The first episode of The Online Community Show is officially live. This podcast is focused on real conversations about online communities, community building, trust, traffic, and connection. Not just the biggest success stories, but the full range of experiences from people who are actively building communities right now. In this first episode, @Eric Howell and I introduce the show, share how we met through Skool, and talk about why online communities are becoming one of the most important places on the internet in 2026. Here are a few of the things we get into: • Why social media often feels less social today and why communities are filling that gap • How online communities create real human connection in a world full of AI generated content • The difference between traffic tools and nurturing tools when you are growing a community • Why podcasting can become a long term trust builder for your future members • How overthinking and perfectionism stop people from starting communities or creating content • Why testing, experimenting, and learning together is one of the biggest advantages of communities One of the biggest ideas we talk about in this episode is that people are looking for something real again. When most social media feeds are filled with algorithms, ads, and content from strangers, communities create a place where people can actually talk to each other, build relationships, and learn together. We also talk about something that many creators misunderstand about podcasting. A podcast is not mainly a traffic tool. It is a trust builder. Someone might scroll past dozens of short videos and forget them instantly. But when someone spends thirty to sixty minutes listening to you talk, they begin to understand how you think, what you value, and whether they trust you. That is where communities grow. We already have 3 more episodes recorded with upcoming conversations featuring @Matthew Burns, @Victoria Gallagher, @Artin Asghari, & @Ethan Brits, each bringing a different perspective on building, growing, & running online communities.

I can't help it... I'll make a more in-depth post on this later... BUT I am so excited! 🥳 Christmas in February!

I’ve been asked this directly and I’ve also seen a lot of people asking it publicly. Why are the Skoolers community rules vague? Some people are totally fine with it. Others really dislike it. Both reactions are okay. Some people prefer things extremely clear with exact limits. Some are used to platforms where everything is spelled out. Others have been part of large communities before and already understand why vague rules exist in the first place. Here’s the part that matters and why I now strongly recommend vague rules… even for smaller communities. Hard rules create loopholes. Vague rules create better communities. The moment you introduce hard limits, people naturally want to reach those limits. Instead of looking at the intention of a post, it turns into “does this technically fit in the guidelines?” It even takes away from something that makes a community really wonderful. If a community like Skoolers spelled out exactly what a good post is and what a bad post is, we might never see some of the creativity that comes from someone trying something out. From experimenting. From sharing something that wasn’t done before that ends up being genuinely good. Vague rules leave room for that. They also mean that as moderators and admins, we end up having a lot of conversations. We look at patterns. We make decisions based on context instead of black and white rules. Sometimes there is a new person who is just trying to fit in. A post might technically be questionable, but the right response is to welcome them and guide them. Other times someone is new and blatantly self promoting, which clearly is not allowed. In that case, we can redirect and still welcome them without letting the behavior continue. Those situations look similar on paper but they are very different in reality. Vague rules allow for that distinction. They also protect against bad actors. An example that Andrew Kirby shared explains this well. If people were told they would not be prosecuted for stealing things under $50, you would immediately see people stealing things up to $49. The clear rule creates the behavior.

Just got off a the FREE clarity call with @Jenna Ostrye That should not have been free. I honestly got so much value and Jenna helped me wayyy more than she had to. If you want to [insert dream outcome] in [insert desired timeframe] then book your call now! Lol. But actually it is super valuable and I guarantee you’ll be grateful that you took action. I’m 100% sure everyone else that’s been on a call with Jenna will agree it’s one of the best calls they’ve ever had?

Skool Stories is back on the Skool Stories YouTube channel and this return episode sets the tone for what is coming next. @Matthew Thompson and Evelyn Weiss sit down with Andrew Kirby and Claire Quinn to walk through how Skool started for them, what happened before Skool even existed, and how they ended up working at Skool today. Andrew talks about starting as a customer in Sam Ovens’ previous company and mastermind, watching Sam pivot to Skool, and investing when nobody really knew what Skool was yet. He explains how he ended up as one of the first investors, launched the first free Skool community for “synthesizers” who love to learn and teach, and later helped big creators bring their people into Skool. He walks through the full Hamza story from the original “why self improvement YouTubers are lying to you” video, to Hamza using his dopamine detox Reddit to get early subscribers, to the Loom plan that helped Hamza go from about twenty thousand a month to two hundred thousand a month in roughly thirty days with a Skool launch. Claire talks about starting as a nurse in a major trauma unit during covid, getting pushed into full responsibility early, and eventually hitting a point where she could not keep going at that pace. She explains how she moved into online work, took a Twitter job with Tiago Forte, helped launch Building a Second Brain, and then over time found her place at Skool as executive assistant, quietly running a lot of the details behind events and day to day operations. What makes this episode special is how candid it is. You get to see the messy middle. The unexpected turns. The exact moments where their lives and Skool crossed paths in a way neither of them planned. If you want a true inside look at Skool’s rise and what is coming next for creators, members, and the platform itself, you will want to watch this entire episode from start to finish.