Is Selling or Buying a Pinned Post a Smart Move or Not? I have some concerns about paid pinned posts, Spotlight placement, Prime real estate in someone else’s community feed — for a fee, right? I see a growing trend of people paying (or charging) to have their posts featured at the top of a group or classroom. There’s always one thing that undermines the uniqueness of any effort or model in business. I’ve seen it happen a couple times. It’s got me thinking… there are a few of my questions: 1. Are these pinned posts only available to affiliates? If so, is this just a way to recycle internal traffic — or is there real outside visibility? 2. Are pinned posts only being seen by other sellers and affiliates — or by actual new members and customers? In other words, who is your real audience? 3. Besides the upfront fee, what is expected from the community host? Do they need to promote it, comment on it, validate it — or just pin it and move on? 4. What happens to community trust when posts are pay-to-play? Do members start to see the feed as authentic, or just a billboard? 5. What’s the conversion rate from these kinds of posts? Are people getting real ROI — or just visibility with no action? 6. If everyone starts charging for a pinned post, who’s left to read them? Is it a sustainable model — or just content cannibalism? 1. Which posts get priority 2. How long does a paid post remain active? 3. Who vets the post for content approval without compromising your own community or standards? 4. If I have money to burn and want to vote my post through an end of supply of funds, where do I get stopped and out of the way of other genuine community members looking to promote themselves? I may not be qualified the comment based on experience, but has a fervent researcher, I love to look at every angle for the pros and cons right upfront. I don’t think charging for a pinned post isn’t automatically wrong. It’s actually a creative monetization option if the community is robust, active, and value-driven. But if the only people buying and reading pinned posts are other people selling pinned posts… that screams a pyramid with pixels. Lol

If I Had to Start Over... If I had to start from scratch today — no list, no brand, no connections —I’d build a Skool community before I built anything else. Community is the driving force behind everything. It’s what made KoolSchool a success, and it’s the reason I get to work with incredible people every day. I wouldn’t waste time trying to go viral. I wouldn’t spend months stuck in “perfect planning mode.” I’d start small, get messy, and then start connecting. Real conversations. Real relationships. Real momentum. That’s the blueprint I’d follow — because it already worked. ✅ Build a community. ✅ Create value with your people. ✅ Grow together. If you’re starting over or this is your first time, you don’t need to know everything. You just need to start. 👉 Are you prepared to construct something tangible? Join KoolSchool and see how it’s done. — Mark Zupo, Founder The company was built by the community. “Powered by Action.”

7 Big Lessons I Took Away from Failure Here’s the unvarnished, direct message from my disorganized desk to you: ✅ People don’t leave friends and family — they leave products. Retention isn’t about stuffing more content down their throats. It’s about a real emotional connection. Be a person, not a product. ✅ Personal authority beats expert authority every time. People don’t follow you just because you know your stuff — they follow you because they know you give a damn about them. ✅ Be a member of your own community. Don’t stand at the front of the room like some “guru.” Get in the trenches. Ask questions. Share your life. Be one of them. ✅ Shared struggles bond deeper than shared wins. Winning together is cool, but struggling side-by-side? That forges unbreakable loyalty. ✅ Drop your status if you want to raise engagement.If you look too perfect, people freeze. Show your cracks. Laugh at yourself. Ask for help. Let others shine — and they will. ✅ User-generated content is pure gold. The comments? That’s where the magic lives. Not in your perfectly crafted posts. Read deeper. Listen harder. ✅ One community, one shared goal . Keep it simple. Focused. Everyone should know the main mission. Hit it. Celebrate it. Then open the next level together. 🔥 Bottom line: If you’re building a community (or planning to), start building with your people, not for them. Show up real. Stay human. Keep it messy. That’s the real secret. — Mark Zupo, Founder, KoolSchool “Where Leaders Are Built, Not Born."