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Notes from our first year running a professional network
What surprised us in the first year of a network for independent consultants.
A year ago we launched a network for independent consultants, built and hosted by Hallett Studio for a small professional association. We went in with a list of assumptions. Most of them were wrong in interesting ways, so here's what surprised us.
The directory beat the feed
We expected the feed to be the heart of the site. Instead, the most valuable feature turned out to be the member directory. Consultants used it to find collaborators, subcontractors and people to refer work to, and the feed was mostly where they went afterwards to say thanks.
Small private spaces were the busiest
Private spaces for small peer groups were far more active than the big public ones. People shared rates, difficult client stories and half-finished proposals there, things they would never post in front of three hundred colleagues.
People pay for outcomes
We worried that paid membership would scare people off. It didn't, once members had found one or two clients through the network. After that, the fee felt less like a cost and more like a referral commission paid in advance.
Next year we're doubling down on introductions and peer groups, and spending less time on features nobody asked for.
Comments (3)
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One thing I left out: the directory only became useful after we made three profile fields required: speciality, city and availability. Before that, half the profiles were empty.
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On the peer groups: six to eight people seems to be the sweet spot. Above ten, members stop sharing numbers.
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And since pricing keeps coming up in messages, I'll write a separate post on how we set the membership fee, including the first attempt that didn't work.
