How to start a Skool community the right way changed everything for me.
Most people get this completely backwards.
They spend months building courses nobody asked for.
They create content in a vacuum.
They launch to crickets.
Then they wonder why their Skool community dies after two weeks.
I just won the Skool Games competing against 175,000 other communities.
We grew to $82,177 monthly recurring revenue in one quarter.
And I’m going to show you exactly how to start a Skool community using the same process.
Watch the video tutorial below.
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How to Start a Skool Community: The Pre-Sale Secret Everyone Misses
When you think about how to start a Skool community, you probably imagine building everything first.
Big mistake.
Here’s what actually works when learning how to start a Skool community properly.
You sell first.
Build second.
I know this sounds backwards when figuring out how to start a Skool community, but hear me out.
My business partner kept telling me to start an AI community.
I resisted for months.
Why? Because I didn’t want another time-sucking project.
So we tested demand with a pre-sale.
Zero content created.
Zero courses filmed.
Zero community features built.
Just a simple offer to see if anyone cared.
The first attempt? We tried selling it at $997.
Nobody bought.
Not a single person.
So we dropped the price to $49 per month for early birds.
Then we waited for five sales before creating anything.
This is the most important lesson about how to start a Skool community that nobody tells you.
Don’t create until people vote with their wallets.
Why does this matter when learning how to start a Skool community?
Because most people procrastinate for months.
They create elaborate courses.
They film dozens of videos.
They build complex systems.
Then they launch and realize nobody wants what they built.
The pre-sale approach to how to start a Skool community eliminates this risk completely.
You know there’s demand before you invest time.
You get feedback from real paying customers.
You build exactly what people want instead of guessing.
When you understand how to start a Skool community this way, you skip months of wasted effort.
How to Start a Skool Community: Pick Your Niche Like Your Business Depends on It
The biggest question about how to start a Skool community comes down to choosing your niche.
Get this wrong and nothing else matters.
Most people overthink how to start a Skool community by chasing trends instead of alignment.
Here’s the truth about how to start a Skool community that works long-term.
If you already have a business, plug your Skool community into that ecosystem.
For me, I run an SEO agency called Goldie Agency.
We also have the SEO Elite Circle.
We have lead magnets and books.
We do public speaking.
Everything connects like Apple’s ecosystem.
When someone buys an iPhone, they’re more likely to buy a Mac.
Same principle applies to how to start a Skool community within your business.
My AI Profit Boardroom feeds directly into our AI automation agency services.
People join the community.
They learn about AI automation.
Then they hire us to do it for them.
This is how to start a Skool community that naturally generates clients for your main business.
But what if you’re starting from zero?
What if you have no business yet and want to know how to start a Skool community anyway?
Focus on your hobbies.
Seriously.
Sam Ovens built Skool specifically so people could monetize their hobbies.
When thinking about how to start a Skool community from scratch, pick something you genuinely care about.
For me, that could be guitar, Muay Thai, or singing.
I actually have songs on Spotify even though I don’t have much time for it now.
The point is, when you know how to start a Skool community around your passion, you’re way more likely to stick with it.
You already know that audience.
You understand their problems.
You won’t burn out creating content about something you hate.
I’ve studied successful Skool communities extensively.
One of the top performers was literally about dog poop scooping.
I’m not recommending that.
But it proves you can figure out how to start a Skool community about literally anything.
Learning Spanish.
Guitar lessons.
Fitness coaching.
Music production.
The key to how to start a Skool community successfully isn’t picking the “perfect” niche.
It’s picking something you’re passionate enough about to show up every single day.
Because when you commit to how to start a Skool community, you’re committing to lead a tribe.
If you don’t care about the topic, your community will feel it.
They’ll leave.
And you’ll quit.
So pick something that excites you when learning how to start a Skool community.
That’s the foundation everything else builds on.
How to Start a Skool Community: Create Content After You Have Customers
Once you’ve sold your first five spots, now you actually build.
This is where most people misunderstand how to start a Skool community effectively.
They think they need everything perfect.
Dozens of videos.
A complete six-week course.
Professional editing.
Nope.
When I teach people how to start a Skool community, I tell them to create one to two videos per week.
That’s it.
Your first version will be terrible.
I guarantee it.
Mine was.
And that’s completely fine when you’re learning how to start a Skool community.
You don’t have the skills yet.
You haven’t done this before.
But you’re already ahead of 99% of people because you’re actually doing it.
For us, we created the six-week course one week at a time.
Week one: a couple videos.
Week two: a couple more videos.
This approach to how to start a Skool community gives you something most people miss.
Feedback.
Every week, our community told us what they wanted more of.
What confused them.
What they loved.
What they needed next.
We used that feedback to improve the next week’s content.
Six weeks of iteration instead of building everything in a vacuum.
Now our AI Profit Boardroom has massive amounts of content.
Lead generation training.
Social media courses.
AI automation tutorials.
Video after video of high-value content.
But we didn’t start there.
We started small and expanded based on what our community actually wanted.
That’s the real secret to how to start a Skool community that grows.
Listen to your community.
Ask them what they want to see.
Then deliver it.
If you want the exact training and SOPs on building content that converts, check out the AI Profit Boardroom at https://go.juliangoldie.com/ai-profit-boardroom where we break down everything step by step.
The process of how to start a Skool community isn’t about having everything figured out.
It’s about starting with something valuable and improving it every single week based on real feedback from real paying customers.
Quality control matters here too.
Don’t just pump out content.
Make sure every video actually helps people solve a problem.
Make sure your training gets results.
Because the best marketing for how to start a Skool community that grows?
Happy members who tell their friends.
How to Start a Skool Community: Marketing is Everything
You can have the best Skool community in the world.
But if nobody knows about it, you have nothing.
Marketing is the difference between how to start a Skool community that dies and one that thrives.
We get almost 1,000 visitors per day to the AI Profit Boardroom.
We didn’t always have that traffic.
We tracked it daily as a key metric.
Because here’s the simple truth about how to start a Skool community successfully.
More traffic with a good conversion rate equals more sales.
If you want to keep growing when learning how to start a Skool community, publish more content and market it more.
Simple equation.
For us, YouTube is the main engine.
We publish content constantly.
Videos getting 8,000 views, 9,000 views, 10,000 views.
Multiple times per week.
Every video has a link in the description funneling people to the AI Profit Boardroom about page.
We also use AI avatars for most of our content now.
People ask me about this all the time when discussing how to start a Skool community.
“Won’t AI content hurt your channel?”
Look at the results.
We went from 6,000 people per day to 100,000 people per day on YouTube.
Our views exploded since using AI avatars.
We reached 2.1 million people per month.
I split-tested this.
AI avatar video: 55,000 views.
Traditional video with me on camera: 8,700 views.
Same day.
Same topic.
The AI content performed 6x better.
Plus it saves me hours of filming and editing time.
When you’re learning how to start a Skool community, you need to think about scale.
Can I film and edit videos every single day while also running the community and answering questions and creating new courses?
No.
But with AI, I can publish daily without burning out.
That’s how to start a Skool community that grows fast without destroying your life.
Instagram is our second biggest traffic source.
We grew from 1,000 followers to 5,500 followers in a few months.
How?
We post AI avatar shorts daily.
Each post asks people to comment a specific word.
When they comment, ManyChat automatically sends them a DM with a link to our free Skool group.
The free group is crucial to how to start a Skool community marketing funnel.
We have 28,000 people in our free AI Money Lab community.
They get value from us every day.
They see social proof.
They trust us.
Then we promote the paid AI Profit Boardroom inside the free group.
That’s how to start a Skool community that converts cold traffic into paying members.
Free community builds trust.
Paid community delivers transformation.
If you want more leads, traffic, and sales with AI, the AI Profit Boardroom helps you automate your marketing, scale your business, and save hundreds of hours with AI at https://go.juliangoldie.com/ai-profit-boardroom.
The omnipresence strategy matters too when learning how to start a Skool community.
We have 641,000 followers across all platforms.
YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Udemy, Facebook.
People see us everywhere.
That’s not an accident.
When you’re learning how to start a Skool community, you want people saying “I see you everywhere.”
That’s when they trust you enough to buy.
Focus on three platforms maximum when starting out with how to start a Skool community.
For us, it’s YouTube, Instagram, and the free Skool group.
Those three drive 80% of our traffic.
Master those before spreading yourself thin everywhere else.
Track everything.
We use custom short links to see exactly where our traffic comes from.
If a marketing channel isn’t working, we know immediately.
Then we double down on what works and cut what doesn’t.
That’s how to start a Skool community that grows predictably instead of randomly.
How to Start a Skool Community: Make an Offer They’d Be Stupid to Refuse
Your offer determines whether people join or scroll past.
When learning how to start a Skool community, most people create weak offers.
They give people one coaching call per month.
Maybe some basic videos.
That’s not enough.
Here’s how to start a Skool community with an offer that actually converts.
First, figure out every problem your audience has.
Then solve all of them inside your community.
For the AI space, people struggle with overwhelm.
They don’t know which tools to use.
They have shiny object syndrome.
So we created the AI Focus Manual that solves this in five minutes of joining.
People don’t know how to create AI avatar videos.
So we have a complete course with step-by-step SOPs inside the AI Profit Boardroom.
When you understand how to start a Skool community with killer offers, you look at Reddit.
People complain about their problems on Reddit constantly.
Find those complaints.
Then solve them in your community.
The goal with how to start a Skool community offers is making people feel stupid for saying no.
If your offer doesn’t do that, they won’t buy.
Especially in competitive markets.
We use scarcity and urgency in every offer.
Scarcity means limited spots.
Only five people can join at this price.
Urgency means limited time.
Only 48 hours to get this deal.
Both together create FOMO that drives action when learning how to start a Skool community.
Our current flash sale includes 20% off plus eight bonuses worth over $15,000.
Free training on winning the Skool Games.
Secret Facebook ads training.
AI avatar clone system.
Free access to the SEO Boardroom.
Twitter AI automation system.
Empire builder focus manual.
VIP monthly coaching on annual plans.
Free AI affiliate marketing course.
You’d have to be crazy to say no to that package.
That’s the point of how to start a Skool community offers that convert.
Make it a no-brainer.
We also deliver five coaching calls per week.
Not one per month like most communities.
Five per week.
That’s 20+ calls per month where members can get help.
This is how to start a Skool community that delivers way more value than competitors.
Yes, it’s harder to fulfill.
But that’s the trade-off between ease of fulfillment and ease of sale.
You can make your community easy to run with minimal calls.
But then it’s hard to sell because competitors offer more.
Or you can make it easy to sell by offering tons of value.
But it’s harder to fulfill.
We chose the second option for how to start a Skool community successfully.
If you need help with AI automation to scale your offers and fulfillment, book a call at https://juliangoldie.com/ai-automation-service/ where we’ll help you automate your systems.
Your offer is the difference between how to start a Skool community that struggles and one that prints money.
Spend time making it irresistible.
FAQs: How to Start a Skool Community
How much does it cost to start a Skool community?
When learning how to start a Skool community, you’ll pay Skool $99/month for unlimited members. Even my free group with 28,000 members costs me about $1,000 per year. The main cost isn’t Skool itself but your time creating content and marketing.
How long does it take to start a Skool community?
You can learn how to start a Skool community and launch in one day with a pre-sale. Don’t build anything until you have your first 5-10 paying members. Then create content weekly based on their feedback. I started the AI Profit Boardroom and grew to $82K MRR in 90 days.
What niche should I choose when learning how to start a Skool community?
If you have an existing business, plug your Skool community into that ecosystem. If you’re starting from zero, pick a hobby you’re passionate about. The best niche for how to start a Skool community is one you can talk about every day without burning out.
How do I get members when I start a Skool community?
Focus on three traffic sources: YouTube, Instagram, and a free Skool group. Publish valuable content daily, funnel people to your free community, build trust, then promote your paid community. We get 1,000 visitors per day using this strategy for how to start a Skool community.
Should I create all my content before learning how to start a Skool community?
No. This is the biggest mistake. Do a pre-sale first, get 5-10 paying members, then create 1-2 videos per week based on their feedback. Your first version will be terrible anyway, so iterate with real customer input instead of guessing.
How much money can I make from a Skool community?
Results vary drastically, but we grew to $82,177 MRR in one quarter by competing in the Skool Games. Some communities make $1K/month, others make $100K+/month. Your revenue depends on your offer, traffic, and conversion rate when you start a Skool community.
Do I need to be on camera to start a Skool community?
No. I use AI avatars for most content now. Our AI avatar videos get 6x more views than traditional videos. One AI video got 55,000 views while a regular video got 8,700 views the same day. AI content saves time and performs better when you start a Skool community.
How many coaching calls should I offer in my Skool community?
We offer five coaching calls per week. Most communities offer one per month. More calls make it easier to sell but harder to fulfill. When learning how to start a Skool community, balance ease of sale versus ease of fulfillment based on your capacity.
Should I have a free Skool group before my paid community?
Yes. Our free AI Money Lab has 28,000 members and funnels people to the paid AI Profit Boardroom. The free group builds trust and social proof. This is a proven strategy for how to start a Skool community that converts cold traffic into buyers.
How do I price my Skool community?
Start with a low pre-sale price to validate demand, like we did at $49/month. Once you have members and feedback, raise your price. We now charge more but run flash sales to create urgency. Price based on the value you deliver when you start a Skool community.
How to start a Skool community comes down to this.
Pre-sell before you build.
Pick a niche you’re passionate about.
Create content based on customer feedback.
Market relentlessly across three main channels.
Make an offer people can’t refuse.
I competed against 175,000 communities and won using this exact process.
Now you have the blueprint for how to start a Skool community that actually works.
The only question is whether you’ll take action.
Want my full training, SOPs, and weekly coaching calls? Join the AI Profit Boardroom at https://go.juliangoldie.com/ai-profit-boardroom.
Need a free SEO strategy session? Book here: https://go.juliangoldie.com/strategy-session.
Want free AI SEO tools? Get 50+ tools here: https://www.skool.com/ai-seo-with-julian-goldie-1553.
The path to how to start a Skool community is clear.
Now go build something amazing.
