Finding Community in a Virtual World

As the founder of a completely virtual business, I’m often touting the benefits of working from home and of not being tethered to any one spot. While there are certainly many benefits to working at home, the one big downside is that it can get lonely.

Even for the ones who prefer to work alone, social interaction is critical to overall health. Further, community is so important to our general well-being. But how can you find community when you run a virtual business?
Coworking space vs coffee shop
I recently joined a coworking space. Believe it or not, I deliberated for months about it. Isn’t being part of a coworking space antithetical to a virtual business, I would ask? And coffee shops are free!

But here’s the thing. I’m not the type of person to trust a stranger to actually watch my stuff while I go to the bathroom. So I literally pack everything up and unpack when I come back. Further, when you’re working in a coffee shop, you’re a lone island. The person next to you could be working on something completely different or having an annoying conversation.

At a coworking space, everyone is there for the same reason. There’s no unreasonably loud music or super low temperature. (However, there still could be annoying conversations.) While I haven’t “made friends” yet, I’ve certainly met interesting people. AND the space I joined has a lot of events I could attend where I would make friends... ahem build a community. Also, there is something about being in a working environment that I think is helping me to be more productive. I’m not there all day every day, so it still fits the virtual aspects of my work.

And to justify the nomad in you? Join a space with locations all over the world!

In the few weeks I’ve been a member, I already feel my sense of community in the business world has heightened, much more so than when I was working in coffee shops.

JAMM and GSD sessions
Another method I use regularly are virtual coworking or water cooler sessions. My friends and I have one called JAMM sessions. My team and I do GSD sessions (“get shit done”). We use a virtual platform like Google Hangouts or Zoom and come together at the top of the hour to share what we want to accomplish in that hour. Then we put our heads down and bust out the work. We come back at the next hour, share what we accomplished, and do it all over again.

The nice thing is because they are online, we can be anywhere when we do these sessions. We have even done them on the fly where we’ll text each other saying we need some accountability and bam, a JAMM session is in place (even if the other person isn’t working but just checking in via text).

Not only does this help us to be more productive, but it also gives us an avenue to reach out when we’re struggling. All of us know when someone reaches out, we need to respond. While they may say they are reaching out for accountability about work, we know it’s about not being alone too. It helps with our productivity AND with our mental health.

Accountability partners
Another thing for community is accountability meetings. I’ve been meeting with a friend and fellow business owner every Friday morning for several years now. We do not even confirm anymore, we just show up. At the meeting, we share how our week went and then write down what we want to focus on for the next week. When we were first starting out, we were going through our roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship together so we could remind each other the lows were temporary and celebrate one another’s highs. Now that the roller coaster has smoothed out a little, we help each other focus on what needs to get done.

I also attend a group accountability meeting periodically. In the few sessions I have gone, I have noticed how much everyone wants to help each other. I have also noticed it’s helping me to up my game.

Virtual groups or in person groups
There are a ton of networking groups for small businesses, from your local chambers of commerce to meet ups to associations. Explore them and find one (or more) whose membership resonates with you. They could be alumni groups, affinity groups (veterans, women, etc), industry groups, and the list goes on and on. They do not have to be solely for referring business but can just be a place to be with like-minded people.

There are virtual and in-person groups. Find the ones that match your schedule, your style, and your goals.

There are many avenues to building community in this current age of online everything. What’s most important is that you recognize the need for having a community if your life and your business and finding the right ones for you.

​For more small business tips and how to navigate the virtual work world, visit our Freedom Makers website.