Before we dive into our goals for July, I want to take a massive moment to recognise three incredible Resident Experts who have been showing up, dropping absolute gold, and adding immense value to our community over the last month. People who give the most, get the most. So please join me in congratulating our top three Resident Expert champions for June, who all get a spot at the very top of the classroom. 🥇 𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗼𝗲𝗿𝘀 Taking the absolute top spot for June is Heather! She has been a powerhouse of support and advice in here all month. If you haven't connected with her yet, Heather runs The Directory On Skool. It is a brilliant visibility community for online business owners who are ready to stop shrinking and start getting found by the exact people searching for what they do. She even hosts an awesome "Red Light, Green Light" pitch-feedback game to help you ditch cookie-cutter pitches. If you want to stop getting lost in the algorithm, you need to be in her world. 👉 Check out Heather's community here 🥈 𝟮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗞𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗲 Coming in hot at number two is Kristine! Kristine has been bringing incredible energy to our discussions. Over in her own space, along with @Mary Newton She Builds Anyway, they have created a phenomenal free AI community specifically for women building digital income. Whether you are a mom building a side hustle in your "stolen hours" or a woman over 50 reinventing yourself with "reclaimed hours," Kristine and Mary breaks down AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude into plain English with zero overwhelm. 👉 Check out Kristine's community here

... And well done too to my super worthy competitors and friends up on the podium with me @David Ashby & @Donny Baker. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁? I did say that if we won I would show you how - well, there's a small but brilliant cheat code here. Just tell a friend or two about Wingman, and when they realise how brilliant and awesome it is, and wonder how they ever Skooled without it, you get a massive amount of points! 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝗧𝗶𝗽 The power combo - Combine it with The Free Skool Extension to give your skool superpowers! And, to WIN a 1:1 with @Goose Dunlavey to plan my next strategy, it would have been worth signing myself up several times to win that!

I went through the About pages of the top 100 trending communities on Skool Discovery. On each one I looked at the headline, the body text, the proof they show, the cover image, the group description and the price. I wanted to see what they have in common and what tends to get someone to join. Here is what I found. THE HEADLINE Most of them open with the result you get, not the subject or the method. So instead of "a real estate community" it is "close your first deal in 90 days". Instead of "learn AI video" it is "make your first viral AI video in a day". One automation group opens with "automate 5 tasks in 7 days". A faceless YouTube one opens with building a channel without ever showing your face. A careers one opens with "if you're applying and getting no response, it's not bad luck, it's your strategy". Most of the time there is a number and a timeframe in that first line. A lot of them follow the promise with an "even if" line, to deal with the obvious objection before someone clicks away. "Even if you've never made one." "Even if you're a complete beginner." "No code, no experience." The About pages that just named the subject, like "a community about X", were usually the weaker ones. I think the result works better because someone only spends a second or two deciding, so the first line has to be the thing they actually want in their words. That is probably why so many of them lead with it. THE FOUNDER AND THE SPECIFIC NUMBER Every one of them has a real founder name and a face on the About page, not a logo. And there is almost always one specific number next to the name. Not "lots of students", but things like "$556,452 in member ad revenue", "34,000 sales", "helped 750 coaches", "$150M in ad spend", "100M views a month", "1,000+ doors". A specific number is more believable than a round one. An exact figure like that looks like a real count rather than an estimate. A lot of them also add a short before-story with the number. "Laid-off nurse to creator." "Father of three feeding his family from Etsy." "Engineer who quit his job and bought 1,000 doors." "Surgeon who went full-time on YouTube." It makes the result feel like something a normal person could reach, instead of something only the founder could do. The strongest ones put a few proof points together, like "$25M in career sales, $3.5M online, 750 coaches helped, 3x Skool Games winner". The weaker ones just said something like "Amazon coach" with no number.

I’ve got some data to share, and it’s a bit of a reality check. We’ve had 62 people leave the community recently. 10 this week alone. And quite a few of those were people I really thought we were getting along with... I'm trying not to take it personally (despite those childhood abandonment issues!), but it’s clear there’s a mismatch between what some expected and what they received. I don’t want you slipping out the back door without saying goodbye. I want to fix this. My goal is either to give you more of what you actually want or to adjust our "offer" so expectations match reality. I’m reaching out to those who left for feedback, but 𝗜'𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. - What are we missing? - What would make this the most valuable community you're in? - Too many personal posts & sillyness? - Not enough classrooms / training? - Are you getting harrased by people pretending to be me or other people in the DM'S - Have we upset anyone? - Is there too much talk and not enough action? Or is this all just a normal for a community at this stage? I really don't know - but I'd love to actually provide what people want! 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 & 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲. 𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿! PS - Don't be afraid to be honest, I LOVE feedback, good or "bad" (You learn a lot more from this). You won't upset me, I'm a big boy! 😁

I'm on Substack! It's a bit lonely out there all by myself... I'm looking for some people to follow. Drop your Substack link below if you have one so we can follow each other. If you're not on there yet then come along and get some free excerpts from my new book How to Start a Business with No Money, and hear more from me outside of Skool. 😁 👉 Follow me here