I stopped growing my community on purpose. (deep growth vs wide growth)
For years, I chased views, followers, and subscribers. Obviously more is better… right? Well, once I hit 19k Instagram followers, I realized that wasn’t the case. I was collecting followers like badges, not building real relationships. How could I create deep connections with 19k people? It wasn’t even possible. Eventually, I stepped off the Instagram content-creation hamster wheel because I couldn’t see a real path to community there. I already knew—from years of building community in person and online—that community is the fastest way to build trust with potential customers and actually help people on a deeper level. I discovered Skool around the time I built my current brand, and everything clicked. 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬, I was able to implement real community into my business. These last 8 months have been a whirlwind in the best way, and now more than ever, I believe in growing deep, not wide. Wide growth means bringing in as many people as possible and hoping a few become clients. Then you repeat the cycle because deep connections were never formed. 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴. It lets me help individuals on a deeper level. Deep growth creates superfans—people who stay, who buy, who become loyal clients, who refer their friends because they’ve experienced real value. While deep growth may feel slower at the beginning, in the long run it builds a system that requires less energy. When you truly serve the clients and community you already have, they keep referring you. Growth becomes sustainable. You can still aim for a large community—there’s nothing wrong with that. But how you grow determines the energy required to maintain it. 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽 → 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿, 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿, 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂. Grow wide → faster, but constantly exhausting because people churn quickly. I’m sharing this because I’ve fallen into the “faster and more” trap in the past (and sometimes even now). But I want to encourage you to avoid it whenever you can. It becomes a never-ending race, and over time it will burn you out and stall your business.