From What's In It For Me to What We Make Together
The Community Shift We Need Now
The Disconnect Between What We Want and What We're Trained For
There's a fascinating contradiction in today's creator economy: we all talk about wanting connection and co-creation, but when we actually join communities, most of us default to consumption and asking "what's in it for me?"
This isn't our fault. It's what we've been trained for.
We generally don't have strong models of genuine community offline, let alone online. Our neighborhoods, workplaces, and social spaces have become increasingly fragmented and isolated. We've been socialized to be consumers rather than contributors, passive participants rather than active co-creators.
This pattern shows up in statistics from online communities: 90% of members never post anything, 9% contribute occasionally, and just 1% create most of what you see. This isn't a reflection of poor community design – it's the result of decades of socialization that has shaped how we interact with groups.
At Sacred Business Flow, we're noticing this pattern in our own Network of over 140 members. Despite a shared desire for meaningful connection, participation often mirrors these same consumption-oriented behaviors. It's not because members don't care; it's because we're all unlearning deeply ingrained habits.
Challenging the Consumption Model
Most communities follow this path:
Founders create content and experiences
Members consume them
Missing step: Members contribute value back to the community
Without this third step, communities struggle to maintain energy over time. People take what they need until it's no longer new and exciting, then naturally drift away.
The traditional solution has been to produce more content, create better features, or add more value. But what if that approach actually reinforces the consumption mindset?
What if the breakthrough comes not from better content but from fundamentally rethinking how we create value together?
Our Real-World Experiment: The Writer’s Collective
Rather than theorizing, we're actively experimenting with alternatives to the consumption model. Our Writers Collective is a real experiment we're currently running.
It's a collaborative publication where members contribute essays on a shared theme. Each piece gets published together, and everyone cross-posts the entire collection to their audiences. This means each contributor's work reaches not just their own audience, but potentially thousands more readers through other members' platforms.
What makes this different from typical content creation is that value flows in multiple directions. Writers gain visibility beyond their own reach. Readers get diverse perspectives in one collection. The community as a whole creates something greater than any individual could produce alone.
This experiment tests a key hypothesis: when people create together rather than just consume content, they form stronger connections and everyone benefits in tangible ways.
Five Ideas We're Exploring With The Sacred Business Network
Based on our observations and early experiments, here are some approaches we're beginning to explore:
1. Connect Through Creating Things Together Real community emerges when people create together, not when "community building" is the explicit goal. The Writers Collective is our first test of this principle.
2. Make Sure Everyone Wins When They Help Others When one member with 2,000 subscribers and another with 5,000 subscribers cross-promote each other's work, both reach more people than they could alone. This breaks the zero-sum mindset where helping others seems to come at your own expense.
3. Make It Playful Communities that feel like obligations don't thrive. We're asking how to bring more joy and creativity into our interactions, making contribution feel energizing rather than depleting.
4. Match People Who Need Each Other Instead of hoping connections happen randomly, what if we intentionally matched members based on complementary skills and needs? This creates immediate value rather than vague networking.
5. Create Clear Steps for Growing Involvement We're exploring how to create clear paths from light to deep participation, where increasing commitment matches with increasing value and recognition.
The Money Question
I'm particularly interested in how this approach might transform business fundamentals. When implemented well, could an online community model create multiple forms of value?
Relationship Value: Dense networks of connections that speed up problem-solving
Knowledge Value: Collective intelligence beyond what any individual could develop
Creative Value: Collaborative outputs that reach broader audiences
Financial Value: New economic models where value flows based on contribution
The Writers Collective experiment is our first step toward exploring these possibilities. We don't have everything figured out, but we're committed to finding approaches that serve both individual success and collective wellbeing.
Join Us in This Exploration
We're at an exciting turning point in how we work together. The myth of the solo genius is giving way to collaborative creation. The consumption economy is yielding to co-creation models.
If you're already a Sacred Business Network member: We invite your active participation in this exploration. What project could you initiate? What value could you contribute?
If you're not yet a member but this resonates: Consider joining us on this journey. The Sacred Business Network is a global community of entrepreneurs exploring how to build businesses that are an expression of higher service, and a reflection of all of who we are as individuals and collectively.
Carolina and I don't have all the answers. We're figuring things out along the way, testing ideas that sometimes work and sometimes lead to new questions. But we're deeply committed to this exploration because we believe that when we build businesses that honor the truth that everything is connected, we create success that's both financially sustainable and deeply fulfilling.
The question isn't whether you'll be part of this exploration, but whether you'll help shape it.
P.S. You can read all previous editions of the newsletter here, and you can upgrade your subscription here.
What’s next?
Phil and I are ready to support you in creating a business that aligns with your heart's calling. Here's how we can help:
Discover Your Sacred Business Alignment (Free): Take the Harmony Map Assessment and read our Sacred Business Manifesto to understand where you are on your path and how to move forward with clarity and confidence. Perfect for entrepreneurs wanting to understand how everything in their business connects.
Read the Sacred Business Manifesto (Free): Learn the core principles of building a Sacred Business through our founding story and framework. See how we transformed our approach to business by understanding that everything is connected.
Sacred Business Network: Connect with heart-centered entrepreneurs who understand that success comes from alignment. Monthly connection circles, community workshops, and ongoing support through our private community space. Get the encouragement and collaboration you need to grow.
Join Our Next Implementation Challenges: Action-focused programs like the Sacred Business Planning Rituals Challenge and Substack Growth Challenge help you create real momentum in specific areas of your business. Free for Club members, discounted for Network members. Be sure you are subscribed to be notified when the next one is offered live.
Sacred Growth Club: A complete support system with weekly embodiment classes, live coaching calls, writing circles, and expert workshops. Designed for entrepreneurs ready to build sustainable success through proven practices while staying connected to their purpose. Includes full access to the Network and all challenges.
Be The Flow Coaching (1:1): Personal guidance combining strategic business planning with energy alignment work. Weekly coaching sessions plus full access to Sacred Growth Club benefits. Ideal for entrepreneurs seeking deep transformation and sustainable growth in their business.
