The Ed Sheeran Effect (Coined by Me)

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On Friday night, my husband Brad and I were invited to a corporate box to see Ed Sheeran (well, HE was invited for a work thing and I got to tag along. YAY. Boujee, I know... and it was just that. The loveliest date night!!)

We’d seen him once about 8 years ago.

He was BRILLIANT then.

He’s somehow even BETTER now.

he's also gone on a full health journey and you can really see that he was SO vibrant and full of energy. It was beautiful to see. So that might have a part to play in it!

Anyway...

If you’re a musician (or just mildly obsessed with watching how things work like we are), what he does on stage is mind-blowing.

...My husband and I are both musicians/singers so we're probably more obsessed with this than the average concert goer.

It's just him.

One guitar (well, a new guitar every song haha).

A loop pedal.

A stadium of 60,000+ people.

He taps the loop pedal.

Lays down a beat.

Adds rhythm.

Adds harmony.

Stacks vocals.

Layer by layer.

You’re literally watching the song being built in front of you.

It's STUNNING to watch.

And then — at one point — he messed up..

He recorded a loop slightly out of time.

Most people probably didn’t notice.

But Brad and I were watching closely. We saw it.

He calmly deleted it.

Redid it.

Kept going.

No apology. No pretending it didn't happen. Just moved on.

This makes me think about how the BEST Skool Communities are made.

...you're probably thinking "whhhhhhat does Ed Sheeran have to do with Skool?" Absolutely nothing.

But the way he creates...

Everything!

The BEST Skool Communities do THIS:

🎯 Build in REAL time!

Ed could pre-record everything.

He doesn’t.

He builds it live.

Why?

Because watching something come together is more powerful than just hearing the finished version.

The same is true inside your community.

The fastest way to build trust is not to show up polished.

It’s to show up in process.

Share what you’re testing.
Share what you’re tweaking.
Share what didn’t convert.
Share what you’re reworking.
Share why you’re making the decisions you are.

When you build in public, your members feel like they’re part of it.

They aren’t just consuming content.

They’re witnessing the layers go down.

And that creates emotional buy-in!

🎯 Building like THAT ^ = CONNECTION

We were one of 60,000+ people in that stadium.

And yet… the whole thing felt oddly personal.

Why?

Because he tells STORIES between songs.

He shares where he wrote them.

What was happening in his life.

What the song means.

It got really emotional there for a bit when he introduced the song "Eyes Closed" which was written after the death of one of his best friends. And he was playing the song on the fourth anniversary of his death.

I don't think there was a dry eye in the stadium!

He told SO many stories...

And those stories collapsed the DISTANCE.

You go from: “I’m one in 60,000 people in this stadium"

To: “I feel like I KNOW him.”

THAT is storytelling.

And that’s what works inside Skool too.

The communities I personally love being part of?

They don’t just drop lessons.

They NARRATE the journey.

They say:

“Here’s what I’m building.”
“Here’s what I’m struggling with.”
“Here’s what I learned this week.”

That kind of storytelling builds trust faster than any perfectly created piece of content.

🎯 Mastery + Transparency = INSANE Authority

Ed is world-class.

But the fact that he builds everything EXPOSED... in front of everyone... actually increases his authority.

It signals:

“I KNOW what I’m doing. I don’t need to hide behind a track, a band, etc.”

Inside your Skool community, this might look like:

Reviewing a member’s work live (a workout form, a painting, a meal plan, a sermon outline, a website, a routine, a draft).
Sharing what you’re personally experimenting with this week.
Talking through why you changed your approach.
Explaining a mistake you made — and what you adjusted.
Showing version 1… then version 2.
Saying, “This didn’t land the way I thought it would — here’s what I’m trying instead.”
Letting people see your THINKING, not just your finished product.
Answering a member question in depth and walking through your reasoning.
Testing something with the group and asking for feedback.
Narrating the “why” behind what you teach — not just the “how.”

Authority doesn’t come from being PERFECT alllllll of the time.

It comes from showing up with transparency and sharing your learnings along the way.

💡 HERE'S THE BIG LESSON...

When you: