Instead of looking for belonging, what if we create belonging?

Explorative around the idea of creating belonging to nurture creative businesses

Welcome to Follow Your Gut, a newsletter about the artist life and business from a mother of two. After soon a decade as an independent artist and writer, the question is not only how to do it, but how to continue to follow your gut in a world that tries its best to stuff it with fluff.

85% of new letters are free to read for 3 days, whereafter they go behind a paywall. If this is our first date, I warmly invite you to check out the free archive first. I’m Swedish after all, don’t want to be too pushy (just a loving nudge ❤️).

Hi there!

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to chat with

Kelly Flanagan

,

Russell Nohelty

and

Christin Thieme

on a panel for the Content Spark Summit.

The topic of the discussion was Community building, which in itself is intriguing. But there was something that Kelly said that really stuck with me:

“Instead of looking for belonging, what if we create belonging?”

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Ps. You can save your spot to view the panel plus 13 other amazing speakers this Thursday 27th June via this link¹

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This seemingly simple proposition eloquently reveals what tends to happen when creatives and artists jump on social media in an attempt to market and sell their art.

The usual scenario is to instantly look for people to connect with. Grow our network and networth as some business gurus put it.

The problem is that many creatives feel isolated in the desire to make something of their own, which fuels the need to connect with likeminded. We look for friends and belonging instead of creating belonging and community for others to come find…

Yeah, so?

It’s a big deal really.

Because when you look for belonging you may easily end up with other struggling artists desperate to find a way to make it too.

Unless you’re selling the “how to make it” or “follow me to see how I discover how to make it”, you will probably have a very hard time to build any financially viable foundation from that network (it’s probably more like a virtual friend group, which of course can be very lovely too).

But when you CREATE belonging and community, you will attract the type of person that your offering resonates with and you’ll find yourself in a much more profitable position. Not just monetary wise, but community wise too (these tend to grow in parallel).

An over-head shot from one of our early embroidery workshops in a café in Paris 2017. It was an incredible experience to get to see first-hand how community was built between people that shared nothing but the love for modern hand embroidery.

There are numerous variations of the “you only need a thousand true fans” to make a good living for yourself. Just imagine if you had 1000 folks paying for your Substack publication, that would make a pretty decent income wouldn’t it?

By creating community, and there are many ways to do this which we discuss in more detail in the panel, you’re essentially attracting members into YOUR ecosystem as opposed to you becoming a part of someone else’s ecosystem (not that being part of someone else’s is a bad thing… it just shouldn’t be the ONLY thing).

Complementary communities

There’s a chapter in my book When Will You Get a Real Job, where I bring up the notion of complementary networks.

Just think about it;

• Do you think you’d sell more of your paintings if you join a group of other painters who want to sell their paintings too, or if you find a community of gallerists or art collectors?

• Or if you’re a writer… would you find more potential buyers of your books/newsletter among other writers who want to succeed with their writing, or among communities that connect over shared interests/topics that you cover in your books?

When we CREATE belonging we connect people from all walks of life who share a common interest/attraction to what we’re up to. Whereas when we look for belonging we tend to end up in circumstances where WE become the clients as opposed to perhaps selling more of our own stuff…

Thanks for reading!

Elin, xx

I’d love to hear your reflections around this… Do you look for belonging or are you someone who consciously creates it by nurturing community?

Please keep in mind;

One thing doesn’t have to exclude the other…. Personally I think the question around belonging is like a tango that flows back and forth depending on the creative seasons (and their respective needs) that we’re currently in.

Oh! And don’t miss to register for the Content Spark Summit before Thursday this week (27th June) if you want to check out the panel as well as discover the creative lineup of speakers like

Kirsten Powers

Sarah Fay

,

Claire Venus

,

Lucy Werner

,

Kate Eskuri, DNP

Alex Elle

and more!

Here’s the direct link to register

Taken from the registration page of the event, just a handful of the speaker line-up!

Oh… and if you missed my book and want to read it too (YAY!) you find it right here on Substack by upgrading your - You’re golden <3

1. The event is free of charge for the first 24hrs. If you choose to secure long term access to the recordings, I will receive a percentage of the earnings if you choose to use my link above. Thanks a lot! And I truly hope you’ll enjoy the summit 💕