You're invited!
Community Business Summit
October 4-6, 2022
A gathering for values-driven community business founders and leaders.A 3-day event where we'll celebrate, promote, and uplift community businesses as powerful vehicles for belonging.
Our why...
At The Business of Community, we are building a community and movement to support the work of community business leaders in making society more connected, and people more joyful and whole.Our goals are:
To promote values-driven community businesses.
To inspire new leaders to build community businesses.
To help more people feel a sense of belonging.
This 3-day event is our first public gathering for community founders.It's a jolt of inspiration for community leaders and an invitation to go deeper by joining our community.
This event is for you if:
You lead a membership, a course, group coaching program, or other online community business.
You're interested in connecting with and learning from other community business leaders.
You believe that building a community business can be deeply fulfilling.
What we know to be true…
Connection is valuable and those building organizations that enable it, should be well-compensated for it.
We should spend more of our online time in privately owned communities instead of on social media platforms.
What brings a community together doesn’t have to be a social issue in order for it to have a social impact. Belonging builds power.
If you're a community leader (or an aspiring one) and the above resonates with you, we'd love to have you join.
Day 1 • October 4th • Welcome
2:00 - 3:30 PM ET
Peter Block Facilitates: A Gathering for Community Founders
We are so excited to welcome Peter Block, a foundational thinker of community structures to lead a workshop, along with guided small group conversations for community leaders.This event will be very interactive and so we have limited capacity. Please be sure to register separately below.
Once the spots for this one fill up, we'll start a waitlist.
Day 2 • October 5th • Business Model
12:00 - 1:00 PM ET
Think Bigger, Charge More (and Other Business Lessons)
Lena West • CEO Rising ®
If you've ever asked, 'how much should I charge?' this is a pep talk for you. Lena will share with us WHY it's important to charge what you're worth and HOW you can do so while staying in integrity with your values.We'll learn about her accelerator and community for entrepreneurs and how you can learn to "build a business that loves you back."
1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
Masterclass: How to Lead a Values-Driven Community Business
Tatiana Figueiredo • the Business of Community
This summit is full of inspiration for you, this masterclass will bring it all together and show you how to implement it.You'll learn the step-by-step process dozens of community leaders have successfully used to build, launch and grow values-aligned community businesses. You'll also get all the details on how you can go deeper by joining our community.This is for you whether you're starting from scratch or already running a big community.
3:00 - 4:00 PM ET
Building a Million-Dollar Community Business Without Selling Out
Gesche Haas • Dreamers & Doers
We often think there's a tradeoff between building a really big, profitable business and staying true to our values. Dreamers & Doers is an example of a community business that has done both.Gesche, their founder and CEO joins us in a conversation about growing pains, staying true to your vision and going bigger than you thought was possible.
4:00 - 4:30 PM ET
After Party
Nivi Achanta • Soapbox Project
Nivi Achanta, our resident party sorceress leads us in a debrief and celebration of day 2.
Day 3 • October 6th • Community Experience
12:00 - 1:30 PM ET
10+ Community Events, Experiences and Activities That Work
Sonali Nigam • Petminded
Tiana Dodson • Fat Freedom Practice
Tiffany Yu • Diversability
Douglas Finkelstein • Empathic Health
Ryan Clover • Build Your Website Essentials
... And More!
In this fast-paced, round-robin event, community business leaders each share one community experience that has worked for them. You'll leave with a bunch of new ideas you can try with your members.
2:00 - 3:00 PM ET
The Power of Intentionally Staying Small
Jay Clouse • Creator Science
Jay's community, The Lab, made $100K+ in its first 6 months. It continues to grow exponentially as members rave about it as their favorite place on the internet. But what if infinite growth wasn't the goal?Jay has decided to cap the size of the community, forgoing potential revenue in favor of member experience. In this conversation, we'll talk about his tips for starting a beloved community like The Lab and the decision to intentionally slow its growth.
Watch the Recordings
The Community Business Summit was our first public event of this kind and a lot of enthusiasm and care went into making it a magical experience for our attendees.✨ Sign up below to get access to the recordings ✨
It’s time to build a business that helps you build the world you want to live in.
No compromises needed.
FAQs
What is this course about?
The course is intended to give you the skills necessary to build a community business. That includes designing a community experience, experimenting and validating business models, choosing the right tools and becoming a better leader.What makes this a unique experience is that you'll be learning the practical skills while experiencing them within a community yourself. The intention is to help you not just learn but be able to experience what you're leaning with the support and friendship of fellow community builders.
What time are the live sessions?
Sessions on or around Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon Eastern time. Click here to convert that time to your own time zone.Because we have people joining from many different time zones, our community events during the year vary in time so that everyone can attend a few at their preferred time.We are always looking for creative ways to incorporate other time zones into the live sessions and events.
What's your refund policy?
Your success with the course and community experience will depend on your commitment. If this resonates with you and you put in the work, we firmly believe you'll achieve the results you're looking for.That being said, sometimes things aren't what we expect! If within 14 days of joining the course, you find that it's not for you, email us and we'll refund you.
Do you offer payment plans?
Yes, you have the option to pay in monthly installments. We charge a small fee for this.
I can't afford this, are there scholarships available?
Yes! If you are building a community business but the full fee to join this is a barrier for any reason, we invite you to apply for a scholarship.There are 2 different types:- One is needs-based and designed to help anyone with financial need to be able to attend, including those living in a part of the world with lower purchasing power.
- The other is designed to increase diversity in our cohort by encouraging people of color, those outside of the binary gender spectrum, and others who are underrepresented in entrepreneurship to join us.
Thank you for joining us!
Community Business Summit Recordings
October 4-6, 2022
Access all session recordings below. Recordings will be available here for 2 weeks. ✨
Masterclass: How to Lead a Values-Driven Community Business
Tatiana Figueiredo • the Business of Community
This summit is full of inspiration for you, this masterclass brings it all together and shows you how to implement it.You'll learn the step-by-step process dozens of community leaders have successfully used to build, launch and grow values-aligned community businesses. You'll also get all the details on how you can go deeper by joining our community.
Peter Block Facilitates: A Gathering for Community Founders
Peter Block & Tatiana Figueiredo
We are excited to welcome Peter Block, a foundational thinker of community structures to lead a workshop, along with guided small group conversations for community leaders.This event was a highly interactive event, and it's hard to capture it all in the recording. We hope it serves as inspiration for bringing small groups to your community.
Think Bigger, Charge More (and Other Business Lessons)
Lena West • CEO Rising ®
If you've ever asked, 'how much should I charge?' this is a pep talk for you. Lena will share with us WHY it's important to charge what you're worth and HOW you can do so while staying in integrity with your values.We'll learn about her accelerator and community for entrepreneurs and how you can learn to "build a business that loves you back."
Building a Million-Dollar Community Business Without Selling Out
Gesche Haas • Dreamers & Doers
We often think there's a tradeoff between building a really big, profitable business and staying true to our values. Dreamers & Doers is an example of a community business that has done both.Gesche, their founder and CEO joined us in a conversation about growing pains, staying true to your vision and going bigger than you thought was possible.
Community Builders Share their Stories. Community Events, Experiences and Activities That Work
Tiffany Yu • Diversability
Douglas Finkelstein • Empathic Health
Tiana Dodson • Fat Freedom Practice
Ryan Clover • Build Your Website Essentials
Sonali Nigam • Petminded
In this round-robin event, community business leaders each shared their community building stories and one community experience that has worked for them. You'll leave with a bunch of new ideas you can try with your members.
The Power of Intentionally Staying Small
Jay Clouse • Creator Science
Jay's community, The Lab, made $100K+ in its first 6 months. It continues to grow exponentially as members rave about it as their favorite place on the internet. But what if infinite growth wasn't the goal?Jay has decided to cap the size of the community, forgoing potential revenue in favor of member experience. In this conversation, we'll talk about his tips for starting a beloved community like The Lab and the decision to intentionally slow its growth.
Going Deeper
If you’re building a community business and could use a clear roadmap, inspiration to go bigger, and new founder friends, I hope you’ll consider joining us in Build a Community Business.It's a course and community where you'll spend a full year among some of the most successful, values-driven community business founders, including most of the speakers from the summit!The deadline to join our next live cohort is October 21st.If you might be interested, the next step is to take 5 minutes to fill out an application. We’ll get back to you within 24 hours.
Questions? Send us a note at hi@businessofcommunity.co