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I spend about five hours a week on HobbyScool. Three contractors run the rest of it, and the last event went out the door without me touching a single funnel. It took years to get here, and nobody starts at five hours a week.

Kate Kordsmeier asks how it actually works. Who is on the team, what they own, how I manage people in a different time zone, and the two things I still will not hand off.

In this episode:

- The three roles that run a business doing an event every month
- The twice daily report that replaced most of my management time
- Building the thing myself first, then turning it into a skill and handing it over
- The two things I will not outsource, and the control freak reason why
- How long it actually takes, said honestly

If a question keeps reaching you, the answer is missing from your documentation.

If you want to build the AI skills that let you hand work off once instead of explaining it every time, that is what we do in the mastermind.
https://mastermind.destinicopp.com/

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Most people know me as the Creator's MBA person. A lot of them have no idea I run a whole second company, in a niche I have zero personal interest in. I am not crafty. I built a craft business anyway.

In this episode Kate Kordsmeier interviews me about HobbyScool: where the name came from, the two business models I tried before virtual summits worked, and how the funnel behind a free summit actually makes money.

In this episode:

- Why I picked a market I am not a customer of
- The paid bundles that made revenue but did not grow the list
- What a free virtual summit is, and how the VIP pass monetizes it
- What speakers get when nobody is paying them to show up
- Why I made sure the business was never about me

You do not have to love the thing you sell. You have to be right about the market.

If you want to know which stage of your own flywheel is holding the rest back, take the scorecard.
https://scorecard.destinicopp.com/

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Kate and I live twenty minutes apart in Atlanta and did not know each other. In the exact same month we were both quietly trying to build the same peer mastermind. One person got asked by both of us and said, wait, is this the same thing?

This is the behind the scenes of the Weird Hermits, the peer group I credit with more business impact than anything I have paid for.

In this episode:

- How two people building the same group in the same month found each other
- The commitment rule that kept this one from petering out
- Where the name came from, and the one it replaced
- A normal week: the call, the ads call, the Telegram thread
- The debrief calls where we share numbers nobody posts publicly

The groups that fizzle are the ones nobody was really required to show up for.

If you want a room like this and do not have one to build from, that is what the Council is.
https://lab.destinicopp.com/council

Learn more about the peer mastermind through Inside the Council: https://lab.destinicopp.com/inside-the-council

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Your best PDF is sitting in someone's downloads folder right now, unread. Not because it's bad. Because nobody wants more homework.

This episode kicks off Beyond the PDF, my free event, with a look at more than two dozen creators who ditched the static download and built interactive lead magnets instead. Some are converting over 50%. And here's how I made it: I dropped every contributor story into NotebookLM and had it turn them into a two-host deep dive.

In this episode:

- Why the PDF worked for 20 years and what finally broke it
- Why information being free changes what people will trade their email for
- Claude artifacts, custom GPTs, and installable AI skills that do the work for your subscriber
- Why diagnostic quizzes convert so well, and how to segment every person who takes one
- Interactive calculators that let a B2B buyer close their own deal
- The low-tech format that converted at over 51% with no AI

The takeaway: stop asking your audience to read. Start helping them do.

Sign up for Beyond the PDF (free, July 13-31) and build your own modern lead magnet during Get It Done Week, July 27-31:
https://lab.destinicopp.com/beyond-pdf-registration

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The best decision I've ever made in my business wasn't a course or a tool. It was joining a small room of people who actually get it.

In this episode I walk through why a curated peer mastermind changed how it feels to run my business, and why it's almost never the thing people assume it is.

In this episode:
- Why the big decisions get lonelier as your business grows
- What changes when you stop deciding alone
- The hot seat, and why you can't do it for yourself
- Why curation is the whole product, and what it actually means
- The real cost of staying in a room of one

Resources mentioned:
- The Creator's MBA Council: https://lab.destinicopp.com/council
- The full article on this topic: https://destinicopp.com/blog/curated-peer-mastermind

Not ready to apply? Take the inside look first with the free private podcast, Inside the Council: https://lab.destinicopp.com/inside-the-council

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This month I took my entire business apart. Sales pages, offers, what I was promoting, what I was spending money and time on. All of it went on the table.

In this behind-the-scenes episode, I walk you through the full rebuild using my own Creator Growth Flywheel. I share where I think the market is headed, why the human element is the one thing AI can't replace, and how that belief is reshaping my events, my offers, and what I chose to cut.

In this episode:

- Why this rebuild is about where the market is going, not a one-time cleanup
- The one thing AI can't replace, and how I'm building around it
- A walk through all five flywheel stages: Attract, Engage, Nurture, Retain, Advocate
- Why I'm going all in on live events
- How I'm rebuilding my lead magnets backwards from the offer
- The offer overhaul: the AI Mastermind repositioning, the new Council, and Revenue Stack Studio
- How I used AI to build personalized affiliate pages in my partners' own voice
- What I cut, including Pinterest and the HelloContent store, and why

Your turn:

- Got a question or want a hot seat on a future episode? Send it here: https://forms.gle/E71QahCpGjo8pmup7
- Want to speak at an upcoming event? Apply here: https://lab.destinicopp.com/creators-mba-events
- Watch for my newsletter survey and hit reply. I read every one.

Resources and offers mentioned:

- Creator's MBA Events (Beyond the PDF, Closed Door Panel Talks, AI in Action Summit, AI Newsletter Summit, Creator Pivot Summit): https://lab.destinicopp.com/creators-mba-events
- Creator's MBA AI Mastermind: https://mastermind.destinicopp.com
- Creator's MBA Council (peer mastermind, starts January 2027): https://lab.destinicopp.com/council
- Revenue Stack Studio (done-for-you tier): https://lab.destinicopp.com/revenue-stack-studio
- Newsletter Profit Club: https://lab.destinicopp.com/newsletter-profit-club
- Join the Creator's MBA newsletter: https://signup.destinicopp.com

Want a question answered on the show? Send it in here: https://forms.gle/E71QahCpGjo8pmup7

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Most conversations about AI automation stay theoretical. This one doesn't.

I sat down with my peer mastermind, a group we call the Weird Hermits, for a roundtable on MCPs in Claude, also called connectors. These are the tools that let your AI plug straight into the software you already use, like Kit, Airtable, Meta Ads, Shopify, and even Instacart.

Six of us walked through exactly what we have running right now, and what it has replaced.

In this episode:

• What an MCP actually is, in plain language
• How the Kit connector surfaces subscriber data you couldn't see before
• The "drop a CSV and walk away" membership dashboard workflow
• Live artifacts that pull fresh data every time you open them
• Reading Meta ad performance without ever touching Ads Manager
• Skills and scheduled tasks that run your content, support, and reporting for you
• The personal-life automations we probably shouldn't admit to (banking, meal plans, groceries)

If you have been meaning to get your time back, this is the episode to take notes on.

Connect with the founders in this episode:

• Destini Copp: destinicopp.com | Creator's MBA Boardroom on Skool
• Monica Froese: monicafroese.com
• Steph Blake: theblakecollective.com
• Ruth Poundwhite: ruthpoundwhite.com (Soulful Sales Show podcast + Quietly Ambitious community)
• Liz Stapleton: Creator Ops Hub on YouTube | elizabethstapleton.com
• Jodi Bourne: jodibourne.com

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Most digital product creators assume that scaling means hiring more team members. More support staff, more coaches on calls, more people to manage. My guest today took a completely different path.

After Savannah Gilbo's best launch ever brought in almost 200 new students, her live coaching calls were running 30 minutes over. Her membership deliverables doubled. She was burning out fast. Instead of building a team, we built her an AI clone together.

In this episode, Savannah and I walk through exactly what broke after her biggest launch, the options she considered (and why hiring more people felt worse, not better), the triage framework that made her AI clone actually coach like her instead of giving generic AI answers, and what her students are saying now that they're using it.

If you've been curious about AI clones for your business but worried about whether it would actually work for your niche, sound like you, or feel right for your audience, this episode is for you.

What we cover:

• The breaking point that made Savannah look for a solution
• Why she ruled out hiring a community manager or student ambassadors
• The fear that almost stopped her from building an AI clone in her niche
• The triage framework that transformed how her AI handles student questions
• What 10-15 beta testers in her membership did with the clone (one had a 400-message conversation)
• How students are now using the clone before office hours (and why this changed everything)
• What this freed up for Savannah, mentally and emotionally
• Her advice for creators on the fence

Connect with Savannah Gilbo:

• Website: https://www.savannahgilbo.com/
• This 30-Second Quiz Reveals Your Author Success Blueprint: https://www.savannahgilbo.com/quiz
  
  

Connect with Destini:

• Website: destinicopp.com
• Creator's MBA Mastermind: mastermind.destinicopp.com
• Newsletter Profit Club: https://lab.destinicopp.com/newsletter-profit-club

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Hosted by Dr. Destini Copp  ·  Creator's MBA

What do you do when you have a genuinely engaged email list — great open rates, consistent click-throughs — but your subscribers just won't buy? That's exactly what today's guest, Allie from Allie Scraps, was dealing with. She has 13,000 subscribers, 40%+ open rates, and three to five percent click-through rates. By every metric, that's a healthy list. But she accidentally trained her audience to expect freebies, and now converting them into buyers feels impossible.

In this hot seat episode, I walk Allie through a full strategy reset — from newsletter structure and content planning to sponsorships, offer pricing, and whether a membership is the right next move for a B2C creator in the crafting space. If you've ever felt like your list loves you but won't pay you, this one's for you.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why the "freebie trap" happens — and the mindset shift that breaks the cycle
• The Mini Magazine Method for structuring your newsletter into three to five consistent sections so you always have something to send
• Why you should build your content around your promo calendar — not the other way around
• The Teach & Pitch Method: how to create a reader journey that naturally leads to a purchase
• How to use sponsorships and affiliate promotions to monetize a B2C newsletter list
• What types of offers actually work in a B2C crafting niche (hint: not $2,000 programs)
• Why memberships can be a strong revenue play — and what makes them work in the crafting space
• How to start segmenting your list into audience personas and why it matters for long-term revenue
• The AI automation system inside Newsletter Profit Club that writes your weekly newsletter for you

Resources 

• Newsletter Profit Club — Destini's membership for newsletter creators who want to monetize
• Creator's MBA Mastermind — For digital product creators ready to build and grow
• Creator Business Scorecard — Free diagnostic tool for your creator business

About Today's Guest — Allie

Allie is the founder of Allie Scraps, a digital shop and creative community for scrapbooking, mixed media, and Bible journaling. She creates digital downloads, small classes, and curated resources for crafters at every level.

🎁 Free gift from Allie: A four-page crafty planner — great for planning any creative project. [Grab it here]
🛍️ Shop: shop.alliescraps.com
📸 Instagram: @AllieScraps

Connect With Destini

• Website: destinicopp.com
• Newsletter: Subscribe to the Creator's MBA Newsletter
• Instagram: @destinicopp

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This one's a little different. What you're about to hear is a recording straight from our Weird Hermits Roundtable, a mastermind group discussion where we got real about the stuff nobody likes to talk about publicly.

Difficult clients. Refund requests. Payment plans that ghost you. Employees who snap. Customers who buy domain names to smear you. Yes, that actually happened.

The conversation goes deep on what everyone's refund policies actually look like, the boundaries we've set after getting burned, and the mindset shifts that helped us stop letting this stuff live rent-free in our heads.

In this episode, we cover:

• The wildest client situations from a room full of multi-year entrepreneurs (Jordan's story alone is worth the listen)
• Early warning signs that a client might be trouble — and the one pattern that keeps coming up
• How to build refund policies that protect your business AND feel right to you
• Why having a written policy is actually the kindest thing you can do (for everyone)
• What to do when payment plans ghost you — and the mindset shift that makes it manageable
• How to regulate yourself when ad comments or nasty emails make you want to lose it
• The "What Would Destini Do?" framework for navigating messy business moments with boundaries and grace

Mentioned in this episode:

• What Would Destini Do? Claude Skill — Paste one prompt, describe your messy situation, and get walked through exactly how to handle it: https://lab.destinicopp.com/what-would-destini-do