Applying Elon Musk’s Principles to Grow Your Skool Community

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Elon Musk is known for disrupting industries, moving fast, and scaling businesses with extreme efficiency. But what if his core business principles could also be applied to building and monetizing a Skool community?

Musk’s principles of rapid iteration, simplification, and automation can be applied to community growth strategies—helping Skool owners build engaged, profitable communities faster while avoiding common mistakes that slow people down.

In this post, we’ll cover:

✅ How to strip your community down to what actually matters

✅ How to move fast, test ideas, and iterate based on feedback

✅ Why automation and optimization allow you to scale without burnout

Want to see how top community builders apply these principles? Join Ryan’s free Skool community here to experience a fast-growth model in action.

Step 1: Build a ‘Requirements List’ – Focus on What Matters

One of Musk’s core principles when launching Tesla, SpaceX, and even Twitter (now X) was to start with a "first principles" approach—stripping everything down to only what is necessary.

How to Apply This to Skool Growth

Instead of overcomplicating your Skool community with endless features, tools, or unnecessary add-ons, focus on the core essentials that make a community thrive:

A Clear Value Proposition – Why should people join? Define this in one sentence.

An Engaging Onboarding Process – Make it easy for new members to get started fast.

Consistent Content Strategy – What one or two things will you post weekly to keep engagement high?

A Monetization Plan (Even If It's Simple) – Will you monetize through courses, coaching, paid access, or something else?

📌 Example: Instead of launching a full-blown Skool community with multiple offers, courses, and paid tiers upfront, start with one free community and one clear monetization path.

Pro Tip: “Most people overbuild before they even have traction. Launch fast, refine later.” – Ryan Duncan

Step 2: Eliminate Excess – Ditch the Clutter & Complexity

Musk is famous for removing unnecessary complexity in everything from manufacturing Tesla vehicles to designing SpaceX rockets. Complexity slows things down—and this applies to growing an online community too.

Common Mistakes That Overcomplicate Community Growth

❌ Too Many Features – Running a Skool community while also using Discord, Slack, or separate forums dilutes engagement.

❌ Overloaded Content Library – Launching with too many lessons, PDFs, or courses overwhelms new members.

❌ Complicated Sales Funnels – Having endless steps before someone can pay leads to lost conversions.

How to Keep Your Skool Growth Simple & Effective

Use Skool as Your All-in-One Hub – Instead of spreading out your content and discussions across multiple platforms, keep everything inside Skool.

Simplify Your Offer – Instead of 3+ different membership tiers, start with one simple offer.

Reduce Friction for New Members – Onboarding should be one clear step, not multiple instructions.

Example: Instead of spending months setting up a perfect, automated funnel, Ryan suggests launching an offer with a single pinned post and refining it based on member feedback.

Pro Tip: “Most Skool owners waste weeks setting up complex automations when a simple pinned post or live call could generate the same results in one day.”

Step 3: Accelerate Learning – Use Fast Feedback Loops

Musk is obsessed with learning fast, iterating quickly, and using direct feedback to make constant improvements.

How This Applies to Growing a Skool Community

Ask for Feedback Immediately – If new members aren’t engaging, ask why and adjust onboarding.

Test Content & Offers in Real-Time – Instead of spending months creating a course, launch a live workshop first and see what resonates.

Watch Engagement Metrics Closely – What posts spark the most discussions? What topics get ignored?

📌 Example: Ryan recently tested three different types of onboarding strategies inside a Skool group and discovered that a short intro video + pinned post outperformed an email sequence by 3x.

Simple Ways to Collect Fast Feedback

Run quick polls in your Skool community.

Ask in DMs: “What’s the most valuable part of this community for you?”

Track who engages and who doesn’t—see where members drop off.

Pro Tip: “Speed of iteration is everything. The faster you test and adjust, the faster your community grows.”

Step 4: Optimize & Automate – Scale Smart, Not Hard

Once Musk proves something works, he focuses on optimizing and automating it to scale.

How to Apply This to Your Skool Community

✔ Turn Repetitive Tasks Into Automations – If you’re manually DMing every new member, create an auto-welcome message.

✔ Repurpose Winning Content – If a single post or workshop does well, turn it into a mini-course, email sequence, or lead magnet.

✔ Build a Self-Sustaining Engagement Loop – Encourage members to post, reply, and create discussions so it’s not just you driving engagement.

📌 Example: One Skool owner turned his best-performing live calls into an evergreen paid product—saving time while creating passive income.

What to Automate First in a Skool Community

1️⃣ Onboarding Messages – A simple auto-DM that welcomes new members and directs them to the right place.

2️⃣ Content Scheduling – Pre-plan weekly posts so you stay consistent without manual effort.

3️⃣ Repurposing Winning Content – If a certain lesson or post sparks massive engagement, turn it into a classroom module.

Pro Tip: “Automate only what’s proven to work—don’t waste time automating things before you even know they generate engagement or sales.”

Join a Community That Grows Fast & Efficiently

Want to see how Skool communities can scale using Musk’s principles of simplicity, speed, and automation? Join Ryan’s free Skool community and learn how top Skool owners grow their groups without unnecessary complexity.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What’s the biggest mistake Skool owners make when growing their community?

Overcomplicating things. Too many features, too much content, and too many platforms slow down growth. Simplify first, optimize later.

2. How fast can I grow my Skool community using these principles?

It depends on execution speed—but most people waste time setting up instead of launching. Communities that iterate quickly see the best results within 30-90 days.

3. What’s the best way to apply Musk’s iteration principle in Skool?

Launch fast, get feedback, adjust. Instead of perfecting content before launching, test live, see what members engage with, and refine from there.

4. Should I automate everything in my Skool community?

Not everything. Automate only what has proven to work. If something generates engagement or sales, optimize and scale it—don’t waste time automating things that aren’t validated.

5. What’s the simplest way to monetize a Skool community fast?

Run a paid workshop or coaching session, get feedback, and turn the winning version into an evergreen product.

Conclusion

Elon Musk’s principles of simplicity, iteration, and optimization aren’t just for billion-dollar companies—they can be applied directly to growing and monetizing a Skool community.

Want to experience fast execution, efficient scaling, and community-led monetization firsthand? Join Ryan’s free Skool community and learn how to build smarter, not harder.