Email 2.13 - Return On Impact

? Cole Johnson ?? , Nick Raeburn , Britta Blanski , and Ishu Bansal , thank you so much for talking back to me after the previous newsletter and sparking new thoughts and ideas ????

For others - talk to me, help me help you ??

And if my experience helps you succeed in your professional and personal journeys, support me here ????

In Today's Issue

• Community ROI conversation with Tim McDonald
• Helping Ishu to deal with building new client relationships.
• Why you should ask people for help to build strong relationships.

Let's Talk

Long before I've had a Community ROI conversation with Tim, I learned from him that ROI also stands for Return On Impact!

And I fully agree with that!

No matter what we invest - money, power, energy, time - it's all about our impact and how it helps us, other people, and the companies we work in succeed.

And the more value you create with your impact, the more great things will happen in your life ??

So let's talk about that!

Community ROI

This week, it's another episode of Community ROI with Tim McDonald —a community strategist and architect of humanity with more than a decade of experience who was talking about community ROI long before it became mainstream! ??

(and from now on, I'll post new episodes of the Community ROI bi-weekly)

So here are 10 quotes to learn about community ROI from Tim:

1. "A community goal is only meaningful when it aligns with the business objectives; it's about finding a synergy that benefits both."
2. "The real impact of a community is seen when its growth directly supports business sustainability and expansion."
3. "Connecting community goals with business goals creates a flywheel effect: more engagement leads to more funding, which fuels more growth."
4. "In a nonprofit, aligning community efforts with business goals can amplify the reach and effectiveness of both, creating a cycle of positive impact."
5. "Communities drive business growth by building loyalty and trust, which are invaluable in both retaining and expanding customer bases."
6. "The key to leveraging community for business success is ensuring every community effort ties back to a clear business outcome."
7. "A well-aligned community not only supports its members but also helps achieve business goals by demonstrating real-world impact and value."
8. "For a community to truly drive business growth, it needs to be more than just numbers; it must create meaningful connections and results."
9. "Communities can act as a catalyst for business growth when their goals and activities directly support organizational objectives."
10. "To see true business growth, nonprofits need to balance community expansion with meaningful engagement that aligns with their mission and goals."

And if you'd like to know even more, listen to the full episode with Tim here ??

Youtube

Spotify

Apple Podcasts

In this podcast, I speak with experienced community builders, CEOs, and founders about how a community impacts business growth, so please, go like this post so more people know and can learn from it! ????

Mastering Freelancing

After the last newsletter, Ishu Bansal asked me:

"What strategies do you find most effective in building new client relationships as a freelancer?"        

So today, I'll answer Ishu's question, and if you have any questions, too, ask me right away! ??

First and foremost, here is a mantra I have in my mind while making a new connection:

Give value first! Have no expectations.

So, no matter who I meet, I always ask a question:

"Is there anything I can help you with right away?"

If people know what I do, they can share some challenges they have, and I try to help as much as possible.

If people don't know what I do, they might check my profile more thoughtfully to see if they can somehow use my proposal (even if not, I'll already be in their minds ??).

If people don't have a challenge or don't want to think about it, they'll say something like, "Thank you very much. I will think about some stuff and ask you later." In this case, if we intersect sometime in the future, they'll come back to the previous conversation and see that I'm open to helping, so it'll be easier for them to ask.

The worst-case scenario they won't answer, so I definitely have nothing to lose by helping them first ????

The next thing I do is share my knowledge openly and highlight other people on the posts, podcasts, and this newsletter.

I chose the topics I'm especially good at:

• connecting community goals with business goals
• helping freelancers in their journeys
• building human connections

and I do my best to find the biggest challenges people face around those topics and share as much information as possible for free.

It's fully connected with giving value, but it also helps me show my expertise, build trust, and stay top of mind with potential clients.

The third thing that I'm doing is using public speaking opportunities - webinars, podcasts, coaching sessions, online and offline conference speeches.

You'll be laughing, but again, it's connected with giving value! ??

But it allows me to expand my reach to some specific audiences who are not in my network yet, and show up on potential clients' radars as a person who's intelligent, knowledgeable, openly shares their experience, and even fun! ??

So, I never do cold outreach, but I use every opportunity to help people in my network and even outside of it.

And some time ago, I was surprised when people reached out like,

"Hey, Yurii, I want to build a community for my startup, and you're the first person on my mind to go to!"

But now I know that when you understand the needs of your potential clients and help them upfront, you won't need to search for clients - they will find you!

Ishu, I hope this info is helpful to you, and if you have any more questions, ask them right away, and let's continue our conversation! ??

Human Connections

When you're building human relationships, it's a two-way street, and if it's always a good practice to help people first without any expectations, guess what?

They want to help you, too! ??

But how can they help you if you are not letting them do it?

It's something I'm still learning to do - allow people to help me.

And the easiest way to do that is to ask for help.

Every time someone asks me for help, I'm always "Yes, sure, I'm here to help!"

But when someone asks me if I need help, I'm like, "I guess I'm okay, thank you" ??

I don't want to bother people by adding extra tasks to their plate, but when I help someone, I feel happy that I can make someone's life easier, so why the hell am I not letting others feel happy, too?

So now, I always keep some low-hanging thing to ask people to help with, like:

• if it's a freelancer, I can ask them to share Freelance Thrive and Freelance Sucks podcast with their freelancing friends or advise me on whom to invite as a guest
• if it's a community builder, pretty much the same - spread the word about the Community ROI and Community Life Show
• if it's just a random person I've met, I may ask them about their first professional opinion of me to understand how my personal brand looks like

I've recently even created a "Buy me a coffee" thing if someone wants to help me buy some time to write and share my experience more! ????

(However, I still don't know how to ask about finding sponsors for my podcasts ??)

And even though asking for help might put you in a vulnerable position, just accept it, embrace yourself, and let people feel happy by helping you!

Curiosity Corner

“The thing is that people want to tell their stories. But only if you’re really interested in them.”

Excerpt from "The New New Journalism" by Robert Boynton

Upcoming Events

• Between Two Watercoolers Meeting 124 on Friday, September 6th @ 10 am PT (7 pm CET) - to meet new and old friends from the community world
• Freelance Unlocked 2025 - May 14th-15th, 2025, in Berlin - if you're a freelancer in Europe - you must be there ????

Valuable Materials

• The Community-Driven Approach to Nonprofit Growth and Impact (Video and Audio) - Community ROI conversation with Tim McDonald
• How To Stay Ahead In A Competitive Market By Using AI (Video and Audio) - Freelance Thrive conversation with Stefan Ritter
• How To Deal With Time Constraints As A Freelancer (Video and Audio) - Freelance Sucks conversation with Nick Raeburn

In upcoming newsletters, I'll share even more tips and tricks I learned from multiple conversations with experienced community builders and freelancers, so stay tuned ??

P.S. I help build communities for startups and fast-growing companies that want to foster trusted customer relationships and grow together!

If it sounds your way, message me, and let's make it happen! ????