How do I establish a network becoming more a community not an "exclusive club"?

Question

I want to establish a so-called joint practice/society/network, in which several freelancers and self-employed people, who are working in one field of interest, are presented together and potentially realise projects together (but they do not need to). This shall, however, not be some legal form of organisation, i.e. every person is responsible for his and her own bills and we do not need to have a common room.

Assumed benefits

Those who seek support in this field of interest can turn to one site and overlook the support given by these people - alone or together.

Those who seek support can inquire the support they need and the people in this network can coordinate themselves: Who can offer the support needed? Is a partnership more effective and efficient?

People in the society can focus on and train their key competencies and skills rather than being generalists and need to catch up on other (tangent) topics.

Cooperating can have more impact than working alone.

My idea of establishing the joint practice/society/network

Every person that is interested in joining has the opportunity to do so - as long as some criteria are met (subject/topic/field of interest, competencies, skills, and compatibility).

My question

Is there a sensible way to offer the opportunity to every person in general that is active in this field of work, but at the same time to reject the option for one person eventually? With this in mind, how to be and appear cooperative and inclusive?

I would like to begin with involving the people I am working with and the people I know go well together.

Maybe you once had a similar situation. I would be interested in how you solved this.

Answer 1

I haven't got this far, but I do have a "personal" network of professionals I can lean on, and they can lean on me. This was started by me being an employee of a workplace that many of those professionals frequented. After I went on my own, we kept in touch.

In my case, we just regularly keep contact, whether it be on Linked In, or popping into their storefronts once in a while. We talk about our problems, we hear solutions, and offer advice.

If you want to go the more professional route, then you'll need some rules, almost like a charter. If you want the ability to kick people out, they need to know why they are being kicked out, other than a personal reason (i.e. "your feet smell"). Having a charter of rules will help with reinforcing what is expected, and what doesn't fly.

Put some feelers out there in your professional circles, seeing if they would appreciate something official, or if an informal arrangement like what I have would be more appropriate.