What's up? I'm Rachel Spiewak and this is Rock Your Tribe Radio where community, fun, social media and business collide. I firmly believe that parties are the answer to all of life's problems. Seriously. Building a community, bringing people together for a common purpose and serving them, that's your mission as a business owner. Let's make it happen. It's time to rock your tribe.
(00:28): Welcome to the show today. We've got part two of my interview with Tamara Mon Louis of Monaghan digital. She's critically acclaimed she's award winning, and we're working together to bring me into the B2B space where I'm creating digital community strategies for businesses and organizations. I'm still here to help with Facebook groups. And just this Friday, I was accepted into Facebook's invite only community for power admins in North America. This is big news, and I have you to thank for this without my community. I wouldn't receive this kind of recognition for the work that I do. So, you know, I love Facebook groups and I'm really good at helping entrepreneurs rock them. And the reason why is I've been studying and building community in real life for over 20 years, these concepts that I'm working with, they come from actual experience, which means that we can apply them anywhere like on clubhouse.
(01:22): For example, where Tamara and our friend fit with CJ hosted daily show called seven digital marketing trends at seven I'm there, Tuesday guest host, and we call it tribe Tuesday. And that's where I share what's going on in my business in real time. I'm pretty unfiltered on there. So you should check it out if you haven't yet, a few weeks ago, I share it on our clubhouse show seven tips to Uplevel your business through the power of digital community, because that's exactly what I'm doing, which brings us all the way up to this show right now. Are you still with me? Awesome. On the last episode of this podcast, we promised you that we would share those seven tips to Uplevel your business through the power of digital community. So that's what we're about to do. But first a tiny recap, I invited Samira to be my first guest on this podcast because we had to turn this milestone into a party that milestone being my shift into the B2B world with Tamara support, our interview was so much fun and so good.
(02:19): And we went on for so long that I had to turn it into a two part series here. On the last episode of this podcast, you got part one of the interview where we talked about taking the stress out of social media, using our survivor skills, to build community, creating unstoppable marketing teams and developing partnerships with our community members. Now it's time to share with you my top seven tips to Uplevel your business through the power of digital community, with insights from Tamara. You're going to love this. Are you ready? Here we go. So we promised our listeners some actionable tips. So let's talk about the seven tips to Uplevel your business through the power of community. And it's an autobiographical last. I shared this in our clubhouse room on Tuesday, but now as we go through it, I want to invite you to share your perspective on it because I'm thinking about who's listening to this podcast and they just hear me talk. It's all just been me talking this whole time. It's the Rachel show. So I thought I might be cool if you have a, a perspective to share with them, like, okay, so this is what I see Rachel.
(03:30): So step number one. And we talked about this a little bit before, develop your own community and your own platform. And you're going to use that to create your authority. You're creating your brand positioning. You're using it to attract potential partners, which is exactly what happened between us. And you're going to leverage your platform for opportunity swaps guest, expert, swapping and podcast appearances speaking at summits and not just speaking gigs, like can find potential partners and leverage these relationships and your platform to create money-making opportunities in your business that wouldn't exist when you're just doing it all on your own,
(04:10): Right? No, absolutely. And I did a swap with someone the other day in your group for an email assessment for a review for a great podcast. And I started listening to the podcast. It was the best and it was really good. So I learned so much. I met so many different people, right? I actually had a meeting with two people from your community about opportunities. That one, it's a strategic partnership opportunity, but our brand gets, you know, full visibility in this campaign. And then I have another group that I'm talking to. Non-For-Profit folks talking to them about digital on May 12th. So the opportunities are there and you present it. And even having a digital agency, having a business, being a part of that community, people need the business and you do an amazing job at that. I love that.
(04:57): Thank you. So that was number one, developing your own community and your platform to do all of these wonderful things. Tip number two, to Uplevel your business through the power of digital community is join other communities and become a regular contributor. And then you're going to look for opportunities to connect and collaborate. And I want to differentiate this from joining other communities and being spammy and tacky. That's not what it's about. You get what you give, especially on social media. If you want good community members, you need to go be a good community member. What do you think about that one?
(05:34): Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, it's good to see your community members like asking questions, people jumping in to help, you know, they help solve the problem. And then I actually joined a few of your community members communities and just, you know, I feel good about participating. I'm like, Oh, this is really cool. I like this group, you know, Oh, I can learn more about video. Oh, I needed this. And it allows me this really cool place to join and contribute because not all the time either. Do I want to be the leader of the group? And you know what I mean? Sometimes I kind of want to just take it easy, taking some stuff, and then there's always an opportunity to learn. Right. And what I love the most is it's grassroots marketing, right? And you and I talk about the grassroots marketing all the time. It's really being on the ground with business owners and seeing how they operate in another space. So I'm here for joining other communities and being a regular contributor. I think it's super important to do that.
(06:32): And you know, what's happening because of this because of the rock, your tribe world. And now that I'm teaching master classes on Facebook groups, I'm doing the one hour strategy session. So I'm still helping internet entrepreneurs with their Facebook groups. While I'm building out the B2B side of business, we are creating a, like a rocker tribe bubble of Facebook groups that all embody this particular ethos and this particular strategy. So you know that if you go into a group from somebody who's a member of the rock, your tribe community, you're still going to be inside this world where we have these shared values. And we have this shared idea of how a community is supposed to run and what a great Facebook group looks like. And that gets us out of that stream of like getting into groups that are uncomfortable. Or we, we feel like we're just being pitched at, or it's just people poaching each other for business, which is what happens in entrepreneur groups all the time. So I'm sort of watching the, the rock, your tribe bubble grow and start to encompass other groups, which is really cool church or like franchise
(07:35): Kinda. Yeah. Before I go on a tangent about like charismatic leadership and cult leaders, I'm trying not to go there a whole other thing, the whole other thing I'm like, did I get some [inaudible]? So let's go to tip number three. We are going to say yes to collabs that are going to stretch you, which is what I did. When Jamila came along with that summit opportunity, I was like, I've never spoken at a digital summit before. I've been a panelist on live panels before. Plenty of times, especially when I was a nonprofit executive director and I was doing a lot of community organizing when I lived in Atlanta, I was on the news a lot. I I was doing the media circuit before. I really knew what I was in my twenties, but I I've been down that road in real life before. And suddenly I'm doing it in this digital space with me, everything that I do, it escalates quickly. So my, my tip for, for everybody out there is to say yes to those collaborations that feel like a stretch you're probably more ready than you think you are.
(08:48): Absolutely. And I think it makes you sharper too. Right? So even if you're not ready, but you're a good study. That's all that really matters. Every time I've done a collaboration, that or something that was a little bit out of my I'm like, you know what? Let's bring it.
(09:02): And then the other side of that tip number four, take direction and constructive criticism like a champ.
(09:12): Listen, let me, I'm going to jump in. You do that so well. And I mean, I am, I'm not super critical, but I do give constructive criticism, right? Leading a team. It's just kind of what you do. Naturally giving people criticism and saying, Hey, here's how to do this better. You're the first person, one of the first people I've worked with were just like, you get the critique and then you're like, make the change. So I take it back to being in my yoga class. A yoga instructor was telling me the other day, she found that I did that a lot. She would make corrections and I would make the correction. It's just like you really good at taking direction. And so as a true leader, one of the things you really have to be good at is taking direction. Being able to course correct really quickly, not get in your feelings because you know, it's not personal, you know, nothing that we're doing here where we're moving to the next level. And none of this is personal. The personal was when I committed to working with you. Right? So that's personal, you know what I mean? Me telling you, you know, suck it up, buttercup to do it this way. It's not personal. It's about how do we get to work? How do we get to the next level is that is really the goal of the day. I'm, single-mindedly focused to what's that
(10:23): You've heard the same advice about Facebook groups everywhere. Ask questions, add value. But what does that mean? Let me show you what a profitable engaged and a fun Facebook group looks like, and I'll pop the hood for you so you can see exactly how I do it. Join my Facebook group. Rock your tribe, community, building for entrepreneurs at rock, your tribe.com forward slash Facebook.
(10:49): Yeah. Eyes on the prize, man. Like I don't have time to get my feelings hurt about things that aren't meant. It's not, nobody means it in a malicious kind of way. It's not a put down. It's about getting to the goal faster, more efficiently. There are things I want to accomplish. And so there's no sense in getting my feelings hurt. If you come along and you have an outside perspective, you have experience and an education and things, and you see something I don't, this is why I think about athletes a lot. And this is why I go to like a psychotic gym. Like I go to orange theory. It's one of the cultist ones where, you know, my coach is going to pick on me and I liked that. Like, I want them to, I want them to correct my form because why else, if I'm going to spend an hour of my day here and I'm going to spend all his money on doing this thing and when I could be spending it on something else or doing something else, and I'm going to come here and have poor form and hurt myself and not get stronger, that's stupid.
(11:47): And so I think it's the same thing in business world. You know, it's like, if I'm going to get out there and get on the court and try to, you know, shoot my shot and like, you know, I'm not going to do it with my eyes closed.
(11:58): Right. Right. You know what I mean? Like my whole thing is like, I mean, I want to learn. I want to, I constructive criticism. And even when I get it and it comes from any weird, you know what I mean? Sometimes I get it. My team is sometimes like, Hey, you know? And I'm like, Oh, I got you. It's just like course. Correct. You know what I'm saying? I need to do this better. Got it. No problem. So yeah, it makes you grow and just let that go is not personal.
(12:24): Yeah, man. Hack your ego. Okay. Tip number five, seek out communities and people who are steps ahead of you, especially when you bring your level of motivation and your drive and persistence where people who are steps ahead of you, who respect the game that you bring will bring you along. So it's on you to bring that kind of drive and motivation and then approach the people who are steps ahead of you. And then I think you will be welcomed into their world.
(12:56): Definitely. I think you're right. Getting with people that are steps ahead of you. And when people that are steps ahead of you pay attention to you, take notice of it, right. Once you start noticing it, you're like, okay, cool, no problem. I noticed you noticing me. And so when that starts to happen, you're kind of like, all right, cool. How do I shift and start putting a strategy together to operate? Because you also don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're vulnerable, right? Because you haven't thought it through and you get taken advantage of. So it's also being smart about working with those people that are steps ahead of you understanding what's in it for you. What you're going to get. Ho what are the business goals?
(13:31): Definitely. Seven tips to Uplevel your business through the power of digital community, tip number six, get off social media and get on calls. No sad. I mean like, that's it that's the social media is hello, you know, like like it doesn't mean anything, you know, just call some people.
(13:52): And I don't mean this like weird thing and it's, I'm making this shift out of like internet coachee coach world, but in internet coach, coach, world, there's this thing with like discovery calls, you know, strategy calls, forcing a sales call when there maybe shouldn't even be one. And so I don't mean get on these kinds of calls, these disingenuous, fake sales calls. Not that what I mean is real relationship building type calls. And I mean, get on them without expectation other than to build a relationship, because you might be surprised about what could come out of that. If you just chill, right? Like the money is in the relationships. It's not always cash. There's social capital. That's the currency we're really dealing in, backed up by cash. So let's get on these comfortable calls, not weird discovery calls and just talk to people, get to know them and you will see what happens. Good. Things will happen,
(14:47): You know, before you do that, you can vet them, right. People do talk to you. So, you know, just let them make sure they're the right people to talk to. You know, I did that a lot in the beginning, as I was trying to build the community, you know, I had these 45 minute sessions just to listen to what businesses were doing, what they were doing and just understand a little bit more about the people in clubhouse we were connecting with. And it made a huge difference just in my connection with them, me understanding more. So yeah. Get off of social media. And
(15:15): Now we're at tip number seven, don't undermine authority or leadership also known as stay in your lane. And so when we are leaders, ourselves, business leaders, community leaders, we need to go be good community members for other leaders. And so we have to sort of take our leader hat off sometimes and just be a good community member, which means not taking up too much space. We're going to contribute. There's a time and a place, right. For you to be shaping what is happening versus contributing to what's happening.
(15:48): Yeah. 100%, the best leaders are some of the best followers because then they're paying attention and they're listening, right? So I'm one of the biggest skillsets of a leader is being able to listen. And so you must be a great follower in order to do that. So you don't have to suck the oxygen out of the room all the time. You know what I mean? Sometimes there's nothing to say. And every opportunity to sit quiet and take in more information is an opportunity to grow.
(16:18): And this is something I think about because I can take up some space sometimes. And so it's part of the ego hacking that goes on, right? And, and not getting your feelings hurt when somebody has some constructive criticism for you. And part of hacking your ego is also knowing when you need to turn the dial down. And so I can come into another person's space, even if I'm invited as a speaker, I'm not the moderator, for example, and being able to clock yourself in those environments.
(16:50): That's a part of reading the room, understanding things about people too, are they introverts or the extroverts or extroverts pretending to be introverts for this moment, really understanding those things. If you understand people and pay attention to it, it really helps with the leadership skills and falling into the right roles and at the right time in order to, again, not to suck all the oxygen out of them.
(17:12): Yeah. And part of what happens when you, when you shut up and listen, and also a part of what happens when you encourage that user generated content, such as the puff puff, pass the mic such as live video Palooza, when you stop talking and you create that space and listen to people, this is huge for data collection. So let's talk about that. You know, just from the, the marketing side of things, the analytics side of things, which I know is like your bread and butter is analytics on the surface. It's like, Oh, you know, we're just like making weed jokes, whatever, but we are getting our members to give us to hand over data. So we know who they are better so we can serve them better. And that comes with shutting the up, sometimes
(18:00): Cure that. So, I mean, I think nuff said, you know, getting that data, getting the information, getting them to confirm and say certain things is huge. It allows you to really hone in on your message and allow you to hone in on your, what you're doing for your customers. So, I mean, yeah, pretty much.
(18:20): And so that's the seven tips on how to Uplevel your business through the power of digital community. But I always have to have a bonus, gotta have a bonus tip. There's always an Encore. So our bonus tip is knowing your boundaries, leaving bad communities and cutting out bad alliances, just because we're preaching the gospel of building relationships doesn't mean we have to build relationships with everybody. And one thing that I talk about a lot is having ruthless boundaries. I have like a zero tolerance policy with spamming, with the isms, whatever, like you express any of, any kind of nonsense. If you're coming to my community and you're a Dick you're out of there, there's over 10 million Facebook groups out there. And that's just Facebook. Like there are good jillions of digital communities and real life communities. You can go bother them, get out of mine.
(19:05): So my ruthless boundaries makes it possible for me to be ridiculously generous with the people who are inside my community. A lot of my insiders know that like I ride hard for my inside people. Like I slide into DMS all the time with like business ideas, collaboration, ideas. Cause I'm thinking about all of you all the time. And I see so many things, I see examples, I see opportunities. And so I want all my people to win. And the only way for me to do that and not get burned is to cut out the nonsense. And so ruthless boundaries that's you got to do it zero tolerance policy.
(19:43): Yeah. As a business owner, you have to think about your monetary is you have to set the boundaries. You know what I mean? As a person in general, you have to set boundaries if not get walked over, you know what I mean? And keeping cutting out the nonsense, if it doesn't work for you, if it doesn't necessarily, you get rid of it. It's okay. You know, people are there sometimes for a season, a reason, a lifetime don't get caught up again, no feelings, boundaries, and yeah. You can work with the people.
(20:09): That's right. So that's what we're doing. We're working with good people. So that brings us to the end of the list. And I think it's, I think we got to wrap up this podcast. It's Fairmont Louie. Thank you for everything. Everything. I appreciate you so much. We're about to kill it, man.
(20:30): Good. Thanks. You know, I am so excited that you are even allowing me to be on this journey with you. You know what I mean? I'm honored to be part of the guide and then kind of watch it all unravel because listen, I told you before your goal, you know what I'm saying? So
(20:46): Thank you. So to all the business owners, leaders, community members out there who are like, yes, I need a digital community strategy for my business, for the marketing side of things. And for our internal company culture holler at your girl was sure. So it's pheromone, Louie. Thank you for being here and thank you to all of our listeners for being here and as always you rock,
(21:22): This is ThePodcastFactory.com.
