Hi all, I've recently recorded and posted the first real episode of my podcast -- Questify Your Life with Sierra, a Podcast that helps remind you that you get to decide when your backstory ends and your journey begins. Questify Your Life is a system I created that blends gamification techniques with positive psychology research to make life feel more fun and doable. (Kind of like playing this life as if it's a DnD Campaign or video game). I use it to design quests that focus on the goals I value, while prioritizing creativity and play. The system has three main parts: Journey, Character, and Quests. In this podcast, I am joined by Adventurous guests, read my Substack essays, and occasionally chronicle my own adventures as I apply the Questify Your Life system to my everyday life. I originally built this system during the beginning of my mental health recovery journey in 2019, and it has since helped me navigate neurodivergence, disabilities, law school, becoming an attorney, and building my own business. Link to the first episode on Youtube & Spotify. Some questions for you: What is your personal preference for how often podcast episodes come out, and how long do you like them? If you have a podcast or youtube channel, what is your favorite process for inviting people onto your show that you find interesting? Thank you for your time and attention!! Sierra

@Adrianna Kollar wanted to build a community for people with MS. Great mission. High stakes. But she was stuck. In her own words, she "didn't know where to start." We worked together to install the foundations of her community. But here is the secret: We didn't just build a "content library." We built a Game Loop. We designed the group so that engagement wasn't forced: it was automatic. The result? She went from "daunting" to Launch in 3 weeks. But the real win is what happened after the doors opened. Listen to this part of the video: "People are engaging in the group sessions... and posting in the group." — Adriana She didn't have to beg for attention. Her members showed up ready to play. That is the power of building with Engagement Mechanics from Day 1. Watch the full story below 👇 🎮 Big Update (check the comments)

Let's start by defining what is a beta client for your community: Beta clients are people who will enjoy (a part) of your high ticket service, and get some results, and all you ask of them is to give a testimonial if they get positive results. Why would you need this? One of the first objections a potential client may have, is proof. Though this is "working for free", it helps most people refine their approach, get some more experience facing clients, and perhaps the most important when it comes to a sale: proof. Think about it, someone comes up and offers you something you want, in exchange for your hard-earned money. You want the result, and unless you trust them for some other reason, you want to see proof that what they do works, for people like you. This solves for that problem. See below an example of someone doing exactly this (though I'd change 50% off to free, so you make it happen and fast, no risk for the beta client). You can make some small changes, and share your version of this for people in your niche. P.S. Credits to Ted Carr for sharing this!

I just released a new episode diving into something we’ve all run into: confirm shaming. Those guilt-driven prompts apps use to push us into the choice they want. Sure, these dark patterns can boost quick numbers… but they absolutely destroy long-term trust, retention, and community. In the episode, I unpack real examples (some wild ones), the psychology behind them, and how ethical, game-inspired design can motivate users without manipulating them. If your product or community relies on behavior change, this episode will give you a clearer path to ethical motivation that actually works. 👉 Watch the episode and let me know in the comments: Have you ever been “confirm shamed” by an app? What did it say?