Hey there,
Earlier this week, my friend and business ally, Molly, posted something on LinkedIn that went semi-viral.
Molly leveraged her network and goodwill to invite her crowd to get to know one another. To leave a comment about who you are and what you do.
There were already 50 or so comments when I discovered the post.
My default instinct was to assume it was too late. That the early birds had already picked it clean.
That the 30 seconds it would take to drop a comment wouldn’t be worth it.
But I know Molly.
I trust her and she trusts me.
We’ve referred work back and forth.
And she has a real gift for surrounding herself with good people — something I’ve been working at the past couple years.
So I left a comment.
Just adding to the conversation that Molly designed for me and hundreds others to engage in.
Here’s what happened next…
That comment ended up with 1,051 impressions - a little above average from the original posts I spend hours writing each week.
And that comment brought with it:
Reaffirming praise from Molly
2 direct leads who are my ICP
5 new business allies
43 (and counting) new 1st-degree connections with people I actually want to know and grow with
And it got me thinking about how ass backwards I’ve approached community, up until recently.
I’ve been so short-sighted to expect only the formal communities to be worth it:
The Slack group with tens of thousands of members
The meetup in the big city hosted by the big brand
The mastermind you pay to be part of
Or even LinkedIn - the platform itself and its 1 billion members
Whereas, the actual gold is within the .00001% of people and conversations that matter.
Turns out, the places that have the highest ROI tend to be the rooms:
you didn’t know existed,
you’re invited into, or
you’d have otherwise skipped over.
The ones a friend tells you about - but only 6 months after you’ve met and they trust to invite you in.
The ones with only a handful of members who happen to be good people doing exceptional work.
The email intro from a partner or past client who connects you with one other person. Just a, “Hey, you should meet.” without an expected referral commission on the backend.
Or in my case this week, the comment thread from a trusted ally that I dropped into.
The hard part is not only choosing the right people and places to invest in. It’s choosing a mindset other than: What do I get out of this.
I’ve tried. It never works.
And I always walk away feeling a little gross. A little ashamed.
But if you stick around long enough...
If you contribute. If you celebrate and support, genuinely.
Then, maybe, the compounding starts.
That’s what this week reminded me of.
We don’t need to find more rooms with more people.
We need the right ones. And to be the kind of person that makes those rooms better by being there.
P.S. If you’re part of a community you love, hit reply and share it with me. I’ll mention it in an upcoming issue.
Profit Picks
A few helpful resources from friends…
🪜 Brad provides accounting services to veteran-owned business leaders that help them increase their bottom line.
🪜 Dana (who’s brilliant) is starting a Substack to talk about building a business that fits you.
🪜 Speaking of Molly, she and I will be at Sell Well in Houston on Sep 11-12. (hit reply if you’ll be there)
🪜 (self-promo) Speaking of good communities, join the next offers masterclass to improve your offer alongside fellow, impassioned business owners
🤘🏼
Jay Melone
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