Yesterday, I posted a video from 1988 of a beach bar I visited in Greece.
The brief 3-minute clip shows young people aged 18-24 in groups, chatting, having fun, and simply savoring the moment.
What most of you noticed and commented on?
No mobile phones.
Everyone is present – even those with books who set them aside to share a laugh or some friendly banter with their neighbor.
Everyone enjoying themselves.
“I long for the simplicity of life! Not being tethered to a phone for work and genuinely engaging with our surroundings and appreciating the joys of life around us would be so freeing today.”
Another key aspect observed here is community.
A community of travelers who, for the most part, didn’t know each other until they met on the island and formed connections.
A community so powerful that often they encountered one another on the ferry to the island and opted to share the cost of renting a house, lodging together, and going out as a group – all to experience this communal atmosphere.
I can relate – I did the same, meeting a group of Swedes on a boat and journeying with them for several days on Ios and beyond.
Those Irish girls who pulled me to the sand towards the end of the video? I met them the day before.
We were all captivated by the community, and that’s the takeaway for 2023.
Not a community for us to live together and party all night – many of us now have families and have moved past that stage.
Rather, a community where you make your customers feel valued by inviting them to join a group of like-minded individuals facing similar challenges or issues, and who they can view as peers.
This is the competitive edge for 2023. With the advent of AI and the ever-growing ease of finding suppliers globally, it’s your capacity to build a community that distinguishes you.
Connecting with your customers, not only by exceeding their expectations but even better, establishing a community with them where they wouldn’t dream of choosing anyone else, will make all the difference.
Some companies are already doing this.
For example, I’m a member of Brian Kurtz’s online Titans Accelerator Mastermind. It’s a great mix of successful entrepreneurs, Class A copywriters and marketers, and overall people with high character and integrity who have already taught me a great deal and have shaped my business.
We meet 2-3 times a month, and as it falls during my evening, I always block out my calendar and give it priority – even while vacationing in Greece last summer.
When renewal time rolled around – there was no hesitation.
How about you? How can you build a community for your solutions?
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