this is a very contrarian approach BUT if it works for @Ted Carr - i’m burning the boats and going all in the sample size so far from personal experience is small but it’s proving to be a great way to solve a “low traffic” problem earlier this week i was listening to a skool stories episode from feb @Matthew Thompson did a short 12 min episode with ted at the end, ted dropped a bomb it’s about how he’d promote his free community (it’s also in the teaser for this upcoming episode Matt shared the other day) what made it such a bomb was … … ted said he wouldn’t promote his free community and it made complete sense people don’t want a free community they want value they want an outcome they want a big, bold, promise so that’s what ted suggested doing instead and then just driving them to the free community to get it what does this look like? let’s say you created a youtube video and it rips you want to drive people who consume it to your skool community instead of wording the C2A as “go check out my free skool community for more XYZ”, you frame it like this … … I just created this XYZ that dives even deeper into [topic discussed]. It’s yours free, go here to get it [link to your community] the framing is the thing that is key here when people hear or read the second C2A their focus is on the freebie that’s a REALLY low barrier of entry action they’ve likely done it hundreds of times before it’s a natural, everyday thing for them they get something of value (your YT video) they’re promised something with MORE value they go get it when people hear or read a C2A with “free community” in it - there’s more friction they have a completely different relationship with “free community” than they do with “free guide” or “free course” or “training”, etc absolute BANGER (thanks @ted carr) now, you might be asking “but if they expect a free resource and land on my free community about page, won’t they be a little pissed?”

4 years ago I found myself $150k in debt The anniversary is coming up in a few days I went from a $500,000 ARR business to that reality within 2 months In 2016 I started a Youth Development Centre We grew to 6-fig in 6 months - and continued growing from there We mentored international, national and youth level athletes When COVID hit we lost 85% of our revenue overnight All our school contracts and sporting contracts were null and void We couldn't recover I made mistakes on risk management I'll never make again After the doors closed it took me a month to process and stabilise I was in a place where I had no thing except the skills I'd acquired I went all in on writing copy I freelanced and consulted Over the next four years I'd quickly scale back up to ~$150k I paid off the debt I worked with some fucking banger companies I flew around the world to write It was fucking epic Then in 2022 I was offered an opportunity It felt too good to be true at the time (turns out it was ... remember, there's always a trade off) It was with an agency that had generated $2.3B at the time I'd be a Marketing Exec, Copy Chief and manage millions on ad spend every month while managing a team of creatives It was like tapping into the matrix - personal & professional growth wise We'd routinely turn $100k spend into 7 figures, and take companies from $50k/mo to $100k/wk in a few months It taught me a lot ... and one thing in particular about myself My highest values in life are freedom and mentoring Helping others makes my cup overflow I couldn't keep up the 3am client calls I couldn't keep up the 18 hr days, 7 days a week I couldn't keep working to build someone else's dream So I transitioned away earlier this year I burned everything to the ground Started from zero again I took a forced sabbatical For months I'd start building something and then stop It never felt right The one thing I was looking for was a community of ambitious people chasing their very best self

What if when a new member joined your community, we had the option to show a popup video welcoming them personally and telling them how to get started? Help them get off on the right foot, eliminate the need for a pinned post at the top attempting to do that, and gives a personal touch right off the bat (especially for paid) What would everyone think about something like that?

There are a few monumental moments for skool Among them: - Reaching 100k community members here - The return of the skool cat for all of us - And now: experiencing our first lvl 9er. Congratulations to @Ryan Duncan - incredibly difficult to hug because of his height - a total pain in the ass sometimes - one of the wildest and most stubborn among us It takes a lot of time to do what youve done, and im stoked that its finally starting to pay of for you. Glad to know you, you big dum dum ❤️

Hey, I’ve got a question for you, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Say you join a free community, fill in your details, and wait for approval. But then your submission is declined—yet they still use your email to send daily emails. Not through the platform, but directly through their email list. Do you think this is right or wrong? Should they still be using your email to pitch to you after you’ve been declined from their community? I’d love to hear your take on this situation. Let’s go! "I’ve got mixed feelings about it myself. And yeah, this actually happened to me (not business-related). No clue why I was declined, but I’m curious... should I message them and ask why they’re still emailing me if I wasn’t accepted into the community?" Would love your thoughts!