The closest I’ll get to building in public

It’s Wednesday, January 17th, and today I’m taking you behind the scenes as I build an IRL community from scratch.

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The closest I’ll get to building in public

I’m currently in the process of building an IRL community. And it is hard. 

It’s proof that no matter how much experience or expertise you may have, there’s no hacking your way to a quality community.

I’m not a build-in-public type. I don’t find it particularly useful and have found that taking the time to document and share takes me away from more important tasks.

I’m making a small exception here and putting my money where my mouth is. I’m less than two weeks in, but enough of the way to show my work (and deficiencies).

Let’s get into it.

Many of you know I ran a business for 11 years that included a dance studio for adults (the company itself was three-pronged and also included an ecommerce and production arm).

I’ve been teaching dance and choreographing for almost 20 years now. It’s where I come alive. When I get into the studio with skilled, spirited dancers, I find flow.

I also live by one word: Why? It’s been the core of my personality for as long as I can remember, regardless of the subject.

Why is it like that?

Why did she do that?

Why are they looking at each other that way?

Why does it work like that?

I’m a relentless internal questioner, which is both a great advantage and a disadvantage. When it comes to the dance community, I have questions.

Why do we teach it the way we do? Why the same format each time? Why are dancers in the studio taught to mimic vs develop artistic instinct? Why aren’t we teaching dancers in their 20s how ligaments work and why you shouldn’t lock your joints? Why have we grossly misunderstood the differences between observation, judgment, and comparison? Why do we make art that most audience members hate and say “Oh well, it’s my art”?

In all of my time both teaching and taking dance classes, I’ve rarely felt satisfied. I’ve rarely walked away from an experience feeling full and satisfied.

Endless questions about dance and potential answers have been brewing in my mind for years.

This extends to the business model of dance studios. They’re quirky and economically strange. Many studio owners are sloppy in everything from their email marketing to their broken websites.

You can probably see where this is going 🙂

🚨 Takeaway one: If you’re going to launch a community, start with a strong point of view.

Starting from (almost) zero

By far, my greatest disadvantage is that I am starting from virtually nothing. Back home in CA, I had it made; I grew up in the area, attended both of my city’s college dance programs and was plugged deeply into the network. Since moving to Massachusetts, I’ve not made any real headway. I have a small groupt of people (6) that I think will show up and an email list of a whopping 70 people.

I find this quite discouraging, but I can’t get stuck here. I’m also limited on time, as this is a side project.

I’ve decided to build this community in layers.

To start, I have decided that I am just going to teach a few local workshops specifically aimed at forming the culture that will ultimately become a studio. My first workshop is scheduled for February 10th. I am renting a room from a local studio. I will be happy if just ten people show up.

🚨 Takeaway two: When possible, a small intimate test will always yield better results.

Step One: Why should this exist?

I have a point of view, yes, but is it a problem for others? And can I offer a solution worth paying for?

I started with a giant Figjam brainstorm:

This is braindump every major element of dance I could think of, which I eventually parsed out to what I consider the five pillars of dance:

• Technique

• Artistry

• Mobility

• Strength

• Community

Next, I worked to create a sort of identity around the class. What were the guidelines? What mattered most? How could I cultivate the best outcomes? This was a little messy, but I was able to tease out enough info to move forward:

🚨 Takeaway three: Getting people into the room is one small part of the battle. If you don’t have a solid plan for what they’ll do when they get there, you’ll have a lot of disappointed people on your hands.

Step Two: Design the Class

Looking back at my board, I realized that I already had so many concepts and exercises in my toolbelt. I started to see the class through the lens of recipe building. Each workshop would allow me to touch on the five pillars above in unique ways, simply by mixing and remixing the years of knowledge and frameworks I already had.

I didn’t want to spend too much time here, as I could sense I may get paralyzed by options, so I set a timer for 25 minutes and made a rough draft of what my first two monthly classes may look like:

🚨 Takeaway four: These will not be the final offerings. If I prioritized planning the perfect product, I would have lost agility. A rough outline is enough. I am confident I can build on this later.

Step Three: Design the Brand

Alright. I have a POV and a plan. Time to make contact with the world. I believe in paying for good design, but not this early. I wanted a simple, distinct logo with a classic, minimal look and toned-down pallet. I know the studio will be called Common Ground, and I have chosen to name the experimental class “Common Ground Method”, hoping it will become a signature piece moving forward. So the logo needed to represent both the class, and ultimately, the studio:

Next, a landing page. I used the brainstorming session I already did and translated it into simple copy. The domain was $40, and I built the landing page on Carrd for zero bucks, as I already have a pro account (which is $20 a year).

(Side note, I really want the commonground.com domain, but look where it goes. What the heck…)

After dinner on day five, I got the landing page up:

🚨 Takeaway five: Copy matters here. It’s not a perfect landing page, but it speaks to dancers in their language and in simple terms with a high emphasis on what’s unique about this offering. There is a single CTA to sign up and no other nav links.

Step Four (and likely five, six , and seven): Spread the word

Sigh.

Again I say, I do not like starting from nothing. I spent a few hours on Sunday night creating a few simple assets for for Instagram and printed flyers:

Tomorrow, I’ll post on IG to a custom audience and boost the post. I’ll also send an email to my little list, and mail a few flyers to my print guy to pick up tomorrow after work:

And that’s as far as I’ve gotten. As I said, if I can get just 10 people into my class, it will be a victory. This is the nichiest of niches.

Not just dancers, but adult dancers.

Not just adult dancers, but adult contemporary dancers.

Not just adult contemporary dancers, but those who have an adventurous spirit and are willing to try something new.

I’ll send an update every once in a while if you’re into it. Ultimately, the goal is to drive this into a revenue-producing business of which I will own, but not operate.

Stay tuned.

Onward,

April

About Wondry

There is nothing more powerful than a strong community. Watching superfans come together and rally around your brand is the ultimate competitive advantage.

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