Friendly neighborhood check-in. What’s coming up for you this week? The good, the so-so, the meh?

Taking a cue from @Justin Yip here and making a brave self-intro post. 🫣 I’m a copywriter and creative writing/pitch coach. I help writers write more, better, and get their short-form work published. I was a blog and newsletter ghostwriter for years before I realized that I didn’t have to be a journalist or have “experience” to get my name printed with my work. I pitched a personal essay to "Business Insider" and they bought my story. I’m on a mission to show other people, whether they write professionally or not, that they have stories worth telling, and they have just as much business as anyone else getting their work published. I'm here because I'm eager to expand my network. I'm an introverted extrovert and am not always proactive about "putting myself out there," and this felt like a safe space to start exploring more of that. I'm excited to be here as part of the ground-level group of founding members, and I can't wait to share and learn from everyone!

Love the idea behind this mission, and look forward to contributing as best I can. Thanks @Justin Yip for creating this space! What would I love to see in the Town Square? - Members actively helping each other. - 100+ allies working together towards common objectives. - Honest feedback, real growth month-to-month. Agree / disagree?

This is a write-up of what this community could be from my own notes and also from my conversation with @Devin Trent. Most online communities are kind of... lopsided... One expert. One agenda. One audience consuming passively. That's not a community. The Town Square is intended to be something different. A place where entrepreneurs who see business as a path of personal growth can actually think out loud together. Where you don't have to perform confidence or pretend you have it figured out. Where depth is normal, curiosity is celebrated, and being in-process isn't something to hide. Not a room full of lurkers. A room full of people who actually show up. Calls hosted by members, for members. Conversations that go somewhere real. People who know what they bring and show up to contribute it. A "digital" town square in the oldest sense of the word. A place where reputation is built through consistent goodwill over time, not through funnels and frameworks and polished sales calls. A place where you don't need to separate who you are from what you build. That's what we want this to be. But here's the thing. I can't build it alone, and I don't want to... but I have been building this alone... The best communities aren't built top-down. They're co-created by the people who show up and contribute. So I want to hear from you: What would make this the AEN community feel like you belong? What's missing from every other community you've been part of? What would you want to contribute, host, or create here? Drop it in the comments. Everything you share shapes what this becomes.