Leveling Up Through Community-Led Growth with Amelia Taylor

I don't know, back and forth of just trust. So find the people that you can trust in the communities too, who know that you're not just there to lurk. Like, why are y' all lurking? Stop lurking. Show up. What are you lurking for? I think because I show up a whole lot and I know the people within civilian mouth. What do you say? You always have something you say that's like, let's kick it. Something like that. Kick it. Fire emoji. Yeah. All that said, it's like, okay, that's where I found you. I didn't go and try to find you and found you where I know you would be.

Because I also seen a lot of these communities is very similar to even, like social networks. The 8020 rule is an effect where, like, really 80% are lurkers, but they're not contributing. Then you've got, like your hyper users, right, where they're all up in there all day long, right? And you're like, do you have a job? Like, how are you?

Do you sleep?

Yeah, it's just crazy to me. And so I do want to, you know, because there's cons to communities, there's pros. Let's flip it to the potential pro here of how do you get the most out of a community? Because it's one thing to join it, but how, like, how do you actually make sure you're getting value from it? How do you leverage the community, like, as an individual, so as you are getting value from it versus just being a lurker in 17 different, you know, sales, professional groups, like, how do you think you could leverage a community to learn more, to grow?

So as a salesperson, I will say year to date, 90% of my pipeline and revenue sold has come through communities, which is a pretty hefty percentage that all being, I would say, at least 85% through pavilion, because that's where those buyers lived. That's where the people with the pen of hand were at. I, you know, I think that there's a lot that people can do as salespeople, but they, they would rather lurk because they don't want to talk. They'd rather just kind of sit back and see what others do, then copy, repeat, rinse, repeat, so on, so forth, because they don't want to put in the work, right? So maybe communities are a place where, oh, I don't have to put in the work. Somebody else is doing that. Let me just kind of repeat what they're doing or they're going to show me how to do it, then I can just go do it and I can copy paste. That's not, that's not going to better you by any means. So if you're going to go in a community and you want value from it, go help people. First and foremost, show up with the intention to help. Because what I've sold is solely from literally connecting the dots for people. They come back full circle. They'll say, hey, I've got an intro for you. Mind if I do this? Just only because I helped them and showed up for them. So that's one way for salespeople to show up and get value from communities. Also, if there's courses, better jump on that because those people are taking their time to deliver some really deep insights and wisdom and to have that be something that you have done and accomplished, that's going to grow your confidence. It's going to grow what you know, you're going to be able to do things better. Not just like copy paste, let's just do what others are doing. So, and then reach out to people. Just ask people, hey, does this resonate with you? Right? Like, if there's multiple people where I've, I've reached out and I've written something up and they're like, yeah, no, I. But they would be my icp, but maybe they're, you know, different country, whatever it may be, but gain that just, I don't know, back and forth of just trust. So find the people that you can trust within the communities too, who know that you're not just there to lurk. Like, why are y' all lurking? Stop lurking. Show up. What are you lurking for?

It's actually comical to me. And you touched on two things that just, like, crack me up and confuse me about these communities, right? So, like, you know, I'm, I'm in. I'm in pavilion, right? I've been in Pavilion since it was rev Collective, right. I've been a member there for a while. How much outreach do you think I get in Pavilion on a monthly basis? How many people do you think reach out to me asking for thoughts monthly? What do you think?

I'm going with 125, nine. Actually, I'm going with five.

Five to six. Yeah, five to six. I'm gonna.

125 should be right.

It's. That's what's interesting. I'm in there, I'm accessible. You have direct access.

I see that little, that I see that little green thing, which is how we chatted. The first one of the first Times.

Less than five or six people reach out on a regular basis, which is funny. I teach courses with Pavilion and this is where it gets very interesting. Yeah. I'm teaching a manager course right now that is 10 weeks. Okay. 13 hours of content that I would put against any manager course quite literally in the world. Companies pay me tens of thousands of dollars to teach their people this stuff. And in Pavilion, you basically are getting it for free. And yet people will not show up, people will not engage. People will just kind of miss out on the end. It's like, you understand the value here of the. But a lot of people don't leverage the value of the community. And I think that's part of it is they don't contribute first.

Yep.

Which then prevents them from them building the relationships to make the asks second and going from there. Because you mentioned it right before we started recording this idea of like, community burnout. Right. Of like all the rage for a while. And we're starting to, I think, see it burn out a little bit. Like, yeah, talked about saturation for a little bit, but go down this path a little bit deeper. Why? Why do you think people are starting to burn out on communities a little bit? Right. As more and more people now are like, I got a community. I got a community because of that.

Because everybody's got a freaking community. Everybody's like, I can't dedicate. I can't do my job and also jump in this community and contribute. This is exhausting. I mean, it is. And once you do show up within these communities that are just to go and show up to play and hang out and what. No, really angle in mind of what's actually going on or why you're there. You're burned out because you're just showing up for what. And then you end up helping other people. And then it's not this return and you're seeing. Not that everything has to be a return, but if you're going to be a part of a community, if your time is invested within something that is where you're not paying, there's no payoff. You are showing up delivering value or asking the right questions or tapping the right people. Right people. I keep saying that the quote, unquote, right people, anybody could be the right person. You can learn something from anyone. But if you are. If you're doing that with all these communities, okay, what is it that you really are gaining? And I think of that for myself, I'm thinking, okay, everything I'm saying goes back to the one that has the Paywall Up. That is literally where everything is going back to Pavilion. The one that has done the most for me because I've shown up and I've taken the courses. I mean, with Jocko, right. Like when I learned a immense amount from when he had. How. When he talked. Which courses?

Revenue Architecture.

Yes. So, yep. So. Or Intro to Revolve. So he was. So I took that course. And Roslyn Santa Elena, I mean, mentor to this day. And solely from showing up. I mean, we worked together for a couple of months, but it was through Pavilion too, that we really were able to just collaborate and get to know one another. And now she's a dear friend and so actually having that immense amount of knowledge at your fingertips. Come on, y'. All. Like, I mean, I signed up for ones that were only executive the other day and was approved to be in those, even though I'm associate. I think because I show up a whole lot and I know the people within Pavilion now and they're like, okay, she's gonna actually participate and she's gonna show up and not just be a body that fills up this space. Whereas we could have somebody who maybe would contribute and bring value. I mean, I talked to someone the other day about potentially doing some kind of course at some point and it kind of being an AMA with different people and which is kind of interesting, right? Because it's like that delivers value. People want to have a safe place. Great, let's do it to where there's people who are. Have so much knowledge, but let's not take all their time either. It doesn't have to be a long, long, long course. Let's do a 30 minute thing opposed to that. Where they're getting value out of it too. And it's a little fun. You have fun with it.

Yeah. And that's the last part that I wanted to get into is like, you know, to have fun with it. Because there's also, I think, communities out there that, you know, they're either only focused on the fun.

Right.

I was like, okay, this isn't where I need to have my fun. But there's also ones where it's so serious that there, that there is no fun, there is no connection, there is no community. Like, it's too buttoned up, it's too tight. And I don't think people want that either. Where it's like, hey, like, building relationships should be fun. Getting to meet two people that you vibe with should be fun. That's how you and I connected, right? Like, it's how you and I connected.

It's like you and I connected a long time ago, actually. And I don't even think. I don't know if you remember when my. I was at Inside Out, I was working with your sister.

Actually, I did not.

I did not remember Katie. You, her and I, you helped with us trying to figure out how to even write a sequence. We had no clue what we were doing, either of us. So. Yeah. Just too funny. Side note.

Yeah.

And so I know. So then her and I both decided, all right, we're gonna go find something new. I jump into seamless. She jumps into patient pop. You know, you're a patient pop. And she's telling me, okay, Katie's telling me not to say, like, anything to anybody like that. Like, you're gonna do this by yourself. Like, I believe in you, but I'm not gonna get you this job. Like, you're gonna get it yourself. And she's so pumped that she got it herself. And so, of course, like, from there, I'm following you. Right? You're somebody that everybody's following and learning from. And so then when I reached out to you, knowing, okay, his little green dot is right there within pavilion. It's like 7:30 at night. What was this? Maybe a couple months ago, three months ago. And I send you a voice note just saying, hey, do you want to do this webinar this live with Morgan Smith and Nicholas. Do you want to do this with them with the line? And you're like, what's your line that you always say, let's do this. What do you say? You always have something you say that's like, let's kick it. Something like that. Fire emoji. Yeah. So all that said, it's like, okay, that's where I found you. I didn't go and try to find you and Revgenius or, you know, not to knock any of these, but it's. I didn't go and find you in some slack community or whatever or some Facebook group or something that's a premium version of just hangout, places to go. I found you where I know you would be, where you teach and lead and deliver value, where I've gotten value from you.