Easiest way to ensure your growth 🌱

Hey, Paige here! Back with another creator deep dive.

Once you’ve risen to social media stardom, you don’t have to play by the same rules as everyone else. But many who eventually rise to the top of the ranks have humble beginnings — including Emma Chamberlain. 

With a massive audience in the tens of millions, Emma is said to have redefined how people record and share on YouTube. But she didn’t amass her following just because of her personality and niche — she did something much smarter…

The real secret to Emma’s huge success? Prioritizing collaboration.

First, she and several other young social media stars including James Charles, the Dolan brothers moved into a house together and dubbed themselves the “Sister Squad.” They did everything together, from planning and creating content to everyday life. 

While the squad broke up in 2021, this wasn’t the end. Chamberlain partnered with other creators over the years, joining groups like the Dote Girls.

Hold your suitcase — moving into a house with creators isn’t exactly what we’re suggesting. 

But it is time to start looking for a small community where you can contextualize and expedite your growth.

Creating together offers benefits like no how-to video can — instead of relying on a list of best practices, you jump into a live, hands-on experience where you can learn, grow, and create together.

A strategy that works in finance can translate to marketing (just like B2C practices can win in B2B land), as long as you share the same goals:

➡️ Five writers meet monthly to workshop projects across genres
➡️ Eight social media managers gather weekly to talk about content calendars
➡️ Seven podcasters review episodes biweekly to talk about what is/isn’t working

You get to collectively learn from each other’s systems, mistakes and wins in a quick feedback in a tight loop.

 Ultimately these small-group collaborations allow you to break past surface-level best practices to gain contextualized insight that works for you and your specific channel.

These feedback loops aren’t always prioritized or easy to find, but they’re absolutely worth seeking out. 

Small groups allow you to cherry-pick the best strategies and systems working across niches, ask follow-up questions to get hyper-specific to your work, and ultimately grow together.

You aren’t getting the basic information you find all over LinkedIn either — cohorts are led by (and comprised of) top industry experts with levels of proven success, creative drive and true investment in growth. 

You have to develop higher-order skills. What better way to learn than to do it alongside others with different strengths and the same goals?

These groups offer the unique opportunity to commit to goals together, grow your network, and learn on a deep, hands-on level. 

In a structured learning environment with quick feedback loops and built-in accountability, you are guaranteed to walk away with contextualized wisdom.

The takeaway: Working in a silo is a fast track to tunnel vision. Small group collaboration is the ultimate key to laser-focused, accelerated growth — take it from Emma. 

That’s it, ya’ll. Happy creating!

Paige Peterson
Newsletter Aficionado, Sweet Fish