This sound engineer created a micro community dedicated to the craft of audio for live events

Nathan Lively had always known where his passion lied: in the niche world of live sound engineering. And with Lively as his last name, it sure seemed he was destined for it.

In search of fellow sound engineers who shared his passion, Nathan started Sound Design Live in 2015, a podcast where he could share his experiences and insight, and interview leading innovators in concert, theater, and corporate productions. Before he knew it, Sound Design Live started gaining momentum. And little by little, Nathan’s audience started asking for more:

Nathan figured offering an online course could be a good way to share his expertise, but he wanted to learn as much as he could before he got started. He decided to get his bearings with a business coach, who helped him navigate the world of creating and offering digital products. Soon after, he found the Course Builder’s Laboratory, an intensive that offered coaching and support to help people launch their own successful online courses. Nathan was hooked:

Eventually, he launched a couple of courses, including his flagship offering, Pro Audio Workshop: Seeing Sound, where he provided education on the technical aspects of live audio engineering. It wasn’t long before his students expressed a desire to create connections with each other and start networking. He started brainstorming ideas for how he could get his people in touch with each other:

Nathan started experimenting with different apps, in the hope that one of them would be able to provide his students the community they so needed. But none of them were quite right:

That’s when he found Mighty Networks.

Nathan would be able to provide more with a Mighty Network than he ever could on the other apps he had tried to make work. He could:

• Create a dedicated, member-only space for live sound engineers to network, share stories, and get answers
• Monetize his community with a paid membership subscription, something that just wasn’t turnkey with Slack, Discord or Facebook Groups
• Create a private mastermind group within his community for his most dedicated followers
• Give members the chance to connect on a platform that was instantly available on the web, iOS, and Android

With a home for his course community in place, and taking inspiration from one of his favorite films, “This Is Spinal Tap,” he gave his membership a name: Goes to 11.

Next, Nathan went about finding and recruiting members for his new venture:

He decided to invite students who were actively taking his Pro Audio Workshop into his course community. That way, he could ensure that the community was filled with active members who were engaging with each other, and asking and answering questions.

He also decided that he would create a mastermind group within his Mighty Network for his most motivated followers. To identify who, exactly, those people were, Nathan took a direct, one-on-one approach, contacting the people he thought would be interested, and inviting each of them to an initial interview:

After the initial interviews, he followed up with potential mastermind members and talked to them not only about the trends he discovered, but the ideas he had for helping them solve their issues:

Using member feedback, Nathan made some small adjustments and prepared to launch his new course community and mastermind group.

Today, Goes to 11 has 177 members and offers two membership tiers.

Access to the Student Membership is free for students currently enrolled in one of Nathan’s courses for up to six or 12 months, depending on the course package they choose. The membership also includes access to:

• Topics like Design, Optimization, Mixing, and more where members can ask and answer questions
• Twice weekly office hours with Nathan or another co-host

The Pro Audio Mastermind membership, priced at $46.99 per month is an invite-only mastermind group where especially active contributors get an opportunity to connect. These members get more direct contact with Nathan and can reach out to him directly for any challenges they’re working through. That membership includes:

• Everything included in the Student Membership
• Hour-long monthly coaching sessions with Nathan
• Access to over 50 archived coaching sessions
• Occasional live interviews with guest speakers who specialize in live audio design

Nathan is also still using his one-on-one approach to reach out to his members from his Student Membership individually when their courses are almost finished, and see if they’re interested in what the group has to offer after the course is done. If so, they’re invited to remain in the group for $16.99 per month or $184.99 per year:

With Goes to 11, Nathan has been able to bring his passion to people who share his motivation to improve, and are as deeply invested in the world of live sound engineering as he is. Along the way, he’s also been able to help his fellow live sound engineers meet the right people, network with each other, and navigate challenges together:

Looking towards the future, Nathan hopes to continue to expand his community by partnering with other industry experts to help him reach new audiences:

He also wants to move towards offering a single course, while offering occasional Live Sound Summits to keep his members excited:

In the meantime, Nathan will continue to experiment with his offerings, and make adjustments based on his members’ feedback. As it turns out, he’s as passionate about improving his community as he is about improving his own sound design skills.

1. It’s worth it to engage deeply upfront.  Nathan’s one-on-one approach makes sure that he gets to know each of his members individually. That way, he can understand both where they’re coming from, and what they’re looking for from his community.
2. Course and community go hand in hand. People learn most effectively when you create a journey to master something together as a community. And they get a lot more value from being able to connect with each other over their shared interests and experiences, too.
3. Experimenting is key. Nathan’s willingness to experiment gives his community the chance to evolve and improve. In the end, that openness to change (and to feedback, too) creates a better experience on all sides.