Gina Bianchini argues that communities built around identity or job title fail. Instead, focus on the life transitions members are going through: marketing managers aiming for director, parents returning to work. When you niche by transition, not label, you attract the most motivated people and create a growth loop as they move to the next phase.
Chapters
One of the fastest paths to failure is bringing people together on identity alone. You are a high-profile marketing executive. Of course, you're going to want to meet other high-profile marketing executives. Well, it turns out there are a lot of demands on the time of high-profile marketing executives. Worse, they may actually not have a transition that just being a high-profile marketing executive would create. And so they They don't actually know what they're supposed to be doing together or why they joined, but they like you, so they don't wanna hurt your feelings. So they're like, okay, sure, I'll try this. And then probably what's happening is because you as the host don't have clarity as to what is the transition and why a transition. Transitions create the most motivated people. So when you, for example, would bring together up-and-coming marketing managers that are really excited to take on their first directorship. Now, you've got motivated people. And you have clarity as to why they would join. And then you've just gotta navigate things like, okay, what is our framework for getting from marketing manager to director? How do we define it? What does it mean? What are we going to be doing and navigating together? Probably understanding what is the state of marketing right now? Mm-hmm. Probably also looking at how is it changing. The other thing I really like about transitions and focusing in on transitions is when you identify who is the most motivated, you will still eventually get to that higher-ranked people that you have your own identity around. Like, like, look at who I'm able to bring together. The big trick, though, is don't let your own ego and who you think is important Define who the members of your community should be. The members of your community who are the most motivated are ultimately going to get you the most success and be the strongest foundation for where you take your community from here. The other really great thing about identifying and starting with transitions, not rank, is that it helps you to then be able to articulate the benefits or the results that that person's going to be able to get by being a member. And that is what I call your best year ever. And your best year ever, or their best year ever, it's from the perspective of the member, not you as the host. And so coming back to our example of the marketing manager, you know, who, who's hungry to become a director, you know that their best year ever would be to learn everything that they possibly could learn and have the relationships with people they can have on speed dial. To be able to successfully get promoted to director, and then as a director, kick ass. So you have the reason for someone to join. So number one, they're motivated by the transition. Number two, you're able to articulate their results and transformation, or as I like to call it, their best year ever. The next wave of things that I would wanna understand are how are you structuring your monthly themes, your weekly calendar, and your daily polls and questions? Now, again, daily polls and questions. Mm-hmm. might sound hard. They're not. It's been automated. Like, we can use AI today, certainly in a Mighty Network, this is, this is built in, to be able to ask really compelling questions that follow a very simple formula. The next thing to do is go deep on the transitions, go deep on the best year ever, ask these questions. What will come out the other side is something truly powerful. Valuable to not just those members, but everybody else that you want to build the community with going forward. Just a little backstory. So I started teaching community design and I've taught it at this point to over 10,000 people, all with that same goal of like, figure out who your ideal member is. This is the person who wants and needs your community the most right now. And that it's super important that you find a niche because the more that you niche down, The easier it is for you to get members. So here's the problem with niching down. Nobody knows what it means. Nobody knows what it means. So I would see all of these incredibly smart people, incredibly motivated, aspiring community builders, and they would get stuck on the first step. And so I figured out something that has worked extraordinarily well, which is Don't pick a niche. Identify people who are in a transition. So what's a transition? We've all been through transitions. It might be when we graduate from college and have our first job. It might be getting married. It might be having your first kid. It might be moving to a new town. It might be picking up an instrument, opening a, a store, or Launching a community. All of these are transitions in people's lives. And you know, a transition is a transition if it's, how am I helping somebody go from point A to point B? Before they can do this, after they can do this. And what I've found is that if you are trying to figure out how to make your life really easy when you're creating a community and monetizing it, you really want to just start with a transition. By geography. Or demographic, psychographic, behavior. Get as specific as you can, and then be really clear about what that transition is. If you think in terms of transitions, you are going to be set up for success in ways that if you're just kind of fuzzy in niches, it's just gonna be really, really hard to get over that first step. It's the first step, it's the most important step, and I have just found and gotten tremendous feedback from people that when you start with a transition, Mm-hmm. Everything gets easier. But what about once people are through that first transition? Aha! I'm so glad you didn't ask that question, but I'm going to answer it anyways, which is, it's a beautiful thing when you have somebody who started in one place is now through that transition in another place, because you now have 2 interesting opportunities. Opportunity one is getting more people into The first transition. You now know it works, you know, and you feel much more confident in terms of, okay, how do I get people from point A to point B? And by the way, we have a step-by-step process for doing that. It's in the masterclass. Go ahead and grab it. We'll put it in the show notes. But then also you've got another transition because all of those people who just made it through the first transition have another transition. That they are excited to tackle next. Human beings are constantly in transition. That's what makes life beautiful and vivid and interesting and, and fun. Even when it's tackling tough challenges or things that have happened that are really bad, it is easier and better and much more meaningful to go through those things together with other people. I am a passionate believer in starting with transitions. And as much as a niche is an amazing thing, and if you nail it the first time, it's wonderful. If you're starting from scratch or, you know, you're struggling and your business isn't exactly working the way you want it to, it typically is because your niche is not clear enough. Your ideal member, that person who wants or needs your community the most right now, where right now is all caps, is just not clear enough. And the single easiest way of making something clear is by choosing a transition. This is also a place that you start narrow and you can always go broad later. It doesn't even have to be a transition that you've been through. That certainly makes it more natural and easier to get your head around, but it doesn't have to be a transition that you have been through. Your role is valuable because you are the organizer, you are the host, because you are introducing people who are on the same path to each other. You don't have to be an expert. You just have to raise your hand and say, I'm putting this together so that you are able to effectively navigate a transition that you're probably pretty motivated to navigate. When we are embarking on transitions, we are the most motivated. We are the most motivated to meet people. We are the most motivated to try new things. We are the most motivated to dive in headfirst and navigate it. Effectively, that's really where you can find that sweet spot and, and really just make it super easy for you to get started. I'm Gina Bianchini. This is People Magic, and I will see you in the next episode. Woo!
