Community?
There is an innate difficulty that arises when the business you run is also a community which is also comprised of some of your closest friends. Some days we sit here, overthinking every element of what makes up a community and its members. How we know who to invite to events, how do we draw boundaries without hurting feelings, and how do we keep that OG Camp feeling while also growing.
I’d be lying if I told you that some days I didn’t wish we ran a SAAS company or a DTC brand. I lay in bed, overthinking our next events, friendships, and if the decisions we make are the best.
The truth is, when you take an unconventional path, the highs and lows now become extremes plastered at both ends of the curve.
Creator Camp has never been one to follow a traditional business model: we cap the amount of attendees at our events, while also charging the minimum when we have to, in reality there’s no real roadmap for this.
And so, last night, as we filed in for our friend Natalie Lynn’s film premiere, I began to start to understand why it’s so hard sometimes to find a clear path forward:
Creator Camp was born out of a feeling.
You see, the funny thing about self-doubt and anxiety is that they both feed on unknowns. The vast emptiness that you grasp at helplessly that you’ll never have control over. Knowing that you might hurt people, knowing that people might look at you differently.
But we always have to remember that we aren’t alone, that this is a community and these hard moments that define what all of this, don’t always have to be up to 4 or 5 people. So, as I laid there in bed with a suspiciously strong frozen-margarita warming my stomach, I began to write down what I do know.
I know that when we landed in Bend, Oregon for our first ever Base Camp, all fear instantly faded away. The crisp air gave fuel to heavy laughter as we moshed to OKPOP.
I know that when we all pushed our U-Hauls up that snowy road in Park City, it was the first time I realized we weren’t actually alone in all of this.
And I know that during that final night in Needlerock Lodge, I felt more love than I had ever known was possible.
Here’s a reminder to myself and to us, that when the anxiety of these decision creep in, all we can do is surrender to those feelings and let them guide us. To practice these four principles in how we navigate the world and our own community.
1. Extreme Empathy:
We have a rule that everyone invited to one of our events needs to also be someone we’d invite to our parents house for dinner. Someone we’d go on a week long roadtrip with. However, in the same vein I believe it’s important that we also act of the highest accord and are also someone that everyone within the community would be open to inviting to their parents home for dinner, or roadtrip one week with.
To be not only understanding of someone’s feelings, but to act proactively to be there for them and be someone they’d be willing to open up with.
Be the first to hug.
2. Never in the dark:
Everyone is going to make decisions that other people disagree with. However, it is our responsibility to communicate why those decisions were made. So even if someone disagrees - they understand.
3. Show Love, Equally:
Whether it’s a Base Camp attendee who is just getting started on their creative journey, to a star creative that already has an immense gravity of cultural influence, there should be no difference in how we treat the two
From online engagement (story reposts, comments, dms) to the Creator Camp community is for life.
4. Make them feel heard:
Never discount or ignore community feedback. Actively invite it and bring it in for consideration. Know that it isn’t gospel, but be willing to sit and make them feel heard.
This is our super power, the only way we get through this, how we get to the next level. Our success is capped to how seriously we take community feedback.
5. Boundaries Create a Safe Space:
A boundary is more about keeping the inside a safe space, trust your gut.
