There is no "one-size-fits-all" answer to this question, and I think that is why so many people feel unsure about what to choose. Most people are trying to make this decision based on what they think they “should” or are “supposed” to do, instead of what actually makes sense for their niche, their goals, and the type of community they want to build. Including whether they even have a real plan for getting members. 👀 And a big part of the stress around this choice comes from thinking it is final. Like once you pick public or private, you are locked into it forever. That is not actually how I look at it. 🤷‍♀️ You have way more flexibility than you think. You are allowed to test. You are allowed to change your mind. You are allowed to treat this like an experiment and collect real data instead of trying to make the perfect decision upfront. Whatever you choose is going to show you how people actually respond. What they engage with, what they ignore, and what needs to change. Don't forget to track it! ✍️ You have way more flexibility than you think. In fact, you should be testing. You should be changing your mind when you get more information. And if you needed someone to tell you, you are allowed to have more than one community serving different purposes. Especially if one of them is meant to help you get discovered. It does not have to be complicated or add a "massive" amount of work. Because I will tell you one big myth that is still floating around out there.. you know the one.. "If you build it, they will come." No. 😐 That is not how it works. So much good work never gets seen. Not because it is bad. Not because the person is not smart or capable. But because nobody ever sat them down and said the simple truth. You have to get traffic. * hello * Please read that again.. PLEASE! lol This is not me trying to sell you on a traffic package. Yes, I have found people that can help you like @Eric Howell and his upcoming Free community Traffic Lounge and then even @Matthew Burns with his ProveWorth community that is essentially the community Trust Pilot or Yelp. Two people I trust a lot, because I know traffic is needed for you to even get the business help.

Just got off a the FREE clarity call with @Jenna Ostrye That should not have been free. I honestly got so much value and Jenna helped me wayyy more than she had to. If you want to [insert dream outcome] in [insert desired timeframe] then book your call now! Lol. But actually it is super valuable and I guarantee you’ll be grateful that you took action. I’m 100% sure everyone else that’s been on a call with Jenna will agree it’s one of the best calls they’ve ever had?

Being considered a Skool "Power User", I'm in a lot of communities.. But I don't see that as a bad thing. One of the signs that someone is going to stick around on the platform is when they get plugged in and are a part of several communities! There are a mix of people in here.. some OGs, some who have been around a bit, & some brand new. I want to know how many communities you're in and what makes you join and stay in a community? Be as specific as you want to be :) This will be helpful for those who are wanting and working on creating a community worth joining and investing time to really become a member. 🫶

When you are on any online platform, we all know by now there is bound to be spam. People talking about dropshipping, asking you to move to WhatsApp, saying “Hello dear,” and sending messages that clearly do not belong in a real community space. Some of the common questions Skool community owners and admins have about dealing with spam are: How do I stop spammers in my Skool community? How can I tell if a Skool membership request is fake? What is the best way to prevent spam DMs in Skool? How do I use Skool’s features to reduce spam? Well Skool just released a new feature update that helps community owners spot spam accounts directly inside Skool membership requests. You can now see when a profile is marked as high risk for spam before approving them, which makes protecting your Skool community much easier. Before this update, one of the best ways to identify fake accounts was by checking location details through chat. Many spammers say they are from one place, but their profile data shows something completely different. That extra step worked, but it took more time. Now the process is faster and clearer. See the photo to see how the locations do not match. This is a simple example of how spotting these red flags early can help you stop spam accounts before they ever get inside your community. You can also put smart systems in place alongside this new feature. Setting level requirements for things like sending direct messages or posting in your Skool community helps reduce spam and protects your members. Requiring people to reach a certain level before they can message others or post gives you more control, saves time, and keeps your community focused on real conversations instead of cleanup. Personally, I recommend setting the chat level to at least 4. This gives you a better chance of spotting accounts that try to comment back and forth quickly just to level up and unlock messaging. It also gives real members time to get to know each other inside the community before moving straight into private messages.

Over the next few days, I am going to be sharing a series of posts about public Skool communities. Public communities rarely get the spotlight they deserve for how powerful they can be. It has been a long time coming, and I have gotten a lot of questions about this decision from people building on Skool, people considering it, and people trying to decide what direction to go. So instead of making one long post that could turn into a novel, I wanted to break it down into a series of posts so we can cover everything properly and answer questions as they come up. ✍️✅ Here is what we will cover: Why I made my Skool community public Should you have a public Skool community or a private one? Things to make sure you do if you go from private to public What will help your public Skool community Skool tips for a public community, including how to prevent spammers and low quality posts And the Skool strategy I personally recommend and will lead by example with After that, I will shift back to what this community is here for: - Resources and templates you can use. - New Skool videos and podcast episodes. - Highlighted communities that are worth checking out. - Posts about new Skool features and platform changes. - Breakdowns of how different Skool communities are structured and what is working. - Plus, little things I find across Skool that most people miss, like features, pages, or tools you might not know exist. Yes, I did say a podcast! 🎤 I finally can announce that my podcast host Eric and I are launching a new one together! We had one when we first started on Skool two years ago, took a break, and now we are starting fresh with a new one focused on online communities and what actually works in practice. So… who is @Eric Howell? If you are building a Skool, it is really easy to feel like you should be able to do everything yourself. Content, community, offers, systems, traffic. And the truth is, you probably can.. I know I felt like that.