This weekend in a big travel weekend in the US, so hope everyone stays safe and calm. Atlanta airport alone is projecting 2+ million people over the next few days. We'll still be responding in the community, but we might be a little slower than usual. FYI- The first Labor Day Parade in the US was in 1882.

You’ve probably seen Golden Ticket Calls, Meet the Builder, Behind the Build... and eventually, Beyond the Build. Different names. Different conversations. But they all come from the same place. We want people to see what you’re building. These conversations and features are one of the ways we give back to the people building alongside us in Skoolology. 🎟️ Golden Ticket Calls give us a chance to sit down with you, hear where you are, and talk through what might help you move forward. 🐼 Meet the Builder introduces the person behind the community. Your story, your why, and what you’re creating. 🔨 Behind the Build takes us into the actual work. What you’re building, testing, changing, learning, or trying to figure out. 🌱 And eventually, Beyond the Build will give us a chance to come back and see what happened next. But there’s another piece we don’t want to dance around: We’re promoting you. Your community. Your work. Your ideas. Your experience. Your build. When we feature a member, we want other people to discover what you’re doing, learn from it, and get curious about you and the community you’re creating. And you do NOT need a finished build or a big success story to be featured. Right now, our research and conversations are focused on onboarding and the early member experience. If you’re building, rebuilding, simplifying, testing, or questioning your onboarding, we’d love for you to take us Behind the Build. It doesn’t have to be polished. And you don’t have to have the answers. What you’re trying, what you’re noticing, and what you’re learning are all part of the story. We can do it in whatever way works best for you: • A written Q&A • A recorded conversation • A live session • Or something else that fits you and your build Want to share your build? Reach out to Todd or me, and we’ll get it scheduled. There’s no expectation that you promote Skoolology in return. Skoolology was never meant to be a place where Todd and I are the only people with the microphone.

At the start of this month, I told you about the goose. A couple owns a bird that lays one golden egg a day. One egg, every day, without fail. And somewhere along the way it stops feeling like enough, so they take a knife to her, and of course there is nothing inside, and now there are no more eggs either. We said back then that the fable leaves out the useful half. Somebody fed that bird. Somebody sheltered her through winters and kept her safe. The gold was never stored inside the goose. It came from the conditions around her. That is what the month was about, and I think you proved it. Nobody built a golden egg. Not one person came back with the big launch, the perfect offer, the thing that changes everything at once. That is what we all picture when we think about monetizing, and it is not what any of you did. Instead, you made first steps small enough that a person could not fail them. You took the homework out of a challenge and gave it more days to breathe. You made cue cards for a teacher you have not met yet. You wrote an about page for one specific woman instead of for everybody. You built rooms where nobody has to speak until they want to. Every one of those is unglamorous. None of them would make a good screenshot. And that is exactly the point, because the thing that keeps a community alive is not the moment somebody buys. It is the hundred ordinary days before that, when somebody felt seen, or got unstuck, or finished something small and thought, well, maybe I can do this after all. That is the feeding and the shelter. Nobody writes stories about it. It is the whole mechanism. But there is one more question, and it has been sitting underneath everything we did this month. The story never says what the couple wanted the gold for. Not once. They have an egg a day and no reason attached to any of it, and I think that is why the knife made sense to them. If you do not know what the gold is for, no amount of it will ever feel like enough.

You don't have to own the community to help build it. Today we're celebrating someone who helped us remember that. @Kathy Adams ❤️ If you've been around Skoolology for a while, you've probably encountered Kathy. Maybe she welcomed you when you first arrived. Maybe she left a thoughtful comment on something you shared. Maybe she celebrated one of your wins. Or maybe she simply showed up at the right moment and reminded you that somebody was paying attention. Kathy doesn't currently own a community. But make no mistake. Kathy is a community builder. When I asked her what she hopes people feel because she was part of their community experience, she said: “I hope people feel like they have come away a bit more hopeful or at least knowing that they have someone else who believes in them.” And I thought... Yep. That's Kathy. ❤️ Because she doesn't just say that's what she wants people to feel. We've watched her do it. Again and again. Kathy shared something else with me while we were preparing her spotlight. In 2004, her youngest son, Gregory, was given a fourth-grade Mother's Day assignment. The essays were submitted to their local newspaper, and his was one of ten chosen for publication. His word for his mom? PASSIONATE. He wrote that she cared about animals, people, and all living things. And if somebody had a problem, his mom knew the answer. Kathy framed that little newspaper clipping. Twenty-two years later, it still hangs in her living room. I love that. Because all those years ago, her son noticed something about his mom that we're still seeing today. She cares about people. And today, the woman who is so often busy noticing everybody else gets to be the one we notice. 🌟 When I first asked Kathy to be a Headliner, she wasn't sure she was the right person for the “assignment.” Kathy, you were exactly the right person. Because you helped us put words around something important: Community isn't built by the owner alone.

Skool changed the trending algorithm for Discovery so I pulled all 30 trending groups and ran the math. The averages - Median size: 624 members - Median price: $99/month - Average size: 1,816 (misleading, see below) - Average price: $137/month - Total on the page: 54,472 members, roughly $3.18M/month gross - Median group revenue: about $85k/month Ignore the average size. Two groups (27.3k and 7.5k members) hold 64% of everyone on the page. Remove them and the average falls to 700. Small groups are getting surfaced - 6 of 30 groups have under 110 members - The smallest has 26 members - Others sit at 51, 83, 94, 97 and 102 - That is 20% of the trending page An algorithm sorted mainly on size would never show a 26 member group. Something now rewards growth rate or recent activity. If you were waiting until you were bigger to launch, this is the window. More groups charge $99 - Under $50: 7 groups - $50 to $99: 10 groups - $100 to $199: 7 groups - $200 and up: 6 groups - 9 of the 30 price between $97 and $99 Price and size barely relate: - A 26 member group charges $250 - A 1,700 member group charges $98 - The highest priced group ($500/month) has only 566 members and is the second biggest earner on the page Sitting at $99 because everyone else does is a choice, not a strategy. Two thirds of trending is AI, ads, or agency - 10 of 30 mention AI directly - 6 more are paid ads or media buying - 25 of 30 are business or money-making offers - Only 5 sit outside that world: psychiatry education, feminine energy, posture and mobility, natural health, SAT prep The copy formula they all use Outcome, plus timeframe, plus risk reversal. - 3 groups use nearly the same line: first client in 90 days or your money back - 3 more lead with a dollar figure of results produced - "Learn Facebook ads" is a topic. "Your first client in 90 days or your money back" is a promise One caveat