An Online business community has its place. Sadly, for most of them that’s the fucking bin.
I have joined a few in my time and have gained very little value from 90% of them. They are nearly always some egotistical maniac trying to build a cult.
I won’t specifically mention which ones because… Well, because I don’t want to get sued.
But take it from me, they’re mostly bollocks.
What should you look for in a paid community, or even a free one, for that matter.
If the community is business focused, then the focus of the community needs to be business.
Not, “I feel bad today so I’m not going to do the work, I’m going to go out for a pub lunch instead.”, not endless and relentless selfies of someone’s ridiculous face, not a constant stream of, “look at how amazing I am, isn’t that wonderful.”
Tell me, what value can be gained from that bollocks?
Obviously the answer to that question is none at all. There is no value to be gained from such horseshit. A business community needs to do two things. And only two things. It needs to teach you the things that you need to learn in order to progress and overcome your obstacles.
And it needs to support you in the execution of your learning. There are far too many of these so-called business communities that are set up with devious intent.
Some guru will have a community set up, whether it be free or paid. And within that community they will actively encourage you to have a good cry about all the work that you didn’t do, and why you didn’t do it. The community members then swarm around you, pamper you, and bolster your ego. Then, the leader of that community swoops in with their buy my bullshit. They come in and act like the white knight, the Saviour, the second coming of Jesus. They are none of those things. They’re just somebody trying to hustle you out of money.
Not all online business communities are crap
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post. There have been a few that I’ve been part of that have actually been great. Would it surprise you to know that those groups are actually free? That those communities don’t require payment?
Their member numbers tend to be small. Now you might think that implies that those communities are not as good as I think they are. But actually, the low number of people within those communities increases the feeling of community. It increases the community leaders ability to actually help and it increases the members of the community ability to learn. A small close-knit community creates camaraderie.
There are a few of these communities around, the good ones I mean, but not many. The leaders of these communities, they help, and help, and help. And for them it becomes an almost thankless task.
So what separates the good from the bad?
Yes, they have paid programmes that they want you to join them on, but they don’t actually push them on you. They present them to you but, they don’t present them to you as the only solution.
The crap ones do. The crap ones, when you go in and you say I’m having problem X, They will present you with well you can buy access to my paid community at 90 fucking quid a month (or whatever), or you can buy my one to one bullshit at three grand a month (or whatever it may be)
No actual help is given and no solutions are provided. If you intend to start a business community, then make sure that it doesn’t just become a landing page for your services. Make sure it becomes an opportunity to actually help people.
That way, the members of your community won’t feel robbed and your community won’t end up turning into some ridiculous fucking cult.
Build an online business community, not a cult
As I say quite a lot on social media, build a business, not a fucking cult. Cult mentality does not help anybody.
You don’t want to build a business that is built upon worship and devotion because that shit comes crumbling down. You get found out, You get identified as being an absolute charlatan. People see that you are a con man, that you have no value to provide, and then you are just an asshole ripping people off and taking people’s money. Don’t be that guy.
Get in touch if you would like me to send you a (very) short list of helpful online communities
If you would like to be directed towards a couple of Facebook communities that really are helpful, that really are good business communities. Then drop me an email and let me know that that’s what you want, and I’ll send them over.
In the interest of impartiality, I won’t even include my own community. But if that’s something you want to know about too, then put that in the email and I will. However, as the leader of my community I don’t feel that it is for me to judge whether it is truly a good business community, or not. I think it is, but as I say, it’s not for me to judge.
Knowing what you need from an online community starts with understanding yourself
To know what you truly need from an online community you need to be self aware enough to know what you are struggling with vs what you excel at. That isn’t that hard but it does require you to take a good look inside and figure yourself out. Spend a little bit of time each day reflecting and assessing.
I recently wrote about self awareness, an article which can be found here https://mybizacademy.co.uk/be-more-self-aware-its-not-hard
Sometimes we need a little bit of external help but a group setting isn’t for us
I get it. Not everyone is comfortable asking a question to a group of people. Communities can be fantastic but not everyone feels comfortable in this setting. That’s cool, I’ve got space if you want to talk. Send me an email to shout@mikethebizguy.co.uk and we can have a private chat about your struggles. If you don’t want to jump straight into having a chat then feel free to check out my company website http://www.mikethebizguy.co.uk