What Should I Look for in a Free Online Community?

Have you ever joined a group hoping to learn something, and found something else entirely?

That’s happened to me a number of times.

One time, I joined a group to learn more about online affiliate marketing.

Two weeks later, I left.

Why?

I just kept opening it and finding the same thing. People promoting their own products. Day in. Day out.

Not only that, people would request to be my friend.

When I accepted, they wasted no time.

They didn't even wait to get to know me.

It went down something like this:

Hi. How are you?
If you’ve joined the group, I bet you need
[whatever product they were selling].

It didn’t take me long to learn what was happening.

The group was free to join.

There were thousands of members.

And it was mostly filled with entrepreneurs trying to promote and sell their products.

It took me two weeks to figure it out.
I know. I was new to the scene.

They kept sending me requests.
So I sent one of my own:

Now I host a free community of my own.

It’s for therapists, counselors, and other professionals over 50 who are building a side business alongside the work they already do.

But “free” is not the thing that tells you whether a group or community is worth your time.

Some are awesome. Others? Not so much.

Along the way I stopped asking "is it free" and started asking five other questions instead.

Here they are.

1. Can I find that post I liked from last month?

This is the one that changed how I think about groups and communities.

I belong to a coaching program that holds sessions Monday through Friday. The sessions are recorded and saved inside the community. They’re not removed after a set amount of time.

Recently the host walked through how to set up a Facebook ad. Every step. Nothing skipped.

I couldn’t track every detail during the session, so I needed to go back to review it more thoroughly.

So I went back the next morning, watched the recording, and wrote the steps down for myself.

Then I followed the steps and created my ad.

The follower ad I’m running right now came out of that session.

Here’s the part that matters.
I didn’t have to be there live.
I didn’t have to scroll for twenty minutes hoping to find it again.

It was sitting in the replay section, marked by the date.

Compare that to a social feed.

Sometimes you watch a post or a livestream, and you want to go back and review it later.

A week goes by, and it’s buried under a hundred newer posts or in some folder where you wouldn’t expect to find it.

Sometimes, you’re not even sure what to search for.

So before you join, ask them this:

When someone posts something useful, where does it go?
Is it saved somewhere we can find it next month?
Or does it slide down the feed where we have to scroll to see if we can find it?

And what about your livestreams or coaching sessions?
Do they get saved?
And if so, where can we find them?
Will they be removed at some point?

2. Are there any courses or recordings included?
If so, where can I find them?

In a number of social groups I’ve joined, the content is primarily focused on posts, comments, and replies.

Somebody asks a question.
A few people answer.
And that’s the extent of the exchange.

Some groups do include training.
In my experience, those tend to be the private membership groups.

Sometimes there’s a file in the files tab from an old lesson or training video.

On the other hand, in the communities I’ve joined, whether free or paid, there are usually courses and recordings that are saved in the classroom tab.

That’s where you can find courses with structured modules you can move through at your own pace.

Some of them are free.
Some are paid.
Either way, the material sits there and waits for you.

If you’re building your own side business and want to learn the steps, I’ve found that self-paced courses offer more than you can get from back and forth questions alone.

For me, it’s the combination that works.
Courses to learn the steps.
Conversations to ask for clarity when I get stuck.

3. Can I reach the host of the group or community?

Here's a plain question to ask before you join:

“If I post something here, will the host see it?”

In the communities I’ve joined, the answer tends to be yes.

You post, and the host answers you.

Not a moderator. Not an assistant. The person whose name is on the door.

In the groups I’ve joined, it’s been a mixed bag.

Sometimes the host answers.
Sometimes a moderator.
And sometimes, the responses I’ve received, if any at all, have come from other members of the group.

Some groups tell you up front.
When I’ve joined, the welcome post has introduced the host and the administrators, and named who’ll answer questions.

If it isn’t spelled out anywhere, ask.

You can also scroll through the recent posts and look at who's doing the replying.

If it's members answering members, that's your answer.

4. Is anyone actually talking here?

And would my questions get seen?

Size cuts both ways.

Too quiet, and there's not much discussion going on.

Too big, and something else happens.

I'm in a community with more than 160,000 members.

There's good material in it, and I'm glad I joined.

But there’s so much going on that it’s hard to keep up with all of it.

In general, what you want is somewhere in between.

Enough people that there's real conversation.

Few enough that your question doesn't get buried.

Then there are new communities, like mine.

You won’t find many members yet, so it’s quiet.

But that also means less competition for the host’s attention.

That’s a plus when you have questions and want to learn.

There are pros and cons to each one.

They’re just built for different things.

The right one depends on what you need at the time.

5. Who can see that I've joined, and what I’ve posted?

This is the question I never thought to ask.

If you're still in practice, it may be the one that matters most.

Two separate things can be visible.

What you post.

And the fact that you're there.

On Facebook, it depends on the group.

In a private group, only members can see the posts, the comments, and the member list.

In a public group, all of that is open to anyone, and it can show up in a Google search with your name on it.

That affiliate marketing group I left was public.

Everything I wrote in it was out in the open.

Skool works differently, and I want to be straight with you about it, because I'm about to invite you into a community I run there.

The content is gated.

I opened my own community in a private browser window, and it wouldn't let me see anything without logging in.

Whatever you post inside stays inside.

But your profile is a different story.

Mine is public.

My name, my photo, my bio, and a list of every community I belong to are visible to non-members.

All nine communities.

I searched my own name and found that page on the first page of Google.

Every one of those nine communities is marked private.

Nobody can read a word I've written in any of them.

Yet anyone can see that I've joined all nine.

There's one more piece to this.

On Skool, you can see which members are online at the time.

It doesn’t show what community they’re in, but you can see that they’re active in the Skool system.

I like that feature.

It makes the place feel occupied.

But it works both ways, which means other members can see when you're around.

I haven't found a setting that turns that off.

But Skool does offer a way to set your community membership visibility.

Here's where you can find it:

1. Open your Skool Settings

2. Click the Profile tab

3. Scroll down to Membership visibility

4. You'll see every community you belong to, with a toggle beside each one
   

Mine are all switched on.

That's the default, and I'm leaving them that way, because being seen in learning communities fits what I do.

You might feel differently.

If you're a therapist or a counselor still in practice, you might not want a colleague or a former client seeing that you've joined a handful of side business communities.

Not because you did anything wrong.

Because it's nobody's business but yours.

The point is that you get to decide.

I didn't know there was a decision to make until I went looking.

Whichever platform you choose, take a minute to look at your own settings.

Then you’ll know what’s showing, and you can decide if you want to make a change.

What I learned from running my own group

I’ve run a Facebook group for years.

I posted.

I sent direct messages to people about my posts.

I tagged people.

I even offered live events.

Crickets.

I’ve tried again. And again.

Same result.

That's where these five questions came from.

Not from theory.

From years of watching an empty group and wondering what I was doing wrong.

What a free community can't do for you

First, what it can do.

A free community can answer your questions.

It can point you toward a starting place.

It can show you that other people are working through the same thing you are.

Now for what it can’t.

A free community can’t look closely at your particular situation.

There’s an exception worth knowing about.

Some communities come attached to a coaching program.

The host is already your coach, already knows your situation, and is working with you outside the community.

When you post there, the answer you get is built on everything they already know about you.

That’s a different thing, and it isn’t free.

In a free community, when you start posting questions, the person answering doesn’t know your background, your current situation, or what you’ve already tried.

So the answer you get is going to be somewhat general.

That’s a real limit, and it’s the same in a free group.

You might also get answers from other members, which is often the best part of it.

But that only happens once there are members.

Free is a good place to start.

It just isn’t the same as personal guidance built around your situation.

So where did I land?

After running a group for years where I couldn't get anyone to engage…

I now host a community on a different platform, and I built it around the five questions above.

I'll tell you plainly where it stands.

It's new.

Right now there are two members, and one of them is my coach.

Nobody else has joined yet.

But you have to start somewhere, and this is my opportunity to share tips, strategies, and resources with you on an ongoing basis.

Here's exactly what's inside today.

In the Classroom, there's a welcome post, a post on how to engage in the community, the community guidelines, and a Wins post for sharing what's going well.

In the Community, there's a welcome post, an introduction thread, a prompt to help you figure out who your audience is, a downloadable guide that walks through ten business categories where people over 50 are building side businesses, and a prompt for exploring business ideas based on your own passions.

I'm adding more.

That's what's there now.

If you want a bigger community with more conversation in it, there are others, and I belong to several.

I wouldn't talk you out of it.

Your Next Step

On the other hand, if you want to start in an intimate setting, with direct access to me, your community host, while you figure out what you're building, here's what I can offer you.

When you post a question, I'm the one who answers it.
I'll do my best to get to it within a day or two.
Sometimes life gets in the way.
I'm one person.

The doors are open at: skool.com/masteringyourwellbeing

Click the image below.
It'll take you to the Community's About page.

Introduce yourself.

Ask a question.

Share a win.

Let’s grow together.

Warmest regards,

Doug

Douglas Kalunian
Founder and CEO, Mastering Your Wellbeing Inc
[email protected]

Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes and reflects my personal experience and opinions. It is not business, financial, legal, medical/mental-health, or other professional advice. Any business examples shared here, including my own, are individual results and are not a guarantee or prediction of what you will achieve. Building a business takes time, effort, and consistency, among many factors, and outcomes depend on factors unique to you. Before starting any side business, therapists and counselors should review their employer's moonlighting and intellectual property policies, and consider consulting Human Resources and/or independent legal counsel to ensure their plans align with their license and workplace obligations.