n 2019, I published my first blog-style Instagram post. I wasn’t building a content strategy or planning to launch a business. I was a lonely, overwhelmed mother looking for a way to express what I was experiencing and connect with people who understood.

I didn’t know that one post would become the beginning of an online community, or that the relationships built through that community would eventually help me create YVR Creatives, launch the Creators Society, sell out events, secure brand partnerships and build a business around content, visibility and connection.

I started before I had a business plan. But by consistently sharing what mattered to me, I built trust before I had anything to sell.

That became one of the most valuable business assets I could have created.

If You Build It, Clarity Will Come

Truthfully, I wasn’t sure what the end goal of building an online community was, but I was desperate for deeper connections to others and myself. I also knew that if I built an online community, once I figured out what I was trying to create, I would have people who already knew, liked and trusted me.

That is the part I understand differently now. Your community is not simply your follower count. It is an ecosystem of trust: the people who understand what you stand for, participate in the conversation, recommend your work, show up for your ideas and want to see you succeed.

An audience may know your name. A community knows what matters to you, and feels connected to the work you are building.

It doesn’t have to live in one Facebook group or membership, and it does not have to be enormous. It can grow through your content, newsletter, events, collaborations and everyday conversations. Mine started online, but some of its most meaningful relationships have deepened in person.

The point is not to collect people because you may want to sell to them later. It is to build genuine relationships before you need a sale, referral, introduction, collaborator or opportunity.

13 Benefits of Building a Community for Women in Business

1. Build trust before you have something to sell

When I began sharing online, I had no offer, launch plan or carefully mapped-out customer journey. I showed up consistently to support and encourage the people around me, and over time, they did the same for me.

People are much more likely to buy from, refer or collaborate with someone they already understand and trust. You cannot manufacture that trust during a launch. It is built through the ideas you share, the conversations you start and the way you treat people when you do not need anything from them.

Community is not a quick sales tactic. It is a long-term business asset that compounds.

TRY THIS: Choose one idea, experience or belief connected to your work and talk about it consistently for the next month without attaching a sales pitch to every post.

2. Become known for what matters to you

In the beginning, I struggled because I didn’t want to be labelled an ‘influencer,’ but creating my community allowed me to show up in a way that was authentic to me.

I shared topics that mattered to me instead of worrying only about what was trending: balancing family, ambition and well-being; healthy female relationships; personal development; business; fashion; and connection to nature.

Repeatedly sharing what matters helps people understand what you believe, what you notice and why your work is different. That recognition creates positioning. When an opportunity, problem or conversation connected to your area arises, you become someone people think of.

TRY THIS: Finish this sentence: ‘I want to be known as the woman who…’ Use your answer to decide which ideas deserve more of your attention and which content is simply noise.

3. Find and strengthen your voice

Once I overcame the fear that not everyone would enjoy me or my content, I was empowered to lean into authentically expressing myself. I had spent far too long filled with self-doubt and the fear that there was something fundamentally ‘wrong’ with me.

While building my community, I realized we are all more alike than we think. If something is coming up for me, I am probably not as original as I imagined, and voicing my experiences has only brought me deeper connections to the people around me.

You do not find your voice by waiting until it is perfect. You find it by using it, noticing what creates connection and allowing it to become clearer over time.

TRY THIS: Write about one business lesson you learned through lived experience. Say it the way you would explain it to a woman sitting across from you, not the way you think an expert is supposed to sound.

4. Create a visible body of work

From the early days of reaching out to other creators to collaborate and create giveaways, to producing events and editing two websites, I showed the quality of my work. That created trust and credibility when I reached out to someone new about a project.

Your content is more than marketing. It is a living portfolio of your ideas, skills, values and follow-through. Before someone hires you, invites you to speak or introduces you to a potential partner, they can see how you think and the quality of the work you create.

TRY THIS: Review your last nine posts, three newsletters or most visible pieces of content. Would the right client understand what you do, what you care about and the quality of your thinking?

5. Understand what your audience actually needs

Building an online community gave me a built-in audience ready to provide feedback. That immediate and diverse input has been invaluable in refining my skills, understanding what resonates and improving my work.

But a community is more useful than a focus group because you are not only collecting answers to formal questions. You can pay attention to the language people use, the questions they repeatedly ask, the events they attend, the offers they ignore and the problems they are actively trying to solve.

The most helpful market research often happens through real conversations.

TRY THIS: Write down the five questions you hear most often from clients, members or women in your network. Those questions may be pointing toward your next piece of content, workshop or offer.

6. Test ideas before investing heavily in them

My online community allowed me to test concepts in real time and receive instant community and self-feedback. When I first started sharing online, I explored the idea of being a home decor blogger or someone who upcycled old furniture. I quickly discovered those ideas weren’t aligned with my talents or how I wanted my home or career to feel.

Community gives you somewhere to explore your curiosities safely. You can share an idea, host a small conversation, test a workshop or invite people into a pilot before investing months of work and thousands of dollars into building something nobody has asked for.

Action creates clarity—but the action can be small.

TRY THIS: Before building your next offer, test the core idea through one post, one conversation and one low-lift invitation. Look for meaningful responses, not just likes.

7. Build genuine relationships beyond transactions

As someone with what we’ll call ‘occasional social anxiety’ and a dislike of small talk, networking has always been a challenge.

Building an online community allowed me to connect with people comfortably and naturally. We could see our mutual connections and interests, engage in meaningful conversations and build relationships without the pressure of trying to make a ‘good first impression’ in person.

Online visibility helped us recognize one another before we met. In-person experiences then gave those relationships somewhere to deepen. The strongest business relationships are rarely created through one perfectly delivered elevator pitch. They are built through repeated, genuine connection.

TRY THIS: Choose three people whose work you genuinely appreciate. Respond thoughtfully to something they share, make a useful introduction or invite them for a conversation—with no immediate ask attached.

8. Generate referrals through trust

A referral is more than someone remembering what you sell. It is someone trusting you enough to attach their reputation to your name.

Consistently showing the quality of my work, supporting the women around me and following through on what I said I would do created credibility long before every referral happened. People could confidently explain what I cared about, what I was good at and how I made others feel.

That is why a smaller, engaged community can be more valuable than a huge, disconnected following. Depth creates advocacy.

TRY THIS: Make sure the people closest to your work can clearly describe whom you help and what they should refer you for. If they cannot, simplify your message.

9. Attract collaborations and partnerships

The exchange of ideas and collaborative projects within my community pushed me to think outside the box and continuously innovate. It also allowed other people to see how I work before we ever discussed working together.

When your values, strengths and ideas are visible, aligned collaborators can recognize themselves in your work. Partnerships become less about cold persuasion and more about seeing a natural opportunity to create something meaningful together.

Not every collaboration will be commercially valuable, and not every interesting idea should become another project. The right collaborations expand your reach, strengthen your positioning or create revenue without requiring you to carry everything alone.

TRY THIS: Before saying yes to a collaboration, ask: Does this reach the right people, strengthen my core work or create meaningful revenue—and can the execution be shared?

10. Create opportunities you could not manufacture alone

The connections and visibility gained from my community have opened doors to incredible opportunities for me and my family. My daughter had the chance to walk in Toronto Fashion Week, and I was invited to create content at retreats in Whistler and Costa Rica.

Since then, those relationships have also helped me find speakers, collaborators, content clients, sponsors and women willing to show up for new YVR Creatives experiences.

You cannot reverse-engineer every meaningful opportunity. Often, somebody has to know you, understand what you are building and believe you are the right person before you ever learn the opportunity exists.

TRY THIS: Make your current direction visible. People cannot connect you to opportunities they do not know you want.

11. Turn attention into sustainable revenue

It has always been about bringing people together and creating experiences for me. Building my community allowed me to expand my network, recognize where my skills were needed and eventually find my passion and a way to monetize it.

The relationships built through that community helped me create YVR Creatives, launch the Creators Society, sell tickets to events, secure brand partnerships and build services around content, visibility and connection.

But a community does not automatically become revenue. Trust becomes commercially valuable when you understand what people need and create clear offers that genuinely serve them. You still need strong positioning, healthy pricing and a simple path from interest to purchase.

The goal is not to monetize every relationship. It is to build a trusted ecosystem around meaningful work—and make it easy for the right people to support, refer or buy that work when it serves them.

TRY THIS: Identify the clearest next step for someone who values your ideas. Is it obvious how to join, attend, book, buy or learn more?

12. Develop confidence through consistent action

In the early days, for every project I took on, I was positive this was the one I would fail at. But time and time again, I proved to myself my commitment to creating quality work and my ability to problem-solve when issues arose.

Over the years, I have felt my self-trust soar. Not because I finally stopped feeling afraid, but because I accumulated evidence that I could start before I was ready, learn, adjust and keep going.

Sharing your thoughts, ideas and creative work online can be terrifying. Reaching out to someone you have never met and asking them to collaborate is not easy. Confidence is not the prerequisite. It is one of the results of consistent action.

TRY THIS: Choose one small visible action you can complete this week: publish the idea, send the invitation, make the introduction or ask the question.

13. Build a business that can evolve with your life

Building a community led me to my passions and allowed me to create a career that is both fulfilling and adaptable to my family life. It has been a journey of growth and discovery—helping me find my voice and confidence, connect with inspiring women in business and open doors to extraordinary opportunities.

The business has evolved because I have evolved. The women in my community have shown me what they need, reflected my strengths back to me and helped me recognize which work creates the most impact.

A strong community gives your business room to change without forcing you to start from zero every time. The offer may evolve. The platform may change. Your capacity may shift. But trust and genuine relationships can move with you.

TRY THIS: Ask yourself what your community trusts you for today—not what you originally expected to become known for. The answer may show you where your business wants to grow next.

You Do Not Need a Huge Following to Begin

When I began, I religiously showed up when no one was listening, when I felt like a fraud and when my real-life friends and family looked at me like I was crazy. It was not easy, but I would do it again in a heartbeat to get where I am now.

The women I have connected with bravely showcase their talents and pursue their passions, and they have been a constant source of motivation and support. Their stories and successes encouraged me to continue embracing my gifts and putting myself out there.

You do not need thousands of followers. You need to be useful, honest, interested in other people and willing to keep showing up. Seven likes are seven humans. One meaningful conversation can become a client, referral, collaboration, friendship or idea that changes the direction of your business.

Build the relationships before you need the introduction. Create trust before you launch the offer. Support people before you ask them to support you.

Good things grow in good company.

Start Here

Decide what you want to be known for. Choose a clear set of ideas, values and problems that you want people to associate with your work.

Share useful ideas before asking people to buy. Give people a reason to understand and trust your thinking.

Start conversations instead of only broadcasting. Ask thoughtful questions, reply with care and pay attention to what people tell you.

Support other people without keeping score. Make introductions, celebrate good work and contribute to the ecosystem you want to be part of.

Give relationships somewhere to deepen. That might be a newsletter, recurring event, collaborative series, membership or regular online conversation. It does not need to be complicated; it needs to be consistent.

Build Your Community in Good Company

Building meaningful business relationships takes time, consistency and proximity. You need places where you can keep showing up—not only when you have something to promote, but while you are figuring out what you are building and becoming the woman who can lead it.

The Creators Society is the membership community within YVR Creatives for women building businesses, brands and meaningful work. It gives you a place to be seen, share what you are creating, develop genuine relationships and create opportunities alongside women who understand the courage it takes to put yourself and your work into the world.

Inside the Society, we create opportunities for connection, accountability, visibility, collaboration and real-life relationship building through virtual calls, in-person experiences, content opportunities and the Society Pages.

You do not have to build alone—and you do not have to wait until you need help to begin creating the relationships that will support what comes next.

Explore the Creators Society: https://yvrcreatives.ca/creatorssociety

Find upcoming YVR Creatives events: https://yvrcreatives.ca/events

xx Christine

Build A Life You Love

Building an online community has led me to my passions and allowed me to create a career that is both fulfilling and adaptable to my family life. It’s been a journey of growth, discovery, and empowerment, helping me find my voice and confidence, connecting me with a network of inspiring female entrepreneurs, and opening doors to extraordinary opportunities. 

It’s now 2024, and I’ve religiously shown up when no one was listening, when I felt like a fraud, and when my real-life friends and family looked at me like I was crazy. It has not been easy, but I would do it again in a heartbeat to get where I am now. 

If you’ve considered building an online community, I wholeheartedly encourage you to do so! 

xx Christine

---

If you are looking for a group of supportive women to help you along the way, check out our upcoming events here.

We have women who have been in business for years, women who are just beginning, and women who aren’t even sure what they want to create but know they are looking for something more in their lives. 

Get on the mailing list so you don’t miss upcoming event announcements. 

---

About the Author

Christine Coughlin is a content creator and the founder of YVR Creatives, an inclusive community dedicated to empowering female entrepreneurs to share their messages and grow their businesses.

She helps women amplify their voices through VIP content creation days and speaker spotlights, guiding them to feel confident on camera and create impactful content.

Christine also curates inspiring in-person events, including monthly masterminds, social events, and lunch-and-learns, offering opportunities for women to network, share knowledge, and connect within a supportive community.

Christine lives in the suburbs of Vancouver with her husband, three kids, and one million plant babies. A self-proclaimed personal development junkie, she finds peace and inspiration in nature, whether hiking through the woods or spending time on the water.