Olumide Gbenro is a remote work influencer and community builder based in Bali, Indonesia known for his expertise in curating communities for digital nomads online and offline. He is founder of Globoversity.Com, a premium learning community for remote entrepreneurs.
He’s hosted hundreds of events that have reached thousands of remote entrepreneurs to provide mentorship, guidance, and shares some thoughts on what major foundations it takes to build communities.
He shares how by working remotely from your living room you can create a community-driven business supported by increased engagement and retention of members.
It’s Not About You
Community leaders are the clear fixtures of their online villages but it’s important that they remember to emphasize the value of their community and give members the microphone to speak and lead themselves. Olumide believes the facilitator role is the best place to sit:
“You have to facilitate a circle for your community instead of playing king on the throne. People can feel whether you care about them and are inclusive almost instantly. You do not want to turn into an egotistical maniac. Not being a maniac is key. You must lead with direction so just don’t make it about you”
Find Your Cheerleaders Early
Leaders emerge in communities that are not the main founding members. This is what Olumide refers to as the “cheerleaders” He believes a strong community has individuals who take on the mission just like it’s theirs and says that energy should be put into this special group to help your community flourish.
“Your cheerleaders are the people that arrive 5 minutes before every live session, they ask questions frequently, they send out emails for you when you ask for someone who wants to volunteer to run the mailing list. These people’s lives are made better because they love what they are doing. Find them and encourage them because the community will be better off with them”
Create Regular Content
Olumide believes that creating content that is engaging and conditions community members to engage is key to long term success. “If you don’t have a new post that encourages engagement every day, you are behind. People sign up for online communities to learn and find other like-minded people. If you don’t have anything for them to interact with on a regular basis they won’t come back.”