Okay, much like standard headline in a rage-bait rag, that headline ain’t quite truthful. I didn’t start a micro-community… I merely realised that after five years of running small online groups and bringing people together to share in a particular goal or interest, running a micro-community was effectively what I was doing as I worked to add strings to my business bow. The concept of micro or small anything of course flies in the face of what we’re supposed to be doing as we make our mark in business… “Get as many people in through the door as you can!” “Target the big numbers to build and capitalise on your personal brand!” “Pay people to manage it for you and enjoy the passive profit!” This is all solid advice from people who are doing all of these things to build their own definition of a community, and obviously, it’s all great sense if you’re seeing this project purely from a business perspective. I don’t think many people would turn down those financial and brand boosting opportunities should they be handed directly to them. But it’s not for me. Bigger is not better for what I want (and what I want to do) in business.

These micro-communities I run – TeamGDI and Mighty Networkers – they’re not my business. I mean, they’re a part of it, for sure, and obviously I make money in return for keeping them going (you can do the maths and get the exact figures, if you find yourself with some free time on your hands). But in the main, both micro-communities were simply something I wanted to add into the range of things I hoped to offer through my business to suit different people with different goals, outlooks, and budgets (of course), should they ever want to work with me without having to go all-in and hire me (oh, the horror).

To make big money (and again, that would in fairness be lovely, as we all have a boiler to fire up for 11 and a half months of the year*), I’d need big numbers, and that’s not what I want from a community I’m personally running. I want to really get to know everyone in my groups in the quickest time possible. I want to have time to give each of them my focus, and I want everybody else in those groups to be able to do exactly the same with/for each other. Let’s be honest in the fact that I wouldn’t be able to get big numbers anyway; a) because I’m a behind-the-scenes writer, not an in-front-of-the-camera star, and b) because I fucking hate selling. I’ll throw a ‘c’ in here, as well, because on the subject of fucking hating things, I’m not particularly a massive fan of people, either – so why would I want more of them? Find the ones you like and be content, I say. How hashtag blessed my current and former members must feel, reading this…

It took a while for me to realise that ‘playing small’ was, despite being LinkedIn sacrilege, my purpose. In fact, it was probably four years into running TeamGDI and only just prior to setting up Mighty Networkers, when I figured out what I’d done in putting these amazing groups together. I’d become one of many purpose-led people who somewhere out in the world had created… A micro-community.

• A small group of people who gather together (online or in real life) in the name of a shared goal or interest
• A small group where everyone has a place… and a voice
• A small groups that’s, well, small in stature, but mighty in its mission

Micro-community. Perfect. I never really mentioned this ‘revelation’ to anyone in the first instance – I just enjoyed the feels, as the cool kids say. But last week when I formally put it to the lovely people in those micro-communities themselves (Team GDI and Mighty Networkers – ask me about either, by all means), they all loved it. There was a real contentment around it, in fact. Admittedly, my TeamGDI bunch would still prefer it if we went with ‘cult’, but that just shows you the sense of humour of the people in the group. Don’t go there. However… Don’t confuse this contented love and fluff with selflessness and altruism. Anyone who claims they’re running a paid and profitable group (which both of mine are) purely because they love it or because they cherish the people they serve, is obviously fucking lying. Otherwise, they’d be doing it for free or at cost, surely?

Much as I adore the work I do and the people who trust me to do it, I’m not enough of a shit-house to deny that a main motivator here is because there’s something in it for me. At first, that thing was income, and to add to that as a second, I wanted to feel a sense of achievement in creating something that had an impact. Both incredibly selfish and vain motivators, I know. But I quickly learned within months of immersing myself as a member in my own micro-community (because why wouldn’t you be a part of it), that I could reap rewards in so many other ways from my micro-communities, too. I could learn stuff, I could laugh, and I could build some wonderful friendships with people I could genuinely become close with in the process. Nice, hey?

My micro-communities and the activities within them are not ‘The Jo Show’, and rather than being a leader, I’m merely a facilitator. I didn’t get those pretentious letters after my name as seen on my LinkedIn profile thanks to not learning that a good leader is not necessarily the one who takes the centre stage! I may have the perceived ‘authority’ on the writing side of things (TeamGDI), or the networking training (Mighty Networkers), but when it comes to business, life, and everything in between, I get to learn from those with more experience than me, and I get to look up to those with a fresher take than I possess. I get more out of the groups than any of the other members, is what I’m unafraid to say to you. I may get the deciding vote if there’s an issue, and I may have to take the reins should things go off-track (tell me shit doesn’t go down in your group and I’ll call you a hairy-assed liar), but in terms of a hierarchy, not only am I not the top of the tree… I reckon I’m lucky to have made it into the forest at all.

With the obvious factor being ‘if there’s space’, of course you can come and see if one of my micro-communities is the place for you to learn, laugh, and find your people. Contact me right here. You won’t speak to a community manager, or an affiliate, or even another member. You’ll get through to me – as always.

Both TeamGDI (get better at writing) and Mighty Networkers (get better at networking) are hosted on the secure, easy to use, and quite frankly beautiful platform of Mighty Networks, which means in accessing and making best use of our micro-community platform space any time you want or need, there’s no need to be added to yet another Whatsapp group, and no call to fuck about with Facebook, either. Bliss.

So, ready to get better at something and find your people in the process? My micro-communities could well be the place for you.

*My more globally exotic members of my micro-communities will never know the true struggle of why I permanently turn up on calls in a dressing gown…