Here are two ways you can do that in your own community:

ACTION STEP 11 Let’s make two lists. First, what are your strengths? What are

Thousand of variations of this issue exist in hundreds of industries, so there’s no point in trying to spell out rules for how to deal with it. To borrow a quote from Andy Stanley, “this is not a problem to solve; it’s a tension to manage.” In other words, this will always be an issue so let’s learn how to deal with it. This tension will always

If it ended up seeming it could be of interest, I'd say, ‘Look, I don't expect you to write about it. I don't expect you to do anything with it, but I have a bunch of review copies and I'd be happy to send you a copy. I think this ten page chapter would be of interest possibly. The other stuff, who knows?’ Then I spent my money mailing these things

Rejection is a constant, it’s not going away. The best thing we can do is to make sure we are being rejected for the right things.

The whole point of having a community is to connect with the right people and weed out the wrong ones. Healthy communities are always exclusionary on some level. They are not cliques, but they are focused enough to turn some people off. Yours should be no different.

You have the tools to create, connect, market, and distribute like no generation has ever had. And when you marry that with hard work, talent, and a tribe of people who believe in you, there’s no limit to what you can do. All “The Man” can do is sit back, marvel, and ask to be involved.

But, when it comes to YOUR tribe, we have to start talking about who YOU are. That’s ultimately what building a community is all about. It’s you standing up and saying, “This is me. This is what I’m about. Who wants in?”

Your community has to be about you. Does that make you cringe? I hope not. Because whatever it is you want to rally a tribe around IS important enough. Whether it’s your writing, your business, your jokes, your non-profit, your favorite sports team, your music or your manic love of peregrine falcons. It doesn’t matter what the WHAT is, if your WHY