How to turn a course into a transformational community

This guy bootstrapped a global community conference out of his own pocket. And it worked.Francisco Opazo is stubborn—his words, not mine. And thank goodness for that, because his relentless drive has taken a one-man newsletter and turned it into a global movement for community professionals.In this episode, I take you inside the madness that is Community Week / Community-led World Summit - in-person and online gatherings for community professionals around the world. This is the story of Francisco and how he built it from scratch, fueled by sheer determination, volunteer power, and a whole lot of goodwill.Resources:- Join Community Week: https://www.community-week.com/- Join Led By Community: https://www.ledby.community/- Follow Francisco: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankopazo/- Follow Nityesh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/- Magic sauce of more such community creators: https://beginnermaps.com/This episode is brought to you by Curated Connections - the self-driving community software for busy creators. It allows you to run automated networking programs, gamification challenges and member-led events. Check it out at https://curatedconnections.io/Chapters:00:00 Intro02:54 The Journey of Lead by Community04:34 From Digital Agency to BuddyBoss10:38 Joining Circle and Expanding Horizons18:41 Launching the online summit21:52 Challenges and Triumphs of Organizing a Conference32:13 Securing venue for conference34:58 #1 Strategy to build an attendee list40:20 Marketing strategy46:51 Building a Volunteer Team47:55 Conference Structure and Tracks49:54 Budgeting and Financial Challenges51:10 Community Support and Ecosystem01:00:25 Sponsor pitch deck walkthrough01:12:06 Tools01:16:39 The Future: Community Week

Paz Pisarski has cracked the code on growing a cohort-based community business. She has taken The Community Collective from a meetup group to a community membership that had 102 people in its latest cohort. While most cohort based programs struggle to find customers after the first cohort, her cohort size has been consistently increasing for 5 cohorts. Her secret? A "hidden curriculum". In this episode, she shares her magic sauce. This episode is brought to you by Curated Connections - the tool to create automated connections in your community. Check it out at https://curatedconnections.io/ Links and resources: • The Community Collective - https://thecommunitycollective.co/ • Paz's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paz-pisarski/ • Nityesh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ • Magic sauce of 25 top community creators - https://beginnermaps.com/ Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:56 Origins of The Community Collective 05:55 Starting in the Pandemic 08:48 Transition to a Cohort-Based Program 09:55 From free to paid 14:20 Masterclass: How to grow a cohort-based program 17:12 The 3 questions 20:30 Recruiting alumni as hosts 23:22 The hidden curriculum 29:22 Best decision in 3 days 33:30 Reflecting on Community Building 34:02 Steady Growth and Success 35:30 Delivering Unforgettable Experiences 38:00 Discovering Lifetime Memberships 41:21 Scheduling downtimes 46:26 Tech Tools for Community Management 53:48 Team of 45

Running Remote is the best case study in building a paid community of practice. Run by Kasia Triantafelo, this is community of 250+ remote work leaders from companies like GitLab, Dropbox, and Zillow who share everything—from compensation strategies to retreat venues. In this episode, Kasia tells how she slowly shifted the culture of this community over 3 years to the one of radical openness. We discuss: • "4 essential touchpoints" for member success • Co-creating knowledge base with members • Her strategy for running masterminds • What it takes to build a culture of trust If you enjoyed this episode, you should sign up for Beginner Maps to get the "magic sauce" of top creators like Carrie - https://beginnermaps.com/ Resources: • Curated Connections, the automated matchmaking platform that Kasia uses - https://curatedconnections.io/ • Running Remote community - https://runningremote.com/community/ • Kasia's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasia-triantafelo/ • Nityesh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:52 From conference to community 05:26 Who's in the community 10:13 Masterclass on shaping community culture 13:38 Doing things that don't scale 16:30 "Actionable now" strategy 18:51 Emailing members with questions 22:04 4 essential touch points 24:18 Why People Ops is incredible at community 25:40 Co-creating a knowledge base 31:03 Running virtual workshops 35:48 Engagement Challenges in Remote Companies 36:41 Get togethers with Nini 41:14 Masterminds playbook 47:30 Managing Global Timing and Recruiting 56:15 Marketing and Growing the Community 01:02:21 Building community as a non-expert

Building a 5,500+ member paid community isn't easy. Abbey is one of the rare people who's managing just such a community at Health Tech Nerds. This episode is a must-watch for newsletter creators who are looking to turn their audience into a paid community. We cover: - Why direct member outreach drives 10x better results - How to collect and act on member feedback effectively - The power of constant, "annoying" reminders - Why Slack remains the best platform despite its limits - Key pillars of HTN community If you enjoyed this episode, you should sign up for Beginner Maps to get the "magic sauce" of top creators like Carrie - https://beginnermaps.com/ Resources: • Curated Connections, the automated matchmaking platform that Abbey uses - https://curatedconnections.io/ • Health Tech Nerds - https://healthtechnerds.com/ • Abbey's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/petersonabbey/ • Nityesh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:44 Understanding Health Tech Nerds Community 05:02 From newsletter to community 06:42 Always collecting feedback 12:01 Acting on Feedback 13:49 When to collect feedback 19:18 Key pillars of community 25:47 Hosting workshops 28:47 Setting up Curated Connections 33:57 Onboarding New Members 37:25 Get annoying with your reminders 40:22 Curated Connections vs. others 42:54 Growing the membership 44:09 Tech Stack and Tools 49:22 Why Slack wins 52:40 Hardest part of Community Building 54:40 Advice for newsletter creators

John Faulkner-Willcocks built a 250+ member paid community in just 4 months with an astonishing 1.5% churn rate. His inspirations? On Deck and World of Warcraft (yes the video game). He's the cofounder of Open Org, a paid community for progressive People & Culture leaders who believe in the radical new idea of leaning into transparency as a way of building companies. We spent an hour diving deep into his "transparency playbook" for building highly engaged communities, including: - How they get 3-5 high quality responses within hours for every question - Why he prefers a monthly pricing model over an annual one - Giving personalized onboarding quests to new members - Why they chose Slack over other community platforms - Running community hackathons - Lessons from World of Warcraft If you enjoyed this episode, you should sign up for Beginner Maps to get the "magic sauce" of top creators like Carrie - https://beginnermaps.com/ Resources: • Curated Connections, the automated matchmaking tool - https://curatedconnections.io/ • Open Org community - https://www.openorg.fyi/community • John's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfw/ • Nityesh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ Chapters: 00:00 Intro 03:46 John's Productivity Hacks 10:04 Who's in OpenOrg 12:11 Competing with free HR communities 19:16 Onboarding new members 21:16 Building a mini database of members 24:21 First 100 customers 27:23 Embracing Transparency with pricing model 32:04 Member Selection 36:21 Secret sauce: Personalized Quests 41:18 Why Slack wins as the Community Platform 44:55 Building an extremely engaged community 50:08 Community hackathons 55:35 Lessons from On Deck 57:46 Lessons from World of Warcraft 01:01:29 Final piece of advice

As Program Director at On Deck and now founder of Next Careers, Anthony Nardini has helped 1000+ senior operators navigate career transitions. In this episode, he shares his playbook at Next Careers, where senior execs pay $2k to join a community that helps them land their next jobs — and 60% of them refer their most talented friends. With 700+ applications for 100 spots per cohort, his secret is extreme curation and high-touch service. This is a must-watch for anyone building high-end communities or cohort-based programs. If you enjoyed this episode, you should sign up for Beginner Maps to get the "magic sauce" of top creators like Carrie - https://beginnermaps.com/ Resources: • Curated Connections, the automated matchmaking platform that Anthony uses - https://curatedconnections.io/ • Next Careers - https://nextcareers.co/ • Anthony's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonynardini/ • Nityesh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ Chapters: 00:00 Intro 03:05 What's Next Careers 04:46 Creating a supportive environment 07:07 Onboarding and Core Values 08:34 Anthony's journey to Next 13:15 Selection Process and Criteria 16:54 Interview Logistics and Alumni Involvement 19:19 Structure of a 30-min interview 26:43 Having confidence in your offering 30:28 Volunteer program 35:24 8-week cohort to evergreen model 40:49 Connection and Mastermind Groups 41:00 Quick Asks Session 42:06 Structure of Practice Sessions 44:53 How to ensure Quality Feedback in breakouts 47:13 High Production Value Community 48:39 Big Asks Session Structure 52:26 Experimenting with Community Formats 56:27 Automations behind the scenes 01:02:49 Team Structure and Operations 01:05:14 Referral Strategies 01:09:10 Forwardable Emails and Referrals 01:12:15 Final Thoughts

Carrie Melissa Jones shares the blueprint for building successful online communities. Carrie is the author of Building Brand communities, founder of the CMJ group where she offers consulting services to organisations like Discord, Google and Airbnb, creator of her own community membership for community builders and leaders and a Youtuber! In this episode we cover: - Sneak peak into Carrie's own community setup - Platform selection strategies - Creating effective welcome experiences- Why automated matchmaking works (100% NPS!) - Preventing creator burnout If you enjoyed this episode, you should sign up for Beginner Maps to get the "magic sauce" of top creators like Carrie - https://beginnermaps.com/ Resources: • Curated Connections, the automated matchmaking tool - https://curatedconnections.io/ • Carrie's website - https://www.carriemelissajones.com/ • The CMJ community - https://www.carriemelissajones.com/community • Carrie's Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@CarrieMelissaJones/ • Carrie's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/carriemelissajones/ • Nityesh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ Chapters: 00:00 Intro 03:09 Transitioning from Cohort-Based to Evergreen Community 06:14 Evergreen Community Benefits and Inspirations 11:13 Inside Carrie's Workspace and Tools 21:41 Mini Masterclass: Starting a Community Without Burning Out 28:42 Simplifying Your Approach 29:49 The Impact of Leadership Vibes 30:50 Co-Leadership and Avoiding Burnout 33:02 Engaging Your Community Members 36:37 Choosing the Right Platform 37:14 Importance of automated matchmaking 51:57 Carrie's academic background

Ashley has managed to turn on-demand courses into a community experience that supports 1200+ paying members of Smart Passive Income’s All-access Pass community started by Pat Flynn. She has created an innovative "accelerator" model that allows her to deliver the benefits of a cohort-based course without the hassle of doing live lessons. We spent 75 mins exploring her community management workflow in this interview. Resources: Curated Connections, the tool to create connections in your community - https://curatedconnections.io/ Beginner Maps, magic sauce of 20+ top community creators - https://beginnermaps.com/ Connect with Ashley - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleynlagrow/ Connect with Nityesh - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ SPI All-access - https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/all-access/

Jordan Godbey has built communities for world's top creators like Justin Welsh and Ali Abdaal. He helps experts start a new business line by helping them build Circle communities at his company Growth Community. In this episode, he discusses his strategies, philosophies and tactics that you can use to start a $10k MRR community. Resources: • Work with Jordan at Growth Community - [https://growthcommunity.co/](https://growthcommunity.co/blueprint) • Curated Connections, the app to send automated 1-on-1 introductions - https://curatedconnections.io/ • Jordan's $10k MRR community blueprint - https://growthcommunity.co/blueprint • Jordan’s interview with Ali Abdaal - https://youtu.be/cMUyhYi3iOU?si=icVCiOWKXTvQLlgf • Magic sauce of 20+ top community creators - https://beginnermaps.com/ Chapters: 0:00 Intro 03:40 Who are Jordan's Customers 06:41 Collecting killer testimonials 10:41 Jordan's journey 18:46 First 10 clients 23:24 10k MRR community blueprint 24:33 Peer community 28:41 Creating Member-to-Member Connections 34:18 Starting from Scratch 35:06 Proximity Community 38:38 Starting a Mastermind Community 41:19 Kicking off peer-to-peer conversations 43:53 Balancing Community Management and Content Creation 46:28 Why Circle 50:19 Creating a Compelling Offer 53:10 Afraid of community going quiet? 01:00:01 Handling Community Churn and Longevity 01:04:41 Community in the world of AI

Stephanie Baiocchi is the community team of one at IMPACT where she manages the membership behind the bestselling book - They Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan. She single-handedly manages a 3,000+ member community, runs masterminds, hosts 2 annual conferences, and creates manages the on-demand course library. We spend an hour diving deep into her playbook for building a thriving community around a bestselling book. Resources: - Curated Connections, the tool to foster authentic connections - https://curatedconnections.io/ - Stephanie’s guide to online community management - https://www.impactplus.com/online-community-management - They ask you answer book - https://marcussheridan.com/they-ask-you-answer/ - The Membership Economy book - https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/the-membership-economy/ - The Art of Gathering - https://www.priyaparker.com/book-art-of-gathering - Stephanie's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebaiocchi/ - Nityesh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ - Magic sauce of 20 top community creators - https://beginnermaps.com/ Chapters: 0:00 Intro 04:22 Community Structure and Membership 07:04 The 'They Ask, You Answer' Framework 08:44 Adapting to Market Changes 09:32 Stephanie's responsibilities as a Community Lead 13:29 Favourite communities 17:03 Community platform of choice 19:24 Notification blindness problem 21:34 Getting members to open an email digest 24:36 Creator to community 26:29 Scaling a community 30:08 Free to Paid Memberships 33:17 Hosting Mastermind Sessions 37:03 Challenges with Masterminds 40:28 Anti-lesson for masterminds 41:39 Events and conferences 44:14 Making events memorable 46:07 Don't start with administrative stuff 48:18 Fostering Community Connections 50:34 A strong end