#60 Crafting Perspective
Hello & Happy Weekend!
This week's newsletter is just a quick hello – it has been a HUGE week in the business and I'm heads-down focused on preparing incredible onboarding experiences for new team members and new clients.
I'm in the midst of standing up a studio focused on transformational experience design – there are lots of things in progress: branding projects, new website, offer decks, etc. I'm excited to share a more detailed behind-the-scenes with all of you soon!
What I'm most excited about? I'm bringing in the most incredible clients who I feel aligned with.
Something I think a lot about lately is our ability to become an energetic match for the type of work we want to do.
For me, part of becoming that energetic match is embodying the person that works with community builders and creative entrepreneurs... and that's why no matter how busy the business is I make time to go to local community events like Creative Mornings.
These monthly events always fill my cup! I highly recommend finding your local chapter. The community vibe is the best ... a room full of creative people, many of them entrepreneurs.
Yesterday I volunteered with the Baltimore chapter and Annie Milli from Live Baltimore spoke on this month's global theme of "perspective". This is the inspiration for today's essay.
Let's get into it –
Live Baltimore is a non-profit marketing organization with the purpose of marketing the city's neighborhoods to encourage people to move to the city.
Annie Milli, Executive Director, shared their content creation approach for the team at Live Baltimore and it was such a beautiful community-driven strategy that I wanted to share it with all of you.
Each month their team visits 1 of the 279 neighborhoods in Baltimore.
They go to someone's house within the community (typically a community leader) who invites over as many people as possible from the neighborhood. The Live Baltimore team brings them breakfast, sits with them, talks with them, and tours their neighborhood with them. During this time they record stories, and take photos.
Then, they do their best to share the local community through the perspective of each neighborhood's community members in their content.
What I love about this approach is that they're reporting through the lens of the people that already live there. Of course they are criticized for having rose-colored glasses in their content, but what better impression of a neighborhood than the person that lives it day and night, right? Annie shared a quote that really stuck with me...
"The stories you tell and the experiences you craft for others matter and impact their perspective."
We're all community tourists & builders at some point. Ever show a visitor around your town or neighborhood? What about your office? Your school? Chances are that you carefully crafted an experience. You have the power to create a positive perspective.
Reflect on your business:
Share impactful stories that can drive positive behavior. If you're helping someone achieve a goal, what are the stories that keep them going?
Are there ways you can "feature" or highlight your community member's experiences? If you applied Live Baltimore's approach to content creation, what would that look like for you?
How can you carefully curate a "tour" experience that invites new community members in, crafting their positive perspective before they even join?
I invite you to join me in reflecting on these questions – I'd love it if you reply with your thoughts!