Scaling Your Business Thanks To the Right Community
‘Scaling’ - isn't that a fancy buzzword that keeps coming up in business contexts - leaving many freelancers and the self-employed a little perplexed? That's no longer the case: Consultant and community building expert Yurii Lazaruk reveals in an interview what it really means for your daily work and how a community can help boost your business.
Business Scaling: What's Behind the Buzzword?
exali: Business scaling - you often come across this term, but what does it actually mean?
Yurii Lazaruk:
Ah yes, scaling, one of those buzzwords that sounds fancy but leaves many freelancers (including me, once upon a time) thinking: “Cool, but what does that actually mean for me?”
Here‘s my take: Scaling is when your business can grow without growing your stress level in the same proportion. It’s when you stop trading all your time for money, make smarter systems, better offers, and build connections that bring you opportunities, not just hectically search and hustle for the next client 24/7.
It’s the difference between freelancing as a job and freelancing as a business which means that you build something that can support you long-term and even work without you being fully engaged.
The Community As an All-Purpose Weapon
exali: How can a community help me scale my business?
Yurii Lazaruk:
Let me flip the question: What if you didn’t have to grow alone? Community is one of the best “growth hacks” that doesn’t feel like a hack. When you surround yourself with the right people (clients, peers, supporters) things just move faster.
People recommend you. You learn faster from others’ mistakes (and your own). You get feedback. You stop being “just another freelancer” and become someone people trust. You know what has helped me grow the most? Not ads. Not sales tactics. It was people saying, “Hey, you should talk to Yurii.” That’s the power of community when we’re talking about an individual professional.
If we’re talking specifically about different areas of business, I can tell you one thing: there is no one size fits all, but on a high-level overview from a business perspective it can help you with: marketing, sales, product feedback, customer support, even hiring.
How? Oh, I guess we need to turn this interview into a series of interviews to cover all the ways community can help businesses 
Community Development: It Doesn't Take Much
exali: As a freelancer in particular, I don't usually have the same resources as a big company: How do you manage to build a community anyway?
Yurii Lazaruk:
You don’t need a big budget to build a big-hearted community. Start small. Start simple. Start human. Host a coffee chat. Create a group chat with 3 people you admire. Start a Friday ritual on LinkedIn. Say “how can I help?” more than “here’s what I have to offer.”
When I started Between Two Watercoolers (BTW) meetups, or Community Life podcast, it weren’t a fancy idea. It was just me thinking: “I’d love to meet cool people in the industry without another webinar and connect on a human level.” So for BTW meetups we jumped on Zoom. 5-minute conversations. That’s it. Community life is easy - just Zoom, an interesting person and a conversation about their journey through life. Very simple!
And guess what? People loved it. Not because of the format, but because they felt seen, heard and supported. So once again, if you’re giving value first and you really have an interest in something, start reaching out to people, talk to them, and at some point you’ll see that you need a space where you can have multiple conversations altogether, and that’s how you build a community!
A business needs personality. You can read about how to build your personal brand here: Personal Branding For Freelancers.
Managing a Community: Start Well and Stay Successful
exali: Let's assume I’ve managed to build the community - what happens next?
Yurii Lazaruk:
Celebrate. Then keep showing up. Building community isn’t a one-time launch. It’s a living, breathing thing. You shift from starting to stewarding.
In the community you can:
- Ask for feedback on your offers.
- Invite collaboration and refer each other to projects.
- Spotlight others and learn from each other.
At some point, your community will start creating its own momentum. That’s when you know you’re onto something. Also, remember to say thank you. Often!
exali: What are the typical mistakes you make when building a community?
Yurii Lazaruk:
Oh, I’ve made all of them :D So let me save you some time:
- Starting too big. You don’t need 100 members. Start with 5. Make it amazing.
- Focusing on tools instead of people. Slack, Discord, Zoom: they’re just channels. What matters is how people feel in your space.
- Waiting to be “ready.” You build community by doing, not by planning the perfect launch.
- Leading from the front, not from the side. You’re not the guru. You’re the host and a leader who doesn’t lead by running in front of others, but who shows the way, and ensures nobody is lost in the back!
Bonus: Forgetting to have fun. If you’re not enjoying the ride, others won’t either.
Where is Community Building Heading?
exali: How do you think the topic of community will develop?
Yurii Lazaruk:
Oh, I think it’s only going to grow! Community isn’t just a next trend, it’s becoming the heartbeat of how we work, build, and live. As AI becomes more and more automated, the value of human connection will only increase.
I see more businesses becoming community-led, more freelancers building ecosystems around their work, and more people choosing belonging over burnout. So if you’re reading this and thinking, “Yeah, but I’m just one person”, good news: that’s exactly where every thriving community starts.
Yurii is a community builder and consultant who helps brands grow 10X through community and freelancers build $1M+ businesses. In order to link the topics of community and business, he packed his knowledge into a Community Play Book.
Vivien Gebhardt is an online editor at exali. She creates content on topics that are of interest to self-employed people, freelancers and entrepreneurs. Her specialties are risks in e-commerce, legal topics and claims that have happened to exali insured freelancers.
She has been a freelance copywriter herself since 2021 and therefore knows from experience what the target group is concerned about.
