One of the more common terms for “target demographic” is “tribe”.
The idea is a group of people, with shared goals and beliefs, working together towards a shared goal is a tribe. Whether this is because you live in the middle of nowhere and your tribe is literally keeping you alive or it’s metaphorical in nature. There appears to be more power in a we than a me.
This isn’t about literally doing some work.
Some people are solo players and work better alone and some people function better within the accountability matrix of a team.
The tribe thing becomes relevant whenever you want to scale or grow something.
Whether this is people you pay or people you build with as partners, there needs to be the right vibe between team members, at least in its foundation.
Even the DIY moguls work with people.
When all is said and done, the world is just ecosystems playing together.
Chances are you need other people to win.
Most people will need to find a team
At first your idea is probably manageable on your own.
Maybe you clean cars for a living. Maybe you’ve locked down the A-Z on creating songs. Regardless of what you are working towards, it will start in a pretty sustainable way.
You can start managing everything and doing all the work yourself. For some people the economics of this works out and the business does not need to scale to stay alive. In theory those folk are fine doing the solo work, but arguably, they found their tribe in their clients and that’s why it’s going so well.
I chose to pursue music as a main passion.
Music is a very social game. To win it properly, you need to identify the people you sound like (both sonically and branding-wise), the people who listen to your music, and understand their common interests. When you know those things, you should find a group of peers who believe in what you do to back your mission.
Basically you need to research your tribe’s characteristics ahead of time.
Should they then back you, it’s now your responsibility to pay these folk that do work for you. Whether it be by money or favours. Make sure you pay your people.
Scaling is about setting up your business in a way where growth is both possible, and supported by you.
Now here comes the hard part, if you can’t pay people, nor find your own volunteers, chances are you have to spend time building up someone else.
Working on other people’s projects introduces you to new hustlers
When you get involved in a moving organism, it means entering a fishbowl environment where everyone there already has some common interests.
Or at least everyone has an assumed level of skill and professionalism.
As you get to work on these new projects you will showcase what you can do. You’ll also end up working with other people and seeing what they bring to the table. Lately I’ve been enjoying working with the mom hustlers of CDN-NDG.
The thing about relationships with people is they are like dating, because they are all relationships. You put a lot of time and effort into figuring out who you want to rub private parts with for the long run, but when it comes to other endeavours, things are more casual. Sometimes you can even attach yourself to people who end up really not liking you.
I’m on two songs with a dude who blocked me. One beatmaker I worked with ghosted me after I paid him but before it came out. Like he literally snail mailed me receipts for the beats and everything, then one day he poofed on me.
I’ve had a few projects just fall to the wayside because the people I got involved with were not good for me to work with (to any rappers reading this I’m not talking about music here, so don’t @ me over insecurity).
Before I commit to working on new stuff with people I like to vibe check first. It’s honestly really similar to dating, only no one’s trying to have sex. Often the sex gets replaced with money, but the rest of it is the same.
It’s definitely intimate AF to build an empire with someone.
All you should really look for is people with matching values
There is a whole world of people who believe in different things.
We’re motivated in different ways and this impacts how we live in our day to day. Now you don’t have to like everyone in your tribe, but you do need to respect them. You need to be able to rely on them and trust that y’all are in this for reasons you both understand.
Penn & Teller allegedly aren’t even friends, it’s just a work thing between them.
Now given there are long term ramifications to tribe building it’s worth feeling people out first. Start small and build up something. See how things go over time.
Take the time to plan with them and get a sense for what everyone wants out of the project.
Find out what those foundational folk are willing to commit to and make it clear what they will get for that work. Each participant of the tribe will be putting in X effort ranging from client/fan roles to straight up management of your project. Each participant of their tribe expects their just reward.
That could be money/clout or it’s entertainment/utility. Everyone has their motivations and it’s on you as a tribe leader to identify who should be in your tribe.
When you do that you now have more resources, and more importantly more insight, which leads to scaling.
Scaling your project will require morphing your plan to think about more
That more in this subheading is vague.
You’ll need more money, more staff, more insight and more everything. Think of it like supply chain logistics. Maybe you start with a printing press in your room, but inevitably you get so successful you need to outsource work. Once you find the right commerce partners your brand elevates to heights you never imagined.
In music, there is a large social component. You are looking for people who will pull up for your music videos, come to your shows, buy your merch. You are also looking for people to collaborate with. Like maybe your anti-pickle brand can make money with a company selling flavoured pickles you never tried.
As new opportunities come in your face you need to be able to delegate the tasks you suck at and take on the work you can do. While I’m slick with the words, my thumbnail game is trash. However if someone hits me up needing a thumbnail, via my network I can link them to the right people, thus creating more opportunities in the future.
Over time you basically collect people like Pokemon.
As you find the right people, you will start to see how you can leverage their skills within what you do to create growth. If you are stuck, you can hit up someone like me to brainstorm with you and find some paths forward.
I know a lot of people get frustrated working with others and lock into a solo rider mentality.
I think it’s worth reminding everyone that teamwork makes the dream work.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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