Take Time Off

Summary

People Magic: How to Build a $1M Community Episode: Take Time Off Release Date: October 3, 2024 Host: Gina Bianchini, Founder and CEO of Mighty Networks

In the latest episode of People Magic, Gina Bianchini delves into the crucial but often overlooked aspect of community building: maintaining personal energy and avoiding burnout. Titled "Take Time Off," this episode offers insightful strategies for entrepreneurs and community builders striving to create thriving, profitable communities without sacrificing their well-being.

Introduction

Gina opens the episode by addressing a common challenge faced by community leaders: managing energy levels to sustain long-term passion and productivity. She emphasizes the importance of delegating tasks that drain energy, allowing founders to focus on what truly inspires them.

Listener’s Concern: Finding Energy and Avoiding Burnout

At 00:49, Gina responds to a listener’s question about hitting a plateau and feeling exhausted despite loving their community. The listener asks, “Where do you get your energy? And how could more of us find the same tools?”

Gina underscores the necessity of loving what you do and finding ways to draw energy from it rather than viewing it as a relentless grind. She shares her personal struggle with burnout and frustration, highlighting that these feelings are natural for entrepreneurs. The key is to acknowledge these emotions swiftly and take proactive steps to rejuvenate.

Clear Future Story: Establishing Your North Star

At 01:05, Gina introduces the concept of a "North Star"—a clear and compelling vision that drives your community building efforts. For her, the North Star is "bringing software, especially advanced software and AI, to create amazing relationships between like-minded individuals."

Gina explains that having a defined purpose helps maintain focus and motivation, even during challenging times. She states, “Relationships are the precursor to innovation. Relationships are the precursor to joy, to belonging, to creativity, to art, to science, to exploration and discovery.”

Asking for Help: Building a Supportive Network

Gina emphasizes the importance of asking for help and surrounding yourself with a supportive community. She notes, “Ask for help. Have your close-knit set of people, your community, that you can be honest with about your hopes, your dreams, your ambitions” (02:30).

She advises finding individuals who believe in your vision and can help you think bigger and more ambitiously. Gina stresses that while it’s essential to maintain relationships with those who may not fully understand your dreams, it’s equally important to carve out space for those who do support and encourage your aspirations.

Taking Time Off: The Importance of Rest and Self-Care

A significant portion of the episode focuses on knowing when to take a break. Gina shares her personal struggles with the "grind culture" prevalent in modern business, where constant hustle is often glorified. She asserts, “If you are finding yourself lacking patience, if you are finding yourself having slept a full night and you're still tired... Take the break” (07:15).

Gina advocates for taking time to fill your tank through activities like sleeping well, eating healthily, moving your body, traveling, and engaging in new experiences. These activities replenish motivation, creativity, and inspiration, making them far more effective than temporary fixes like caffeine or mindless entertainment.

Delegating and Automating: Streamlining Community Management

Gina advises delegating tasks that deplete your energy so you can concentrate on what energizes you. She reiterates, “If there's something in your community or something in your business that is depleting you, find someone else to do it” (05:45). This approach not only prevents burnout but also fosters a more vibrant and self-sustaining community.

Looking ahead, Gina predicts that automated tools will soon handle many of the manual and strenuous aspects of community management. She states, “The things that are hard or manual today will be automated over the next 12 to 24 months” (09:30). This automation will lighten the workload, allowing community builders to focus on nurturing relationships and fostering innovation.

The Power of Community: Creating People Magic

Gina passionately advocates for the power of community, asserting that “your community matters, probably matters more than any other kind of business that you can possibly build” (10:15). She explains that communities foster meaningful relationships, which in turn drive sustained engagement and business growth. Whether monetized through memberships, courses, subscriptions, or events, the true value lies in the connections between community members.

Conclusion: Embracing a Sustainable Community Building Approach

In the closing moments, Gina reinforces the importance of balance in community building. She encourages listeners to align their efforts with their North Star, seek support from like-minded individuals, and prioritize self-care to maintain their energy and creativity. Gina concludes with a motivational message, offering to help listeners find their own formulas for success.

Notable Quotes:

• “Relationships are the precursor to innovation. Relationships are the precursor to joy, to belonging, to creativity, to art, to science, to exploration and discovery.” — Gina Bianchini (01:45)
• “Ask for help. Have your close-knit set of people, your community, that you can be honest with about your hopes, your dreams, your ambitions.” — Gina Bianchini (02:30)
• “If you are finding yourself lacking patience... Take the break.” — Gina Bianchini (07:15)
• “The things that are hard or manual today will be automated over the next 12 to 24 months.” — Gina Bianchini (09:30)
• “Your community matters, probably matters more than any other kind of business that you can possibly build.” — Gina Bianchini (10:15)

Final Thoughts

"Take Time Off" serves as an empowering guide for community builders aiming to create sustainable and profitable communities without succumbing to burnout. Gina Bianchini’s blend of personal anecdotes, strategic advice, and motivational insights provides listeners with actionable steps to enhance their community-building journey. By focusing on a clear vision, building a supportive network, and prioritizing self-care, entrepreneurs can achieve the coveted $1M community while maintaining their passion and energy.

For more in-depth discussions and additional resources, visit Mighty Networks and join the conversation on creating People Magic.

Transcript

[A]

So if there's something in your community or something in your business that is depleting, you, find someone else to do it so that you can spend more and more and more of your time on the things that bring you energy. And then your energy and your creativity produces more energy and more creativity. And you will find that very quickly you aren't getting as burned out. You aren't finding yourself more frustrated with people and all the things that you love to do. Woo. Hey, I'm Gina Bianchini, and this is People Magic, where I'm going to show you the absolute easiest way to create a $1 million community.

[B]

Hey, Gina, I've been running my community, and I love it, but I'm just tired. I feel like I haven't broken through to the next level. So my question for you is, where do you get your energy? And how could more of us find the same tools?

[A]

I'm so glad you asked. And I think what's really important is being able to love something and look for ways that it brings us energy as opposed to getting stuck in. It's a grind. It's hard work. Not that hard work in and of itself is a bad thing, but I think one of the things that has really kept so many people from creating communities that are really important and that matter in the world is that there's this sense of it's hard. And in my experience, a lot of times, because of that complexity trap, I have to do all of these things, and I have to, like, be in all of these places. You know, it stops being fun. It stops being fun. So here's what I have found. When I hit those walls, when I hit those moments where I'm just sitting there and I'm like, oh, my God, what am I doing with my life? Like, I think people are amazing, but today, they are bugging me. Like, people are either asking too much of me, they are asking too much of the community. They don't actually see and understand what I put into this. And all of those things are normal and natural feelings. And the question just becomes, how fast can you acknowledge them? And by the way, this isn't just about community. This is life as a business owner. This is life as an entrepreneur. Being able to figure out for yourself what are the things that you can do to bring energy to you, bring your creativity front and center. Those are the most important frameworks and tools for you to build for yourself. So here's a couple of things that I've done that really have helped me. So, number one, is a absolutely crystal clear future story. I know what my North Star is. I know why I am doing what I am doing. And it's not for the reasons everybody else is doing what they are doing. So, for example, for me, I am absolutely focused on how to bring software, and especially advanced software and yes, AI, to the challenge of creating amazing relationships between people who are on the same path. I know that that is my purpose and I am very, very clear that to me and the team that I'm leading, bringing software that has not been built before, that does not exist today into the world so that we can notice what I just did there, so that we can unlock entirely new ways of meeting new people, building relationships and taking on challenges and quests that we just simply can't do on our own. And the truth that I know, and that motivates me is that relationships are the precursor to innovation. Relationships are the precursor to joy, to belonging, to creativity, to art, to science, to exploration and discovery. And that we are nowhere near what will be possible very quickly in terms of creating those relationships. So that's number one. That North Star is the thing that even in the last few days I had kind of just been working myself to the bone and I was finding myself getting more easily frustrated. I was finding myself kind of feeling a little lost, a little stuck. I was definitely in the dip. And my first thing that I did was I went back to my North Star. I went back to why do I do what I do? Do I do what I do so that I can have a really big social media audience? Do I do what I do so that I get lots of engagements on social media posts or that I have a massive email list? No. And what I realized is none of those things matter to me. I'm grateful that you are listening to this podcast right now. I'm grateful for the opportunity to help, but it is not what drives me. What drives me is in bringing software into the world that unlocks relationships that just have not been possible before. So that's number one. Number two is, and I mess this one up a lot, which is ask for help. Ask for help. Have your close knit set of people, your community, that you can be honest with about your hopes, your dreams, your ambitions. It's hard to talk about hopes and dreams and ambitions, especially if you are surrounded by people who are quote, unquote realists and who quote unquote love you and just want to see the best for you and basically tell you that your dreams aren't possible. Well, here's what I know to be true is that you get to decide what is possible and what is impossible. And other people may have their opinions about your hopes and dreams, your North Star, your purpose, but ultimately you are the only person who gets to decide if it's possible or not possible. And something really powerful is making sure that you are surrounded by people who are going to help you dream bigger, who are going to help you think bigger, who are going to help you then break it down step by step into what is possible when you are clear about your North Star. So asking for help, being surrounded by people who are helping you think bigger and be more ambitious, that is absolutely critical. If you're trying to do this by yourself and you're surrounded by people who love you, but they just don't believe in your hopes and dreams, that is not a great combination. And it doesn't mean that you have to disown them or, you know, break up with them or not spend any time with them. But it's really important that you carve out some space and some time to find, find the people who believe, who believe in the same thing that you believe in. It's one of the reasons why I'm so passionate about community. The third thing after North Star, asking for help and having a community, kind of putting those two things together. The third thing is know when you need a break and take time off. This is another thing I'm not great at because I think so much of modern business culture is you gotta grind it out. Now, I will also suggest that part of the you've gotta grind it out is because we live in a culture where social proof and status and hierarchy is achieved by having a large social media audience. And that requires you to have a large following, which requires you to post a lot. So it is a grind and it's supposed to be a daily grind. Well, here's what I know to be true. If you are finding yourself lacking patience, if you are finding yourself having slept a full night and you're still tired and you're like, you're, you're, you're not sleepy tired, but you're like bone tired. Take the break. Take the break. No one is going to miss you for three days. Your team is still going to be there or your collaborators are still going to be there, but taking that time, and the longer you push off those two days or three days where you just need to fill the tank, the more time you're going to need later. And so taking those breaks to fill your tank, sleeping, eating well, but Also like moving your body and getting new stimuli, traveling, meeting new people, introducing yourself, taking a risk and doing something that you haven't done before. Again, I'm not a psychologist or anything like that, but I think we can all agree that those are the things that make us feel better. It's not more caffeine, it's not being frustrated and trying to mask that with whether it's TV shows or alcohol. It's taking care of yourself and putting yourself in situations where you are feeding your motivation, your creativity and your inspiration. The community in and of itself, set it up so that it's bringing you energy. So if there's something in your community or something in your business that is depleting you find someone else to do it so that you can spend more and more and more of your time on the things that bring you energy. And then your energy and your creativity produces more energy and more creativity. And you will find that very quickly you aren't getting as burned out, you aren't finding yourself more frustrated with people and all the things that you love to do. And keeping your ability to continue to cross train your brain and your life is essential for all of us as business owners and all of us as entrepreneurs. I just had this happen to me, which is why I'm, I'm speaking so passionately about it. And those three things being clear about my future story and my purpose, asking for help and really bringing more people into the challenge that I'm navigating. And finally a change of scenery, a change of perspective, snap me out of it. And it's how I've been able to be an entrepreneur for over a decade, over a decade now. And I want the same thing for you. Because what I know to be true is that your community matters, probably matters more than any other kind of business that you can possibly build. And I truly believe that. And it's the hill I will die on. Your community. Whether you're monetizing it with paid memberships, whether you're monetizing it with courses, with subscriptions or even, even events or product sales, but that community and those relationships that you are generating for your members with each other, that is the most important business that can exist today. And here's the other thing to know the places where building a community and translating it into a five or six, seven or even eight figure business, the things that are hard or manual today will be automated over the next 12 to 24 months. They will be automated over the next 12 to 24 months. So what that means is the grind is going to get lighter. The lift of creating something that can run itself is never going to be heavier than it is today. And it's also why, if you are running a business that is based on content, if you're running a business that requires you to write an email every week or to constantly be in people's faces, I want to invite you to also create a community. Because far from being a grind, creating that people magic, creating those relationships between people mean that you are guaranteed to get more people back than anything you can write. Because as human beings, relationships are what feel natural, normal, valuable, and ultimately energizing. No one's lives have ever been changed by content alone. And so, as you think about your purpose, your North Star, as you think about asking for help and surrounding yourself with your community, and finally, as you think about how are you constructing your life so that you can invest more and more time and energy into the things that matter to you, the things that motivate you, the things that bring you energy and less and less time in, the things that are unnatural or just feel like they're a ton of work and, you know, exhaust you so that you just have to sit and, like, watch TV at the end of the day or play video games or whatever it might be that you use to unwind, you are going to have so many options going forward because the things that exhaust any of us are going to be fewer and fewer, because software is going to do more and more of that work, of creating amazing connections between people and giving you and your brand full credit for those things. We should title the episode of this podcast Pep Talk, because I know that I needed one over the last few days. I got one from my community, and if I can pay it forward in this episode, I very much want to do that because this is the formula that has worked for me. And I know you'll find your formula for how do you get more energy, how do you maintain focus, and how do you create something that you can be truly proud of? You'll find your formula, too. And if there's anything I can do to help you do that, I'm in. I'm Gina Bianchini. Thanks for tuning in. This is People Magic. Thank you for being a part of People Magic. If you want more of a deep dive in any of these topics, but certainly having the framework of People, People Magic, profit, head on over to the website. The link is in the show notes. Have your own burning question about creating People Magic. Well, I want to answer it. So here's what you're going to do. You're going to just drop your question in the review section, wherever you're listening to this podcast and keep tuning in.