Community.
I’ve always loved being a part of a community. Whether that be a school, my sorority in college, a support group, and now all the different Instagram communities. I feel community and connection especially with other calligraphers/letterers and business owners on Instagram. These two groups, and the people who make Instagram a community, are a huge reason why I have continued working so hard to build my business. Their support, kind words, and friendship is my saving grace – because it can be really tough and lonely, and having them keeps me confident and excited about any progress I make.
For every few amazing members of the lettering & business community, there are a few people who do not run their business using the “community over competition” mentality. Obviously, one of the hardest things to get over is that someone else’s success is not your failure – that there is plenty of room in the market for you to succeed right along with others. It’s tough to gain that confidence – I can even admit that I felt insecure at the start of my business. But I quickly realized that community is way more important, and I can have success while also supporting others’ successes too. Those who either don’t realize this, or don’t use their success to also lift other people up, is one of my biggest pet peeves in this industry.
Being negative is not something I want to do on a regular basis, because I am a naturally positive person. I stayed positive through cancer and chemotherapy, I can stay positive through just about anything. But sometimes the negative needs to be talked about to make a positive impact.
I completely understand that when lettering artists or Instagrammers have a lot of success, they often use their success and follower count to start Facebook groups surrounding their business and products. One Facebook group in particular, one that I have belonged to for a while and that I really enjoyed in the beginning, has turned into an group that a lot of people rely on for answers to their questions about iPad lettering, and not just about the course. A lot of the rules in this group make sense – like no self-promotion except for on a certain day and no affiliate links. There has to be a limit to certain groups to avoid spam. But, these rules are so strict, you can’t link to any outside resources at all without getting your comment deleted and possibly getting blocked from the group.
What confuses me is that this group and artist pride themselves on being all about community. Yes, she helps others and answers questions within the group, is active on Instagram, etc. but community is more than just communicating with possible customers. It’s about supporting your “competitors” as well. (Side note: I don’t like the word competitors – I prefer thinking of it as fellow lady bosses in the same business as you are) The fact that this group is so strict about non-affiliate links to other people’s content is kind of ridiculous. One person can’t have all the answers, and learning lettering and finding your own identity in lettering can not be done just by watching one person’s videos. My feeling on it is that linking to other artists within this group will not take customers away. Rather, it will just create business for both of them and allow the customers to learn as much as they can from everyone.
I recently commented on a post in this group, asking if the artist will recommend other lettering Facebook groups since she decided that she would be moving to her website in more of a forum format. After, I was very rudely replied to by another member who attacked that I asked about recommendations of other groups. This bummed me out quite a bit, but I responded nicely with my thoughts: that giving recommendations of other Facebook groups now that this group will no longer be on Facebook would not take away from the success of the forum. Both this member and the owner of the group obviously don’t believe this, but it’s true – I’ve seen it before. This isn’t the first time I’ve had (or seen) a bad experience in this group. I’ve gotten comments deleted when I linked to a worksheet, and then the owner played it off like it was in the rules (when in reality, she updated the rules after it happened and pretended like it was already in the rules). In addition, I saw a member be so happy about creating their first brush in Procreate, and leave a small comment about how she would be willing to give it out for free. The entire post got deleted. It was an unnecessary deletion that took away that person’s excitement.
Back on a more positive note, to all the lady bosses out there – just remember that no one can diminish your success. Your success will be even greater if you support your competitors, and act as a member of the community as a whole. I’ve found a good amount of success from doing this, as has Bossy Brushstrokes (see her blog post about this same topic here).
If you’re looking for a lettering Facebook group that is all about community, and allows you to just be yourself without the threat of your comment getting deleted or getting blocked, join the Lady Boss Lettering Community. We’d love to have you.
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