.. is building your community. Why? People are tired of social media. It's becoming a place full of advertizing, distractions, AI slop and fake personalities desperate to put an act just to grab your attention. That's why Gen Z is quiting social media (see attached video). In the sea of content that the internet has become, there is no real connection. No authenticity. Just plots to grab your attention and waste your time. So you feel bad about yourself and convinced to buy a product or service that you don't really need. I'm doing free consultings for everyone that joins my community and all of them use social media as a channel to direct people to their community, as close community platforms such as Skool are the place where real connection happpens. Social media nowadays are not social anymore. They are just advertizing and entertainment channels. Traditional course selling is also reshaping into community management. Why? Because we can learn basically anything for free. So paying for recorded content is almost always pointless, unless you're buying that course from someone that you trust a lot. Trust that can be built by being on their community. At this point we don't pay to access a lot of content, we pay to have personal guidance, personal feedback, live interactions. All of those only possible in closed communities. I don't personally recomend Skool for people who are focused on education, as Circle and Mighty Networks are much better for that. But if you are interested in building another community, either on Skool or another platform and implement advanced automation features, do it with my affiliate link. I'll reach out to you and follow you through all the setups. And than join my community. Here is what you get by creating a community with me, for no additional cost beyond the fee you would pay anyway:

I recorded a coaching-style episode for the podcast that I think a lot of you will relate to, especially if you have been feeling the pull to create a course but keep stalling out at the topic decision. Kathy Quan came onto the show for coaching. She is a brand and website designer with a background in visual storytelling and motion graphics. She has spent years delivering high-touch one-on-one work, and she is ready to bring her expertise into online courses. Here is the exact crossroads she is standing in. She has two course ideas. Both are aligned. Both are useful. Both make sense for her skill set. One idea is practical and foundation-based. It addresses a gap she sees in the market and would give people skills they can apply immediately. The other is more creative and expressive. It is about helping people use design and visual expression to get seen and stand out in a way that feels authentic to them. If you have ever been stuck between what feels exciting to teach and what feels like it would be the smarter business decision, you will recognize yourself in this conversation. In the episode, we talk about how to move forward without guessing, without building a full course in isolation, and without waiting until your idea is “perfect.” We also talk about what it really means to validate a course topic, who to talk to, and why building your audience and building your course need to happen in parallel. If you want to listen, the link is here. If you want to discuss it, drop a comment with which side you tend to default to when choosing a course topic: 1. practical and ROI-driven 2. creative and joy-driven And if you are looking for help validating your own idea, I'm hosting a free, live mini-course in the Build Lab starting on Monday, Jan 12 - join now for only $12/year.

01 // No clear positioning. When everyone is your client, no one is. You blend in. You compete on price. Niche down and you compete on value and expertise. 02 // No sales process. You wing every conversation. Some work. Most don't. There's no system to repeat. 03 // No pricing confidence. You hedge. You give a discount. You leave money on the table because your value isn't clear. Don’t be afraid to charge what you’re worth. 04 // No protected time for business development. It's always "later." Later never comes. If you’re not developing your business, then you only have a “job”. 05 // No intentional business design. Your firm evolved by accident. Business just happens to you. Take it from a side hustle to a full time, $10k per month business. Good news: Every one of these is fixable. Bad news: It’s up to you to fix it. Every CAD outsource professional you admire started where you are... they just refused to stop. If you want to talk more about it, send me a DM or go to my community, Drafting Workshop

What did I just spend?!?!?! Christmas is over and the dust is settling. Some of us might be looking through receipts Going online and checking the activity list of our credit card statements Sitting on your couch, wondering what happened, I thought I was on budget It all fades away when we remember the sparkle in the eyes of your loved ones as they opened those presents you picked out for them. Hugs given after being away for too long. New memories created. We now have some time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the new one. Start planning for the new projects and adventures ahead. Growing your business and looking forward to how that’s going to look. Basically starting to figure out how you’re going to pay for next Christmas. Let’s make 2026 bigger and better. Come over to Drafting Workshop, the community for drafters and designers. I'm working on some cool stuff for community growth.

I recommend the classifieds a lot around skool and 2 of them already converted to paid members, so I'm almost getting my premium membership for free. There is no better place for self promotion and this place is the main reason why Plan Your Tech reached 100 members. I learn a lot by watching how @Shannon Boyer manages this community. She is very creative in finding ways to engage people here and incentivizing them to make high quality posts and not turning this place into a spamming mess like most self promotion spaces are. Thank you so much for all of you here for helping this place be what it is!