Community is the Heart of your Business
When I was in LA with Sam, we talked about a new way of running an info-business, with community at the core.
Many of us create content in order to build our business/grow our community.
And the way most of us do it is using the OUTSIDE IN approach.
I grew my YouTube channel by creating content for people OUTSIDE my audience to try to bring them INSIDE my audience.
As a result, I was obsessed about algorithms, mass-market appeal, and attracting more more more.
But there's a few problems with this approach:
  • Most of my focus was on marketing (bringing people in), and less was on product (making the people already here happy)
  • It was never clear to me WHO I was creating for. Because I was always creating for people who weren't already in my audience, it was difficult to imagine who they were, or what they liked.
  • There was always a slight difference between what my audience wanted, and what I needed to do to grow my audience. Difference groups wanted different things. This caused tension
But what if we flip the model on it's head?
Enter the INSIDE OUT approach.
Instead of creating for people OUTSIDE your audience to try bring them IN.
Create for people INSIDE of your audience, until they become raving fans, and they bring people OUTSIDE IN.
If you have a community, make content for them. If you have a product, create for your customers. Then just share any content you make for them publicly.
You can actually see Sam doing this by shutting down his podcast, and his talking head videos, and just reposting his Office Hours on his YouTube.
  • Now you get a few people who LOVE your content (which is better for niche fame, gets you 1000 true fans, and probably gets you more customers). Instead of trying to attract the attention of everyone, now you attract the attention of the RIGHT PEOPLE
  • It's crystal clear who you are creating for.
  • Now all of your focus is on product, not marketing
Practically speaking... I'm experimenting with using my community Synthesizer School as the hub of my content system.
It just feels... right.
Thoughts?
PS: would love if you could add your two cents about this "inside out" model?
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Andrew Kirby
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Community is the Heart of your Business
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