(N’ those Unexpected patterns I didn’t see coming) Over the past week, I offered a handful of Christmas community audits to the epic members in THE BACKROOM. I went in thinking I’d mostly be supporting other community owners, helping them spot gaps, tweaks, missed opportunities. What I didn’t expect was how much it would teach me too.(this bit surprised me more than I thought it would, if I’m honest) Seeing different communities from the inside, back to back, gave me an outside perspective I didn’t have before. When you’re inside your own space every day, you often stop seeing certain things. You assume things are obvious, and forget what it feels like to arrive like a newbie, slightly awkward-ish, not wanting to get it wrong. (that slightly hover-y feeling… we’ve all been that person, right?) [did-you see my POSTAPHOBIA post?] We cannot make assumptions, all the answers are often there for us, through the comments, the data, the analytics etc… (and yet we STILL assume… iykyk) Basically none of what I’m sharing here is right or wrong. This defo ain’t judgement. It’s just PATTERNS I noticed repeating and looping, and a few things that made me have those little LIGHTBULB moments where I stopped and went… huh… ok then… and rethink how I build and lead community too.(also yes, I saw myself in some of these, not exempt here) ➖➖➖➖➖ THE BIGGEST SURPRISE GOING IN… I kinda expected to see lots of content problems. Weak posts. Not enough value, conversations etc etc. Messy structure all that jazz.(you know, the usual suspects) But what I actually saw, over and over again, was this: almost nobody has a content problem. What most people have is a MOVEMENT problem…. Beautiful spaces. Gorg solid branding. Thoughtful heart-led badass leaders. But many members sitting quietly, watching, unsure what to do next. (lurking, saving posts, thinking “I’ll come back later”… and later never comes pfffttt) ➖➖➖➖➖ PEOPLE DON’T ENGAGE BECAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT (often)

For everyone who is curious, we have arrived safely at our destination. Thank you for all the well wishes, and welcome to all the new members who joined today - that was a wonderful surprise when I turned my phone back on! Happy holidays to you and your loved ones!

Some of you heard about my stressful Santa situation in our last PERSONALS meet up. Well, the snow forecast has not gotten better, and the gifts are still at my parents, so we've made a last minute decision to split up. The kids and I will go tomorrow morning, and my husband will join us later in the day (kennel issues for the dog and roadworthy vehicles are another consideration...). That means that I am madly packing, wrapping, cleaning, and picking up after two kids who are tearing the house apart faster than I can put it together so that we can leave a day early. Long story not so short, Metrics Monday will be back in the new year. As we close in on 888 members, I am so thankful for each and every one of you, and I hope you all have a restful, peaceful, and fun holiday season with those you love. Some of us spoke quietly about a goal to reach 1000 members by the end of the year. It's not totally out of the question, and all your lovely referrals have been inching us closer and closer every day! I will be online over the holidays as family commitments permit, and I look forward to seeing what you share here. I have a few big things happening at the beginning of the year that you will want to watch out for. 😉 Talk soon!

See you there?

It's that time of the week when I pull back the curtain and show you what's going on behind the scenes of the Classifieds. Why? Well, because the members asked and also because, why not? So, ummm... I think I might have accidentally deleted this post from last week, so I don't have the comparison numbers to report on change. 😬 Number of Members: 833 Number of Premium Members: 170 Percentage of members who are Premium : 20.4% About Page Conversion: 25.1% Discovery Ranking in Money: #28 Discovery Ranking Overall: #99 Highest Activity Day: 1949 Lowest Activity Day: 524 The Context: So, my apologies for not having comparison numbers this week. I will tell you that I am denying way more new members than I am accepting. I'm going to start tracking it in the new year because it's actually staggering. We discussed this at the last PERSONALS meeting, and I've decided that keeping the engagement in the community high-quality is too important to me to open up enrollment. The group is public so that anyone can see what's being posted inside, but only Skool group owners can post. Another thing that was pointed out to me today is that this group has a high percentage of members who are online at any one time. As I write this 128 of you are currently online!!! And everyone on the 30-Day Leaderboard has a flame!!! That means that this is a very active group, and that is very valuable to me. IMPORTANT REMINDERS: This group supports you as affiliates, so the work you do to promote the group and encourage your people to upgrade to premium directly affects your pocketbook. At the very least, you can get your membership for free! Also, don't forget that we have another round of the PERSONALS on Wednesday where you get to promote your group and what you do, I record it, and then it gets shared in the community for all to see. Don't miss out! Check the calendar for the time in your timezone! What's one win that you experienced this week that you would like to share with the group? Comment below!