## Why I'm launching a Community Studio?

*Finding the right partner for building a community can be quite challenging.*

\
Before we get into it, let me clarify something. The term **community studio** doesn't really have a clear-cut. In this first issue, we're gonna go by **[Latecheckout](https://latecheckout.studio/)**'s interpretation of what a community studio is, and how it differs from a more traditional social media marketing agency. Other companies might see things differently and that's fine.

We're just sharing our views and perspective on the subject. Let's get started.

---

As you may know, startups are risky and brands without a community are moving slow. Founders set out to build the next big thing, the path is littered with the logos of fallen comrades. You are trying to thread a needle in a wind tunnel.

These founders and brands owners take on this risk because the possible results are rewarding. Startups that make it through the gauntlet are some of the best businesses in the world, with high margins and practically unlimited growth potential.

But what if there was a way to eliminate much of the risk without losing out on the possible reward?

> Guess what? We are making it real! Community studios will breed major outcomes for companies and brands in the future.

```cv
youtube
{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H4uYqKU-8s","width":200,"height":113,"thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5H4uYqKU-8s/hqdefault.jpg"}
```

Once you have an idea for a new community you want to build or you already have an audience you want to convert to a grown community and bring it to life, you'll need to dot it your own way or you will either work with freelancers or agencies to bring it to life. When you are at this stage with an idea, a common dilemma arises; trying to build this thing internally, or get help from an agency that does these sorts of things for a living?

Two of the most common types of businesses that can help you are social media marketing agencies or “community studios”. These sound like they might be the same thing, but they are distinctively different.

---

#### **Social Media Marketing Agency Approach**

Social media marketing agencies charge customers for social media management and marketing campaigns based on a list of requirements. Their core competency is technical work: if the client wants their products to perform well on social or drive sales, they will do just that.

Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

These agencies focus on developing social media marketing strategies for your products, according to your requirements within a specific time frame for a specific budget.

The relationship with an agency is best described as client-supplier. The product/brand brief you submit to the agency is the guide for the entire project. They will not stray from your requirements.

### **So what is a Community Studio, anyway?**

A **community studio** is a kind of lab for creating, building, serving, growing, developing, connecting and sustaining communities (group of people) around your business/brand.

You can think of the **studio model** as an effective way and a powerful de-risking machine. The main way it de-risks is through connection, trust, collaboration and validation. Community Studios improve their chances of success by taking a bunch of shots on net rather than just one, this way it helps more brands and businesses to grow continuously and consistently.

Community studios become experts at rapidly generating and testing ideas and releasing specific community programs, the cost of each attempt is much less than it would be for a normal startup or a company.

---

### **Community Studio: Approach & Focus**

A community studio is a lab with cross-functional teams of experts who come together to build the best internet communities possible. These experts are usually community-centric entrepreneurs, community managers, community designers, social media strategists, and community builders or people with community backgrounds. Community studios' core strengths are connection, trust, collaboration, and validation.

Photo by Vidar Nordli Mathisen on Unsplash

> *It’s all about solutions!*

**The Community Studio model** is set to build solutions and make trusted partnerships. While there are enormous use cases for successful communities built by brands and startups, most customers and community members get more value from being in the community. I find this thing continuously trending because creator economy and passion economy helped reveal community building as a fundamental component of product development.

```cv
tweet
https://twitter.com/meetmahmod/status/1395110152794169352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1395110152794169352%7Ctwgr%5Ec39c9ef19dea988e2751fb34d2f3adbece364db3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fread.cv%2Fmahmod
```

In short, when a community studio meets with you and your brand/business team, they will bring in a cross-functional team of experts. These teams will usually have (but not necessarily all of them) marketers, community designers, community developers, community managers, and product managers in some cases.

With this added expertise, and having everyone sitting at the table throughout the whole journey, you consistently end up building communities that are more likely to be feasible and viable.

---

### **What is Afterwork Lab?**

**Afterwork Lab** is a community studio that helps build, build, engage and grow internet communities for early-stage startups, brands and companies. Our team is supporting and initiating community development strategies and social media marketing projects.

The best community builders help support business growth and not just grow social media followings. It's about solving the problems that can both help your target audience and drive growth for your business.

### **As community builders:**

👉 We help design your Minimal Viable Community - MVC for early-stage startups with community-based products.

👉 We design and develop online communities for your company or your brand on Geneva, Discord, Circle, Facebook, and Telegram.

👉 We develop organic Social Media Relations strategies with a community-based approach to meet your business needs at any stage of growth.

👉 We specialize in turning your organization's target audience into a loyal community by taking full leverage of Twitter and social media channels.

### **Afterwork Vision**

We help bring together landscape community builders and creators to provide community-building services for brands and companies.

Our collaborative approach equips community energy with professional expertise through an engaging and enjoyable process to create a shared vision.

As an agency, we work with B2C and B2B organizations, DTC brands, early-stage startups with community-based products, and non-profit entities.

### **Community-Centric School**

In the community world and social media marketing, there are two different schools: business school and people-centric school, we tend to combine them both.

### **Our supporting services at Afterwork Lab**

**👉 Comarketing Collaborations:** we start collaborative efforts on marketing on social media to bring people together.

**👉 Community Management:** we can help you manage your community with ongoing support and management.

**👉 Interactive Workshops:** we provide workshops on community-building frameworks and community intelligence for our members, brands and companies.

---

### **Afterwork Lab Community**

The cost involved in building an effective community can sometimes be the difference between reality and fantasy. We understand that at Afterwork Lab, and we've tried our best to answer your questions, however, if you would like to support Afterwork Lab Community Studio by becoming a Pro member, check out our upcoming **premium membership** plans.

Our team has a diverse skillset to match your requirements across community development, design, and strategy for your services and products.

Founder word

This is a document of my guiding principles, how I work as a human, and what I value in others. Think of it as a starting point of how we should connect to each other. In the end, I hope this allows us to work in a better way.

Don’t force yourself to act as I want, I’m an adaptive person so we can figure things out together to find our best workflow.

This is a living document, incomplete and imperfect. I will update it regularly and would appreciate your feedback.

I like to...

Question things out — Sometimes it seems like I know everything but I’m actually not, that’s why questioning things will happen like almost every breath. I will appreciate if you have a doc or deck to show me about things I should know before we start jumping to the next process.

Work in asynchronous — I don’t really like 30 min meeting that could’ve done in just sending a Google Docs meeting, that’s why most of the times I want to work on async style.

Learn everything — Even if it does not correlate with our work, I need to learn about the system, how things work out, what influences the system, how it’s built, everything, I want to be like I’m the builder of the system.

Professionally casual — It’s okay to break the room for a second, to throw jokes in the middle of the meeting, don’t make work like a hell.

Think in dots — The way I solve things is by visualizing dots in my mind and connecting objects to objects, I like to see things in a very simple form, the root principles, the foundational concept, etc.

I expect you to...

Prove me wrong — Sometimes I’m a bit idealist over things, I often too proud of my acts and see them as the most right ways of doing things, so argue with me, prove me wrong, show me what the best way of this design decision, show me whether I lack of decision of putting the strategy that way. I like when you’re being to the point. Chill, I never take things personally and instead being open for everything.

Respect promises — If we scheduled things out, be on time, if you say you are gonna be doing A, do A. Don’t make me lost trust and interest. I pay attention to the details to the things you might think mediocre, for me it’s a point of credibility.

Overcommunicate — We can’t work if you don’t really know what I’m currently progressing over our work, that’s why we need to be transparent to each other, send me the things I need and worth to know even if they don’t directly influence our work, you never know what it might result in.

How I use my time

I always tried to be wise about it, I only reply email at night, I didn’t response to you when it’s not the time, it’s great if we can setup a working hours of when we should be non-stop chatting if it’s async or having a meeting if it’s sync.

How to work with me

## **WTS is XaaS?**

*XaaS is a Substack newsletter* that share insights and updates about making anything-as-a-service.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FmROoDTIljOaIK5Ms1v85EadAlgq1%2FZ7wkQvL5mqGCS39XsMMG%2Fc5273945-cbc6-4255-a11b-c9ac146e6f9d.jpg?alt=media&token=0aaaedc5-773f-46eb-89cf-22775d8132e0","id":"c5273945-cbc6-4255-a11b-c9ac146e6f9d","width":1456,"height":819,"filename":"61436c05-09a0-4d9d-89cf-b9f46d5df8fb.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"anything-as-a-service","border":false}]}
```

## **Discover Anything-as-a-Service Models**

We will be sending updates about making your passion into economy via XaaS models (for creators) and revealing why companies are heading to these XaaS.

## **Stay up-to-date**

You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox.

## **Why you should subscribe?**

Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and [website](https://xaas.substack.com/archive). Never miss an update.

## **Join Afterwork Community**

Be part of a community of people who share your interests.

🌐 Global Community

🎙️ Weekly Talks

📹 Hangouts

✍️ XaaS Pro Reports (Coming Soon)

💣 Insights

🍂 Seasonal AMAs

To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit [Substack.com](https://www.substack.com/).

XaaS — Full Preview

## ***AL BAHIA PALACE***

*You will not be confused when you will visit MARRAKECH because you are in the crackle of the MOROCCAN civilizations .I t was the main capital of the ALMORAVID AND ALMOHAD, then the maronites, the SAADIANS and finally the ALAWITES.  One of the most well known museums and monuments that we will talk about is THE AL  BAHIA PALACE.*

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FmROoDTIljOaIK5Ms1v85EadAlgq1%2FbnkTcEKYrddZIGCR5ULL%2Fd830d3a5-95be-43e7-9d7b-022b6eafe12b.jpg?alt=media&token=f21b568e-5622-4073-9ae7-d6689d33d32b","id":"d830d3a5-95be-43e7-9d7b-022b6eafe12b","width":4272,"height":2848,"filename":"Castle AL BAHIA.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"Castle AL BAHIA by Tem Lyder on Pexels ","border":false}]}
```

> The BAHIA PALACE is a cluster

*The BAHIA PALACE is a cluster of compact houses and outbuildings with different sizes and no pre-established order .It was built in two phases over an area of around 8 hectares in the second half of the nineteenth century and it bears significant witness to the Moroccan architectural genius of that era ,in particular through the paints on wood , which are illuminating the ceilings, the lintels ,the doors and the windows .*

---

### ***SI MOUSSA’S HOUSE or DAR SI MOUSSA*** 

*Initially ,there had been only (DAR) Si MOUSSA , which is the northern part and the oldest .It comprised a large Riad ( a house set out around a large garden ),the northern courtyard and ancillary spaces .* 

*The completion of construction of this part is dated by an inscription of 1866 -1867 .At that time , SI MOUSSA , BA AHMAD’s father , was a chamberlain and was then about to become the grand VIZIR (prime minister).* 

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FmROoDTIljOaIK5Ms1v85EadAlgq1%2FbnkTcEKYrddZIGCR5ULL%2F117840bd-4995-4315-b267-73251af1681f.png?alt=media&token=3d32a934-f543-41ba-ae0f-ece82ee4c2ee","id":"117840bd-4995-4315-b267-73251af1681f","width":1114,"height":809,"filename":"sidi moussa.png","type":"image/png","caption":"DAR SI MOUSSA","border":false}]}
```

---

*When sultan Moulay Hassan passed away in 1894 , his son and legal successor , Moulay ABDELAZIZ ,was only fifteen years old. Chamberlain AHMED Ben Moussa ,nicknamed BA AHMED assumed the title of the grand VIZIR and held the power as regent until his death in 1900 .*

*It was from the year 1894 onwards that BA AHMED started extending his father’s dwelling ,by the acquisition of a number of houses which were then combined into a genuine palace (BAHIA) by the Moroccan architect MOHAMED AL MAKKI AL MASFIOUI. The best labourers and craftsmen from all over the  country were summoned and worked continuously throughout six years 1894-1900 to complete the construction, but in 1912  and after the French colonization the palace became the home of the FRENCH RESIDENT GENERAL in Marrakesh.*

\
*The BAHIA PALACE means ‘’ **the brilliant**’’ in Arabic, was reportedly the names of his  love  and wife. So, today the palace is open for everyone, you can visit the palace from 9AM TO 5 PM.*

Morocco Reviews

*Finding the right partner for building a community can be quite challenging.*

Before we get into it, let me clarify something. The term **community studio** doesn't really have a clear-cut. In this first issue, we're gonna go by **[Latecheckout](https://latecheckout.studio/)**'s interpretation of what a community studio is, and how it differs from a more traditional social media marketing agency. Other companies might see things differently and that's fine.

We're just sharing our views and perspective on the subject. Let's get started.

---

As you may know, startups are risky and brands without a community are moving slow. Founders set out to build the next big thing, the path is littered with the logos of fallen comrades. You are trying to thread a needle in a wind tunnel.

These founders and brands owners take on this risk because the possible results are rewarding. Startups that make it through the gauntlet are some of the best businesses in the world, with high margins and practically unlimited growth potential.

But what if there was a way to eliminate much of the risk without losing out on the possible reward?

> Guess what? We are making it real! Community studios will breed major outcomes for companies and brands in the future.

```cv
youtube
{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H4uYqKU-8s","width":200,"height":113,"thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5H4uYqKU-8s/hqdefault.jpg"}
```

Once you have an idea for a new community you want to build or you already have an audience you want to convert to a grown community and bring it to life, you'll need to dot it your own way or you will either work with freelancers or agencies to bring it to life. When you are at this stage with an idea, a common dilemma arises; trying to build this thing internally, or get help from an agency that does these sorts of things for a living?

Two of the most common types of businesses that can help you are social media marketing agencies or “community studios”. These sound like they might be the same thing, but they are distinctively different.

---

#### **Social Media Marketing Agency Approach**

Social media marketing agencies charge customers for social media management and marketing campaigns based on a list of requirements. Their core competency is technical work: if the client wants their products to perform well on social or drive sales, they will do just that.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FmROoDTIljOaIK5Ms1v85EadAlgq1%2FcniA9WbF4TG3DKcPlSD9%2Fa31305d3-2587-49a0-8266-28064b568a55.jpg?alt=media&token=aa06b6cd-28dc-47c1-bfba-780fea6bea4d","id":"a31305d3-2587-49a0-8266-28064b568a55","width":3200,"height":2400,"filename":"alexander-shatov-mr4JG4SYOF8-unsplash.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash ","border":false}]}
```

These agencies focus on developing social media marketing strategies for your products, according to your requirements within a specific time frame for a specific budget.

The relationship with an agency is best described as client-supplier. The product/brand brief you submit to the agency is the guide for the entire project. They will not stray from your requirements.

### **So what is a Community Studio, anyway?**

A **community studio** is a kind of lab for creating, building, serving, growing, developing, connecting and sustaining communities (group of people) around your business/brand.

You can think of the **studio model** as an effective way and a powerful de-risking machine. The main way it de-risks is through connection, trust, collaboration and validation. Community Studios improve their chances of success by taking a bunch of shots on net rather than just one, this way it helps more brands and businesses to grow continuously and consistently.

Community studios become experts at rapidly generating and testing ideas and releasing specific community programs, the cost of each attempt is much less than it would be for a normal startup or a company.

---

### **Community Studio: Approach & Focus**

A community studio is a lab with cross-functional teams of experts who come together to build the best internet communities possible. These experts are usually community-centric entrepreneurs, community managers, community designers, social media strategists, and community builders or people with community backgrounds. Community studios' core strengths are connection, trust, collaboration, and validation.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FmROoDTIljOaIK5Ms1v85EadAlgq1%2FcniA9WbF4TG3DKcPlSD9%2Fd49d31dd-bbf6-4231-83bc-213a9a5ffec4.jpg?alt=media&token=5862ae0c-75ce-405b-82b7-d5b46a7e967e","id":"d49d31dd-bbf6-4231-83bc-213a9a5ffec4","width":2880,"height":1872,"filename":"vidar-nordli-mathisen-U8opY9umz8Y-unsplash.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"Photo by Vidar Nordli Mathisen on Unsplash ","border":false}]}
```

> *It’s all about solutions!*

**The Community Studio model** is set to build solutions and make trusted partnerships. While there are enormous use cases for successful communities built by brands and startups, most customers and community members get more value from being in the community. I find this thing continuously trending because creator economy and passion economy helped reveal community building as a fundamental component of product development.

```cv
tweet
https://twitter.com/meetmahmod/status/1395110152794169352
```

In short, when a community studio meets with you and your brand/business team, they will bring in a cross-functional team of experts. These teams will usually have (but not necessarily all of them) marketers, community designers, community developers, community managers, and product managers in some cases.

With this added expertise, and having everyone sitting at the table throughout the whole journey, you consistently end up building communities that are more likely to be feasible and viable.

---

### **What is Afterwork Lab?**

**Afterwork Lab** is a community studio that helps build, build, engage and grow internet communities for early-stage startups, brands and companies. Our team is supporting and initiating community development strategies and social media marketing projects.

The best community builders help support business growth and not just grow social media followings. It's about solving the problems that can both help your target audience and drive growth for your business.

### **As community builders:**

👉 We help design your Minimal Viable Community - MVC for early-stage startups with community-based products.

👉 We design and develop online communities for your company or your brand on Geneva, Discord, Circle, Facebook, and Telegram.

👉 We develop organic Social Media Relations strategies with a community-based approach to meet your business needs at any stage of growth.

👉 We specialize in turning your organization's target audience into a loyal community by taking full leverage of Twitter and social media channels.

### **Afterwork Vision**

We help bring together landscape community builders and creators to provide community-building services for brands and companies.

Our collaborative approach equips community energy with professional expertise through an engaging and enjoyable process to create a shared vision.

As an agency, we work with B2C and B2B organizations, DTC brands, early-stage startups with community-based products, and non-profit entities.

### **Community-Centric School**

In the community world and social media marketing, there are two different schools: business school and people-centric school, we tend to combine them both.

### **Our supporting services at Afterwork Lab**

**👉 Comarketing Collaborations:** we start collaborative efforts on marketing on social media to bring people together.

**👉 Community Management:** we can help you manage your community with ongoing support and management.

**👉 Interactive Workshops:** we provide workshops on community-building frameworks and community intelligence for our members, brands and companies.

---

### **Afterwork Lab Community**

The cost involved in building an effective community can sometimes be the difference between reality and fantasy. We understand that at Afterwork Lab, and we've tried our best to answer your questions, however, if you would like to support Afterwork Lab Community Studio by becoming a Pro member, check out our upcoming **[premium membership](https://mahmoudland.gumroad.com/l/afterworklab)** plans.

Our team has a diverse skillset to match your requirements across community development, design, and strategy for your services and products.

Why I'm launching a Community Studio?

#### **Dear friends,**

I think the more we understand about community economy and marketplaces, the more we can accomplish results .

If you subscribe to my free newsletter, I’ll consistently share with you key insights and resources. I hope this can inspire you to build your upcoming community, develop your existing one or build smart products in the process.

### **My goals for this newsletter**

* Document my work in process

* Share community-building culture

* Share key lessons, resources and tools on community

* Document how we do it in Afterwork.

*Thank you for the opportunity!*

*See you on the internet*

*[Mahmoud Aitelkatab](https://twitter.com/meetmahmod)*

Why I'm Launching a Substack Newsletter

## **What is Fueler?**

Fueler is a social platform made in India for generalists who want to capitalize their proof of work.

Proof of work is changing the way we build our personal brand, collaborate with others, or land opportunities in our careers and life. Fueler makes it super easy.

```cv
tweet
https://twitter.com/FuelerHQ/status/1416826566646976512
```

## **Why You Should Care?**

You can be a marketer, programmer, designer and a content writer. But, how do you prove it?

Fueler helps you document all your work on a single platform. You can showcase your skills through your work over buzzwords.

Fueler is a home for inspiring generalist individuals who are building the future.

Capitalize your proof of work, see what's proof of work about.

```cv
youtube
{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYaPCGRPFFo","width":200,"height":150,"thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KYaPCGRPFFo/hqdefault.jpg"}
```

## **Is it similar to making resume?**

Resume is like an equation, we cannot replace it. Fueler's goal is to encourage individuals to go extra miles to showcase what they have worked on as a proof of work.

It shows your skin in the game and the world rewards you for that. Instead of replacing something, we can go hand in hand.

Resume + Fueler = 🏆

```cv
tweet
https://twitter.com/FuelerHQ/status/1416987949791543300
```

## **Fueler Community**

The Fueler is a big community of creative generalists now and it's getting bigger each day. Since Fueler was born, it was always community-centric and what I like about their their model.

```cv
tweet
https://twitter.com/meetmahmod/status/1418217895012626442
```