Kevin Cook here and I'm really excited about this IRL community for Chicago. I attended UIC ages ago, was head bartender at the Dearborn Social Club (the off-Rush hideout for other bartenders and waitstaff), and made a career in financial markets after walking on to the trading floors of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the mid-90s. Other odd claim to fame: I attended the very first Cubs night game in 1988 ⚾ I'm in the Northwoods of Wisconsin now where I have a cottage (2hrs NW of Green Bay). BIG GAME TODAY 🏈 We were Bears fans for a long time, but living in Wisco now I love watching the Pack too, so today's going to be lit with Caleb Williams leading like a Gladiator and Micah Parsons crushing QBs with arms bigger than my legs! I'll be in Kenosha (main home/farm) weekend of 12/19 for my daughter's figure skating events and really going to try and make it for Sunday IRL. Any figure skating fans here? Anyone in this group a trader or have a community that is investing-based? Would be cool to meet and share notes. Also looking for potential speakers at my first live Skool events in Q1. I just saw what Ryan Bakke did (12 hours straight!) and sounds like this platform has really taken its game to a new level! @Steve Gast pointed to me to @Kyle Henris and he looks to be killing it here. Also connected with @Ryan Bakke, CPA about doing live and recorded events using the Skool video app. Anyone else have experience with it? Go Bears!

Excited to announce our sister city Milwaukee now has an IRL Skool, run by our very own @MJ Berst! We'll be partnering with Milwaukee on several events so join the group here to stay in the know: https://www.skool.com/milwaukee The Great Lakes Crew is taking over Skool in 2026 😎

First month collecting money on platform and I’m top 5% earner! Shoot me a text or comment below if you need help getting started.

...and left with a new group of friends! Big shout out to @Steve Gast and @Demetra Lambros for a lovely Film 'n Feast. Great to meet @Ryan Bakke, CPA as well as he dropped a wealth of knowledge on us 🤯 Super excited that Steve was kind enough to shoot a VSL for all the attendees. This was my first time doing a video for my very own business! Steve did a great job coaching us through the process and I'm thrilled with how it came out. Excited to see @Jeff Baer do his outdoor video and keep learning KDP from @Krista Brea -- everyone did such a great job and I can't wait to see you all again at the next meetup!

Thank you everyone who helped rock our first Film N Feast! It was truly amazing, we’ll definitely be doing another one in the future 🎥🔥 What’s next? Good question! I’m looking into some things but would love to hear from you, especially if you have venue options or a talk you want to share with the group. Drop what you got in the comments, or DM me and/or @Ryan Bakke, CPA, thanks!