How HobbyScool Quietly Turned Into a $1M Experiment
This is a founder-level reflection — written for people who are already building something real and are starting to think longer-term about what they’re actually creating.
A Very Honest Look at How HobbyScool Turned Into a $1M Experiment
Let me tell you the real version of this story — the one I’d tell a colleague over coffee, not the polished one.
HobbyScool didn’t start with a master plan.
It started on a Florida vacation, sitting at a quiet kitchen table early one morning, coffee in hand, doing that thing we all do when our brains finally slow down enough to wander.
I was playing around with a domain name generator. No agenda. No launch plan. Just curiosity.
One name stopped me: HobbyScool.
Not tied to my name. Not tied to a specific skill. Not boxed into a niche.
I bought the domain and did… nothing.
At least not right away.
And honestly, that pause mattered.
Before HobbyScool Was “A Thing,” It Was a Question
At the time, my personal brand was already established. I was helping digital product creators grow their businesses, build funnels, scale offers.
HobbyScool felt different.
It wasn’t about my expertise. It felt like infrastructure. A container. Something that could eventually live without me.
That distinction is subtle, but it changes everything.
I tested a few early ideas — paid bundles, collaborative offers — the kinds of things that look good on paper and technically work.
We made sales.
But it didn’t feel like momentum.
It felt fragile.
So I went back to something I already trusted: virtual summits.
Why Summits Became the Backbone (Not a One-Off Tactic)
I’d used summits before. I knew the model. I knew how they moved people.
What I didn’t know was whether they’d work outside my personal brand.
So I tested.
The first HobbyScool summit was in the home gardening space. Not because I’m a gardener — I’m not — but because it felt like a reasonable place to start.
We followed a clean, familiar structure:
Free access
VIP pass
A few well-placed upsells
The results weren’t just “good.” They were clarifying.
The list grew.
Revenue came in.
And — this part matters — momentum didn’t disappear when the event ended.
That was the signal.
Here’s the Part That Usually Surprises People
I don’t actually do the hobbies featured in HobbyScool.
I don’t paint.
I don’t quilt.
I don’t sew.
I don’t journal.
Not because I’m anti-creativity — mostly because I don’t have the time.
And yet, HobbyScool has successfully hosted multiple summits in:
Expressive art
Handmade crafts
Creative journaling
Holiday and seasonal projects
This is where people tend to overthink things.
They assume credibility comes from personal mastery.
In reality, credibility comes from leadership and curation.
When you create the container, bring the right experts together, and facilitate the experience, people naturally associate you with authority — even if you’re not the one holding the paintbrush.
That realization is what made scale possible.
The Moment the Business Needed to Grow Up
For a long time, HobbyScool was a really solid business.
Profitable.
Fun.
Sustainable.
But eventually, a different question kept showing up:
What would this look like if I were building it to sell?
Not hypothetically. Seriously.
Once I asked that question honestly, a lot of comfortable habits stopped making sense.
So I put a stake in the ground:
HobbyScool will be built as a sellable business.
That single decision changed how I evaluate everything.
Suddenly, it wasn’t about “does this work?”
It was about:
Could someone else run this?
Is this dependent on me being available?
Are systems clear or just living in my head?
Is the revenue diversified or brittle?
Those are uncomfortable questions.
Which is exactly why I decided to document the process publicly.
Why I Made the $1M HobbyScool Experiment Public
I’d been asked for years to go behind the scenes.
I always hesitated — not because I didn’t want to share, but because I knew how much bad transparency can cost in time and energy.
It wasn’t until my peer mastermind pushed me — hard — that I reconsidered.
Their point was simple:
“You’re already doing the work. You might as well make it useful.”
That’s how the $1M HobbyScool Experiment came to life.
This isn’t a case study.
It’s not a victory lap.
It’s a live, imperfect documentation of decisions, tradeoffs, and changes made while building toward a sellable asset.
What I’m Actively Changing Right Now
A few shifts that matter if you’re thinking long-term:
Predictable Events, Not Constant Launches
We’re moving into a monthly event rhythm.
Predictability reduces operational chaos — and increases valuation.
Same Content, New Buyers
We’re expanding into:
Corporate wellness programs
Assisted living and senior communities
Not new products. New distribution.
Operational Boundaries
I am no longer customer support.
If the business collapses when I step away, it’s not sellable — it’s fragile.
Clean Separation
Separate systems. Separate accounts. Separate reporting.
Future-me will thank present-me.
What I’d Tell Any Colleague Who Wants to “Sell Someday”
You don’t make a business sellable later.
You make it sellable by how you operate now.
That means designing for clarity instead of convenience.
Delegating earlier than feels comfortable.
And making decisions with future optionality in mind.
That’s the lens behind everything I’m documenting.
If You’re Thinking Beyond Your Next Launch
If this way of thinking resonates — building with long-term optionality, not just short-term wins — I’d start here:
The Decisions Behind a 17,958-Attendee Creative Event
How one set of tradeoffs produced $39K in revenue and $22K in profit — and what I’d decide differently next time.
This free report is for experienced creators who want to see how real decisions are made while a business is actively scaling.
What’s inside:
The key decisions that turned free registrations into $39K in sales
The collaboration choices that drove 17,958 attendees without a large team
Where profit was made, where it leaked — and what I’d change next time
The tradeoffs behind funding list growth with ads instead of organic-only traffic
Why I chose specific platforms and systems — and what I ruled out
This report captures one moment in time.
The $1M HobbyScool Experiment exists because the real leverage doesn’t come from a single successful event — it comes from watching how decisions compound over time across systems, revenue, and operations.
📥 Instant access to the 17,958-attendee event breakdown
🗝️ One real decision breakdown — not a blueprint, checklist, or formula.
If You Want the Full Conversation
This post expands on a conversation I had with Krista on the Summit Host Hangout Podcast.
If you want to hear the full back-and-forth, the nuance, and the questions that shaped this thinking, it’s worth a listen:
🎧 Listen to the full episode of Summit Host Hangout
If nothing else, I hope this gives you permission to think bigger — and more deliberately — about what you’re building.
