i have been working on rebrand/upgrade for this community for the last few days and was about to announce it today: the new name was supposed to be Skool HQ - the only place on Skool that helps you launch & grow a lead magnet community to first 100 members - future clients. the idea behind the upgrade/rebrand was to make it a place where Skool community builders not only start, but actually stay and keep getting value. but this morning, i saw @Carol Tice question is Skoolers about potential copyright infringement. "OMF*ck" i thought... i got really mad at Claude for not warning me 🤬 about this. emotions aside, i decided to investigate: - here is the reply from Skool's rep regarding it in Skoolers "As long as you're not pretending to be Skool and are open to changing it later if it's reported, then you're okay to use Skool in your community name." - here is what Claude said: "Good catch — and worth taking seriously. I'm not a lawyer, but building your core brand + logo as "Skool HQ" is riskier than it looks: it can imply official affiliation, and Skool (like most platforms) has brand guidelines around using their name that way. The safe pattern is to brand yourself with a non-Skool name, and use "on Skool" descriptively in the tagline (that kind of nominative use — "for people building communities on Skool" — is generally fine)." i have not made a final decision, but i am leaning towards "Community Builders HQ on Skool": - keeping the vibe of HQ - keeping the focus on Skool and community building - cleaner and safer option from legal and brand perspective CONCLUSION: - it is annoying to change everything, yet again - great that i used Claude Cowork to do the heavy duty of updating the art - and, i am glad i am doing it now, before it's too late or before everyone remembered the new name

full recording is in the Vault, as all previous news issues for your convenience. let's follow the good, the bad and the ugly framework. - so, the good - new freemium plans presentations. time will tell. but it could help. - the bad - new Skool games focuses on one community only. i have 3. and plan to have more. right now it does not taken into account. things do not happen "magically". there are funnels, there are nurturing times, there are universal marketing rules.... let's not forget about them. - the ugly - they keep showing us examples that do not make any sense - look at Gabe. they forgot to mention that Gabe has 838k subs on YouTube. @Stephanie Hetu did a great analysis (attached) that shows us that we should not be comparing ourselves with the top 5%. ps shout out to @Des Dreckett who shared Gareth's video. Skool is not a cult. we need to make our own decisions on how to do things.

when ppl ask me, i often say - you can't. i cannot help you start paid community right away. but it's not true. you can. here is how: - very narrow niche, super-duper narrow - huge, and i mean, HUGE personal brand and/or following on any of the social media platforms and/or email list here is the example: Gert Leroy, the founder of Underwater Squad, 3rd place in Skool Games this quarter 🏆 - his niche - Train freediver breathing from home. SUPER-DUPER niche, right? right! - YouTube channel - 1.57 Million subs. A LOT!!! not impressed with recent views, makes me wonder.. but we leave it there (happy to discuss) - Insta - 55.9k. not bad. reels are doing great. so, just like i said. you can go paid, right away. free trial is still on. what do you think? ⬇️ ps do you want more case studies like this? ⬇️

🔔 Quick reminder: I watch Skool news for you, put it in the Vault (if you want to watch it later and need one place to find it) and let you know what's important. How cool is that??? Deserves a like!!! Skool News #57 is out and in the Vault. Here's what important: - now Discovery page shows not just TOP (big and big) but also TRENDING. Trending - are communities that are new and hot, so there is something going on there (I assume lots of group activity, to be confirmed). - Trending /Top is showing in the overall rating on Skool and in each Category - Trending will be updated every 24hrs. It is good and bad. Good - you have a chance to get into Trending every 24hrs. Bad - you get there once, and can be gone forever, unless you give the algo the reason to put you into trending. So, it's a treadmill. - They said that ppl doing "sketchy stuff" will be downgraded. I wish we learn more, what "sketchy staff" is??? Welcome to ask that in Skoolers, if you are not afraid to get banned - There is a better filter menu on Discovery - hopefully, it will help our potential members to find us... not sure, honestly - Skool is working on Languages and Currencies. So, let's keep watching - GOSSIP/Secret project: Skool is trying hard to send traffic to our communities from search, and even running ads. I HAVE TO ADMIT: it is super cool!!! What's your take on the above? PS and it's a big PS. Don't get upset about your current ranking in the category: - Categories are going to change at the end of this quarter (once Skool games are done). So, hopefully, there will be less competition in some categories - With the keywords and search improvement, you should not worry about TOP or TRENDING so much so, but rather - if you search for your key keywords, what's your place? See mine in the comments PSS We all got our ranking messed up during the first 24 hours after the update. My ranking went from 500 to 1450 (((( But next morning, it went back to 500. So, please breath and calm down. The guys are cool, they will figure it out.

The weekend is for losers (joking). It is totally okay if you take the weekend off. But if not, I have a game for ya. Here's how it works 👇 Step 1. Drop your ONE thing: What are you building or fixing this weekend? One thing. Specific. Real. Could be: - Re-Writing your community About page - Filming your first welcome/ classroom video - Fixing something that's been bugging you for weeks Drop it in the comments 👇 Step 2. Support someone else. Find one person in the comments. Cheer them on. Give feedback. Ask a question. You don't need to be an expert. Showing up counts. Step 3 — Sunday night check-in. Come back Sunday and tell us: ✅ What you actually did 💡 What you learned 🔁 What you're doing differently next weekend This is what building in public looks like: - Not perfect. - Not polished. - Just real people doing the work and growing faster because of it. I'll go first 👇 [drop your own thing here, Lidia] Who's in? 🙌