Why I Made My Skool Community Public

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19h • Posts

When I decided to make my community public, I got a lot of questions. But the main one was always the same. Why? 🤷‍♀️

The answer is that there are several reasons. I wanted to explain them, especially if you are thinking about whether you should have one too.

I have always recommended having a public Skool community alongside whatever you are doing on Skool. Whether you are running your own community or supporting someone else, it is something I genuinely believe in and have told people to do for a long time.

Especially now that we have the option of a $9 hobby plan community, but even when there was only the $99 option, I still saw it as one of the cheapest forms of SEO and marketing you could invest in. Do you know how much it costs to have someone do SEO for you? A good one can cost a lot, so this is super affordable.

But at a certain point I realized something. Even if I understand how valuable it is and can explain what to do and how to do it, a lot of people need to actually see it. They need a real example. Something visual and hands-on. I get it.. I learn better that way too! 😅

Why am I so sure everyone should have one? I have tested the power of a public community on Skool, and I also know how powerful SEO is from long before Skool even existed. That combination is what made the decision obvious for me.

Let me ask you this.. If you saw what YouTube looked like before it got big, or what TikTok looked like before it took off, and you understood the potential back then, would you not lean into it and tell others to do the same?

That is where I believe Skool is at right now, and where the real opportunity is with AI discoverability. You're not too late to the game and you don't need to feel FOMO, because you're here right now.

Another big reason is time. ⏳ I only have so much time in a day and everyone wants some of it, and I genuinely want to give it. But I am still only human with life happening. I am a single mom, I homeschool my little one, and I am everyone’s go-to person.

So I have to be realistic about how I scale my time and energy in a way that still lets me help as many people as possible. Because that was my main goal when coming to Skool and not just taking high ticket clients anymore. To help as many people as possible.

And this is where a public community actually makes sense for me.

It is because the time I take to answer one question or share updates and information can help many people. The people here on Skool, and even people who get those answers through AI because the content is public. That means the same effort goes further.. something we all should be thinking about!

Instead of the same questions and answers living in private messages or only on live calls and recordings, they live here where they can actually be useful long term. And that feels much more aligned with why I came to Skool in the first place.

Too many people end up spending a lot of time in the DMs and that's not community.. they trap themselves into DM coaching or connection happening 1:1. That will kill your engagement fast, because we all have only so much time in a day. (It's one of the reasons I think it's good that Skool doesn't have group chats available.. that's what the community tab is for.. chat in the posts.)

Another reason this mattered to me is that things shifted when I became a Skoolers moderator. I LOVE being a moderator for Skoolers and it has opened up another level of loving this platform. 🫶 It has been great! ..but with that came a different dynamic..

A lot of amazing people have come here because they genuinely want to learn, improve, and build better communities. I've really enjoyed getting to know them (you guys!) and I love that they've chosen to learn that here! It's part of why I was excited to moderate for Skoolers, because I really do want to help those people and I enjoy doing it.

😬 But there have also been a few people who came here after treating the Skoolers mod team poorly behind the scenes, and it went beyond just normal being upset about moderation. And for me, that created some awkward moments... especially on live calls.

I can be very understanding and I will take the time to help people who are frustrated or upset. But at some point, enough is enough. I am not the type of person who can just ignore watching people I care about being consistently disrespected.

Because some of the behavior and things that were said were completely unacceptable, I did end up banning a few members. Which of course meant I then received messages accusing me of not truly caring about their success or that I did not mean it when I said I wanted to help them understand Skool.

That part was not fun 🫤, because I still did and still do want them to have the answers and information. Just not at the expense of me feeling uncomfortable in my own community.

And that is actually another reason a public community makes sense. Because when you ban someone from a public community, they can still see the posts, comments, and any classrooms that are open. Just like another person who hasn't joined yet. They just cannot enter the space if they are not willing to respect others. (Shout-out to

@Ellis Sargent

who was willing to test this and grab the screenshot to show everyone what it looks like! Thank you 🙏)

So for me, making this community public was not a random decision or experiment. I spent a lot of time thinking it through, and then even more time actually switching it over.. that took a bit of time! 🥲

Over the next few days, I am going to keep breaking all of this down in more detail and share what I have learned from actually doing it. It was not an easy task to switch it over in a way that felt proper.

As a reminder, if you did not see the first post with the list, here is what is coming next in this series about going public with a community:

Should you have a public Skool community or a private one?
Things to make sure you do if you go from private to public
What will help your public Skool community
Skool tips for a public community, including how to prevent spammers and low quality posts
And the Skool strategy I personally recommend and will lead by example with

And if you are thinking about making your own community public, or even just considering it, I hope this gives you a clearer way to think about the decision. :)

👇 Do you have any hesitations about having a public Skool community?

I'm still not sure about having a public community

I've not even thought about it...

I did not know banned people could still see inside a public community!

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