Michelle Varghese is the community manager for Small Bets, the largest private online community for entrepreneurs with over 5000 members. She has also helped in managing some iconic communities like Write of Passage and The Pathless Path. Along with this, she is also the creator of "Turn your layoff into a sabbatical" course, host of the Build a Wealthy Spirit podcast and a frequent writer on her Substack newsletter. In this episode, she dives deep into the practical aspects of running 10+ live guest classes per month at Small Bets. She shares her tips on the best practices she's discovered and the mistakes she has seen other people make. --- Interact with Michelle's work: • Join her course - https://maven.com/techies/layoff-to-s... (for people who want to leave an uninspiring job in the corporate world, take a break and recreate a life that's aligned with their values) • Join Small Bets - https://smallbets.com/ • Build a Wealthy Spirit podcast and newsletter - https://www.buildawealthyspirit.com/ --- This episode is made possible by Curated Connections - a tool we created to spark more conversations in private communities through 1-on-1 networking programs. Learn more here - https://curatedconnections.io/ --- Chapters: 0:00 Intro 02:10 Intro to Small Bets community 04:36 One time fee for lifetime membership 06:35 Founders must engage in their community 09:55 Paying guests for teaching classes 12:35 Structure of a class 14:19 Asking Qs in between 17:28 Why slides are good 21:00 Hosting memorable events 22:30 Ask the first question 23:22 Don't wait for attendees 23:59 Camera - on or off? 28:39 A chill host is a bad host 30:19 What best communities do 31:24 How to interrupt over-enthusiastic guests 35:21 Moderating an active Discord 38:13 New channel or a thread? 40:22 How to curb sales in community 45:49 Lesson from the Art of Gathering 47:43 Scrappy vs. high-end experience 54:48 Tools used by Small Bets 57:03 Michelle's community