#89 Community Ambassadors

"You need a few plants. And I don't mean house plants – I mean people."

I have this rule that if I say something 3x during the week, it goes in the newsletter that weekend.

This week I said this during a mastermind group call, then again to a friend building a new program, and lastly during a client call discussing her new custom app.

No one gets their product right the first time. It takes iteration and co-creation with your community to build a winning product.

Let’s get into it –

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When we launch something whether it is a new product or an experiment, we have a set of expectations (or hypotheses) as to how it's going to work.

We plan how the tools and resources will be used, how the students will interact, and what kind of results they will get.

We've established that ​setting expectations​ is one of the most important things you can do for your product to be successful.

But it's also important for that expectation and behavior to be modeled. And, ideally, not only by you.

When I ran my live program this year I had 15 people join. I sold 12 spots and had 3 plants. That's what I call the people who we ask to join for free (or extremely discounted) because we know:

1. They will participate as you ask

2. Their presence will be a value add to the group

3. The program will be valuable for them and support them

4. They will give you honest feedback and ideas to improve

For new programs

When you're launching a NEW program, I recommend 2-5 plants. It can also help fill out the group if you only have a handful of people purchase.

Here are some things your plants can help you with:

• Connecting with other members and supporting them – this helps build a culture of community instead of a fan club experience

• Being the liaison from other members to give you the group sentiment and candid feedback behind the scenes

• Testing functionality like your platform of choice and your onboarding process

• Sharing their ideas for how each part of your program could be better

Sidebar – If you're wondering who in your life could be these plants for you, that is why joining communities and connecting with other entrepreneurs is so important! Start with 1:1 connection.

For scaling programs

When you're scaling your program then you can shift from plants to ambassadors.

Ambassadors – or co-coaches, mentors, captains – are leaders within your community. They have already completed your program(s) and are likely your shining students.

Here are some ways ambassadors can help you:

• Support your members similar to how you support them

• Facilitate group calls like roundtables or Q&As

• Answer forum questions and connect with your members in DMs/comments

• Be stewards of your community culture by modeling the behavior you expect

ALL of our clients at Affinity either have ambassadors or are planning an ambassador program.

You can't scale a community well without scaling support for that community.

Paying your ambassadors:

I've seen a range for this – most frequently there is a fixed-rate payment per month for being a co-coach or ambassador that comes with a list of responsibilities.

The pricing depends on a few factors (like any job) – the cost of your community, size of community, and the list of responsibilities. You can absolutely find something that works for you!

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