Besides YouTube, what other strategies have you used to grow your school group, especially without running ads?
I would never launch a community without first securing distribution; I frontloaded that distribution through my YouTube channel. Once the channel had reach, I started the school group. The biggest factor in its growth is simply showing up every day — I’ve posted consistently for over 300 days, missing only a handful of days for travel. That daily consistency builds trust and goodwill, which has translated into strong momentum: in the last week alone I added 25 K monthly recurring revenue, far outpacing other communities that only managed a fifth of that. The steady presence, not any ad spend, is what drives the growth.
Are you asking where to market a school community? I think you've put the cart before the horse — you're starting with 'I want to build a community, where do I find customers?' instead of already having customers. I never start with a product in mind and then figure out how to build a brand around it — I build the brand first, then make the product successful. If you haven't already consistently done something like $10-20K/month, I wouldn't try building a school community right now — it's a poor monetization lever for someone who doesn't already understand the business/audience side. I'm part of a school community called Platinum where people with huge audiences (4M-20M+ followers) get advice on scaling their communities, and a common pattern I see is brands trying to monetize an audience they don't actually have yet.
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Connecting deeper to my online community before school was really about doing the same things I do now on School, just on the platform I was growing—YouTube. One big trend I had, that few others my size did, was responding to nearly every YouTube comment on the main channel. I kept that up until around 30–40k subscribers, which is about ten times more than most people stop at. The key insight for me is having some element of two‑way communication. That’s why the daily updates channel works so well, and why I’ve grown to almost 12k subscribers in 183 days of consistent posting. As long as you can create some back‑and‑forth, it humanizes you, moves you from a pure creator archetype to something more approachable and equalized. I try to do that by replying to YouTube comments, joining other people’s Schools, commenting in their Schools, doing Q&As, sharing knowledge drops and value drops. Those are the main parts.
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The growth operator model works well because it lets you make bold, results‑based guarantees—like promising to add $150 K/month in six months—by improving a client’s revenue levers by a realistic percentage (e.g., 15% over six months, about 2.5% per month). If the client already generates high cash flow, such a lift is credible and achievable. I especially like applying this to content businesses, where you can promise concrete outcomes such as adding $20 K/month within three months or even more extravagant rewards, as long as the client isn’t opposed. Starting with a narrow niche—like school community owners—lets you build proof points and credibility quickly, then you can expand to broader creator markets once you have a track record. This approach balances focus with scalability.
Focus on becoming exceptionally good at a skill and leverage that credibility on YouTube, but don’t let the channel become an emotional crutch. Treat content as a lever: build runway, produce consistently, and don’t expect immediate ROI. Aim for sustainable output rather than perfection. Improve thumbnails and packaging, and make sure key links are placed above the fold to boost conversions. The goal is to find content‑market fit, not just packaging‑market fit, and iterate based on real‑world feedback.