Bryan McAnulty [00:00:00]:

Do you ever feel like you were doing everything right in your career, but you still felt exhausted, disconnected or alone? Amy Vaughan did exactly what the creative world tells you to do. She led campaigns for global brands like P&G, Ford and Walmart. She won awards. She climbed a ladder. And yet, something was missing. Instead of chasing bigger titles or doubling down on the hustle, Amy made a different move. She decided to build community as the foundation for long term success. Today, Amy is the owner of Together Digital and the Marketer Collaborative, two communities that have helped tens of thousands of creatives and marketers grow their careers through connection, collaboration and real support.

Bryan McAnulty [00:00:33]:

Together Digital alone has grown to nearly a thousand members, mostly through referrals, and has hosted events for over 40,000 women. In this episode, Amy shares why community matters more than ever in the AI era. How she built a thriving member led network and what creators and entrepreneurs need to rethink if they want sustainable success in the years ahead.

Amy Vaughan [00:00:51]:

So it was really a lot of those conversations of like, what draws you into a space? What about coworking is attractive so that when they come, they stay. And it's definitely not the way to grow and scale rapidly, but I think it's the way to grow and scale with intentionality and retention, which in the long term, in the long game, is just going to be a more sustainable business.

Bryan McAnulty [00:01:13]:

Welcome to the Creator's Adventure where we interview creators from around the world, hearing their stories about growing a business. Hey everyone, I'm Brian McAnulty, the founder of Heights Platform. Let's get into it. Hey Amy, welcome to the show.

Amy Vaughan [00:01:31]:

Thanks, I'm happy to be here.

Bryan McAnulty [00:01:32]:

Brian, first question for you is what is the biggest thing that you did or you are doing that has helped you to achieve the freedom to do what you enjoy?

Amy Vaughan [00:01:43]:

Taking the leap into entrepreneurship was one of the biggest and scariest things that I have ever done, but it has created so much freedom and autonomy for me. I'm quite the accidental entrepreneur. I actually was a part of the community that I now own and operate. I had been working for agencies for about 15 years as a creative director, fell in with the Together Digital community and fell in love with the premise and the support that I received. As, you know, busy working, mom of two, a creative director. So kind of balancing ambition and parenthood was a big challenge for me. Something very new that I wasn't accustomed to. And this community really helped to support me through that kind of experience and change in life as well as being a caretaker for my mom.

Amy Vaughan [00:02:32]:

Navigating relational issues like this community has shown up for me more than professional. And so it was no doubt when I was asked if I wanted to run the organization in 2019, when I was asked, I said absolutely. So I started running it in November of 2019, right before the pandemic and then everything shut down and I had to take this very much in person community organization and try to figure out how to pivot and help create that same magic, but virtual. And so we did online summits, we did virtual peer groups, we did online masterclasses. And while we still very much thrive in the idea of coming back to and love coming back to the in person space, we're also taking advantage of the accessibility of creating amazing connections in the network, in a community online as well. What this did for me was it created some autonomy and freedom to really own my own time, protect it fiercely to be that time management nerd that I've always been, even when I was at agencies which allowed me to work on writing a book, working on an app to help solve the networking gap for women, you know, just a number of things and really build back into my life space and flexibility to do the things that I loved and enjoyed. When I'm not doing the atypical 9 to 5, I sort of kind of work within my schedule and my family and my time. So yeah, awesome.

Bryan McAnulty [00:04:01]:

Yeah. Well that's a great benefit of and great reason to be an entrepreneur of having that time, freedom and being able to do things on your own schedule. But also I think you're already touching on an important point of where like communities can be so valuable because like personally, so I have a daughter, but I know like there's lots of entrepreneurs, there's lots of people in traditional roles in a career where maybe they're, they're so focused on that thing, they don't have a family or they don't have kids and it's difficult to like connect with them about that side of things. And so having something like a community that's a perfect example of where something that simple of you can align with people who are like you in this way provides a lot of value to all the members.

Amy Vaughan [00:04:51]:

Absolutely. Yeah. We've got a couple of different channels on our Slack community. One that's for parenting because we've allowed a couple of non traditional parents as well within the community that we want to support that are maybe like step parents or adoptive parents and or don't identify as moms. And it's, it's such a complicated, it's hard to explain. I look back at My. Myself before I had children. And it's.

Amy Vaughan [00:05:13]:

It would be hard to even explain to myself back then, like, what. How, like, the mental load changes, your priorities change. And I'm not saying as in, like, you know, that now all of a sudden, the only thing that matters is my kids. But all of a sudden, now I'm looking back going, what did I do with all of my time before I had kids? You know, like, how did I. Because I use my time so much more efficiently now because I'm that much more intentional about how I'm spending my time and energy, whether it's with work or with my kids. So, yeah, it's. It's good to have community because there's no right or wrong way, parenting wise. But the more it takes a village and the more people that you can lean on and get support from when you're parenting.

Amy Vaughan [00:05:51]:

While, like, maintaining a professional career is so beneficial, just because there's a lot of things we don't talk about openly in work environments specifically that you just kind of get blindsided by. And so it was really important for me to have that as I was starting a family, for sure.

Bryan McAnulty [00:06:09]:

Yeah. Yeah. So can you share more? So your community is called Together Digital. Can you share more about that? I guess, like, what is it for you? Why does it. Why does it matter to you and your members?

Amy Vaughan [00:06:23]:

Yeah, so it was started in 2016 in Columbus. It was very much kind of in and around the MeToo movement. And the founder, you know, shared a lot about her story and experience of sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace, which I've been really fortunate. I kind of grew up in agencies, but I had a lot of great male allies, mentors, and champions. And so I was spared some of the horror stories, but I got to hear plenty. And for me, it was really more about the lack of representation of women within this creative space. So as a Creative Director in 2012, when I went to the 3% conference started by Kat Gordon, it was news to me that only 3% of creative directors were women. So we're 80% of the buying power.

Amy Vaughan [00:07:06]:

Yet the marketing messages we receive, only 3% of those messages are concepted and crafted by women. And so I didn't know at the time what an anomaly I was. So, yeah, that was kind of like the spark that started the whole thing. And then, you know, together digital, it's. It's hard to describe. It's just this wonderful bubble of women that it's like the intersection of generosity and expertise. Our average member has about 20 years of experience within digital marketing, advertising or tech. They've got a varied background, some of them have degrees in marketing and advertising and some of them, you know, are self taught.

Amy Vaughan [00:07:46]:

Some of them are designers and creatives, some of them are developers, you know, so it's a broad spectrum. Digital kind of encapsulates a lot now than when it was in total, it was in 2016. We're all digital now, but like I said, we have an amazing online supportive community where you can ask for whatever you need. No guilt, no shame. You can give and there's no judgment. It's just really a space where women truly support other women, which you don't always find in every work environment or every culture or club or association or environment. So we've worked really hard to sort of create that space for our women so that, you know, entrepreneurs, freelancers, contractors, they all work together. People find work by, you know, talking to one another and, and sharing resources and supporting one another.

Amy Vaughan [00:08:37]:

We talk through and work through life transitions and divorces and deaths and menopause, you name it. It's like there's nothing off the table with this community. It's really a space where you can kind of show up whole and, and get the help and support that you need. So it's, it's kind of hard to put it all into words, but there's a lot of amazing things going for the group and I'm, I'm so proud of where it's gone in the last 10 years.

Bryan McAnulty [00:09:03]:

Yeah, yeah, it sounds great. I'm. I'm wondering, so for, for our audience of creators and entrepreneurs out there, if they're hearing this and they're saying like, wow, I would love to be able to build a community that, that like has some of these kind of values and can be something like that. Can you take us back to early on, especially since it sounds like this was like in person, then turned into an online community? Did it always have like the same kind of like goals and values or did anything like shift over time with that?

Amy Vaughan [00:09:34]:

Yeah, I mean, I would say shifting from, you know, the founder to myself, there's always a bit of a shift in the culture. And then also again, like the whole world got turned upside down on its head. And so the ways in which we showed up and the way we were spending our time very much changed. I would say that a lot of it is defined and shaped and it's evolved in my opinion, from kind of one woman's story and one woman's experience to the collective experience and about the Voice of the many versus the few. And so for me, it's really making sure that we amplify the voices of, again, all the women. We do a lot of, like, featuring of our members when we have our conference on stage on our podcast, you know, we do what we can to make sure that women know that they already are. They already have power. It's just feeling bold enough to.

Amy Vaughan [00:10:24]:

To leverage that power, to use it for their own benefit and to benefit others around them. And so I think that's been like a little bit of the shift where it really used to be sort of about the founder story and that experience and sexual harassment and discrimination. The world's become so much more complex. That was kind of like the tip of the iceberg, really, in a lot of ways. And now we've had to look at a lot of intersectionality within our gender, within, like, race, socioeconomic status, all of these different things. And so it's really us trying to be mindful of every woman that steps into our space, physical or virtual, has something to add to the community. And it's not just about taking. It's what you can give as well.

Amy Vaughan [00:11:11]:

And so I think we've transitioned from this very kind of atypical association for women to being more of a support community, network and space. And then I would say too, like, our creator and entrepreneur subgroup within the community has really evolved too. What I see happening is, you know, we have a member in Denver who does websites and. And another member who does SEO in Cleveland, another member who does design in Florida. And they meet virtually and they start talking and sharing, like, what they're. How they're gaining clients, what they're charging, all these things, sharing, sow, so that, you know, people don't feel so alone in trying to figure it all out by themselves. And then they end up finding clients that need multiple services. And then they will all go in as almost like a collective and pitch that work and win those clients and work together.

Amy Vaughan [00:12:03]:

And that was not happening at the very beginning. That was not an initial, like, you know, concept of the community. But I think we've definitely transitioned into this space where there's women that come together that. That do really good business and get business done together in a variety of ways. And so rather than just, you know, meetups and boards and chapters, we're just kind of one big, amazing, beautiful, homeless international now group of women that just show up in a multitude of ways, whether that's through Zoom or Slack or in person, and find ways to work together real quick.

Bryan McAnulty [00:12:37]:

Brian here, you know me as the host for this podcast, but what you might not know is I'm also the founder of Heights Platform. It's an all in one platform that over 10,000 creators have used to build their online courses, communities and digital product businesses. We recently added some awesome updates to Heights AI to help you turn your idea into a viable business. I'd say I can build entire product offers, review your content, and even coach you on how to grow. You can try it for free for 30 days. Links in the description. Now back to the podcast. Yeah, yeah, that's great.

Bryan McAnulty [00:13:07]:

I noticed that your community looks like a membership, so like, people have to like renew their subscriptions. And I think for many, especially like starting out, when you've got this vision of building a community, it can be hard to have it be like a subscription fee in the beginning because you're worried that like people are just going to turn and then the product's not good enough yet, it's not clear enough yet or whatever reason. So I'm curious, what's something that you do inside to together digital that helps people come back into their journey?

Amy Vaughan [00:13:39]:

Yeah, I think you have to really understand and know your values as an organization, a business, and you have to like walk the walk. You know, you can't promise a whole lot and then bring people in and then kind of leave them to like figure it all out for themselves. So one thing I started doing during the pandemic was doing member one on one onboardings. 15, 20 minutes. I'm a big nerd when it comes to calendars and time blocking. So I use a calendly link and I have certain days of the week, certain times that I always leave open for member one on ones, whether they're existing members or new members. And if nobody books, I get some time back and get other work done. Otherwise, when they show up, I listen to understand how did they hear about us? Where did they come from? What is it that they need? Because we have a multitude of resources and it can feel a little overwhelming.

Amy Vaughan [00:14:27]:

And when you're already overwhelmed, yeah, just throw a number of benefits in somebody's face and say, you just paid $300 for this, now make the most of it. So I take 15, 20 minutes, get to know these folks, talk with them about what their goals are, and then I will guide them to the right slack channels, past content, upcoming events or individual members. And while this is like a couple hours of my time, maybe every couple weeks, it is a huge benefit to me because the qualitative data that I'm getting right. I understand where people are coming from, why they need us. And then that helps me shape and tailor our messaging, our programming, our communications. Because I get to know each and every one of these members. And it's so wonderful because then we come together for a national conference and I kind of forget everybody doesn't know everybody. And I get really excited when I see these women that I'm like, you two need to talk.

Amy Vaughan [00:15:17]:

You need to know each other kind of a moment. So I think really looking at what it is that you're trying to accomplish and totally knowing your audience. So for me to spend 15, 20 minutes with each one of my new members, I get to hear about not just the work, but the life that they're experiencing. And I start to see and understand, okay, she's got limited mental capacity, emotional capacity, and time. So what are the best ways for her to make use of her membership? Okay, so Slack is a great place. She's starting a business, she needs support, she needs to ask questions. She can post it up on Slack any time of day. If she's up nursing in the middle of the night, she can post a question.

Amy Vaughan [00:15:55]:

By morning, there'll be five or six people who've responded to her. You know, if she's kind of more into the weeds and maybe she's moving through leadership and is sort of finding her leadership style and her chops and needs that support, maybe I'll recommend she join a peer group for one hour once a month and I'll pair her up with another number of women who are either a half step ahead of her or maybe just a half step behind her. Because those peer mentors are everything when you're working through life and career transitions. And so there's a lot of opportunity there. And I think, you know, value, you find the member value by listening. You don't find the member value by just creating it. It's not the. If you build it, they will come.

Amy Vaughan [00:16:35]:

It's like you have to listen for what are their problems, what are their sticking points, what are their barriers? And then you have to remove those barriers and show them the way. And that's how you get them to come into the door. That's how you get them to use the memberships, not just a sign up and then leave it. And that's how you get them to stay. Our retention rate is usually between 95 to 98%. We don't have a lot of turnover with our members. And a lot of them, you know, it's sometimes just A finance or a career change that, you know is the impetus for leaving. But if there's like, you know, financial things, we've also offered and do have a together foundation which helps provide funds for women who can't afford it, who are going through job transitions or life transitions, because there's a lot of that happening right now.

Amy Vaughan [00:17:20]:

And I want to make sure we can support everyone as much as possible and still manage to pay for the business.

Bryan McAnulty [00:17:26]:

Yeah, yeah, that's excellent. I really like that idea about doing the one on ones. And that's something we do in our business as well. Not like in our community directly, but inside our software platform. And it's something that, yeah, I think people overlook because many entrepreneurs might say, oh, I don't want to do that because now I'm giving away what could be like coaching time or it's taking my time. And this was supposed to be this magical recurring revenue thing that I'd have to put time into. But they're not looking at it from the value that they're getting from that time. And it's a couple ways.

Bryan McAnulty [00:18:06]:

It's like number one, like you shared how you're, you're helping to learn about that member for your own marketing and positioning and because maybe your, maybe your community is solving exactly what pain points that they have or helping them with exactly what they're going through. But if they're thinking of it in some certain way and your landing page is not like communicating that, they may not understand that or maybe you've got somebody to just about understand that and, but they, they, they understood something enough to buy, but they didn't know you could help them, they communicate that to you and you realize, oh, wow, well, I should probably mention this because we definitely do solve this like main issue, but they didn't realize that. And so that in itself is already super valuable. But then also by like getting them, getting them situated and helping them find their way, like you said, that also is part of what can really drive that great retention. Like one, one call can kind of kickstart them for everything they need as opposed to just like you said, throwing them in there. And then it's like, yeah, well, well, good luck.

Amy Vaughan [00:19:08]:

And it's so relational and I mean having worked in agencies before and certain razor company having to start like a subscription model membership thing for them, like, I'm pretty well acquainted with like the ins and outs of like memberships and subscriptions and the tactics and the strategies and, and there's a lot to it. But I think community Building is so much more nuanced. So it's like I would never, you know, I don't know, it's one of those things, like I get kind of the ick when I talk about like, oh, it's a membership model because it's more than that. And so I don't treat it like that. You know, these members aren't numbers, they're people who have needs. And like you said, it really helps us identify our blind spots by taking that time and doing that, listening. And again, 15, 20 minutes of my time here and there, it's definitely paid off because not only that, but it's relational. And so now they feel seen and heard, which is a part of our values and who we are.

Amy Vaughan [00:20:03]:

And so it's like just because my title says CEO doesn't mean my door isn't open, doesn't mean that I'm not accessible because that's the kind of culture and community that I want to create. And so I need to model that from the outright, which is why that calendar is there and available to existing members, past members and the new members as well. So that's what I mean by walk the walk. So really just look at what it is that you're trying to provide the mission and the objectives you're trying to solve for and then just really start talking to people. I mean, I just built up another community. I'm working on a creative coworking space for people who work within our industry. And I did a lot of conversations with either members or other coworkers in spaces that I worked in to really understand like what brings you into a co working space. Because here's the thing, we can all just work from home.

Amy Vaughan [00:20:53]:

It'd be easy enough. Like most people don't even want to go back to the office, much less pay for and then go to a co working space. So it was really a lot of those conversations of like, what draws you into a space? What about coworking is attractive so that when they come, they stay. And it's definitely not the way to grow and scale rapidly, but I think it's the way to grow and scale with intentionality and retention, which in the long term, in the loan long game is just going to be a more sustainable business. And given the last six years in the economy between a mission based business and another community based business, to me I think sustainability is vastly more important than scalability at the moment.

Bryan McAnulty [00:21:38]:

Yeah, well, I completely agree. And I also think there's a lot that you might see or either directly or indirectly of these businesses in some way that look like they scale so fast or they talk about scaling so fast but if they didn't figure out the correct things then it's like, okay, they grow fast and die because they didn't figure out actually how to provide value or how to do that in a profitable way versus yeah, it might take a little bit of a longer time. But I also think for the majority of especially like entrepreneurs and creators listening or watching this, like we don't have to build a billion dollar business. Like you can definitely build a sustainable business for yourself and for a small team by doing it in a way that doesn't have to focus on like growth at all costs.

Amy Vaughan [00:22:23]:

Yes. 100 I'm, I'm one of those gals that's like people who are profit every day. Because again when you're trying to create community it starts with the people who work there. It's an intern, it starts internally and then it goes out from there. So if things are broken from the inside, you're never going to be able to build the community that you want. If either operationally cultural or team wise you aren't on the same like level, you're not living by the same values. You're not, you know, you're just not living it. You're not living it and you're not breathing it.

Amy Vaughan [00:22:53]:

People can see it. I think, you know, we are consumers are so much more discerning now. Which is also why subscriptions, membership models, it's one of those things like tread lightly, it's not easy work but I think if you try to over overshoot and you do try to overscale, yeah you might be a big flash in the pan but you probably won't last more than five years. And you know, together digital we've been going 10 now so you know, it's nothing to, nothing to sneeze out there. We're really proud of it.

Bryan McAnulty [00:23:21]:

Yeah, yeah, that's excellent. For people who want to, to really start growing your community. I think one of the, the things that might not be super clear is like well how do you actually grow it? How do you get new members? So for you today, what's like the primary way that you get new members inside the community?

Amy Vaughan [00:23:37]:

Yeah, absolutely. Referrals, you know, we, I buy trade, I'm a marketer and I can come up with great messaging, great targeting, great audience building, strong on search. But nothing brings us the quality of members, not the quantity but the quality of members like referrals. And I think the beautiful thing about that. I just did a talk literally on this at Content Marketing World last fall in San Diego. And it's just one of those things, like once you start to establish that strong core base of your strongest ambassadors or believers within the organization, they become your amplifiers, and you really don't ever have to market again. My marketing budgets are so small and so efficient. They do what they need to do.

Amy Vaughan [00:24:24]:

And then Outside of that, 90% of already memberships are from referrals and from folks listening to things like this, which is always great because they hear about the uniqueness of the organization, they understand the leadership and my. My thoughts and how my values and how I work. Because you can't unfortunately put all that on a website. You know, I'm a copywriter by trade, and believe me, if I could put everything that I just shared and if I could find a way to articulate just how wonderful, beautiful and amazing this little community is, I would do it. But it's really hard. And I think the best way we reach the people is through that storytelling. So when one of our members goes out and shares her experience and value that she got out of the community, that's worth more than any billboard I could ever put up, any ad I could ever run. And it's going to bring me the right kind of people as well.

Amy Vaughan [00:25:15]:

People who are ready to come into the community and collaborate versus compete, who are willing to be brave and stand up and ask for what they need, but then also help others when they need it. And so for me, like, that's been the key is just really encouraging our members to share what their experience is.

Bryan McAnulty [00:25:34]:

We have tried, like a specific process around that that you have for doing that. Is there like an affiliate program? Is it just like something that you reach out at a certain point?

Amy Vaughan [00:25:45]:

We've tried those things. And then I think what happens is it ends up feeling disingenuous. So we used to have like a big referral program and, you know, we used to set quotas for some of our chapters and our ambassadors. And it brought us the quantity, but it did not bring us the quality. And our turnover was much higher and the cost of turnover. To lose those members and then to try to gain like this is the beauty of the membership model is that it's recurring revenue. It's consistent, projectable, recurring revenue. So why would you shoot yourself in the foot and just let yourself bleed people constantly and then be working 10 times as hard to get new customers when you've got good existing customers? So that's been my mentality you know, and like you said, it doesn't make for a billion dollar business by any means, but it, it's created a very effective business that achieves and accomplishes its mission and has helped and supported so many women in so many ways.

Amy Vaughan [00:26:39]:

We have helped countless women start businesses. We had one woman who got a $60,000 a year raise through some advice that she got on an ask and give exchange. We had helped women create parental leave policies for their startups when there was none. You know, there's just like, I mean we've helped like we've had, we've inspired women to publish books, start their own coaching, like build websites that, for their coaching businesses. Like, there's just been so many things that I don't even get to hear all of it. You know, sometimes I'll hear years later I'll be like, I was in this peer group and this thing happened and then I got this job and then I did this and I'm like, oh my gosh, I need to. We do have, like, we do. Do a member survey.

Amy Vaughan [00:27:19]:

I will, I will highly recommend that talk to your members. If you're not doing onboarding, do a survey of potential members. If you're starting to build that community so you can truly understand what the needs are. Again, it's not, if you build it, they will come. Like you have to find the need and you have to fall in love with the problem, not the product, and then start to kind of build from that. And I think that's what's going to help you sort of, you know, stick out from the crowd and really sort of help you create something meaningful and sustainable. Because again, to me, like, that's the mission and the goal of Together Digital. You know, the, the plight of women and inequality is not going away anytime soon.

Amy Vaughan [00:27:56]:

And so it's one of those things that we just need to keep, we need to keep the lights on, we need to keep going and we're helping. On the, the micro level, it's not always the macro, but those micro moments create ripples that then create bigger change. And I think sometimes that's another thing too. As creators and entrepreneurs, I get it, we want to fix the world, we want to solve the problems. And I think we forget that. It's like the little things that really make the biggest change and impact overall versus the big sweeping events that bleed us dry, that drain our people, that don't invigorate. I think there's just a lot to be looked at in the space of memberships and communities. And organizations.

Amy Vaughan [00:28:43]:

Yeah, I like to kind of go outside the norms on all that stuff.

Bryan McAnulty [00:28:46]:

Yeah, no, that's great. I think a lot of really good points there. For somebody who's wants to like start a community today, what would you say is like the simple step that they should take today to get started with that?

Amy Vaughan [00:28:59]:

Listening. Start like get online, ask around, listen, make sure that there is a need. Because I think sometimes, you know, that's like the coolest thing about entrepreneurship. Right. I think oftentimes we see a problem and we want to find a solution or we figured out a solution for ourselves and now we want to take it and turn it into a business to help other people remember why you started it and start there, ask a lot of questions, get curious and then just really listen for the opportunities and just be open minded and flexible to, you know, things changing, things evolving. Even as I'm kind of stepping into this new co working space and environment, it's totally new territory for me. But it's been really cool to sort of listen, watch and see it evolve based on the people who walk through the door, you know, and that comes from us getting curious and asking the questions and then building a space that suits their needs and their wants versus us just trying to make something up. So yeah, get curious, ask questions and listen.

Bryan McAnulty [00:30:02]:

That's great. I've got a couple kind of like quicker questions for you now. First being why is community so important in the AI era?

Amy Vaughan [00:30:13]:

In the AI era specifically because I think the thing I love about community and AI, we literally just did this event this morning here at the Marketer Collaborative, my co working space. That was tools we love and we had a photographer, a strategist, social media marketer, email CRM marketer, and then web developer, myself, my community manager and then like one or two other people and we all each talked about different tools that we liked and of course AI came up. I think the cool thing about community is that, you know, when it comes to new technologies it's often overwhelming and you don't know where to start. And then you get kind of analysis paralysis between together digital and our marketer collaborative community. And this event that we did this morning, it started so nice to cut through the clutter and see someone using tools that leverage AI or that are AI and then help us know what use cases might work best for us. It really cuts down on the overwhelm. And then of course it's like we're using AI more and more. Community is great because it builds human connection.

Amy Vaughan [00:31:20]:

You know, we can't just be sitting with our AI bots all day, every day. As easy as it might be for some, I think getting back together in person is big. So I would say it's twofold. I think it's getting back together, getting that human connection, and then just understanding the technology that's out there, cutting down the overwhelm, seeing the use cases, getting those personal recommendations. It'll help you find the right tools so you're not trying to do it all in the dark and alone.

Bryan McAnulty [00:31:48]:

Next is, what do you think is the biggest lie creatives are told about success?

Amy Vaughan [00:31:55]:

That it's about titles and money. You know, I kind of chased that for the longest time. As soon as I learned you could be creative and actually get paid a decent salary, I was like, sign me up. I went to a small school in the middle of nowhere. I thought you were either a starving artist or an aspiring author or, you know, you'd have to trade it all in for a business suit. So when I learned about being able to be creative or creator, that would actually pay well. I spent about 15, 20 years chasing those things, only to find out that it was like, oh, the title and the salary aren't what make me happy. It's problem solving.

Amy Vaughan [00:32:32]:

It's using my creativity to solve business problems that I love. It's the people that I work with that I enjoy. It's the purpose in my work that brings me the most satisfaction. And so I would say I think it's about redefining success on your own terms and what that looks like. And that will give you the freedom to be more expressive and more creative in more ways than you imagined. Because you're not just chasing the titles and the dollar signs. You're actually creating to create. And then that is what you know, then the money and everything else will come after.

Bryan McAnulty [00:33:06]:

Yeah, I agree. What does a small community give somebody that no amount of followers ever will?

Amy Vaughan [00:33:13]:

Ugh, Actual support. Like a legitimate showing up when big life changes happen. I think you're just going to be floored by the amount of genuine, like, legitimate support that shows up in the form of, like, you know, it was wild. I had a day three or four weeks ago and a lot of my community knew about it. And I had flowers showing up, I had cheesecake doordash to my door. Followers won't do that, you know, because first of all, they're not going to have my home address. But your community members will. And I think that authentic, genuine showing up, your followers know your facade and like, your Persona, they might not know you.

Amy Vaughan [00:33:54]:

Whereas I would say your small community, they know you. You know they know you because they know you and they sit with you in rooms versus, like, the like or the follow. So, yeah, that would be my answer.

Bryan McAnulty [00:34:09]:

Yeah, that's great. So on the show, I'd like to have every guest ask a question to the audience. If you could ask our audience anything, whether something you're curious about or kind of want to get everybody thinking about, what would that be?

Amy Vaughan [00:34:21]:

Yeah, I would love to know why. What is it about certain communities that keep you coming back? I mean, that's always my question of, like, one, why do you walk into the room with a certain community? And then two, why do you stay? Those are two always big, important questions that I have for our members as well.

Bryan McAnulty [00:34:41]:

Yeah, I like that. So, Amy, it was great talking with you before we get going. Where else can people find you online?

Amy Vaughan [00:34:47]:

Absolutely. LinkedIn's a great place. I'm there pretty often as an avid networker. It's the way a lot of people reach out. So it's just Amy P. Vaughan on LinkedIn. Or you can find [email protected] is our website. Or if you're in the Cincinnati area and you're looking for a great place to cowork, themarketercollab.com is our website.

Bryan McAnulty [00:35:08]:

All right, Amy, thanks so much.

Amy Vaughan [00:35:10]:

My pleasure. Thanks, Brian.

Bryan McAnulty [00:35:12]:

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