First of all, hello everyone! I'm new here. Over the past few weeks, I’ve started realizing that digital communities are becoming the new type of real estate, I called it "Digital Real Estate." This market is going to be huge in my opinion, and being here right now feels like discovering Bitcoin back in 2010. :) A bit about my background: I used to run a B2B lead generation agency in the Czech Republic, helping Tech & SaaS companies scale their outbound sales and increase their MRR. Recently, a close friend of mine who is a very smart investor, reached out to me for help. He completely owns one Facebook group with over 108,000 members. From the outside, it looks like a goldmine making thousands of dollars. But as you all know, it’s not that simple. Currently, the monetization is struggling because the members don't pay a single cent to be there. He brought me on as the Growth & Strategy Manager to help him transition the community to a paid Skool group (called Yachtusiasts) for $10/month. Our immediate target is to convert just 1% of the audience (approx. 1,000 members) to validate the concept and make the community self-sustainable. Since I come from a traditional B2B SaaS background, I wanted to ask this community of experts: 1. What is the most friction-free way to move people from a free FB group to a paid Skool environment? 2. Should we focus on a low-cost value loop (like a lead magnet on a landing page) or dive straight into direct outreach with active members? 3. Have any of you successfully monetized a massive niche like golf through B2B sponsorships instead of member subscriptions? Would love to hear your insights, frameworks, or any mistakes we should avoid.

I've been deeply immersed in Community Cultivation over the last 5 years especially. My husband and I personally have a BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) company, aka the services swiss army knife. We build websites, set up call centers, manage a founder's community, produce podcasts, run ads, help with backend operations you name it. We tend to be VERY holistic with our founders/c-suite so we only take a few on at a time. Currently we are working with CoSpark.us , a member owned financial network, with David Befort (Wealth Warehouse Podcast and Skool community, David Befort Show, davidbefort.com , author, speaker, CEO etc). I run with some SaaS startups as a Fractional CMO both here in the US and also the UK (some other regions as well). You can find out more about me on rebekahwaller.com and by connecting with me on Linkedin. I am curious about this CommunityIndustry because I see the value we are building with these communities, they they are themselves assets (in addition to the business, the real estate, the software, the service.... the community itself adds a value). I am looking forward to being a part of future discussions. PS: I also work with venture capital, so if there's a project that needs funding... shoot me a DM.

Hi everyone👋🏾 I am Miriam Siale, a community & experience strategist. I design the systems, experiences, and feedback loops that turn first-time members into long-term, engaged ones. My background is in psychology, so I’m particularly interested in the behaviour behind community: why people join, what makes them stay, and what causes them to quietly drift away. I’ve worked with global remote teams, including Remote Year and Talmond, as well as Complete Farmer, a leading African agritech company. Across these experiences, I’ve worked with communities of 10,000+ members across 40+ countries, driven a 60% increase in engagement, and contributed to a €200K+ crowdfunding campaign. I am currently putting my community experience into practice with my own bakery, Loafed, where I am building a customer community and experimenting with retention, loyalty, member behaviour, and offline experiences. I am also exploring my next opportunity in community-led growth, retention, and engagement roles, particularly with teams where community is core to how the product or business grows. I am happy to be here to learn from other community professionals, share my experiences, and connect with people doing interesting work in this space. You can find me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miriamsiale/

I recently had a chat with @Jakub Pacanda. Some people love the community industry. Some people care for it. ...and then, there's Jakub. He plugs it into a power socket with 440 volts! I've been in the community industry for 20 years and I can count on one hand the people who match his energy for online communities...and I'd still have fingers left over. It makes me feel the industry is in safe hands. (no, i'm not retiring yet 😅) It started simple. Jakub follows me on LinkedIn - and figured I had something worth seeing and asked for a demo of Jatra - the community platform we make. It was supposed to be a 30 minute demo. But we spoke for 90 minutes. We talked about a lot of things: - about the platforms, what they get right and wrong - where the community industry is heading - the opportunities opening up - buying and selling communities. I didn't know it's a real market! I'm impressed by his commitment to uniting the industry. I want to know from the community: 1. Who's the most energetic person you know in the community industry? 2. What's your take on the future of online communities?

When I joined this community, I wrote my intro post, where I described my situation at the time and what I was working on. Since then, things have obviously moved forward. I’ve already prepared a proposal for potential B2B partners. Before I put my skin in the game and take it to the market, I’d like to ask you for a few minutes of your time. Here’s the proposal: https://tapdust.com/offer/13b20456-435b-405a-b7c8-ae9e027d089b Take a look at it and try to understand what we’re offering, where you see the real value, and what your overall impression is. If you received this proposal as a potential partner, would it interest you? Or is there something that would disappoint you, make you lose interest, or send this email straight to the trash? Any honest feedback is appreciated 🤝