Building Community is a lot like being a Brand Ambassador
In life we discover that not all invitations are accepted, and that the reason for accepting often is not about the person inviting. I have this experience and relate my outreach for SoFair Village to be very much as brand ambassador. The responsibility for sharing the opportunity and experience that is the essence of SoFair Village is initially mine. I created SoFair Farms and now with Partner in tow, we are delivering the foundation of community and infrastructure for building the village. This is where the role transcends me. Each person I engaged, embraced and invited to join us is now a deputized brand ambassador for SoFair Village; and by association, the broader community of Fairfield Iowa.
As an active community member in Fairfield, I have reached out through the resources of others like Noah Ouellette, John Freeberg, David Thebodo, Hap and Lin Mullenneaux, MUM's staff, and many others that before me, have contributed by creating venues, Facebook pages, Open House events and so much more. This wealth of giving is what attracts me and makes my job easier to attract others to Fairfield.
Last month we hosted a Tiny House tour and Introduction to Fairfield by utilizing Meetup. We have a local Tiny House Meetup in Fairfield with a growing membership, but Chicagoland has a much larger Meetup Group with over 700 members. Through Meetup we wrangled over 30 people and brought them to Fairfield for a day event and exposed the town and its people to a diverse group that has interest in what SoFair Farms is up to. Several from the tour have stayed at our Village in the Airbnb Tiny House now available for people that want to experience Tiny Living.
Our Recent Chicagoland Tour of Fairfield
SoFair Farms exists today because of Fairfield, and my embracing all she has to offer. SoFair Village exists in part to the people that I have engaged in coming to experience Fairfield, not SoFair Farms. Were it not for Fairfield, SoFair in any of its forms would not exist. SoFair Village depends on our embrace and support for Fairfield, and on our continued inviting of the people that send their first "request for information" to SoFair Farms. Before I invite people to visit the farm, I sell Fairfield, and strongly request of them to visit and allow enough time to get to know the town and its people. There is no one that will join us as a member at Sofair Village unless they fall in love with Fairfield... And there may very well be many that fall in love with Fairfield, that will pass on SoFair Village; and this is OK by me.
SoFair Village has a developing personality and a purpose to go along with that. Our "tribe" is forming and we look forward to those outside of Fairfield as much as those within Fairfield to join us in community as resident and participant at SoFair Farms. We have much to offer today, and so much more coming!
