EPISODE 2: Our First 6 Months Building Community: What Worked & What Didn't

Building Texas Sistas Society from 0 to 4,000+ followers in 6 months. Maya and Malikiya break down what worked, what didn't, and the hard lessons about event planning, social media growth, boundaries, and charging for your time.

WHAT WORKED:

Setting Calendar Dates 3 Months Out - Committing to event dates before knowing details created accountability. The details came later.

Casting a Wide Net - Emailed 20+ coffee shops for free venue partnerships. Three said yes. Low overhead, high impact.

The Viral Walk Event - When venue plans fell through, they pivoted to a community walk. It sold out in days on TikTok and had to be split into 2 time slots.

30 Days of Consistent Posting - Posted daily for 30 days to hit 1,000 TikTok followers (required for link-in-bio). Same content on Instagram and TikTok.

Physical Feedback Forms - 100% completion rate vs. digital forms that got ignored.

WHAT DIDN'T WORK:

Doing Everything Themselves - Taking on other people's tasks while building their own community led to burnout.

Not Charging for Their Time - They learned their time was worth more than they thought when they finally started charging.

Listening to ALL Feedback - Not all feedback aligns with your mission. Trying to please everyone spread them thin.

Saying Yes When They Should've Said No- Tried pricing themselves out of an opportunity. It didn't work. Lesson: Let your no be no.

THIS EPISODE IS FOR:

Community builders in their first 6 months, anyone struggling with boundaries, event planners figuring out social media growth, people who need permission to charge for their time.

CONNECT:

Instagram: @thelonelinesscure
TikTok: @thelonelinesscure

— Maya & Malikiya, Founders of Texas Sistas Society

KEYWORDS: community building, event planning, first 6 months, social media growth, TikTok strategy, event organizer, Austin Texas, Black women entrepreneurs, setting boundaries, burnout prevention, charging for your time