It’s tough being an independent consultant. We need to find our peers and have a solid support network to be able to continuously do great work.
I could not do the work I do without the support and partnership of so many individuals, groups, and companies. I have to thank Heather McNair for helping me to initially build my business in 2017. Heather worked at Higher Logic at the time and I was transitioning from working full-time for a customer of Higher Logic to consulting and contracting with multiple customers of Higher Logic. Heather helped me make the right connections, and kept me in touch with the right people at Higher Logic to build a beautiful partnership. To this day, a key goal of mine is to help organizations utilize their online community platform to its fullest. Making sure they aren’t leaving any value on the table that could help increase satisfaction and retention of their members.
Marilee Yorchak was the Executive Director of the Digital Analytics Association in 2017, and her decision made DAA my very first client. Knowing there were associations who were interested in my expertise but did not have the budget for a full-time community manager confirmed for me that starting an LLC was the right thing to do. That pushed me to go off on my own and look for other associations in a similar boat. Very soon I was working with multiple organizations and living a better life that fit how I like to work than I’d ever been able to before. Apparently, I’m the type who thrives working from home, managing my own schedule and workload.
I would be remiss if I forgot about Derrol Moorhead who recommended me to Marilee and DAA. Derrol was a great supervisor and mentor and always knew I could do more and be successful building my own business.
As the years went on and I sought more and more knowledge sharing about building outstanding online communities, I joined many groups for community managers. Having those larger groups as sound boards for ideas, places to connect with others doing the same work as me and even working the same way I do, continuously learning has made me into the online community professional I am now. I could never put any kind of dollar value on those groups. I enjoy building communities so much because I see the real value that online communities can offer – I personally benefit from it every single day. I’m also immensely grateful for being honored by some of these groups, particularly by the Community Consultants Collective and with the Higher Logic HUG MVP award.
I enjoy building communities so much because I see the real value that online communities can offer – I personally benefit from it every single day.
It’s also invaluable to make friends with others doing similar but maybe not exactly overlapping work. For example, Justin Prevatte of Theme Logic creates awesome custom designs for Higher Logic customers, but doesn’t do much community management. That’s where our friendship is beneficial to us both – we can confidently recommend each other’s services to our clients. And I appreciate that Justin is a great person to get a good gut check from on anything from a new idea I want to propose to a client to if a platform is being glitchy or its just me. Find who your person that can give you good gut checks when you need them.
I can’t thank Brian Oblinger enough for his belief in me and my expertise to build a course for his prestigious Community Strategy Academy. Putting myself out in front of the world as “instructor” is so cool, and something I didn’t think I would ever do. Peers push us to be better versions of ourselves that we didn’t believe we could achieve on our own. The amazing thing is, we don’t have to do it alone. This is why online communities building real connection matter. Do you have someone helping push you forward?
And so many more – My parents for always supporting me, Martha Jack and eConverse (now Higher Logic Design Services), Brett Wangman, Simon Helton, Marghet Hager, Martha Huckaby, Mark Lowry, Conor Sibley, Eric Meisel (CEO of Tradewing), Kristen Wright of Forj, Todd Nilson of Community Consultants Collective, folks at The Community Roundtable, all my clients past and present for trusting me, and the list goes on… and on…
Thank you for being part of my journey.
Thank you.
