Community Bingo: Do You Have All 3?
20 years ago, Robert Putnam wrote Bowling Alone, which decried the collapse of American community. And that was before a pandemic - when bowling alleys were still open and people shared shoes with strangers. In the era of remote work and Zoom fatigue, interest in having and building a community is at an all time high. While many employees will eventually return to the office if they have not already, freelancers have to get a little creative in building and sustaining communities of their own. So how can you find a virtual community as a freelancer?
It turns out the answer depends on asking another question one step earlier: why do you want a virtual community? Each community helps you meet different goals. Here are three goals communities can serve for freelancers — and where you can find them.
Community goal #1: Side by side interaction
This is that buzzing feeling you get when you work in a busy coffee shop, coworking space or library. Seeing everyone else motivated and hustling gets you motivated to hustle as well.
Solution: Virtual coworking spaces
Why it works: Enables flow and helps you concentrate
Where to find it: There are a lot of startups offering this new service. Here are a few I have tried
Focusmate: Book a 50 minute video session at your convenience to co-work with one other person on the platform (pro: flexible scheduling, affordable; con: work with 1 person at a time)
Caveday: 90-minute to 3 hour group coworking sessions in the Zoom “Cave” led by a trained facilitator (pro: expert facilitator, supportive community, con: super expensive, long time chunks)
Shut Up & Write: Self-organized Meetup groups where you can show up and write quietly at the same time (pro: free, supportive community, flexible schedule; con: primarily for writing)
Coming soon: Groove, virtual coworking sessions designed to unlock flow (still in beta, but looks promising!)
Community goal #2: Tackling similar problems and having shared experiences
At work, you can brainstorm and problem-solve with your colleagues. As a freelancer, you’re somewhat on your own to find mentors and good sounding boards to think through questions like how to raise your rate or expand the work you do with a particular client.
Solution: Freelancer organizations, community platforms
Why it works: Get advice, shared understanding, discover opportunities
Where to find it:
Large open communities: Freelancers Union is perhaps the most famous, which shares information, provides benefits, and hosts events connecting over 500,000 freelancers since 1995
Larger pool with topical subgroups: Mighty Hosts is a newer platform launched with the goal of helping creators connect, make more informed decisions, and find inspiration
Smaller groups on Slack or Discord: Many are invite-only, and you can always create your own. But here is a list of open Slack communities for remote workers to get you started
Community goal #3: Creating something bigger as a team
This is the sense of having a shared purpose and building something as a group that can make a difference. Admittedly some of this may come from your client engagements, but this goal is to have an ongoing team that is irrespective of project start and end dates.
Solution: Freelancer collectives, groups, and guilds
Why it works: Sense of purpose and belonging
Where to find it:
Freelancer collectives: There are many, but bfree and Yak Collective are two interesting examples where a group of freelancers band together but keep their own independence
Contemporary guilds: Enspiral is one model of a community with shared ownership, collaboration, and purpose while also retaining individual independence
Create your own: If you are in a position to do so, you might consider hiring or recommending other freelancers
Those are the three — was it bingo or do you have further to go? Let us know in the comments and give your suggestions for where we can find freelance community remotely!
