Build Community by Joining One
Get around enough people who want to be successful, and eventually you all become successful together.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 84%
Shands's core life theory: if you're around enough positive people you'll be positive, around enough successful people you'll be successful, and around enough people who want more success, you'll all rise together. He's built community since living in a one-bedroom apartment ordering pizza for a few people to brainstorm, now grown into a daily Morning Meetup of hundreds. Crucially, if you won't start your own, you should join one. And he insists he needs the community as much as it needs him — it's energy, not a money grab.
Origin
Shands started building community from a one-bedroom apartment, inviting a few people over for pizza and ideas; it grew into the Morning Meetup, a daily 8am call of 125–200 people reading ~15 books a year together.
Core principles
- 01Your environment sets your ceiling — you become the people you're around.
- 02If you won't start a community, join one that pushes you.
- 03Proximity to positive, successful, ambitious people pulls you up with them.
- 04A real community is fueled by love of it, not by a money grab.
How to run it
- 1
Choose the environment deliberately
Recognize that who you're around determines who you become, and treat your environment as a choice.
- 2
Join before you build
If you're not ready to start your own community, become an active part of one that pushes and inspires you.
Pro tip You don't have to start your own; being part of one first is the entry point.
- 3
Surround up
Get around people who are more positive, more successful, and more ambitious than where you currently are.
Pro tip Around enough people who want to be more successful, eventually you all become more successful together.
- 4
Show up out of love
Attend consistently and lead from genuine love of the community rather than treating it as a revenue play.
Pro tip Shands is on the Morning Meetup call every single morning himself and says he needs it more than the members do.
Watch out If the community is a money grab, people feel it and the energy dies.
In the wild
What began as pizza-and-ideas in a one-bedroom apartment grew into a daily 8am call where 125–200 people gather, read about 15 books a year together, and discuss entrepreneurship, with Shands personally present every morning.
→ A durable community that Shands credits for mutual growth, aiming to reach thousands of members.
Common mistakes
Trying to grow in isolation
Without an environment of ambitious peers, there's nothing pulling you upward and your growth stalls.
Running community as a money grab
When the community exists to extract money rather than to give energy, members sense it and the loyalty evaporates.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone whose growth is stalling because their environment doesn't push them.
Not ideal for
People seeking a purely transactional network rather than an ongoing community.
From the transcript
“if I'm around enough people who want to be more successful eventually we will all become more successful together”
“I'm not saying you have to start your own Community... you need to be a part of one”
From the episode
David Shands: The Entrepreneurial Mindset, How to Build a Loyal Community and Hone Your Niche for Massive Success
David Shands