diff --git a/pkg/upstream/stack/stack.go b/pkg/upstream/stack/stack.go
index c2d1e214..d8e7bdd9 100644
--- a/pkg/upstream/stack/stack.go
+++ b/pkg/upstream/stack/stack.go
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ func validateExternalNetworks(ctx context.Context, client dockerClient.NetworkAP
 		network, err := client.NetworkInspect(ctx, networkName, types.NetworkInspectOptions{})
 		switch {
 		case dockerClient.IsErrNotFound(err):
-			return errors.Errorf("network %q is declared as external, but could not be found. You need to create a swarm-scoped network before the stack is deployed", networkName)
+			return errors.Errorf("network %q is declared as external, but could not be found. You need to create a swarm-scoped network before the stack is deployed, which you can do by running this on the server: docker network create -d overlay proxy", networkName)
 		case err != nil:
 			return err
 		case network.Scope != "swarm":