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Mar 27 (edited) • 😺 Skool
Find Out How a Local Guitar Teacher won The Skool Games
Matthew Thompson had a chat with Dave Donoghue, a guitar teacher from Ireland who won the Skool Games using LOCAL strategies like:
- Putting up posters in his village
- Offering a giveaway to his contacts on WhatsApp
- And talking to people in real life 😂
In this episode he also talks a lot about the importance of:
- Getting super specific on who you serve
- Finding "Skool friends" to walk the journey together
- And the importance of keeping things simple
Check it out :)
Timestamp Highlights:
0:00 – $5K/month guitar community (local focus)
- Makes $5,000/month teaching guitar on Skool
- Audience is mostly local, not global
- Built without a massive following
0:21 – First members (simple start)
- Joined Skool Feb 2024 after seeing Alex Hormozi content
- Added ~10 people manually for free
- Pulled from past students + DM responses
- Treated it like “a party” and invited people in
1:24 – Origin story (why guitar)
- Inspired at age 12 by Sultans of Swing
- Got a teacher → wanted to teach others
- Ignored traditional career path, stuck with guitar
3:14 – Struggle phase (before Skool)
- Tried courses, funnels, multiple platforms
- Followed too many strategies → chaos
- Skool simplified everything into one place
- Community became real-time market research
4:31 – First growth + money
- Short-form content (Instagram) → viral post (600K views)
- Conversations → some joined
- Added YouTube + warm outreach
- Free community built trust → converted to paid
5:23 – Breakthrough strategy: LOCAL
- Didn’t have huge audience (27K subs vs others with 100K+)
- Focused on local town instead of global internet
- Key insight: local + online = advantage
7:04 – Offline tactics that worked
- Put up posters around town
- Generated paid signups ($99/month)
- Ran giveaway: 3 one-year scholarships
7:54 – Phone contact campaign
- Messaged entire phone list via WhatsApp
- Framed as celebration (10 years teaching)
- Thousands of messages → tons of replies
- Sparked natural conversations → conversions
10:07 – Simple sales process
- Conversations → phone calls → offer
- No funnels, just human interaction
- Some declined, some joined
- Community diversity impressed new members
11:07 – Pricing + shift
- Community priced at $99/month
- Stopped free trial after growth phase
- Transitioning toward high-ticket offers
12:42 – Key turning point: prioritization
- Realized systems were weak
- Got ruthless about focus
- Asked: “Does this help me grow?”
- Doubled down on what worked
14:30 – Strategy shift (learning focus)
- Stopped consuming multiple sources
- Followed one mentor, one process
- Reduced noise → increased results
15:08 – High-ticket insight
- Low-ticket = more volume, more work
- High-ticket = fewer people, deeper results
- People who pay more → engage more
17:05 – Long-term growth approach
- Small consistent growth
- Add a few members → stabilize → repeat
- Skool = ecosystem + community, not just software
18:09 – Find a buddy
- Met another Skool creator locally
- Regular meetups → accountability + momentum
- Online + offline combo strengthened consistency
19:36 – Niche clarity (major lever)
- Stopped serving “everyone”
- Focused on 60+ guitar learners
- Built content and conversations around them
21:32 – Core success principles
- Accountability (buddy system)
- Clear niche (one person/avatar)
- Ruthless prioritization
- Do more of what works
22:29 – Advice to beginners
- Find a mentor and follow one path
- Prioritize time intentionally
- Go all in if serious
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Find Out How a Local Guitar Teacher won The Skool Games
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