Start and scale a thriving community business.
The Business of Community is an online school and community supporting ambitious community founders in creating friendly nooks and profitable businesses.Sign up for inspiration and actionable tips on community, business growth and leadership.
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We support thoughtful and ambitious community founders in 3 ways.
Free Newsletter
Every other week on Wednesday, we send an email with inspiration, clear tactics you can copy, plus regular invitations to free events and workshops for community founders.
Course + Community
Build a Community Business (BACB) is our course and ongoing community. It's your all-in-one companion for launching and growing a membership, course or coaching program that centers community.
Consulting Services
Get hands-on support in crafting a clear strategy, picking the right platforms, and launching, relaunching, or supercharging a community that helps you hit your business goals.
Read the stories and get the strategies of the most successful community businesses.
Regular emails on what you need to know about growing a profitable and values-aligned community business.
Read it first →
Subscribe for delightful bursts of community in your inbox every 2 weeks. Plus updates on course launches and community gatherings.
© 2023 • The Business of Community • All rights reserved.
About Us
The Business of Community is an online school and community supporting ambitious community founders in creating friendly nooks on the internet.
We believe...
A community is a group of people who come together to nurture their own and one another’s growth. Definition inspired by bell hooks.
Connection is an innate skill we naturally have access to and need to constantly practice.
Communities can be a microcosm of the ideal world we want to build.
A community leader’s job is to re-distribute power.
Showing up imperfectly is a requirement to connection.
We exist to support community founders and their work in making society more connected, and people more joyful and whole.
How we define key concepts we talk about:A Community is a group of people interested in nurturing their own and one another's growth.A Community Business is an organization that makes money from facilitating interactions that nurture individual and collective growth.
You can work with us in 3 ways...
Free Newsletter
Every other week on Wednesday, we send an email with inspiration, clear tactics you can copy, plus regular invitations to free events and workshops for community founders.
Course + Community
Build a Community Business (BACB) is your all-in-one companion for launching and growing a membership, course or coaching program that centers community.
Consulting Services
Get hands-on support in crafting a clear strategy, picking the right platforms, and launching, relaunching, or supercharging a community that helps you hit your business goals.
About Tatiana
Tatiana is a community business strategist, teacher, and founder of The Business of Community.Via her course and community, Build a Community Business, she’s helped a diverse group of community founders perfect their business models, community experience, and grow sustainable businesses.Before focusing on supporting community founders, Tatiana worked in international sales, marketing, and was the first hire and head of product at Imperative, a tech solution for building community within organizations via peer coaching. As a community builder, she previously built and grew Techfest Club, an in-person community for women in tech in NYC with 2000+ members.Tatiana believes our childhood experiences with connection and belonging play a major part in the communities and businesses we build. Part of her job is helping community founders unlock those experiences and leverage them to build stronger communities.Outside of work she loves reading, birdwatching, hosting dinner parties and making new friends on the internet.
Subscribe for delightful bursts of community in your inbox every 2 weeks. Plus updates on course launches and community gatherings.
© 2023 • The Business of Community • All rights reserved.
Business Strategy for Growing Communities
Professional advisory services, planning, and hands-on implementation for growing communities.
“I was completely stuck in the enormity of all of the small tasks that needed to be done before my launch date before working with Tatiana.Tatiana's collaborative process made it easy and fun to launch my community.Tatiana has a wealth of knowledge and expertise — From figuring out the tech and tools to thinking through member interactions, marketing strategy and long term community experience, she guided me through the processes of launching my community flawlessly.I let 80 beta members into my community all at once and it was an incredible joy to watch them flood the space with so much love and excitement. None of that would be possible without Tatiana and her incredible strategy and vision. If you are building an online community, run to bring Tatiana onto your team."
Carly Valancy, FOUNDER OF Reach out party
How to Work with Us
Working with us is a way to clarify all the parts of your community, get lots of new ideas and flatten your learning curve of all the pieces needed to build a community business.Below are the ways we work with growing communities.
1:1 Advisory Session
This is for you if you want to dramatically decrease your learning curve before launching a community. Or if you already have a community that is facing challenges.In this session, we get to the bottom of what is holding you or your community back and come up with concrete next actions you can take.Includes: Introductory questionnaire to save time on the call, 90-minute session, follow up with recording and notes, plus email support for a week.
$750 for a 90-minute session, slots usually available within ~2 weeks
Community Audit
This is for you if you have an existing community, but things aren't working as you planned.You'll receive a custom report that breaks down all the parts of your existing community business. We assess every part of how the community is working.You'll get lots of ideas that range from broad strategy to specific tactics to address immediately. You'll get customized recommendations on building an engaged and profitable community based on your unique goals and values.The report covers recommendations in 5 areas:
Business Model, Community Experience, Tools & Systems, Sales & Marketing, and Leadership, with a deep focus on the 3 of your choice.Includes: 1 intro session, comprehensive report with strategy plans, 1 implementation session and 2 weeks of async support over email.
$5000 for full analysis and report, 3-4 weeks
Community Strategy + Launch Roadmap
This is for you if you're starting a community from scratch, or adding a community component to an existing business.After an introductory call, we go to work on your community strategy. You get a custom plan for building a community business that aligns with your values, your goals and your members' goals.You'll get a suite of potential directions and ideas. It's your shortcut to launch a successful community business that cuts your learning curve and gives you a customized plan to follow based on your goals.The roadmap covers recommendations in 5 areas:
Business Model, Community Experience, Tools & Systems, Sales & Marketing, and Leadership. And it includes customized week-by-week project plan for your upcoming launch.Includes: 1 intro session, audit of current business and your goals, custom roadmap for your community launch, 1 strategy session, 1 implementation session, and 2 weeks of async support over email.
$6000 for full analysis and roadmap, 4-6 weeks
Launch Implementation Services
We lead your launch project by taking over anything from project management, operations setup, and automation to marketing strategy of a community launch.
Starts at $12,000, 8-12 weeks
Start Here ↓
If any of the above options sound like they could fit your needs, I invite you to fill out the form below and tell us about your business.We'll be in touch ASAP with more information on working together and how to schedule a call.
“I had worked with several business coaches and program creators in the past. I was wanting to take my free Facebook community to a private platform and really create a space that people could feel connected, enriched and supported to grow.I wasn’t really sure how I was going to do this but I knew the quality of what I was wanting to build.What drew me to Tatiana was her experience and skills absolutely but most of all it was her ability to really get what my values were and support me to bring that out into the launch of my new private community. I never felt like she was shoving her way down my throat but instead was receptive, open and offered amazing advice and feedback based on what she felt I was looking for.Tatiana truly interested in the wellbeing of my community. We were practical with financial goals but it wasn’t the focus and as it turned out my first launch with Tatiana exceeded my expectation enormously. I would recommend Tatiana’s support to anyone who wants to create a thriving community part of your business model."
Rebecca Poole, Founder of Health Healing Life
Subscribe for delightful bursts of community in your inbox every 2 weeks. Plus updates on course launches and community gatherings.
© 2023 • The Business of Community • All rights reserved.
Guidance and community for thoughtful & ambitious community founders
BACB is a course and community experience for thoughtful and ambitious community founders who want to grow.We are your all-in-one companion for launching and growing a membership, course or coaching program that centers community.
Guidance and community for thoughtful & ambitious community founders
BACB is a course and community experience for thoughtful and ambitious community founders who want to grow.We are your all-in-one companion for launching and growing a membership, course or coaching program that centers community.
You are a thoughtful and ambitious coach, online teacher, or membership leader
You want to grow a business that centers community in your own nerdy way.
And you’re looking for a clear roadmap, ongoing support, and friends for the journey.
Since the beginning of time, humans have been gathering to collaborate, celebrate, and co-create the world they want to live in. Connection has always been a survival skill.The internet age promised to expand the human ability to connect and thrive together. Though tech has enabled many positive things, it has been a net negative for human connection. Instead, social media platforms and algorithms have left us more disconnected, addicted, and less healthy.As we looked for better models for enabling human connection online and off, community businesses have emerged as one way forward. They are small, independently-owned small businesses that prioritize connection and growth for members and for the community founders leading them.The BACB community exists to gather the community founders who are defining what it means to build this kind of business.We are proud to support community business leaders in their work of making society more connected, and people more joyful and whole.
We believe:
Community is about co-creating a new future.
Connection is a skill that we can learn and practice.
We should all start spending more of our online time in private communities instead of on social media platforms.
Founders matter and leadership isn’t interchangeable.
What brings a community together doesn’t have to be a social issue in order for it to have a huge social impact.
Entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be risky.
Connection is valuable and people are willing to pay for it.
If you want to design a business that doesn’t feel sleazy or make you anxious while making the world feel more connected and whole, this learning community is for you.
"I don't think I could've brought [GCL] into existence in a way that feels so organized and aligned without the support of this course and community.I can't recommend it highly enough."
Lis Best, Girls Club Collective
The BACB Community
Build a Community Business (BACB) is a community-based course and experience designed to double your revenue and double your fulfillment as a community leader.The course includes interactive live learning experiences as well as a growing library of resources for everything you need to know.The community is your ongoing companion for decision-making, support, and growing as a community business leader.
1 • Learn
Uplevel your ability to sell, facilitate and serve your members so that you can build a profitable and intentional community business.
2 • Connect
Build a better relationship to your own sense of belonging. And meet other values-driven community founders to share the journey with.
3 • Launch
Get clarity and hands-on support as you prepare to tell the world about your community and invite new members in.
1 • Learn
BACB is based around core lessons and a learning library divided into the 5 pillars of community businesses: Leadership, Business Model, Community Experience, Sales & Marketing, and Operations. Before getting started, you'll go through an assessment exercise that will guide your learning journey.Here's what's included:
Live Learning Cohorts
We combine on-demand learning with intensive learning experiences where you learn in interactive live sessions while connecting with other members. You get to experience the frameworks and concepts in action as a community member yourself. New live learning cohorts kick off 4 times a year.
Core Lessons
On-demand access to our core lessons in the 5 pillars of community businesses: Leadership, Business Model, Community Experience, Sales & Marketing and Operations. It's everything you need to know to get started or improve your community business. Go in order, or skip around and choose your own adventure as you apply what you learn.
Worksheets
No need to take notes! Most lessons, workshops and deep dives include a worksheet to summarize the concepts and help you apply what you learn to your own community business.
Deep Dive Workshops
Deep Dives are monthly workshops where we explore a topic. They often include detailed tutorials, templates, and implementation guidance so that you can immediately apply what you learn. Examples include: Designing an Automated Onboarding Experience, Selling as a Human, Audience Growth, Notion Ops System and more!
2 • Connect
We design the community so that you're experiencing connection, as you're designing connection for your members. We believe in synchronous, eye-to-eye connection (virtual or IRL!) so a lot of what we offer is events-based. Our community platform keeps everything organized and nurtures connections in between events.
Office Hours
Small group coaching and a place to bring all your specific questions. Brainstorm and troubleshoot challenges with a group of your peers. Office Hours happen all year round, at least 2x times per month. Once a month we also host Advanced Office Hours to address challenges from more established communities.
Seasonal Planning Sessions
Four times a year we come together to reflect on and plan the upcoming season. We dedicate an hour to connecting with each other, reflecting, and planning. It's always a fun and inspiring quarterly event with a big turnout.
Accountability Groups
Every season, you can the option to get matched with peers with complementary skills and knowledge for ongoing structured meetings for peer learning and support.
Feedback Sessions
Feedback sessions are small group sessions where everyone gets direct feedback on something they’re working on whether it be email copy, a landing page, or a new community layout.
Member-hosted events
In addition to our regular events, members are invited to host their own events in the community. Members often host virtual coworking sessions, Anti-Book Club discussions (no reading required), Show and Tells, and more. These are your opportunity to connect and learn from fellow community builders.
3 • Launch
However you define a launch, there are times in your community-building journey that requires increased focus and a little more support. We've designed the community so that you're able to get that additional help when you need it.
Hot Seats
Hot seats are an opportunity to get extended coaching time and hands-on help on a challenge or community question. You can apply for a hot seat with any specific challenge. We recommend doing so as you start to plan a launch.
Ops Help Desk
A dedicated monthly event and a space for you to bring your community operations questions. You get hands-on help from our operations team on project management, automations, tech systems and more.
8 Weeks to Launch
When you're 6-12 weeks from inviting members to your community for the first time, launching a new offer, or welcoming in a new cohort, we recommend going through this 8-step program. It includes workshops, worksheets and checklists to prep you for your launch.
All organized and managed in one easy-to-use private community platform.Access to the community on Circle where you can connect with peers, learn about topics not covered in the course lessons, get access to our tools database and find inspiration from communities of all stages, focuses and sizes.
"One of my favorite things about the community is how human and how helpful it is..."
Nivi Achanta, Founder of Soapbox Project
It’s time to build a business that helps you build the world you want to live in.
No compromises needed.You’ll learn a step-by-step method for designing an engaging community experience and growing a profitable business that increases connection and belonging for your members and for you.
What you'll learn
The curriculum for BACB covers the topics below. The pre-recorded videos are designed to be a guided introduction to the topics while the yearlong community membership helps you troubleshoot as you go deeper and apply the learnings in your community.You're invited to choose your own adventure, skip what's not helpful to you and learn at your own pace.
LEADERSHIP
We start by exploring your own relationship to connection and belonging and how to build a community that uniquely leverages it. How does building this community fit into who you want to become?
Lessons covered: Founder Story, Belonging & Connection, Scaling Leadership.
BUSINESS MODEL
You'll create your business model story. We'll start by learning how to identify who your ideal members are, what they're looking for, and how to find and iterate on a community offer until what you provide is attractive to potential members and feels right to you.
***Lessons covered: Community Business Models, Validation, and Pricing. ***
COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
You'll build your ideal community experience map based on your unique member journey. You'll learn how to balance the different types of member activities you create and build an onboarding and engagement plan that works for your unique group.
Lessons covered: Bird's Eye View, Onboarding, Engagement.
SALES & MARKETING
How is selling community different from selling other products on the internet? You'll build your community funnel and take your members on a journey that is thoughtful and ethical as you invite them in.
Lessons covered: Crafting Offers, Channels, Community Funnel.
OPERATIONS
In these lessons we cover how to implement all that you've learned. You'll learn how to decide on a community platform, how to plan and manage a community launch or relaunch and how to begin the automate processes that are repeatable.
Lessons covered: Project Management, Platforms and Automation.
Stories from the BACB Community
“After running a free Facebook Group for 7 years with almost 5000 members, we wanted to explore if there was a way we could transition from a community to a community business. We had launched our community 2 months prior to joining but needed guidance (and maybe confidence) that we were headed in the right direction.Tatiana is truly an expert in this space. I appreciated the opportunity to join Office Hours sessions to get curated support from Tatiana and the community on my questions.We have invested more resources into our paid membership and reached a big milestone of surpassing 100 members shortly after our launch. We've also experimented with running different formats of events (like a town hall) and leveraging different platforms for marketing (like Instagram Live) thanks to the community and different modules and expert sessions.After all of us have been socially isolated in one way or another over the past 2 years, community is more important than ever. No matter where you are in your journey, BACB is there to help you every step of the way, from guest speakers to learning from your peers to modules that walk you through the framework of how to business your community and monetize it in a way that helps you support even more people."
Tiffany Yu, FOUNDER OF Diversability
“Build a Community Business is brilliant hands-on learning experience and Tatiana is a fabulous instructor and mentor.I was beta testing a community when I took the course, transitioning it from free to paid, making marketing, technology, and content decisions every day, and iterating new features every week. It was overwhelming!Tatiana provided a framework that grounded every step and connected every piece of the community building (and growing!) process. Her content and insights are unparalleled in this emergent industry."
Ainsley Brittain, Director of Community at MBS.works
Build a Community Business is brilliantly helpful (and fun).Tatiana is THE expert on this and has an incredibly calm and supportive manner which makes it all feel possible.A massive epiphany from the course was to see a community as a mirror of my friendship style that as an introvert I can/should create a community that is authentic to my style.
Caroline Goyder, Author & Course Creator
I highly recommend this course for community builders who want to avoid the overwhelm and feel supported on their building journey.I was seeking guidance on how to grow my early stage community. We spent time thinking about how to seed the community with the right people and experiment with business models that are aligned with our values. It was extremely helpful to learn tactics and frameworks for engagement, marketing strategy, meetups, and tech stacks.One of my key takeaways is that communities are organic beings that grow and change over time. But it's important to have a structured approach to building them so they don't become chaotic or unmanageable.If you show up and do the work, you will make a lot of progress!
Sonali Nigam, Founder & Community Builder at Petminded
I only had a vague and incomplete idea for my community before Build a Community Business.Tatiana walks through the different pieces of a community, from the structure of sub-communities, to technical infrastructure, to marketing, and how all of these components affect the most important aspect, community experience.The core of what I learned was to be introspective about my expectations and aspirations for my community. I realized that I didn't even know who my clients were. Tatiana helped me focus on what I wanted and choose the right strategies and tools to express my vision.
Chris Wong, Founder of Course Clubs
“Working with Tatiana has revolutionized my business. Before her coaching, I had put together one online course and wanted to create a community feel, but I was doing everything by hand in inefficient ways. The work was endless and the profit meager. One year later, I have created 4 more successful online courses and a thriving online community with hundreds of members who interact regularly."
Woniya Thibeault, Founder of Buckskin Revolution
Are we for you?
Here's what we have in common in BACB:
We want to scale our businesses without scaling our # of work hours.
We're looking to make new work friends who share our values and are ready to root for our success.
We're exploring ways of growing that rely less on social media.
We have a growth mindset and are ambitious in a calm, grounded way.
We see our businesses as a vehicle for personal growth.
If that sounds like you, we'd love for you to join us!
Pricing
Your first year in BACB includes access to an intensive live learning experience, group coaching support, and a clear roadmap to help you start, pivot or launch.You can choose to join for an initial 3 months to get a sense of the course and the community and cancel anytime during the year. If you're ready to invest in support for your community business, the annual plan includes some perks.
Explorer Path
This is a great choice for those who are researching whether a community business is for them. You'll get a 3-month membership, participate in a live cohort and get what you need to test and launch a beta community experience.
Includes:
A clear roadmap with 15 pre-recorded course lessons available on demand as soon as you sign up.
A 2-day intensive live learning experience.
2x a month small group coaching to get you unstuck on tech, growth, and everything else.
Monthly ongoing live trainings.
Additional help and support at member-hosted events, feedback sessions, co-working and hot seats.
An 8-week launch roadmap with trainings, templates, and shortcuts to launch or relaunch your community.
If you decide to stay, this plan renews quarterly at $475 for your first year.
$675
3-month membership
Expansion Path
If you're ready to commit to lanching and/or growing your community business this year, join us for the full 12-month community experience. During the year you'll get continued support as you launch and iterate on your plan.
Includes:
Everything in Explorer, plus...
Peer accountability and support through small groups, starting in your 4th month of membership.
4x a year community business planning sessions to clarify your priorities and goals.
Monthly advanced office hours.
Access to a library of deep dives, trainings, and databases of ideas and tutorials to help you with specific advanced challenges.
Save $360 when you commit to joining for a year.
BONUS: Two 30-minute 1:1 coaching sessions if you choose our annual plan. ($500 value!)
$1800
12-month membership
Ready to get started?
BACB is course within a community.We want you to experience a sense of community with a group of inspiring peers who will spark ideas for your own community. Because of that, it's extra important to us that everyone who joins be values-aligned community business leaders with a bold vision.We hope that's you!If you may be interested in joining, the next step is to take 5 minutes to fill out the short form below. We have open enrollment all year round and will be in touch with you ASAP with all the information on joining.As a bonus, as soon as you're accepted, you'll get access to our training on the 4 types of community businesses and how to pick which to build.There's no pressure and no obligation. We will not talk you into signing up if it's not a good fit.
Hi! I'm Tatiana.
Community Strategist • Business Coach • Circle Expert
When I was 10 my family immigrated to a suburb of NYC from a small town in Brazil. I didn't know anyone and didn't speak English. I remember feeling a deep need to belong in this new place and to find a way to be accepted.That period of my life shaped who I am and what I care about.Since then, everything I've done has somehow been related to connecting people. When I built out international sales territories, I did it by building deep 1:1 relationships. When I led the software teams, I prioritized building community within the team, with our users and through the product we built. In running my own community business, I constantly find new ways to help people find each other and connect.Why am I telling you this?Because your unique approach to belonging and connection has also already been showing up in your life. The things that make you weird, the experiences that only you can claim, and what you see clearly that everyone else is confused about... those things really matter!I believe you should build your community business in a way that feels just right and works for YOU.I have 10+ years of experience building communities online and off. I've personally guided dozens of community founders in launching and sustaining profitable community businesses. And that's what I'd love to help you do too.
FAQs
What is this course about?
The course is intended to give you the skills necessary to build a community business. That includes designing a community experience, experimenting and validating business models, choosing the right tools and becoming a better leader.What makes this a unique experience is that you'll be learning the practical skills while experiencing them within a community yourself. The intention is to help you not just learn but be able to experience what you're leaning with the support and friendship of fellow community builders.
How much time does this require?
Everything is designed to meet you where you are. We aim for the time spent in the community to be worth your time in the connection, learnings, and revenue that will result in your business.We recommend setting aside a few hours a week when you first join to go through the content. That could be either via a live learning experience or on your own. After your first 4 weeks, you'll share our common language and be able to discern how to make the best of the ongoing events and community.Long-term, even during busy times, we recommend participating in our seasonal planning event 4 times a year, coming to Office Hours once a month, and checking in with the community asynchronously once a week.So that equals out to about 8-12 hours a month on your first month, and 2 hours a month after that. This is what we recommend as a minimum. There's always plenty to participate in, so you'll have lots of opportunities to get much more support if and when you want it.
When is the next cohort?
Our next cohort and group learning experience will start in June 2023.Live sessions will happen over 8 hours in 2 days on June 14th and 21st at 11 am to 3 pm ET. Click here to convert that time to your own time zone.These sessions are optional! If you can't make them live, everything is recorded and annotated.You don't need to wait until a live learning experience to join. Members find it helpful to join at least a few weeks in advance of the live sessions. We open the community for new members ~6 weeks ahead of a new cohort. Joining early gets you bonus time before the live learning kicks off.Apply anytime and we'll send you more information on joining.
What's your refund policy?
Your success with the course and community experience will depend on your commitment. If this resonates with you and you put in the work, we firmly believe you'll achieve the results you're looking for.That being said, sometimes things aren't what we expect! If within 14 days of joining the course, you find that it's not for you, email us and we'll refund you.
Do you offer payment plans?
Yes, you have the option to pay in installments. We charge a small fee for this.
What happens after my first year in the community?
After your first year, you have the option to join the ongoing community at $980/year. Once you lock in this rate, it'll never increase as long as you're a member.
I can't afford this, are there scholarships available?
Yes! If you are building a community business but the full fee to join this is a barrier for any reason, we invite you to apply for a scholarship.There are 2 different types:- One is needs-based and designed to help anyone with financial need to be able to attend, including those living in a part of the world with lower purchasing power.
- The other is designed to increase diversity in our cohort by encouraging people of color, those outside of the binary gender spectrum, and others who are underrepresented in entrepreneurship to join us.You'll have the opportunity to apply for a scholarship once you've been accepted to join BACB.
How long will I have access to the course?
You’ll have access to the entire video library, events, office hours and community for as long as you're a part of the community. At the end of your initial 3 or 12 months, you'll have an option to continue your journey in the community and retain access to the content.
Have other questions?
Email us at hi@businessofcommunity.co or DM me at @tatfig on Instagram or Twitter.
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© 2023 • The Business of Community • All rights reserved.
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© 2021 • The Business of Community • All rights reserved.
Thanks for letting us know the course is not right for you right now.
You can email us at hi@businessofcommunity.co with your feedback
or click here to read the blog.
Watch below to learn all about the 5 aspects of building a community business and get an in-depth tour of the course and community.