095 – How to Choose the Right Online Community For You

Episode Transcription

Josh 0:16
Hey, everybody, welcome to the podcast. This is Episode 95. And this episode is a little bit different. I was gonna do a video based off of what I’m about to dive into for this podcast. And I still plan on doing a video because we’re gonna be covering a lot of links and a lot of recommendations in this episode. But I wanted to make it a podcast mainly because I want to talk about this in detail. And I really want to dive into the weeds of this with you because of for one thing, and to be completely honest, you guys, as podcast listeners, you’re just the best. If I talk about something in detail in a video and it’s longer than like 15 or 20 minutes, I always get thumbs downs. And I always get people saying, oh, the video is so long. So I have a love hate relationship with video. But I have a love love relationship with podcasts because I can dive into this in detail for half an hour or however long I need to. And you guys are cool with it. So first of all, thank you for that. But I want to talk about this in detail with you because we’re going to talk about a topic that I’m really passionate about, because it’s made such a big impact on my life. And that is how to choose the right online community for you. So I probably don’t need to explain why this is important right now. But maybe for those of you who are just getting into business, and maybe online groups, you might not be sure of the value of online community. But I’ll just tell you, particularly with COVID, it’s more important than ever, you know, when it comes to either networking or online groups for support, and community, depending on where you are in the world, there’s often just not that many options available for us right now. Because a lot of people aren’t meeting in person or it’s different, a lot of things are virtual and the need for online community is greater than ever. I’m also super passionate about this because me joining the right online community literally changed my life. And what I’m doing right now with this podcast, and my courses, and everything I’m doing would literally not be possible without having found the right online community.

Josh 2:18
And for me, that was the online Divi community. And it was primarily through Facebook groups. And that’s what really started this connection for me with designers all over the world. And it was like, it was like my eyes were open to the importance and huge impact the online community can have. It’s how I built my business and how I scaled my business. All of my web designers who I hired out came from the Divi online community. So needless to say, there’s such a need for it. And I want to help you choose the right type of online community because it’s one thing to say, Okay, I want to join an online community. But here’s the kicker, you got to join the right type of community. And there’s a bunch of different types, there’s a bunch of different levels.

Josh 2:57
And what we’re going to do in this episode is I’m going to break this down into three parts, we’re going to talk about some of the different types of groups that are out there, we’re going to talk about how to choose I’ve got five practical steps that will help you determine which group is right for you. This often depends on where you are in your journey. And then I’m going to give you some actual recommendations off of groups that I’m either a part of or have been a part of depending on where I’ve been in my journey. So that’s how we’re going to do this. And we’ll just start out by talking about the different types of groups.

Josh 3:28
So notably, like I just mentioned, particularly with those of you who use Divi, what’s mostly common are Divi Facebook groups. And there’s a lot of different Facebook groups out there for not only different themes, but also for WordPress, and also for entrepreneurs. There’s a ton of different Facebook groups out there. Some are really great, and some are really valuable. And some are, you know, fairly small, and some are really big. And there’s pros and cons to all those different types of we’ll explain here next, how to decide which ones are right for you. But Facebook groups are obviously probably the number one spot, particularly for web design, where you’re gonna find a lot of good options, and most all of them are free.

Josh 4:08
Another one are different types of forums. Often there’s a there’s a ton of different free forums out there, there’s premium and free, but forums are becoming more and more popular, particularly as we’re in the age right now where people are more afraid of losing any type of free speech or they’re afraid of things getting shut down. I mean, there are stories upon stories of Facebook groups and all types of channels getting shut down, whether it’s, you know, whether it’s policy related or whether there’s a ton of different reasons, and I’m not taking one political side or the other on here, but there is there there’s a lot of people leaving Facebook and going into more forum based type of platform so that’s becoming more and more popular. I’ve also seen a lot more Slack channels open for maybe not full public access, but often mastermind or Certain types of groups within groups. So there’s a lot of different types of communities that are moving to forums and Slack channels and things like that. There’s also product groups or course groups. So for example, a lot of my courses not at this point, not all of my courses have their own groups, but I’m considering that. But a lot of products you’ll you’ll purchase or companies will purchase products from will have their own groups, for example, Divi lover, Anya, who had on the pot early on the podcast. She’s the owner of Divi lover, she has her own Facebook group just for customers. And there’s a lot of groups like that that are super cool, because when you buy a product, or you go through like one of my courses, and you join the group, you’re automatically connected with like, like minded people, which is really cool. So that’s another example of some, some popular groups that are out there now that I would absolutely consider to be an online community.

Josh 5:51
There are masterminds and more premium memberships, which we’ll talk about here later. So that’s more advanced style online community where when you’re paying to be there, you’re going to get more out of it. Because if you put your money behind something, it will literally make you get more out of it, and you’ll often be more engaged. And then often sometimes with free groups, they get so big, you just never know what kind of response you’re gonna get. That’s, that’s an issue with some free groups. So pay paid or there’s also you know, there’s different ranges of memberships, there’s very low cost, there’s more premium style. So it varies, but memberships is a big one. There’s also local and virtual meetups. This could be speaking of word camps and Divi meetups for your local area. And a lot of folks are doing this in person if possible, or virtually, for example, Divi meetups, most all of them I believe, are happening virtually I don’t even know if they’re doing any in person. Most of them are virtual. But either way, there’s a lot of different examples there for local slash virtual meetups in your area, whether it’s related to web design, and entrepreneurship, or even just networking groups, I’ve, I was very vocal about being in my networking group for eight years over eight years. And that’s where 50% of my business came from, was through that that club through that networking group.

Josh 7:13
So there’s a lot of different options. So those are just some types of communities that are mostly all online at this point. Now, here’s the question, how do you choose we just went over Facebook groups, forums, slack channels, products, style groups, masterminds and memberships, and in local virtual meetups. So how do we choose? Well, there’s five tips I’m going to give you that I have implemented in my journey to decide which communities number one are going to benefit me. But number two, I’m going to be a good member of to be a part of, and then also ones that I can grow with. And I will say there are times where you’re going to outgrow a certain group. And that’s okay, you don’t feel the need, I don’t want you to feel the need to commit to something and be there forever. If you’re there for six months or a year and you feel like you’ve moved past it, you’re ready to take the next step. So how to choose there’s five tips here.

Josh 8:00
Number one is relevance. I want you to be very intentional about finding a group. And just remember when I say a group, what is a group, it’s a group of people. So I really want you to find a group of people that are going to be relevant to you, not only with your industry, but where you are in your journey. We’re going to type we’ll talk about the actual people next here. But the group itself, a lot of times there will be groups that are specifically for people just starting out, or there’s going to be groups for people who are taking things to the next level. And if you’re somebody who, for example, is a really established web designer, and you’re growing and scaling your business, you might be in a Divi related group that’s mainly full of people who are just starting out. So a lot of the posts are not going to be too relevant for you, unless you’re just in there to keep up to date with new tools and stuff like that. So I know a lot of people who, for example, join my Divi group, which I’ll talk about here. And they might be at a whole nother level. And they feel like there’s just so many beginners and it’s all tech talk, but I’m looking for like business related stuff. And that’s here and the next in the next section here I’m going to give you recommendations for those type of folks. That’s where you want to find a group that’s relevant to what you’re looking for. So keep that in mind relevant to, to where you are in your journey, and also what you do. And just as a quick example, a friend of mine joined a mastermind like a premium mastermind group filled with a lot of great entrepreneurs. But he’s a web designer. He’s a web design entrepreneur. And he told me he actually didn’t get much out of it at all, because they were all in different industries. And they were kind of all over the place with their level. So it was really hard for him to identify with somebody in this mastermind. This is also a side note kind of a benefit of being involved in the web design specific groups, particularly even if you niche it down, niche it down from there, niche, whatever down from there. If like for me, for example, mainly the groups I’m a part of are Divi groups. So it’s people who are using Divi who are running web design businesses and who are starting businesses. I’m not part of any Elementor groups, any other theme builders, it’s just Divi in a web design. And then now some more entrepreneurial groups. So number one is relevance. Keep all those things in mind, you want to check out the relevance. And keep in mind too, you can always try something out like my buddy who went into that mastermind group, he tried it out, didn’t really enjoy, it didn’t really get too much out of it. And I don’t even think he could fit, he felt compelled to contribute as much because it was just not right in his wheelhouse. So that’s all right, try it out, and then leave if you have to.

Josh 10:34
Number two. So let’s talk about the people, the actual members. Again, we talked about the group, the type of group and now we need to talk about the people themselves. And here’s the kicker, this is the maker break with anything that is a community, but specifically online community, because when you have an online community, people are very brave behind their keyboards Now, have you met a lot of these people in person, they would probably be very stand up people, they would never say some of the things they would say, when it’s in an online community where you can sit behind your keyboard in your mom’s basement and say whatever you want, spread whatever negativity you want. And that’s what we want to avoid. Those are the kind of memories you need to watch out for. And hopefully, the group admins or whoever’s running the group is weeding these people out or moderating them. And that is a whole nother side story that I’ll maybe I’ll do a separate episode on. Now that I run a 23,000 group, person group anyway, look at the members. Are they like minded? And here’s the kicker? Are they on the same trajectory? Man, I say that word all the time. I don’t know why I say it, though, cuz I really have a hard time. So are they on the same trajectory, meaning, you don’t necessarily need the group need to join a group that are all on the exact same level. In fact, I’d say that’s a bad thing. Because if you’re just starting out in web design, and you’re joining a group of people who are all just starting out, well, you can’t really help each other too much, because you’re all right at the same level. And vice versa, if you’re somebody who’s advanced, but your whole group are just people just starting out, you’re gonna, you know, you might spend 100% of your time helping and not getting any value. So you want to look at the group, ideally, there should be a good mix. And again, it they don’t necessarily need to be around the same level, but you want to be on the same path, you want to be looking at the type of members.

Josh 12:19
And one thing I would say too, is if you join, like a free Facebook group, for example, just take a look at a lot of the recent posts. Are a lot of the comments helpful? Is there encouragement, is there support? Do you get a good feel for the members, because a lot of this is going to depend on those posts, like I want you to when you join a community to feel comfortable to contribute. That’s one of the big things to a lot of people are terrified to join an online community for just what I said, a lot of people tend to get real brave when they’re behind the keyboard and troll or, you know, just say terrible things or discourage people, particularly in web design, this can be a problem. You know, luckily, the Divi community is overall very encouraging, and supportive community. But there are times where you get the quote, unquote, developer type person who just comes in to tell you how terrible you are as a designer and developer and it can really discourage you. So you got to look out for that. And I will say, just a heads up, do not be surprised or bothered when that happens. I’m also telling myself this because I have to constantly remind myself as somebody who has a YouTube channel, and as a podcast, and who is out there more and more, I’m going to attract more haters. And if you put something out there even if it’s a question, hopefully you get a lot of good responses. But if you get 10 responses, there’s always going to be at least you know, 10% of that that’s going to be absolute crap. So you’ll often get, you know, like one out of 10 comments that is just a troll or a discouraging comment. So don’t be surprised by that, be prepared for it, and just move right past it and report it if it needs to be reported. But look at the members for you get a good feel for it, and see if it’s a type of community and like mindedness that you can get behind and that you’re excited to contribute to and be a part of.

Josh 14:09
Now, one thing on that note, is look at the community. And just like I talked about what the different types of levels of people, see if it’s something that you can not only take from, but give back to as well. If you are just a taker, you’re not going to thrive in an online community. Let me say that one more time, because it’s super, super important. If you just take if you’re a taker, you will not thrive. In an online community. Any sort of community is a given take meaning you can take a lot you know, you can you can get a lot of in return and you can get a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience stuff but until you give back, you will personally never feel fulfilled. That’s the big key here is giving doesn’t mean you’re always just giving your time or your knowledge, your resources, but it’s actually for me and everyone who has a giving spirit In these groups, it gives you life. It’s like, it’s amazing to help somebody. And it will often, a lot of times, it will help you identify what some of the biggest problems are that are going on, you’ll find solutions. You’ll be amazed at how much you know. And I just want to encourage you, if you’re early in your journey, you have more to give than you think you do.

Josh 15:21
One of my mentors, Pat Flynn said this recently, he said an expert is really somebody who’s just right at the next level than you are. So when I was early in my web design journey, and I started teaching what I knew. Did I consider myself an expert? No, absolutely not. But to the people under me who didn’t know anything about web design, consider me an expert. Yes. So an expert is just somebody who’s right next, you know, past the level where you are. And you I guarantee are in that position right now, even if you’re early on in your journey. So don’t be afraid to share what you know, even if you don’t know all that much yet, that is totally fine. So I say all that to say number three, make sure that you give as well as take. And that should be your motto for for an online group. You also want to see if people are doing that. Going back to number two.

Josh 16:06
Number four here, this is a really, really important one. Look at the leaders, look at the admins look at the people who are running the groups, everything rises and falls on leadership. So the leaders are really going to give you a good idea as to whether this is going to hold and stick or whether it’s going to fall by the wayside. It’s also going to show you what the kind of guidelines are for the group, like if you’re in a group, and the leaders are scattered and all over the place, and they’re not very friendly, I’ll bet you $1,000, right now the group is going to be a little scattered, it’s going to be unorganized. And a lot of the people are probably not going to be very friendly. All groups in every everything in life, everything fall rises and falls on leadership. So look at the leaders get a good feel for them. If you feel like you like the leaders, and you like the moderators and you feel or at least you know, you’d like the people running the show, then that’s good, chances are, that’s going to be a good group. But if you go in there, and you just don’t identify with the people running it, don’t join, that’s okay to that, that’s totally fine. I encourage everyone who’s looking for a coach, mentor or courses, you have to join those type of things with the people you identify with. And, and I hope for me, I hope I’m that to you. But if I don’t, if you don’t identify with me, that’s fine, too. There’s a ton of other course creators out there. So find somebody you identify with. And that’s the kind of group you want to go into. So that’s number four, look at the leaders.

Josh 17:31
And then finally, the most important thing with any community you’re about to join, or maybe you’re testing out, is just trust your gut, all of these things relevance the type of members, having that giving spirit and looking at the leaders, you have to trust your gut with all of this, if your gut is telling you, maybe I’ll join particularly this, this is more important for for a community that you’re investing in, that you’re actually paying to be a part of, you got to trust your gut, because your gut is going to tell you what’s right or wrong for you. If you join and you feel like I’m just gonna give it three months, just because, you know, I’ve heard good things, but maybe I don’t know, I don’t seem to like the people, but I’m going to buy it anyway. I don’t want you to regret that. And luckily, most memberships will have a refund policy. But I want you to trust your gut, particularly for free groups. The other aspect of this is if you don’t trust your gut, and you’re involved in something for a long time, you can spend a lot of time you can spend a lot of time in these groups, and I don’t want you to waste any time either. So trust your gut. So those are the five tips for how to choose. And next we’re going to talk about some recommendations. So really quick recap on the on the tips for how to choose relevance. The type of members get a good feel for them, make sure you give make sure you can give as well as take a look at the leaders and trust your gut.

Josh 18:42
Now let’s talk about recommendations. So I’m going to break this down into three parts as well. I love threes, I just love breaking down things in threes, I don’t know there’s a lot of science behind threes, maybe I’ll look more into that I my brain works good in three. So I hope this is beneficial for you as we break down a lot of talks and notes not only for this, but moving forward as well. So in any case, let’s break this down in three different categories. And I’m going to give you recommendations based off of where you are in your web design journey. And these are all groups that I’ve either been a part of myself or and currently a part of or currently running. And I should say just for the outset, there are a lot more options in this these are just ones that I am immediately a part of and that I have a good feel for and that I would honestly and trustworthy Lee recommend to you. So we’re gonna break this down.

Josh 19:33
Number one groups for becoming a web designer and learning design and the tech side of things.

Josh 19:39
Number two, I’m going to break this down into groups for starting your web design business or maybe your early on in your business journey.

Josh 19:46
And then number three, I’m going to give you some tips on groups for actually growing your web design business and taking it six figures and beyond.

Josh 19:53
So number one, some groups that I recommend for becoming a web designer. The first one is, drumroll please shocker, my Facebook Divi Webdesigners group. And I should say to all these links will be in the show notes for this episode at Josh Hall co/095. So go there to find all the links for these. But I do have a free Facebook group, it’s more of a Divi support group. It’s called Divi web designers. I started it in the fall of 2016, I had no idea how many groups were already out there. But it’s become I believe, at the time of recording this, I think it’s the second largest Divi group out there, the main Divi group is about 60 some 1000. And I think we’re at 23,000. What’s interesting about my group, though, if you don’t know is we have almost a 50% decline rate on members. So I’m very strict on who becomes a member and an effort to weed out those trolls and those spammers. So this is really the best place for you to get really good quality feedback and tech support and more Divi related stuff. There’s going to be some business stuff and occasionally, but it’s mostly in and around Divi. It is also the best forum, in my opinion for help if you have an urgent problem with Divi. So facebook.com/Divi web actually, I think it’ll be groups/Divi web designers just go to the post for the link. But check that out. You can join today mention that you heard about it on the podcast and I’ll make sure you get in all snappy-like so check that out great for Divi support. Again, it’s a lot of people. So you’ll get that one out of 10 comments that might not be so great, but just report them and we’ll take care of it. I’ve got some awesome moderators on it.

Josh 21:34
So another Divi group that I recommend checking out, Divi Freelancers for Hire, this is great for those of you who are hiring, but also for those of you who are becoming a web designer, and you’re getting familiar with Divi and you want more opportunity. Well, this is a group where you can literally joined to say I’m looking to design websites, now there’s a proper way to go about it, you want to be helpful, you want to be at least established where you have a website and you’re good at design, you want to make sure that’s there first, but that is a place to get work. Now they do have some pretty rigid filters, rightfully so to make sure that groups not, you know, a million people, a million you don’t want a million people saying hire me hire me. So there’s some filters there. But it’s a great place to get work as you become a freelance web designer.

Josh 22:18
I mentioned the official Divi group, I would back that up here too. It’s, I’ll have a link to it. But again, it’s over 60,000 people one of the best places for a lot of Divi related stuff. The only caveat to that group is unlike mine, there’s a lot of rules and guidelines and regulations on like what you can post on certain days. I personally hate that stuff. I made my group very open if you want to share a tutorial, share tutorial anytime any day you want. If you want to post a question, post a question any time any day you want. I don’t like the whole Monday motivation kind of thing or Tuesday tutorial, I just, I don’t know. That’s the only problem with that group. But it is a great group and it’s run by the folks from Divi so worthwhile.

Josh 23:00
Another great resource for becoming a web designer, particularly in the Divi realm are Divi specific meetups, if you didn’t know, Elegant Themes, sponsors meetups all over the world, you can either just go to these meetups that are often local in your area or in your state, or you can host them. And that is one of the best ways to build your authority and get some work. Do you want to hit that again, here’s here’s a secret. Here’s a top secret that not many people know about. You want to get a bunch of work, hosted Devi meetup, you will, you will not only attract web designers, but you will attract clients, and you will build your authority. And then you will often get a lot of referrals from your peers from your colleagues because they’ll say I’m just learning I don’t I can’t take on this project, would you? You know, can we be a good referral partner? I’m telling you right now, host a Divi meetup and then tell me how it goes a few months later, and tell me about all the rewards you’re reaping from it, I’m telling you, it will, it will do a lot of things for your for your business and your career. So that’s a big Pro. But you can also just join them just to learn web design and stay up and up on Divi. So Divi meetups, I’ll have a link again, in the show notes for this to check out see if there’s one in your area. And then there’s not host one.

Josh 24:12
And then Word camps for those of you who are using different themes, or you just want to get more just generalized in WordPress. Word camps are a great way to go. Again, there’s not many that are meeting in person now. But there’s a lot of great virtual stuff going on.

Josh 24:24
So those are some of the resources that I’ve been through myself in order to become a web designer. And I’ve seen a lot of designers thrive. Now the question is, what about those of you who are starting your business or maybe you’re early on? No problem. There’s a lot of great resources there to my Divi web designers group, you can definitely use that for starting your business. Like I mentioned, they will be a lot of tips and threads in there about getting clients collecting content, tools and resources, excuse me that you can use so there’s a lot of really good resources there but it again, it’s more of a divvy support group. I’m going to recommend a free group that is gold. And I’m hesitant to recommend this because I don’t want to get too big. But Focus on Your Biz. It’s a free Facebook group that is run by my good friend and colleague, Stephanie Hudson with FocusWP, who I’ve had on the podcast a couple times, she started this group, we’re actually on a podcast called Divi chat. And she talked about starting a group that is kind of like her brand focusing on websites. And she decided to start this Facebook group focus on your biz. And it’s become an amazing free businesscentric design group. But it really is it’s it’s kind of a hidden gem. So check that out. Again, the link will be in the show notes for this focus on your biz, you can just search it in Facebook, say that I sent you you heard on this podcast, it’s one of the best free options for quality people. And just kind of a side note, a lot of people in my membership are in that group. So you’ll likely get a lot of the same benefits in some of the more premium groups groups there. They may not be as engaged there, but it’s a great group. So Focus on Your Biz. Again, you can also check out my facebook group Divi web designers for that as well.

Josh 26:06
Another one. Okay, so I’ve been talking about this recently, I was just recently, a part of the Designer Boss Summit, which is hosted by a couple lovely ladies from down under one of my close friends Emma Kate, and Anna dour who also runs that summit with her. They’ve had a summit once a year for the past two years, called the designer boss summit. And it’s awesome this year was myself and 24 other speakers from all over the world. Incredible presentations, I’ve already learned so much. The cool thing about this, though, and the reason I’m mentioning that here is they have a community around this summit. A lot of cool things about this, you can go to designer boss.co to check it out. And you can actually still access all the presentations. I think you have to buy the bundle, and you can re watch all the presentations. But the reason I mentioned this is they have a Facebook group, they have a Facebook group that you can join. And it’s like a community of incredible designers from all over the world. And it’s very focused around your business. It’s not as much design as it is business related stuff. So this is kind of like a free support group for your business. And it’s awesome. And it really is great. The really cool thing too is I’ve seen a lot of people get to know each other and network. And then every year when they do the summit, it’s like the group stays the same. So you’re connected with the same people and every year, it’s like a regenerated a feeling of like community. So I would highly recommend checking that out. There’s a Facebook group that I’ll have linked below to the summit, like two people who are watching the summit, I think you can join for free, but go to Designer Boss.co to check that out. And join the Facebook group, we wrote some presentations and get involved. It’s a great community.

Josh 27:45
And then one thing to remember, too, like I mentioned in the outset, a lot of courses have their own specific groups. And for the business side of things, two of my courses are really key for this, well, actually three, my business course has a whole group. And I’m telling you guys right now that thing is that group itself is worth the investment to my business course, just the Facebook group that we have there. Because it’s people who are serious about their business, and now they’re in that group. So just as a reminder, when you join my business group, you you automatically get access to that private student only group. And it’s been awesome. I also have course groups from my maintenance plan course and my SEO course. And both of those groups have been really good from a business perspective as well. So those are some options for those of you who are starting your business.

Josh 28:31
And then let’s wrap up finally, here with number three. Let me give you some options for those of you who are growing your business. Now heads up. These recommendations are for those of you who have a business and you’re taking it to the next level. You’re welcome to listen, you know, I want you to keep on listening if you’re just starting out. But just a heads up, these are previews of the premium option. These are for those of you who are should probably be making at least 25,000. And you’re taking it to 50 or 75. And then definitely, for those of you who are in the 50 to 75 range, and you’re going to six figures. Plus, these are the options to help you with that. And Firstly, my brand new web design club. My web design club is specifically for those of you who are at the point where you’ve got a business and you’re taking it to the next level. Now, I don’t have any filters for my club yet as far as like I don’t have any prerequisites, like you got to be making at least 10,000 or something. I mean, if you want to join it and you’re just starting out, you are more than welcome to it is a premium membership though. And there’s a reason for that. I have mean 95% of my content is free. For those of you who have zero budget, you’re just starting out. That’s why I have my Divi web designers Facebook group, and that’s why I just gave you a bunch of free options for groups. For those of you though, who are ready to really take it to the next level and surround yourself with like minded people who are going to build and support you. That’s what my web design club is and I’ve already been able to help people take their businesses to even just a couple months, it’s been open with founding members. It’s been an absolutely incredible and I’m not saying that just because I’m running the group and it’s open now I’m saying it because as as a member myself, it’s been so supportive been so encouraging. It’s it’s like the most little, it’s like the it’s like the kindest, most amazing little corner of the internet. And I truly believe that. And actually, just to, to show you some practical examples, I just want to read a couple recent messages I’ve got from members…

Josh 30:28
Alexis who I had on the podcast recently, she went through all my courses, and she’s been a part of the club. She says, I’m in love with this club so much. The fact that I can get this type of guidance from you, me, is invaluable in the QA this morning, I felt like I was literally leveling up my web design knowledge and skill I was what as I was watching site designs. Being able to get insights on what to do and why on the different sites are doing why on the different sites is so eye opening and helpful, you have no idea how much value this is adding to my life in business. And what Alexis is referring to is in my web design club, you’ll first of all, get the chance to privately chat with me. So as I you know, as my brand grows, I’m just not going to be able to get back to everyone who emails me it’s just not practical. But what I have here, one of the main reasons I set up this community is for you to chat with me directly to ask questions. So it’s almost like a form of coaching, you can ask me questions at any point. And I’ll get back to you in my web design club. And then the other thing that Alexis was referring to was our q&a. So every week, I do a live q&a. And those will range from me doing website reviews that you can learn from, you can also submit your website designs for me to review. And then now we’re also taking we’re having members come on live. And we have a discussion back and forth, the Q and A’s have been awesome. My web design club is also there are four monthly trainings and advanced trainings on certain subjects that are kind of outside of my courses. So I really want to encourage you if you’re growing your business, and you’re ready to take it to that six figure level, look into my web design club, course link below or you can also go to Josh Hall, co/webdesignclub all one word to get more details and to see more reviews.

Josh 32:09
There’s another one I wanted to mention here real quick. Two quick ones, Steve, who just recently joined who just went full time in the beginning of this year. And side note, we just had him on for weekly q&a. And within two weeks, he’s like slammed with work. So shout out to Steve. But he says For the record, I have been a lot of memberships over the years already. I’m really enjoying myself here. He actually posted this right when he joined. He said I don’t know if it’s because the other clubs are always more general business. And this one is specifically related to my tribe of mostly Divi web designers. But something feels different about this. Stellar job, Josh. And Steve just articulated exactly why my web design club and a lot of these other groups I mentioned are so key because it’s not general business. It’s not for every entrepreneur, it’s for web design entrepreneurs and a lot of people in my membership, don’t just use Divi. So don’t let that deter you. But that’s a great point by Stephen.

Josh 33:02
And finally, let me just last one, this comes from Lisa Williams, Lisa, shout out love seeing what you what you guys are doing. This is actually a husband and wife combo. By the Way, LISA and her husband run their agency together. She said I joined Josh’s web design club because I wanted a place to connect with like minded people in the web design industry, who I could not collaborate or who I could collaborate with and could also support me and expanding my business alongside my husband. The platform is amazing. And this club has been a game changer for us already so much value is here that you just are not going to get anywhere else that I know of. And then she says I love this PS, I’ve invested in a shit ton of courses, people and everything else over the last several years. But Josh, your courses in this club is by far the best investment and most valuable. Lisa, first of all, thank you so much for that. I love that note.

Josh 33:50
And I think that really speaks as to why our club is different than a lot of others. And she mentioned it the platform it’s on Circle is freaking sweet. The UX is incredible. So all that to say, guys, if you’re growing your business, check out my web design club. At the time of releasing this podcast the founders launch is on right now. But it’s only on for a limited time. And if you join while the founders launch is going on, you’ll get a big discount on your membership. So check that out right now. 14 day money back, no risk guarantee to join. So check that out.

Josh 34:20
And then finally, let me just mention two final things here. Some other communities you might consider. These are two that I’m a part of. And I just wanted to say, you know, I wasn’t gonna mention these, but they’ve been so beneficial to me. I thought why not recommend them to you. Number one is SPI Pro, the Smart Passive Income brand that Pat Flynn has. He does have a community it’s on circle as well. It is not web design centric. It is more entrepreneurs, but I’ve got a lot of value from it. For those of you who are maybe doing other entrepreneurial services and web design is just a part of that. I’d highly recommend checking it out. It’s very it’s only 49 bucks a month very cheap. A lot of great people, particularly those of you who do podcasts and more media, there’s a lot of challenges they have in there to get better at articulating your your elevator pitch and stuff like that a lot of cool things, I’d recommend checking that out.

Josh 35:09
And then the other one is the community that I’m a part of with my business coach, and that is super fast business, my coach James Schramko. I’ve been with him for a couple years. Let me just let the cat out of the bag. For those of you who have hung with me to the end of this episode, here’s a here’s a top secret thing. I’ve got my business coach James Schramko. And the man the myth, the legend Pat Flynn. Coming up on the podcast very soon, Pat is joining me for Episode 100. And then James, my business coach and owner of superfastbusiness is going to be Episode 101. So you’re about to hear some amazing stuff coming up on the podcast. But in any case, superfastbusiness is his membership. Now there’s different tiers of this membership, there is the coaching tier that I’m on where you get to privately messaged with James, that is a little that’s a bigger investment, I would probably say you should be making at least 50,000 before doing that, because it is 5000 a year right now. But there’s a lower level where you can access all of his trainings, all the community, and it’s a really great community. I’m just gonna say it, there’s a lot of millionaires in there. So you’re getting, you’re gonna hear from like some amazing people and entrepreneurs. So it’s definitely worth your while, again, for those of you who are looking for communities that are outside of web design, so.

Josh 36:23
So there you go, guys, hopefully, all these different types of groups that I mentioned, give you a feel for what’s out there, those five tips on how to choose those. Hopefully, that helps. And then these recommendations. For those of you who are becoming a web designer, starting your business or growing your business will help you again, I just want to highlight my web design clubs out right now, you can join with the founding members discount that’s only going to be available for a little while longer. So make sure you joined today. Again, no risk to join. I would love to have you involved in the community and I would love to talk with you directly moving forward I want to help you with your business. So check that out all out all of the show notes and links that I just mentioned will be below in the show notes for this page. So I hope this helps. Let me know if you guys have any questions. Otherwise, thanks for hanging with me. Maybe this will be a 10 or 15 minute video here soon but for right now, I appreciate you guys listening to the long winded version. See on the next episode, which is gonna be a good one next episode we’re gonna be talking about scaling a six figure web design business you’re not not gonna want to miss that one. Alright guys, see you then. Cheers.