Hi YATMers, I'm Nils Arne Johnsen and today I run Video Vekst.
For the first 25 years of my working life, I worked in the marketing department of Stavanger Aftenblad, one of Norway’s largest newspapers.
Today I am 64 and work with video content for businesses. I work by a simple principle: People buy people first.
Here is my recommendation to you. The reason I now receive the weekly You Are The Media newsletter is Mark Masters’ book, The Content Revolution.
That book has meant more to me than I realised. I bought it in 2017, and when I picked it up again this year, I could clearly see how much it has influenced the way I work.
One line from a recommendation back then stayed with me: “It is more important than ever to tell the story of your business and how you help others.”
A lot has changed since the book was published in 2015. Loking at the world today, with AI and so much AI-generated content, I believe real people telling real stories are becoming even more important. At the same time, I really enjoy using AI as a sparring partner for ideas, structure and making everyday work a little easier.
Let's make sure we connect today.
Here I am on LinkedIn
Where I work here
Community can look collective from the outside, but almost every community begins with an unequal amount of effort from one person.
You have to do so much work at the start, where it can feel unrewarding before other people can carry it with you. This is something that not many people talk about because we like to create the impression that community somehow carries itself.
Nobody wants to put their hand up and say, “I’m doing nearly everything.” That is often where it all starts.
This article was inspired by a post from Jessica Lackey last week, it's here. The message from Jessica was you can't wait for people to discover you, you have to go towards them.
Where We Started
Today YATM is a learning community for small businesses who are creating something of their own.
We have people leading sessions at in-person events around the country and inside our online space, YATM Club. It feels like a place where people are active and feel part of something. For many, it has become a third space.
Contrast this with where it all started, everything was on me.
If I wanted people to read something or understand what I was trying to build, I had to write it. If I wanted people to meet, I had to create the reason, talk about it and personally invite people.
There wasn’t someone telling another person that Lunch Club was worth trying. There was no momentum waiting for me. I had to create it.
When you start something, you have to model what you want before other people begin to understand that it is for them too.
Someone Has To Go First
Community can be made to sound wonderfully organic, but it just doesn’t start that way.
Perhaps eventually word of mouth grows, people gather and it starts to find momentum, it just takes a lot of work to get there.
I still do a lot of the work today. When someone subscribes to the YATM newsletter, I’ll try and find them on LinkedIn and connect. It’s a small way of letting them know that I see them.
When Lunch Clubs are on the horizon, I have a database of all our events and I’ll reach out to people inviting them to attend. I’ll send emails and DMs where people can tell it is an invitation from me rather than an automated send.
If someone is considering joining YATM Club, I have a page where they can book a 30 minute call with me. I could record a video explaining the Club once and send every interested person the same link, I don’t. I want people to know they can have a conversation with me and understand whether YATM can play a useful role for them.
Then there is the YATM newsletter. I put time aside every week to write about what feels current around community, interdependence and a “more together” approach to our work.
If I am being honest none of what I shared scales particularly well. However, I know the effects do.
When we automate too much of our work, it can feel less personal. When people can see that you have taken the time to notice them, invite them or speak with them, that effort is recognised.
I’ve learned that many personal actions do not scale, but behaviour can. It’s the invitation you make that becomes the work. Whereas outreach is part of the work, to encourage people to make a commitment to you.
At The Beginning, The Effort Is Unequal
Anyone who wants to start something around an idea has to accept that they will probably care more about it than everybody else.
You may have lived with an idea for years. You have the history, context, relationships and emotional investment. Someone who recently subscribed or connected with you doesn’t.
That is why founders can be easily frustrated when other people don’t show the same level of commitment.
It’s never nice when you reach out to someone and you don’t get a reply. That’s just the game we play. We can mistake our own attachment for a reasonable expectation of someone else.
You cannot demand an emotional shortcut. Attachment has to accumulate over time.
People need to see what you are working on, what you are thinking about and the body of work you have created. They need experiences with other people. They need repeated evidence that what you are making is worth investing a little more of themselves in.
The founder has to invest today in behaviours that may only become visible years later.
This means carrying more than your fair share of the work at the beginning.
The Four Stages Of Change
What I am sharing here is based on my own observations of what happens when other people gradually begin to carry the initiative you started.
For instance, people lead Lunch Clubs, recommend Lunch Club to other people and when our events happen a lot of the activity in our WhatsApp Groups is driven by other people, not just me.
These might look like small acts, but it shows that participation is when someone joins what you have created. A new threshold is crossed when someone decides to make something happen from their own volition and what happens next.
There are four stages I am seeing when it comes to community leadership. What happens is over time, what you carry becomes shared with others.
STAGE 1
Founder Driven – You Make It All Happen
This is where the majority of the energy originates from the founder.
You create all the content, the occasions, the introductions and invitations to keep the idea seen.
The problem is if you stop, the activity will stop too. Most communities start in this place.
STAGE 2
Member Shared – You start, people extend
The founder is still a significant source of momentum, but other people begin carrying aspects of the community further. This could be contributing to conversations, welcoming others and build relationships that no longer require the founder to sit in the middle.
As an example, this is where much of YATM sits today.
STAGE 3
Member Initiated – People Make Things Happen
This is the pivotal stage. People start taking responsibility without waiting for the founder.
These are the people who can help start and move forward. For instance, it could be introducing other members to each other, or helping to answer a question that isn’t just from the founder. It could also be supporting a newcomer at an event or offering to lead.
Lots of attendance, enthusiasm and conversation do not automatically mean ownership has transferred.
We are seeing the gradual progression of YATM into this space. It’s about what exists that you didn’t create. The strength in this place is when positive action happens without waiting for you.
STAGE 4
Stewarded Network – The founder protects the conditions
This is where the founder doesn’t disappear, but the role changes. Instead of producing most of the momentum, you increasingly protect the conditions in which other people can create momentum.
It means you protect and take care of the culture, you can see where trends are happening, you connect people, provide direction and step forward when needed and step aside when someone else can.
It’s not about stepping aside but reproducing the behaviours without you always at the helm. This is where the network becomes capable of creating its own momentum.
Let’s Round Up
The ultimate achievement of community leadership isn’t getting people to follow you. It’s helping people discover what they can do with each other. This is the place I eventually want YATM to reach.
At first, the effort is largely one-sided. You do the work, make the invitation and create the progress.
It isn’t about a loss of control but proof that the earlier work mattered and led to something far bigger than you started.
You have to be comfortable doing a lot of work before that happens. The long-term achievement is creating a place where more people feel confident enough to do the work too. That’s a hopeful place to be.
More together starts with someone going first. Success is when they are no longer the only one.
Share this with someone else 💌
youarethemedia.co.uk/community-leadership-founder-effort/
Time Wasting
Simulate sun shadows for any time and place on Earth.
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This Week Around The Web
GROWTH, CREATION & YOUR INDEPENDENCE
I use AI. I am not a criminal - from Mark Schaefer
👉 Will using AI in any way breach trust in you and your work?
What to do when you your content will rock - from Brian Clark
👉 Nobody knows anything… except your audience.
THE COMMUNITY YOU CAN BUILD
How to build neighbourhoods where kids thrive - from Seth Kaplan
👉 What would it take to make your space a better place to grow up?
YouTube creators facing backlash for accepting AI money - from The Verge
👉Trust compounds slowly and can be spent very quickly.
GROWING YOUR NEWSLETTER
Do you have a sign up box in your footer? - from Dan Oshinsky
👉 A good reminder to not hide everything on a dedicated page
Lessons in turning newsletters into subscription engines - from FIPP
👉 Newsletters establish a direct, owned connection with people
Next week is when it all starts again...
After Creator Day back in May, I took YATM back to the drawing board, the way it was evolving didn't match the message that was being shared.
Something felt disjointed, I had to work this through with friends in YATM Club.
The mantra of 'more together' now feels right in everything that we do and the role it plays for people.
I hope this has meaning to you too? Let me know what you think, just reply and I'm always here.
It means we put this into practice from next week, with the start of the new YATM learning year and the return of Lunch Clubs around the UK.
If there is a Lunch Club near to you to attend, nothing better than joining in as we all start again. If you haven't been to a Lunch Club yet and now feels the right time for you, I promise to make this a comfortable and enjoyable experience.
The return for you is to feel connected and discover work friends who are on your side. You can't beat that feeling!
Here are the places and the dates, let's learn more together.
☀️ Lunch Club Poole is Thursday 3rd September on start something
☀️ Lunch Club London is Thursday 17th September on buying into you
☀️ Lunch Club Bristol is Thursday 24th September on the right people
☀️ Lunch Club Manchester is Thursday 1st October on being you
Looking forward to making you feel at home, again.
This week I closed the summer on a tour bus. Have a great Thursday your side...
