Creator to Community Builder Workbook, Coming Soon!
For the past 3 years, I’ve worked with community builders worldwide to help them build, launch, and grow an online community. These amazing clients are creatives who’ve transitioned to online community building and reside in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Ireland, and Norway. (And probably many other places I can’t think of at the moment).
I’ve worked with leaders, coaches, consultants, speakers, authors, executives, entrepreneurs, podcasters, spiritual leaders, creatives, and business owners. Since helping over 50 entrepreneurs, I’ve learned so much about building a community as a pillar of your business or building a new community-led business.
This led me to put all I’ve learned into a workbook for new community builders, and I’ve been working on the Creator to Community Builder Workbook since the summer of 2022. From the Find Calm Here Community, which I launched in 2020, to the insights from interviews with over 100 community leaders on The Community Strategy Podcast, this book will have exclusive interviews that I’ve been conducting over the past few months that will give you the inside track on what makes an online community successful and what you need to know so you can launch your online business with a community focus.
The fundraising campaign has ended. Thanks to your contributions, I’ve secured a book designer, development editor, and proofreader. The next phase will be for me to work with the designer on a book cover and send over the manuscript to the editor. I will be working on getting the Resource Pack with Checklists digital download finished in February or March.
I will share updates with you as they develop over the next few months, and as soon as I have a book cover to share, I’ll send it to you! The book launch and publication date are yet unknown, but it looks like it will be the summer or fall of 2023 until the book is in your hands. I’m working on getting it to you sooner, if possible.
What’s the Creator to Community Builder Workbook?
You're not alone if you’re feeling defeated as you build an online community. Most new community builders have big ideas but struggle to launch them. Tech options are overwhelming, approaching your audience takes courage, and scaling a business doesn’t come easily. Meanwhile, you may be missing out on income you could earn by launching faster, growing sooner, and creating transformation for your members.
Hi, I’m Deb Schell. I started my community to solve a problem I’d once struggled with. (Sound familiar?) For me, that problem was the anxiety and frustration I experienced when I launched my first community . . . to the silence of crickets. It felt like a failure.
Now, I consult with purpose-driven community builders. We find calm in building, launching, and growing our online communities.
But my clients aren’t just here to turn a quick buck. They have a solution their people need and are committed to making a real difference in their lives. Bringing these leaders together is my mission, which evolved from my 20-year career as a writer, creator, and designer.
Why You Need It
The business owners, leaders, and teams I serve inspire me daily. As purpose-driven change-makers, they’re the last people who should be wasting time. Launching their first online community shouldn’t be guesswork, nor should yours.
If you’re like most of my clients, you’ve been dreaming of your community for a while. Maybe you’ve taken the first steps, then gotten overwhelmed by all the details.
But you know your people, and they keep coming to you. They’re seeking the knowledge and wisdom you’ve gained professionally and personally, often through experiencing some pain yourself.
You’ve been yearning to bring them together. You know deep down what a difference it could make–for them, for you, and the powerful ideas running in your head.
Transformation doesn’t happen when we’re alone. It happens in the community.
- It’s time to bring your people together, so they can exchange ideas, encourage each other, and learn from you.
- It’s time to build a consistent income stream that can keep your work going well into the future. And with consistency comes flexibility in how you spend your time and energy.
- It’s time to stop letting obstacles get in the way. It’s time to get started!
What This Book Is
I designed this guide to help you take action, launch sooner, and create an additional revenue stream for your business. Let it be your trusty companion over the coming days, weeks, and months as you move through the steps one by one. Let it help you save time, and–hopefully–find some calm, joy, and ease along the way.
It’s worksheets, templates, and resources provide a structure for organizing many ideas with a process that’s as seamless as possible. Though your community will bring your unique solution to the world, you don’t have to reinvent the architecture of what makes an online community successful. Use the book’s tools to build a strategy that invites your members to connect authentically, no matter where they live and work. Let it support you as you distill your creativity into a design that works for them. From live events to asynchronous discussions, the book will prompt you to design a format that meets their needs. After all, it’s the members who participate fully who keep coming back and, ultimately, become your biggest advocates.
What This Book Isn’t
If you’re looking for get-rich-quick advice, this isn’t the book for you. Building a community isn’t easy, and it doesn’t happen overnight. But it can be one of the most rewarding ways to spend your precious time, and you can leverage it to exit the treadmill of working on someone else’s time frame.
Here’s the Problem: The online community industry is still relatively new. Not only that, but it’s evolving in real time. New platforms are constantly emerging, and it can be tough to know where to start. Business owners leaders and hear the buzzword community, but many don’t know how a community could bring new and repeat business.
So many founders are stuck in the “shiny new thing” that they can’t seem to move forward with developing a strategy for launching an online community.
The struggle for new community builders:
- Bombarded by platform options and tech details
- Feel overwhelmed by planning and promoting a launch
- Have no idea how to onboard and engage new members
- The question of whether the community will provide a return on investment
- Launch so quickly that strategy gets ignored
The Solution for Creators who want to build an online community
This book takes the guesswork out of community building by offering a strategic approach to developing it, from concept to growth. Any online community must start with purpose. After getting clear on yours, you’ll validate your concept by inviting potential ideal members into a conversation. You will set the foundation of your community’s concept and structure using surveys and other tools.
Why Find Calm Here?
As a community builder and Host of the Community Strategy Podcast, I’ve spoken with more than 100 community leaders to learn how they’ve successfully built, launched, and grown online communities. I’m also a creator. I’ve spent over 20 years exploring different ways to make a living as a creator. In 2010 I opened a photography business which I ran for 10 years, and did everything from portraits, weddings, and even pet photos, to gallery exhibits and commercial artwork sales. After landing large projects, I thought that’s what I’d do, then that no longer served me. I was seeking to experience life differently. I didn’t want to “hustle” all the time to get clients. I wanted time to enjoy traveling and spending time with my family and friends. My desire for a change led me to quit my corporate job in 2019 to become a travel writer. Then the pandemic shifted my plans, and I found a new direction.
I experienced so much compassion within groups online that I wanted to share how I’ve learned to live a more purposeful life with others. After launching an online community in 2020, I learned so many skills that I started to help other leaders build their communities. I’ve consulted over 50 new community builders in the past two years. It’s time for a change again, to widen my net, and to work with amazing women who want to build a business or find a more meaningful way to work, live, and experience life.
This new direction will lead me to offer more ways to help support you. My vision for 2023 is to help female founders build, grow, or scale their businesses and align their purpose, vision, and mission with their values, strengths, and skills that light them up and bring energy and enthusiasm.
