Whether you live in a big city, or a small town, have lived there forever, or are brand new, creating camaraderie with others like you is very important, and possible! I moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Bend, Oregon about a year ago, and have already found my people (sorry, I am for some reason opposed to the word tribe). Knowing that I was leaving the proximity of the Creative Business League behind in geography (I still Skype in for monthly meetings and attend the twice yearly in-person retreats), I knew I wanted to find an existing creative business group, or create my own. Here are the steps I followed, hopefully they help guide you to your own group.
Step 1: Search for maker spaces, groups, co-working locations, etc. on Facebook
In my initial search, I found out that Bend has a whole geographical area called, Bend's Makers District - it is an industrial area where a lot of small businesses of have their workspaces and/or retail shops. I emailed and connected with one of the makers who told me that they have bi-monthly meetings, and even though I didn't have a space in the Makers District, I could attend those meetings to start to create a community for myself. About a month or two before I moved, I found out that a new co-working space, The Wilds, aimed at creatives, was opening in Bend. I 'liked' their page on Facebook and was on the lookout for any social gatherings they were going to have that were open to the public. Right after I moved, The Wilds had a Holiday Open House, so I went, by myself.
Here is where I will interject that on order to create your business group, you may need to do a few things out of your comfort zone. Networking is never that easy, but I am a firm believer in going to events like this one on your own - it forces you to talk with people, and you're not as intimidating to others because you are solo, not in a large, unapproachable group. I also believe that there is always someone else out there like you, maybe even a few people, looking for a connection.
I met quite a few people at The Wilds that night, and I knew I was on to something. So now I had two places to call on in order to start forming this business group.
