Education has never been easier to access. Answers are instant and content is everywhere... but people feel more isolated than ever.

In this episode, I unpack why that tension is exactly why 2026 is one of the best years to be building community. As AI and technology continue to flatten access to information, the real differentiator for businesses is no longer content or education. It’s connection, belonging, and shared experience.

I talk about why content subscriptions and standalone courses are getting harder to sustain, what we can learn from companies like Kit that invest deeply in community beyond their software, and why people are choosing where to spend their money based on values, relationships, and trust. I also share why I believe community is the antidote to isolation and why businesses built on community are the ones that will last.

This is a bit of a soapbox episode, but if you’re building a business right now and wondering what actually creates longevity, this conversation will help you zoom out and see the bigger shift that’s already underway.

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Every morning when I wake up, I have this practice where I try to write down at least three gratitudes for the day.

I try to make them new, at least new in the past week.

Like, so I don't say the same things every day, but something that keeps coming up again and again is I write.

I'm so glad that I took a bet on myself four years ago and went all in on community.

And not just because I run an agency that builds community and you should hire me.

Like, I mean it in the sense that the world is shifting so, so rapidly and community is the thing that we need more than ever, that all of this technology does not solve for us.

Everything we could ever need is at our fingertips and answers.

Education solutions.

I mean, the other night I said to AI, hey, I have these five ingredients.

Help me make a soup that isn't boring.

And then it gave me some suggestions and we had one of the best soups we've had in a while.

Like, that's crazy.

Meanwhile, I have all of these amazing cookbooks sitting on my counter that I don't even know if I'll open again.

We see people like Amy Porterfield shutting down digital course Academy courses as a standalone products are going to be tough moving forward, and that's probably another episode.

But education is easier than ever.

Like, hey, I'm trying to do this thing, or I want to learn how to do this thing.

Walk me through it.

Like, help me go through the steps.

What should I focus on first?

What book should I read first?

I mean, everything we could possibly need, the answer to is so easy to find.

And so what we're missing, though, and the one thing that it cannot replace is meaningful relationships and community.

And on top of that, in the world today and all of the crazy things that are happening, especially in the United States and just the state of the world is, yeah, bleak.

Anyway, we're choosing where to spend our dollars a lot more carefully and we're looking at the people and the communities behind the businesses.

And this isn't new, but I think it's really going to explode this year when we choose which software platforms to use.

We're looking at what kind of community support they have.

Am I going to be able to connect with people that are using this thing?

What, what is.

What are the.

What does the collective have to say about this product and the experience of using this product and the experience of connecting with their team and what is customer service?

Like?

These are the things that we care about.

I was scrolling LinkedIn well just in general, like the past couple of weeks and I've noticed these posts from software founders.

Like a couple of different software founders have been just kind of like shit talking each other and when I read that, it makes me not want to use that company's software because it's just, I don't know, it's bad form.

I don't think that's the way you connect with people is knocking other people down.

It doesn't align with my personal values.

Okay.

And when I think about.

So I'll just say, say like this one post specifically was an email marketing platform where I'm seeing a lot of stuff coming out from their founder and from the employees that's like cringy about how they should use.

People should use their company cuz it's so much better than their competitors and it's like very attacky.

And I'm not gonna like name names but I don't know if you know anything about these marketing platforms.

You probably know what I'm talking about.

And so when I think about like why do I use KIT as my email marketing platform?

It's because they have tools so that I connect with other people that use that platform because it is an email platform for creators.

And so they have the creator network where they have recommendation engine so you can recommend your friends that are also on the platform so you can grow your list together.

They have their craft and commerce conference which is by far my favorite conference every year.

It's incredible.

And they have these satellite studios in different cities including New York and Boise and Chicago where it's like entire recording studios.

And if you're a KIT customer you get to use those spaces for free, which is crazy.

And so they also have all of these meetups.

They're just developing their company so much based on supporting their customers even beyond a software experience.

And the other thing about AI is that it's so much easier now to build software.

And so when software is easier to build and at our fingertips with what we need, people are still going to choose to invest in a company where they're going to get all of these other community benefits.

And I think we're going to see this more and more of course as a marketing strategy for growing brands, but then also from a membership education standpoint, which is obviously like the type of work I, the type of products that I build or membership business products and the memberships that focus on the community experience the Programming aspects, those are the ones that are actually going to be successful and continue to grow.

Content subscriptions are going to be a lot tougher.

And certainly the model where we're just dropping new content every month and there's like, a coaching call is not good enough anymore.

And I'll talk more about that in another episode.

But the shifts that we're seeing all lean toward how do we bring people together that.

That have shared interests, values and goals and support each other and develop really incredible experiences, both in person and virtually, that help them reach their goals and make them feel good and make them feel connected.

Because the one thing about, you know, running to AI to be like, hey, how.

What should I make for my family for dinner?

Is that now I'm not texting my friends asking that, right?

And so we're just going a lot more toward isolation, more than ever.

And community is that antidote.

Community is an antidote to isolation, to the fragmentation that we're experiencing.

And so we're going to crave it.

We've already been craving it.

You know, during COVID everyone said, like, oh, we're.

We're in this loneliness epidemic.

And that's kind of like where all of this sparked.

And it's gotten worse with social media and then the pandemic and now what we're dealing with in the country.

And people are craving belonging so much more than they're craving more content, more education, more, more, more.

We just want connection.

And so the companies that really embrace this are the ones that are going to be the future, the new wave of the technology we build, of the businesses we build, of the experiences that we're creating as a collective.

So this was a soapbox voice note episode to say to you that it is a great year to be building community.

And if you're someone that's just starting to think about community in your business, keep going.

Because the businesses that are built on community are the ones that are going to last.

I've been betting on this for years, and I'm really starting to see it come to life.

I talked to this woman once.

She.

Anyway, I'm not going to go into who she is, but it was kind of like a mindset coaching experience.

And when I told her my vision for my business and what I was building and that I'm helping people build communities and focus on community and all of this stuff, she said, Becky, you are 10 years ahead.

And so you're really going to struggle in the beginning, but then everything will take off, because this is what everyone's going to be thinking about.

And I don't even know if it was 10 years.

I do think it was a few years of needing to like grind to just like write content and create and really form my opinions about this stuff.

But at this point, having worked with all of the clients we've worked with and I'm starting to see a lot of shifts in the market, I really believe now more than ever, the businesses built on community are the future.

And so cheers to you.

It's a great year to be building community.

Keep going, keep building.

Community is a long game and it's a long term strategy, but it will help you build a sustainable business.

And that's what we're all here to do, right?

Drive, impact, build a sustainable business, support our families, support our communities and feel good about the work that we're doing.

All right, that's it for today's soapbox.

If you enjoyed this, if it really resonated, please share it with a friend.

Leave a review.

It means the world to me and I'll talk to you next time.