When you're in a community that you don't set the "rules", and someone responds with a straight up AI comment, how do you respond? (We're talking, no human to be found...) My personal challenge with this mix is that: 1/ it's crystal clear when it's AI 2/ I didn't start a conversation with ChatGPT 3/ there's a human who stuck the comment there 4/ I don't want to be rude to the human 5/ but it feels just really messed up that the human isn't there in the comment This is especially weird when I've seen the same human around, with actual human comments. I'm 🤖 navigating this 🤖 journey that's 🤖 unfolding while 🤖 cultivating real AF 🤖 lived experience and an 🤖 evolving tapestry with... Let's be honest here. I'm sitting here with almost zero patience for how weird AF it feels when the comments sound like that but worse because they weren't written by a human making fun of the ridiculousness that humanity is dealing with. They are shared by a human who didn't show up for the conversation, and yet I still want to be thoughtful toward the human... who is in there SOMEWHERE. [this was originally posted in Connect & Collab. With 172 comments, this conversation was LIT! 🔥]

OK, Skoolers!! Are you sleeping on the affiliate program? IT'S SO GOOD! I've had lots of conversations about affiliates this week, and I want to start one right here and now. Because we're ALL community builders, I bet that what I'm about to describe matches many of YOUR personalities too?! PERSONALLY... my business model is built on relationships and collaborations. One of the cool parts about communities is that we get to grow *together*. All of my easiest successes have been built on the foundation of collaborations (guest post swaps, affiliate programs, co-hosted workshops, promoting friends offers, giveaways to gamify sharing and make it extra FUN). AND ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, WE WON THE SKOOL GAMES!!! But here is the crazy part that's super related to this conversation... when I did the numbers, it was super emotional and humbling and just freaking AMAZING to see it in black and white... 🎉🎉 WE WON FROM REFERRALS! 🎉🎉 The numbers PROVE IT = without referrals, we would *not* have won. Our sweet little group of only a few hundred members had 183 members join with affiliate links (I just looked it up). More than half! 🫶 I want to share some tips BUT ALSO if you are doing well with too, please don't hoard your good ideas. Share them with us!! ➡️ SOME TIPS TO GROW WITH AFFILIATES: (some of these might be obvious, just feels like they need to be said anyways) - RUN FUN AFFILIATE CONTESTS! We've done a couple merch contests for top affiliates, and this just feels FUN! I want to do something fun again soon but haven't quite decided if we'll switch it up. Our members did vote on wanting merch, so it was fun to just do the same thing a second time. (We do so love Skool!) - HAVE FUN, TIMELY EVENTS HAPPENING. This makes it easy for a member to say "hey, there's [xyz] happening tomorrow/next week/whenever!" - MAINTAIN TRULY SOLID RELATIONSHIPS. When friends and colleagues "know, like, and trust" you because they see you showing up with the goods day after day AND caring about them for real... it's a given that they will want to send friends your way. Just like you will do the same in their direction! This is nature! - HAVE A GREAT GROUP. You need to have a genuinely good group for this to work. It has to be fun, active, and generous! In my opinion, it's also super important to avoid engagement bait posts and instead keep the community focused on meaningful connection and growth for your chosen community topic. - ALLOW + ENCOURAGE AFFILIATE LINKS. We are promo-positive and affiliate-positive. The culture is wayyy too strong for it to get spammy, thank goodness. BUT basically... our policy is that if you are sharing about a group, affiliate links are ALWAYS OK. (It's the default anyways when you click the "Invite people" button in Skool.) - RELATED TO THIS, ENCOURAGE *SHARING* WITH THE LINK. I tell members often... when you share... I hope you will use your affiliate link because I want to be able to easily thank you!