My hot take on Skool free trials has changed. I used to think offering a 7 day free trial for a paid Skool community was a great idea if you could get the strategy right. I still technically believe this but my advice for most is different. After looking at more data, watching what successful Skool community owners are doing, and seeing how much actually goes into converting free trial members into paying members, I don’t think most Skool owners should offer one. Free trials sound simple. Turn on the 7 day free trial, let people experience your community, and hopefully they stay and become paying members. But you’ve actually created another job. You need strong onboarding, a clear path for those 7 days, quick wins, consistent follow up, a conversion strategy, and a plan for things like declined cards. You also need to track your free trial conversion rate so you know whether the trial is actually helping your community make more money. Meanwhile, newer Skool community owners are already trying to figure out their offer, pricing, traffic, content, sales, member results, and retention. My recommendation is to get your paid community working first. I’d personally want to be around $10K MRR before adding a free trial as something to test. And TEST is the important word. Turn it on with a strategy. Track what happens. If your free trial members aren’t converting into paying members, turn it off. Figure out what needs to change. Then test it again later if it makes sense. If you want to give potential members something for free, your CONTENT can be the free sample. Create more content outside of your Skool community. Get more people discovering you, learning from you, and understanding how you can help them. Let your paid community be where people invest to go further. More free access does not automatically mean more paying members. Before turning on a Skool free trial, ask yourself: Is my paid offer already selling? Do I know exactly what happens during someone's first 7 days?

The new ChatGPT model came out, and apparently ChatGPT Astra can actually control your computer and take actions for you. Including opening Skool and sending DMs. My Skool Morning Show cohost @Eric Howell tested GPT Astra 6 and told me to check my Skool DMs. I opened them to a message from HIS account that said: “Hello, this is ChatGPT.” And I am not sure how I feel about this. AI agents being able to use your computer opens up some really interesting possibilities. Eric already has ideas for how he could use the new ChatGPT Astra model to automate certain tasks, and I can absolutely see where that could be useful. But having AI actually communicating with people through your Skool account feels different to me. If I get a Skool DM from someone, am I talking to that person? Or could I be talking to their AI agent controlling their computer? That is the part that freaks me out a little. I recorded my reaction right after it happened because I genuinely want to know what other people think about this. Would you use ChatGPT Astra to send messages or take actions inside Skool? And where do you think the line should be between AI helping you and AI acting as you? ...Do you think Sam will find a way to block this?

Good Morning, Skoolers! ☕ We are chatting about doing free trials vs having a freemium community. We are going LIVE for The Skool Morning Show now. 🎥 👇 To Chat with us LIVE comment on this post and we'll pull up some of the comments.

If someone joins your Skool community as a free member and later upgrades to a paid membership, when does their 31-day requirement for the review prompt actually start? Does Skool count from the day they joined the community… or from the day they started paying? This question came up, so I tested it with my real account that had already been in a community for more than 31 days. In this quick video, I show exactly what happened when the account upgraded, whether the review prompt appeared, and what the member sees when leaving a review. Remember: Any member that is paying for a membership for your community can leave a review at any time. This is just about when the prompt appears. If you have free members who may upgrade later, this is definitely something you’ll want to know. Do you have questions about Skool Reviews?

Good Evening, Skoolers! 🌙 Tonight we're talking about how AI can make your community feel less generic and a lot more fun. We are going LIVE for The Skool After Dark Show now. 🎥 👇 To Chat with us LIVE comment on this post and we'll pull up some of the comments.