The Social Club Consultant · Est. Chicago

I built a social club from 25 strangers to 300 members. Now I build them with you.

Everything I teach, I paid for first.

Work with me Read the story first
Draymond Washington

Draymond WashingtonFounder, Three Cities Social · Est. Chicago, 2024

25 → 300members
4 monthsto profitability
30–45events per month
2 → 1clubhouses · closed one on purpose
$0venture capital
The story

I left finance to build the club I couldn’t find.

Before I opened a clubhouse, I joined four social clubs in Chicago. Every one of them nickel-and-dimed me at the door and hoped I wouldn't show up. By then I'd figured out the real problem:

"What most adults are missing isn't ambition. It's connection."Why I left Merrill Lynch to build a clubhouse

So I built Three Cities Social — a River North clubhouse designed around one idea: make it easy to see the same people again. It worked.

Draymond Washington seated on a leather bench in front of a deep red wall
Founder, Three Cities Social · Est. Chicago, 2024

The timeline, honestly

Oct 2022
Started as a free events group. No lease, no dues — just proof that people would keep showing up.
Jul 2024
Opened the River North clubhouse with 25 founding members.
Nov 2024
Profitable — four months after opening.
May 2025
250+ members, 16–20 events a month, still effectively a one-person operation.
Oct 2025
Opened our second clubhouse, in Wicker Park — on a below-market sublease.
Dec 2025
~300 members. Also: a five-figure monthly burn from the expansion. Both things were true.
2026
Walked away from a ~$1.4M lease renewal because the math said walk. The club is healthier for it.
Today
Going deeper, not just bigger — capped membership, sharper programming, and the playbook you're reading.

Most "community experts" only sell the growth story. I'll also tell you about the expansion that didn't pencil — knowing when not to sign is worth more than any launch tactic.

The proof

Don't take my word for it. Take the members'.

★★★★★ 4.9 on Google · 46 reviews
★★★★★

"This is the only one that delivers on high quality people, experiences and spaces! The event calendar is PACKED! All of the members share the similar values of wanting to connect on a deeper level and enjoy everything Chicago has to offer… together!"

Member · Google review
★★★★★

"Three Cities was a terrific spot to host our event. Incredibly professional, prompt, and clean."

Quinten R. · event host · Google review
★★★★★

"Three Cities Social in Wicker Park delivers on its promise for the community…"

HealthSource Wicker Park · neighborhood business · Google review
★★★★★

"Always super clean, and the space is designed beautifully… a great perk if you're new to Chicago or want to join a social club to make new friends."

Member · Google review

45 of 46 reviews are five stars. The one that isn't keeps me honest.

Members dressed up and laughing around the table at a Three Cities Social party A group of Three Cities Social members arm in arm at the clubhouse
Work with me

I help people build clubs that actually work.

Plenty of consultants will sell you community strategy. I signed the leases, set the prices, ran 500+ events, made the payroll, and closed the location that didn't pencil. You get the playbook and the scar tissue.

The aspiring founderYou have the idea and maybe a waitlist. You need the sequence: proof before lease, cohort before opening, the napkin test before the broker tour.
The organizerYour run club, dinner series, or league already draws a crowd. You want to turn showing up into membership — revenue without killing the soul.
The spaceYou operate a venue, studio, or coworking floor with dead hours. A membership layer can be your highest-margin product — if it's built as a club, not a discount.
The brand or companyYou want real community — members, rituals, retention — not another activation that ends when the budget does.

The Blueprint Call

$350 · 90 minutes

For founders who need direction now.

  • Full teardown of your concept, space plan, and numbers
  • Pricing and funnel recommendations on the call
  • A written 30-day action plan within 48 hours
  • The expansion-gate / napkin-test worksheets
Book a Blueprint Call — $350

The guarantee: if you don't leave with a clear next 30 days, it's free.

The Founder Day

$1,800 · one day in Chicago

See a working club from the inside.

  • A full day at the clubhouse — tour it like a prospect, staff it like an owner
  • Sit in on real programming and member operations
  • Afternoon working session on your club's plan
  • 30-day follow-up call once you're home
Book a Founder Day — $1,800

The Launch Sprint

$6,500 · 8 weeks

From concept to founding cohort and first events.

  • Weekly working sessions, direct access in between
  • Concept, pricing, and founding-member offer — built together
  • Your launch sequence, tour script, and onboarding choreography
  • The full Vault, adapted to your club
  • Goal: founding members committed before you open
Start a Launch Sprint — $6,500

The Operating Partner

$2,000/mo · 3-month min

A founder-operator in your corner, ongoing.

  • Monthly strategy session + async review of anything
  • Your numbers read monthly — MRR, churn, event P&L
  • Programming calendar & sponsorship pipeline reviews
  • Vendor, lease, and hiring decisions — pressure-tested
Start monthly — $2,000/mo

These are founding rates. Per Law II, the rate you start at is yours for good.

Not sure which fits? The Blueprint Call is where everyone starts. Or tell me what you're building and I'll tell you straight if I can help.

What I believe

The Ten Laws of the Clubhouse

Ten rules the club actually runs on, each one paid for before it was written down. Here's the first. The other nine belong to clients and the Circle.

Law I

Charge to show up.

Free things get treated like free things. Attach even a small, refundable commitment and attendance transforms.

Receipt: Our free kickball team of 25 forfeited ~80% of its games. Our deposit-backed volleyball league never forfeited once. Same members.

Laws II — X

Pricing, programming, culture, growth, and the one about money. Each with the receipt that taught it.

Clients & the Circle only

What clients get

The System: the five chapters that run Three Cities.

From before the lease to running it without you — documented, tested, and adapted to each client's club. The titles are public. Nothing else is.

The Three Cities Social library and games room — bookshelves, orange armchairs, a chess set mid-game
I.

The Container

Client engagements only
II.

The Engine

Client engagements only
III.

The Money

Client engagements only
IV.

The Second House

Client engagements only
V.

The Operating System

Client engagements only
The library

The Vault: the documents that run a real club.

Not for sale separately. They travel with engagements — adapted to your club, your city, your numbers.

Founder Operating Playbook
Launch sequence
Intake & tour scripts
Onboarding choreography
Private rental kit
Event runbook template
League & commitment mechanics
Sponsorship kit
Retention machinery
Pricing framework
Expansion gate checklist
House rules & culture guide
The community

The Operators Circle

Founding cohort · Capped at 50 operators

A membership community for the people who run membership communities. Club founders, event organizers, space operators — one table, real numbers.

The Three Cities Social clubhouse floor — green lounge chairs in a circle, ring chandeliers, coworking tables beyond
The monthly tableOne live group session a month: a teardown of one member's club, a working topic from the System, and open problem-solving. Recorded for the vault.
The channelA private space for the questions between sessions — pricing calls, vendor checks, lease gut-checks. Someone in the room has faced it.
Template dropsWorking documents from the Vault released to the Circle over time, with walkthroughs of how to adapt them.
The network effectCross-city referrals, guest-host swaps, and first access to Founder Days, workshops, and license conversations.

$149/month, founding rate — and per Law II, founding members keep that rate for as long as they stay. The Circle opens when the founding waitlist fills; membership is capped at 50 so it stays a table, not an audience.

Apply for a founding seat

The license · Application only

Bring Three Cities to your city.

For a few operators, this goes past advice: a license to build a Three Cities club of your own — the brand, the full operating system, and me on the ground for launch.

  • The Three Cities name, brand system, and member experience standards
  • The full operating system: every playbook, contract, script, and SOP
  • Site selection through founding cohort — launched together, on the ground
  • Ongoing operator circle: shared programming, cross-city member benefits
Apply for a license
The Three Cities Social lounge at golden hour — velvet and leather sofas, pearl-string chandelier, floor-to-ceiling windows

"Three cities" was always the plan.
Yours could be one of them.

Licenses are granted to operators who complete a Launch Sprint or equivalent vetting. Serious inquiries only.

Speaking & workshops

Put the story on your stage.

Keynotes, panels, and working sessions for conferences, companies, universities, and hospitality groups — told with the receipts, not the highlight reel.

A fireside author talk in front of the Chicago map mural at Three Cities Social
The Loneliness BusinessWhy belonging is the next great local industry — and what it actually takes to sell it. For conferences and brand teams.
Charge to Show UpThe counterintuitive economics of community — and why free kills the thing it grows. For operators and marketers.
25 Strangers to 300 MembersThe founding story, mistakes intact — lease to lease, price to price. For founders, students, and anyone building from zero.
Custom workshopsA working session built on your team's actual community problem, using the same system my clients run.

Book Draymond to speak