In today's PERSONALS we had an interesting discussion about Growth Boost and what everyone is seeing and how they are adjusting. The question of running your own ads came up and how that plays into your Growth Boost Efficiency Score. There was quite a bit of confusion (at least on my part)! Sam Ovens has just confirmed that there are four things they look at to get your Efficiency Score (which determines how much ad spend they push to your community): traffic, conversion rate, price, and retention. While it's not necessary to run your own ads, doing so can affect your efficiency score because the ads will (hopefully) drive more traffic and (if they convert well) will show Skool more quickly that you are an "efficient" community. So...what does that mean for us? I'm honestly not too sure yet, but it's definitely looking like Growth Boost is here to stay. Ultimately, though, this is just one driver of traffic and definitely not one to depend on for the majority of your traffic growth. The decisions you make for your community (IMHO) should be based on what is going to get the best results for your members and what will help you to monetize the most effectively. Both of those factors require a taking into consideration a multitude of factors, of which Growth Boost is just one. Not a premium member yet and want to become one so that you can participate in more valuable conversations like this one? Click the shiny new Upgrade button in the side panel and join us for only $3/month!

If anyone’s interested in the rest of the story here’s what I’ve found. And if you don’t want to read this just MAKE SURE YOU TURN OFF GROWTH BOOST. Fatal mistakes are being made. Quick backstory: Skool has claimed 30% of a $250 a month subscription as their own for a client I have provided a complete paper trail for, who came via my own organic social media, saying she is a “growth boost client.” I’m now losing $75 a month (plus all the other platform fees) for a paying client I brought to the platform and Skool refuses to budge. Skool support’s response was to agree this was unfair, suggest I refund the client and take payment off platform. To do this, I risk churn of $250 a month. I shared, completely frustrated, what had happened in Skoolers and asked Sam Ovens for help. He shut down comments and messaged me basically regurgitating what Support said and saying their back end showed my client searched for holistic health in discovery and joined that way. I’m still waiting on confirmation from my client but I have to say, even this sounds weird. Why would she go to browser, go to Skool, and search me in discovery when I had provided the exact link? I pushed back and was basically told by Sam himself that they don’t have the manpower to check screenshots and “it has to work for 10s of millions of people.” And according to Support, there is no way to change attribution in their system. This means Skool rolled out a new feature with no way to correct mistakes. But where things get sketchy. There was never a formal notification made to creators about growth boost, at least not one I received. I found out about it only after coming across one of my own ads in the wild and going actively to look in Skoolers and try and find out what I’d missed. Skool (Sam himself) claims it works like an affiliate link system. However, according to the FTC in the US and EU consumer protection laws, AFFILIATE LINKS MUST BE DISCLOSED. Neither I nor my client were aware they were taking a (large) cut until I realized I had money missing. And not a little money. A lot of money.

UPDATE: Reaction from Sam Ovens in the comments. TURN GROWTH BOOST OFF!!!! Not related to advertising for my community this time... but is anyone else having Growth Boost issues?! I'm really bummed... because I had a subscriber join at $33 a month who came from my own social media channels, then upgrade to $250 a month to join my private practice as a naturopath. I have 3 tiers ($7 a month, $33 a month, and $250 a month) and the numbers line up exactly in my pending balance right now for (1 subscriber at $250 a month - 30% fees = $175) and (1 subscriber at $7 a month - 10% fees = $6.30) = total $181.30 pending... and my pending balance is $181 and change. I'm confused because all my clients/subscribers come via my own social media channels and I cannot find any overview that shows which subscriber the money comes from, what percentage was taken, or why they were attributed this way. I haven't gotten a client or subscriber from growth boost, they've come from my instagram that I run organically and with my own ads. I want to believe I'm interpreting something wrong and have reached out to skool for support, but the numbers are frankly pretty damning... it looks like Skool is taking an additional $75 a month for a client they didn't help me get. I want to be wrong. I love Skool! But it feels like I'm being punished for a feature that seems to be buggy. Has anyone else experienced this? Did you have any luck getting it fixed?

If you’ve been interested in working with a (digital) naturopath but haven’t found one that is accessible, affordable AND applicable… You’re gonna wanna join the FIRST EVER Read Along in the Holistic Health Academy starting July 1st! The Holistic Health Academy is my naturopathic medicine self help program where I teach you to think like a naturopath, to care for your health and finally find joy again 😍 To celebrate our first Read Along I’ll be giving away ONE FREE INTAKE which includes a digital intake via email with follow up questions, a ONE HOUR CONSULT via Teams and an (optional) additional 3 appointments discounted by 40%. To join, you need to be a Premium member ($33 a month) to have access to my full program. If there are more than 15 signups I will give away a second consult! Then message me or comment here so I can add you to the drawing!

“Your labs are fine so I don’t see need for additional care or testing.” I stared at him and wanted to cry. How was this fine?? why didn’t these doctors believe me?! I had to study naturopathic medicine myself when no one else would help me 🫠 I now offer an educational self help program here on Skool for people with complex chronic health struggles, that are often struggling with quality of life and not getting enough help from western medicine anymore, written by me, someone who struggled with my health and became a traditional European Naturopath. I want to be the person I couldn’t find and help more people help themselves. I also take clients 1:1 (limited slots, enrollment is open, will close when slots are filled✨) via my VIP membership!