 336 00:24:33.289 --> 00:24:37.799 right like producing content and publishing on social medium, putting things out there, 337 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:42.400 and then I but I've always felt very comfortable in like a one on one 338 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:47.400 situation and I think this last year, as we sort of launched, as 339 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:51.559 we launched our book and we published August Twenty, I put a lot of 340 00:24:51.640 --> 00:24:56.390 effort into one on one outreach and it became hundreds of personal emails and almost 341 00:24:56.390 --> 00:25:00.069 a hundred meetings with different community leaders that are like the absolute like kind of 342 00:25:00.150 --> 00:25:04.910 perfect person people for the lessons and frameworks that we're sharing. And you know, 343 00:25:04.990 --> 00:25:08.700 I think that's really paid off because we, you know, we at 344 00:25:08.740 --> 00:25:12.940 people in company. We don't need the, you know, entire world or 345 00:25:14.019 --> 00:25:17.099 the general audience that exists out there. I mean we would love it, 346 00:25:17.579 --> 00:25:22.170 but I mean practically speaking, eight million books. Okay, eventually we're going 347 00:25:22.170 --> 00:25:26.769 to be Marie Condo, but for but for the first eight thousand, Eighty 348 00:25:26.849 --> 00:25:29.809 Tho, eight hundred thousand, we need folks that like, really, really 349 00:25:29.849 --> 00:25:33.329 care about this topic. And I was just thinking I can reach out to 350 00:25:33.329 --> 00:25:36.480 these people want to, want to get referrals to them and spend time with 351 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:38.279 them, or you know what I mean, and really get connections with them. 352 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:42.160 So I rediscovered the power of personal outreachs by mystical, you know, 353 00:25:44.200 --> 00:25:47.519 grows tactic this year. Yeah, I think we're trying to get something started. 354 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:49.190 That that's where it starts, no matter what. There's no way you 355 00:25:49.269 --> 00:25:55.150 go from zero to Eightyzero like maybe for like two or three years there was 356 00:25:55.269 --> 00:25:57.910 like great like low customer acquisition costs and everybody was just like this is just 357 00:25:59.710 --> 00:26:03.430 jumping into my lap. But I just think you gotta send some we gotta 358 00:26:03.430 --> 00:26:06.099 sound like sit down and grind out the emails, you know, and I 359 00:26:06.180 --> 00:26:08.700 feel like I keep seeing that over and over again, DMS and the text 360 00:26:08.740 --> 00:26:12.220 messages like personal outreach. You can't skip it. Yeah, the only other 361 00:26:12.259 --> 00:26:17.380 thing I'll just tack on is I think our company, one of the things 362 00:26:17.420 --> 00:26:22.130 I really appreciate about Kevin and Ky are other business partner, is we try 363 00:26:22.130 --> 00:26:27.289 to lead with generosity and I think that that when you give people something that's 364 00:26:27.289 --> 00:26:32.450 valuable, there's like a natural human response to like want to meet you there, 365 00:26:32.809 --> 00:26:34.519 and I kind of see the book is as sort of that. Like 366 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:38.319 you know, this this book is we put so much work trying to create 367 00:26:38.440 --> 00:26:41.839 clarity for people around a topic that we certainly care about and I think a 368 00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:45.480 lot of other people care about a lot, and that has been really neat 369 00:26:45.480 --> 00:26:48.269 seeing that come back. You know, US putting tons. I mean we 370 00:26:48.509 --> 00:26:52.750 spent almost we put a lot of work on hold and spent months of our 371 00:26:52.789 --> 00:26:56.630 life writing this book and rewriting it and rewriting it and rewriting it and yeah, 372 00:26:56.750 --> 00:27:00.630 that and you know, we pay attention to the design and I think 373 00:27:00.670 --> 00:27:03.619 I tried to make something that would feel like a gift to someone who really 374 00:27:03.660 --> 00:27:07.779 cared about this and my hope is that if it is actually that for people, 375 00:27:07.900 --> 00:27:11.700 that we will we will, you know, meet interesting folks who who 376 00:27:12.299 --> 00:27:15.569 sense that it was like a generous, thoughtful act, and I think a 377 00:27:15.609 --> 00:27:19.769 lot of people I respect in marketing and sales that how they approach that stuff 378 00:27:19.809 --> 00:27:22.890 too, is like how can I be generous and really give people something that's 379 00:27:22.890 --> 00:27:26.289 valuable to them and meaningful to them? This has been such a great conversation, 380 00:27:26.450 --> 00:27:30.279 guys. I've really appreciate you, guys, for hopping on. If 381 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:33.400 listeners want to stay connected with you, both are follow up to ask any 382 00:27:33.400 --> 00:27:36.599 other questions on this topic. What's the best way for them to connect with 383 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:41.039 you? So you can find out more about us at our our website, 384 00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:45.750 people and dot company. It's a dot company Oncom you can also find our 385 00:27:45.789 --> 00:27:48.829 book get together on Amazon. Just search get together, and we also run 386 00:27:48.829 --> 00:27:53.750 a podcast. To search get together in the podcast store to hear interviews of 387 00:27:55.670 --> 00:28:00.819 different of sort of ordinary people and company starting extraordinary communities. Thanks, Kevin 388 00:28:00.819 --> 00:28:03.900 and Bailey. We really appreciate you for being on the show today. Thanks 389 00:28:03.940 --> 00:28:07.420 for having us. If you are a regular listener of BB growth, odds 390 00:28:07.420 --> 00:28:11.970 are you might enjoy sales success stories with Scott Ingram as well well. This 391 00:28:12.130 --> 00:28:17.289 year, thanks to a partnership with outreach and sales hacker. Our friend Scott 392 00:28:17.369 --> 00:28:22.170 Ingram is making the live stream of his sales success summit available for free. 393 00:28:22.650 --> 00:28:27.519 The event is on October fourteen and fifteen, featuring thirteen presentations and five panels, 394 00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:33.039 all presented by top performing be tob sales professionals. You can check it 395 00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:37.440 out and register at top one DOT FM live. That's top the number one 396 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:40.720 DOT FM LIVE