A year of Candid Community, and a few hard-won lessons

It’s Candid Community’s birthday! 🎂

And like any good milestone moment, I’ve been feeling reflective. So I thought I’d mark the occasion by sharing five things I wish I’d known before starting a community — feel free to let me know if you have any questions about starting one yourself!

In this newsletter:

• Essay: What I wish I knew before starting a community

• Candid Calendar: Vanessa Raath is coming to Scrappy Systems!

• Free Resources: Content repurposing, positioning and distribution

What I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Community

I’ve helped build dozens communities before, but owning one? That’s a completely different kettle of fish.

When it’s your “baby,” everything feels more personal. The wins, the wobbles, the late-night messages. And today, on Candid Community’s birthday, I’ve been reflecting on what this first year has really taught me.

So in the spirit of 2025 (and my favorite number being 5 😄), here are five things I wish I’d known before I started a community":

1. Learn to sell digital products before starting a membership
I wish I’d focused on creating online products first. Not just because they add instant value inside a community, but because they give you hands-on experience with selling, without needing to also juggle engagement, retention, and content moderation.

It’s a whole lot easier to learn checkout flows when you're not also trying to figure out what channel your members even hang out in.

2. Build your email list early
Lead generation is no joke. Especially when you don’t have a massive audience shouting your name from the rooftops.

If I could go back, I’d spend way more time experimenting with evergreen lead magnets before I had something to sell. Now, I’m constantly toggling between building top-of-funnel content and keeping the business running. Not ideal.

3. Social media is mid. Your network is where the magic is.
We spent so much time making ourselves visible on social... and got very little from it.

A few RSVPs here and there. One member sign-up. Honestly? It’s not worth the energy for me anymore. So I’m pivoting: less content, more collaboration. More speaking. More showing up where people are already listening.

4. Culture matters more than content
You can’t be the only one keeping the lights on. If you don’t intentionally build a culture of contribution, you’ll burn out fast.

Our Contributor Program has changed everything, from weekly blogs to Candid Consultants stepping in and stepping up. Some days I open Circle and see messages I don’t need to get to—because someone else already had it covered. That’s the dream!

5. Relationships > reach
I’m not trying to become an influencer. But I do want to keep building relationships that last.

Because everything I’ve created with Candid is rooted in the people who believed in me when I had nothing to show for it. Turn your peers into partners. Turn your colleagues into collaborators. That’s where the magic lives.

Tonight, I’m sharing Candid Community at Circle.so’s “Show & Tell” event, and honestly, I couldn’t have asked for better timing to feel proud and a little bit sentimental about what we’ve built.

To all the Candid Consultants who’ve had my back this year, you are the giants whose shoulders I stand on.

Here’s to another year of building the kind of business (and life) that actually feels like us!

Candid Calendar:

Register to join us for the next Scrappy Systems with Vanessa Raath on 24th April at 5pm (GMT). 👇

Free Resources:

Dropping some knowledge to get you thinking about your communication and thinking habits this week:

• If your messaging still feels a bit vague, follow this step-by-step framework to Nail Your Positioning.

• See why your ability to discern is just as important as what you learn with Sponge and Funnel approaches to knowledge acquisition.

If you’re tired of the never-ending hamster wheel that is content production, then the latest episode of Scrappy Systems with Jomiro Eming is exactly what you need:

Plus, while you’re watching, how about you give Candid Collab a follow on YouTube? 😏 

With new video content dropping every Tuesday, you’re guaranteed to get a serving of Scrappy Systems - with a side of troubleshooting!

Cands 😄