Why building a community is the hardest - and most rewarding - part of this job
The Solo Club Discord server is now free to join!
If there’s one element of the Mark Ellis Reviews brand which never fails to put a smile on my face each day, it’s the Discord community.
For those who are unaware, I have a Patreon membership option for that brand which includes access to a private Discord community. That community is now roughly three years old and has developed into something I never thought possible.
When I turned to my girlfriend in 2020 and said, “I think I’m going to start that YouTube channel”, I never thought it would lead to a bunch of fellow tech enthusiasts - and, until now, strangers - interacting with each other every single day within the confines of a private chat group. But it has, and it is utterly wonderful - if not a touch surreal - to watch.
I don’t get that involved myself. I’ll dip in occasionally and be on the receiving end of some good-natured banter - but I’ve intentionally left the Mark Ellis Reviews Hangout (as I inexplicably named it at launch) to grow naturally and for the members within to forge their own friendships. As a result, it doesn’t really need me and it runs brilliantly with barely any input from yours truly.
I want the same for Solo Club, which is why we’ve decided to make access to that Discord server completely free.
Solo Club is far more than a passion project for me and it certainly isn’t a ‘side hustle’ that sits within the shadow of Mark Ellis Reviews. I have huge plans for it, and while growth will be inevitably slow and steady, I’m happy to watch it develop into something much bigger at its own pace.
This will only happen if I’m consistent and strategic with the content and digital products I send out into the wild. It’ll only happen if I turn up every Friday and send you this newsletter. It’ll definitely only happen if I ensure I’m delivering tangible value every time I take to the keyboard, mic, or camera.
But Solo Club will only thrive if there’s a community behind it. That’s what I’ve learned from building the Mark Ellis Reviews brand and it’s a brilliant lesson for anyone who wants to follow in my footsteps.
You can’t do this alone - and I’m not referring to the inevitable second, third, or fourth pair of hands you’ll need to call on behind the scenes as your creator business grows. Nope - you’ll need your biggest supporters on board and fully bought-into the brand, too.
This isn’t easy, at all. It takes many, many hours of creating an awful lot of content to get people to know, like, and trust you enough for them to feel part of your community - let alone join one and interact with it every single day. This means content remains king and you have to be consistent and build robust processes - the two things I’m an utter bore about (but for good reason, as you can see).
It is very early days with Solo Club in that regard, but there’s already a small community building and chatting on Discord. At the time of writing, the Solo Club Discord server has 32 members and they’re gradually interacting with one another by sharing ideas and their own stories of being aspiring creators. I can feel a much bigger community brewing. It’s an inevitability. Trust me.
That’s what this is all about. It isn’t really about Solo Club - and it definitely isn’t about me. The Solo Club Discord server is an important business tool for yours truly, of course, but its reason for existing is genuinely to help people become happy creators themselves, and I know I can’t do that alone.
Jump in, guys - I’d love to see you on there!