I feel fairly confident in saying that without community my business would have crashed and burned in the first few years.

How has community helped my business grow?

I’m a firm believer in surrounding yourself with other people in similar-type businesses…

Having a community of like minded people has helped my business succeed. I’m convinced. Here’s how:

1. The first mastermind I joined (just 6 months after starting my business) helped me hone in EXACTLY what I wanted to do (prior to that I was a social media manager, logo designer, and website designer)

2. Local Facebook groups helped me connect with people in my area and get co-working friends who feed my soul

3. I did a weekly meetup with 4 other designers for a year and we became each others’ biggest supporters, even creating my MOST SUCCESSFUL FREEBIE that has brought in 550 email subscribers. Plus we could vent to each other about the same pain points with clients and know we weren’t alone in the struggles

Get my most popular freebie: How to design a website that converts with 4 experts in copywriting, branding, SEO, and web design.

So as you can see, a community of the right people can help make or break a business in its early years and even more so as it grows. 

So if that is how it helped my business in the early years, what about 5 years in?

Although I don’t have weekly meetups or chat as much with other entrepreneurs (hello being a mom of 2 under 2), I still find it to be absolutely imperative to have quarterly chats with other business owners.

A few chats that have been monumental the past few years:

1. Kelsey Formost scheduled a discovery call when she wanted a new website and it turned into her encouraging me create a DIY your website course (hello Squarespace With Confidence). Since then she helped me create the copy for that very sales page through her course Copy Class*, encouraged me as I stepped into motherhood and running a business, and was one of my very favorite website clients (can I say that?!)

2. I attended the Showit Spark Conference in Arizona when I was ready to completely throw in the towel in my business. I had just spent a year trying to balance staying at home full time with a baby while maintaining my business and I was exhausted and burnt-out.

I had a conversation with two Midwest girls (who happen to be business coaches for creatives) and they were so encouraging to me. They asked good, thought-provoking questions and helped me come to the realization that maybe a pivot was necessary (less website clients, more affiliate work) as well as daycare once a week. I started that in 2023 and now have a reinvigorated passion for my business!

Thank you Val and Kiana for blessing me that sunny November day!

3. Kali at June Mango Design and I chatted as two fellow Squarespace designers and there was no competition, just good encouraging conversation about motherhood and running a business.

I would encourage you to find someone who is in the SAME FIELD and SAME PLACE as you and just get on a Zoom call with them! It can be intimidating, but it can also be so validating and encouraging.

* Affiliate Disclaimer – I am an affiliate, but would suggest this course either way! I went through it myself and LOVED it. It helped me not only create better website copy, but also email marketing copy.