4 Community-Building Lessons From A Couple On A Cross-Country Quest

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There’s a certain amount of community management that can’t be taught. It can only be learned through different experiences. Both directly managing a community and by all the encounters you have in just your day to day life. Some of the best things I have learned or just through the random encounters with people I meet.

This brings me to a couple, The Padgetts, I met over the summer.  Heath Padgett and his wife Alyssa were driven by adventure. They aspired for a life rich with learning, community and service. These are high-level goals that drive so many of us. However for most people, the aspirations end with a daydream or maybe a half-written journal post. That’s why I think it’s so inspiring when we actually meet a person or persons who take the bull by the horns (a little Austin metaphor), and actually seek out adventure.

When I met them, they were a couple months into a cross-country long RV trip, where they were set to see every single state in 7 months. While many would be content to stop at a cross-country long-haul RV trip, they didn’t stop there. They were determined to turn this into a quest.

[box border=”full” icon=”none”]According to the dictionary, a quest is defined as, “a long or arduous search for something.”  For example, it’s what led Chris Guillebeau to travel to all 193 countries in the world before his 35th birthday. [/box]

So, what was Heath and Alyssa’s quest. That was to spotlight and share the stories of hourly workers across the U.S along their journey. It wasn’t just interviews for a documentary. From working at a pet boutique to a cupcake shop, warehouse and Buffalo Wild Wings, Heath is actually working a different hourly day job in each state.

I bet you are wondering how this has anything to do with community building. The Padgetts have built up a sizable community from scratch and exemplify many traits of awesome community builders. All by hustling, being extremely passionate about their cause-driven quest and sharing compelling stories. Here’s the main takeaways.

Telling compelling and powerful stories.

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Heath had no prior experience blogging, but that didn’t stop him for starting a blog and sharing his thoughts from the get-go before they even left Austin on their trip. His tone is so personable, inviting and conversional. All he is doing is sharing stories from being on the road and working a different day job as a hourly worker in every state. He’s built up a loyal following including even garnering a quest sponsor, Snag a Job, and several features in media outlets.

The importance of active listening

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When you speak to Heath about his journey, he will rarely talk about himself and will spend the majority of time recounting the stories of the workers he has met along the road. That’s speaks volumes about him, as a person, but also more so on his ability to listen and get others comfortable with sharing their stories with them.

Never underestimate how far passion and persistence can take you.

Heath openly talks about some of the challenges he has encountered on this quest. Whether it’s the challenge of being a newlywed in a cramped RV to getting a flat-tire in the backroads of South Dakota or just facing down the challenges of giving up a comfortable, high-paying job to embark on this journey, Heath doesn’t get discouraged and just uses any challenges or setbacks to add fuel to his fire.

Be an entrepreneur.

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Before embarking on the trip, Heath had the foresight to start looking for a sponsor that shared on his mission of telling the stories of hourly workers across the U.S. That’s how his partnership with Snagajob was started. Through this, he was able to get some financial assistance as well as get his story out to more people right from the get-go.

He also hustles day in and day out to share the stories of the workers he meets. That has even led to some awesome features on blogs and news outlets, including a recent feature on Fox News.

For more information on the Padgett’s epic road trip, check out The Hourly America site here as well as Heath’s personal blog here. 

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Jessica Malnik

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