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!

You sit down with your notebook, your favourite pen, maybe a warm drink. Today’s the day you’re finally going to validate that course idea you’ve been thinking about for months. You start doing the searching, the market research. And then you see it... A course that looks a whole lot like what you’ve been planning. The title feels uncomfortably close to what’s in your Google Doc, the creator has a bigger audience, their branding looks polished, they have testimonials, case studies, maybe even a big ad campaign behind them. And very quickly, the story in your head shifts from: “I think this could really help people." to "Great. I’m too late. Someone already did it.” Most people stop right there. They close the tabs.They tell themselves they’re being “realistic.”They quietly downgrade the idea from “potential offer” to “never mind.” But here’s what I want you to sit with: Seeing someone else teaching what you want to teach is not, by itself, evidence that you shouldn’t create your course. It might actually be one of the strongest indicators that you’re onto something valuable. In this week’s episode of The ART of Online Course Creation, I’m digging into that moment: - What’s really going on when you find “your” course already out there - How to look at competitors without spiraling into self-doubt - The difference between “it already exists” and “there’s no room for me” - A behind-the-scenes story about how I navigated this when I saw a very big, very visible creator teaching something that looked a lot like what I do I’m also sharing why some of the popular “validation shortcuts” (like quizzes that tell you if your idea is profitable, or AI tools that promise to do all your market research for you) can leave you more confused, and what to do instead. If you have: - a course idea in your notebook - a half-finished outline in a Google Doc - or just a topic you can’t stop thinking about… …but you keep seeing other people doing something similar and using that as a reason to hesitate, this episode is for you.

Having your students binge your course like it's a hot new Netflix series might sound like a good goal, but it's actually the last thing you want them to do. If your students are binging your content, it means that you haven't provided enough opportunities for practice and you haven't done a good enough job facilitating implementation. Our brains can't absorb, retain, and transfer a ton of knowledge in one sitting (or even a few sittings), so it is our job to chunk that information properly and then support the retention and transference of that knowledge into usable skills. So, while it may seem like something to strive for, the last thing we want is for our members to binge our content, say, "Well that was really interesting!" and then go about their day in the exact same way they were prior to taking your course. To learn more about setting up your classroom strategically for both the success of your students and your own success, make sure you attend the Now What? session in the Classifieds on Wednesday. Find the time in your time zone on the calendar, and if you can't make it, the replay will be available for a few days after the session. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment below! 👇

Kind of. So, just to clarify, everyone is allowed to post in the community forum about their Skool group whether it is free or paid. Where there became some confusion was when people started posting other paid offers, which are reserved for the classroom (you can also post about free offers in both places). But… the rules are being changed for one day only! PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!!! On Friday (for one day only), you will be able to post in the community about ANY offer or sale you have free or paid, AND you will be able to post once an HOUR instead of only once a day!!! So get your typing fingers ready, because it’s going to be a frenzy! And just as a heads up, it’s no fun if you just post and ghost, so I’m also going to ask that every time you post you also leave two non-gif comments. 😉 EDIT: I love gifs! Please use all the gifs! Just add some words too for this free for all so that it doesn’t become a total spam-fest! 😂 I’m sure there will be a lot of value being offered that you will naturally want to take advantage of. 😉 We have a lot to be thankful for, and the camaraderie of this group is one of those things! 😊

It's been bothering me that there isn't an easy way for existing members to see the tiers and membership options in my groups. It's also been annoying in other groups I'm a member of. I feel like there should just be a button I can click that will let me know if the group has tiers and what the benefits are. So, I created one. I made a private link in the group description in the right side panel that links to the plans page so that members can easily see what their options are. It's greyed out and not that easy to see, but it's better than nothing. What do you think? Is this something you might try out in your own group? Please note that the ability to add links is a Pro feature...