Hey there friend -
Community. Yeah the word that everyone’s throwing around.
Every company is chasing.
Every brand is promising.
Every influencer is launching.
It’s one of the most powerful forces in the known universe… and one of the greatest marketing ploys around.
As a community builder myself, Mayor of Catskill Crew with 40,000+ subscribers and Founder of The Newsletter Club with 250+ local media founders, I know a bit about that word, community.
We’re a bunch of monkeys that fell out of trees, community is what we crave. Yet, the loneliness epidemic grows and we continue to drift further apart.
Now, for the founders out there, community is an interesting opportunity - when done correctly, it can be the biggest magnet and moat for your business.
Take a seat, and let’s talk about it (no shadow marketing tactics, this is for the ones who mean it).
I’ve spent 16 years in the startup trenches, raising capital, launching products, building software - everything I created was built to sell.
By the summer of 2023, an existential crisis punched me right in the face and knocked me down.
My entire career I was building for the exit. Sure, I enjoyed parts of it, but pouring every fiber of your being into a mission you don't really care about will break you down at some point.
I knew I needed a change. To build something that brought me joy and hopefully joy to others. To pour everything into something I loved.
So, I effed around and found out that my calling was in community-based ventures. Catskill Crew and TNC are the first ventures I have built where my goal is to never sell. The interaction, value, and belongingness bring me so much freaking joy, it would hurt more to sell than to take the cash payout.
Now, what you need to know about building community is this:
You must make decisions that are better for your community, than your bottom line.
You can spend all the money you want marketing but you can’t buy trust.
You need to play the long game and think of the big picture.
If you prioritize your revenue over the community, you’re cooked.
The only people you answer to is your community - not your shareholders.
Toxicity spreads aggressively in a community; take it out by the roots.
Inclusivity is critical even in an exclusive community.
When people choose to be in your community, they are putting their trust in you. And trust is fragile; it can break easily when misused.
So if you're doing community work right now and the ROI feels slow - that's normal. The question is whether you have it in you to keep going until it shows up.
Steal This
How to actually build community:
Use the language of belonging. Say we, us, our. Your words shape how folks see themselves inside the spaces you're building.
Make every decision through the lens of what’s best for the community — not your bottomline.
Protect the community experience above everything else.
Give people ownership over small things - formats, events, product directions. Ownership creates investment.
Community takes time to compound. Measure it by years, not days.
P.S. If you wanna build community around your local media company, hop into The Newsletter Club. We've got 250+ operators building together.
Would you be interested in a Community Accelerator?
Nuggets
Do yourself a favor and take some time to step away. I find it to be the hardest thing to do — yet the most necessary. I remind myself that sometimes the work is to not do work. Phone off at 7:30pm. Going on weekend trips without my phone. Hitting the river to fly fish where I know there is no service.
New Catskill Crew site just went live.
I just started the second book in the Children of Time series. Banger of a good time (not an affiliate link - buy it from your local bookstore).
Picture of me on Wednesday night — very far away from any cell phone service.
