The Most Dangerous Business Advice I've Heard This Year [Ep 254]

A mentor I respect recently said something during a live training that genuinely stopped me in my tracks:

"If I was starting from scratch in 2026, I wouldn't even bother building an email list."

And honestly? I nearly fell off my chair.

In this episode, I'm unpacking why that advice might make perfect sense for some business owners... and be incredibly dangerous for others.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• Why business advice without context can lead you in the wrong direction
• The real role email plays in a modern online business
• Why Skool communities and email lists work better together
• How AI is changing marketing [and what it can't replace]

Ready to grow your business without social media or burnout?

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https://www.skool.com/email-marketing-skool/about

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Transcript

[00:00:00] A mentor and friend that I respect deeply said something on a live training a few weeks ago that genuinely made me stop in my tracks. In front of hundreds, possibly thousands of business owners, she said, " If I was starting from scratch in 2026, I wouldn't even bother building an email list." And honestly, I almost fell off my chair. I actually stopped taking notes because my immediate reaction wasn't, "That's wrong." My immediate reaction was, "Oh my gosh, imagine being brand new in business and hearing that right now." Because if I'd heard that advice when I was starting, I probably wouldn't have built my email list, and if I hadn't built my email list, I genuinely don't know if I'd have the business I have today.

[00:00:46] Now, I do agree with some of what she was saying, but I think that advice could be incredibly dangerous for the wrong person. So today I wanna talk about why. Let's get into it 

[00:00:57] [00:01:00] Are you a female business owner frustrated with battling the algorithm and looking for growth strategies that don't involve awkwardly pointing or dancing online or throwing cash at paid ads? Welcome to the Email Growth Show. I'm your host, Kylie Kelly, visibility and email marketing strategist. I grew my email list from zero to almost 10,000 subscribers in less than two years, and the same is possible for you too.

[00:01:24] Are you ready to build your email list and start making more money in your online business? Let's head into today's episode. 

[00:01:33] Hey, hey, my love. Welcome back to the Email Growth Show. And I have a feeling this one might be a little controversial. Now, before I say anything else, I want to be very clear. The person who shared this advice is incredibly smart. She has built an amazing business.

[00:01:51] She has results. She has experience. Her audience is larger than mine, and there were actually parts of her training that I absolutely agreed [00:02:00] with. So this is not a takedown episode. This isn't me saying she's wrong. It's me saying context matters, business models matter, and advice that works brilliantly for one person can be terrible advice for somebody else.

[00:02:15] So let me tell you what the basic idea was. It was that email isn't what it used to be, open rates are changing, AI is changing how people consume information, communities are becoming more valuable. And if she was starting today, she'd focus on building a Skool community before building an email list.

[00:02:33] Now, some of that I absolutely agree with. AI is changing things. People are overwhelmed with information. Communities are incredibly powerful, And I think owned communities, they are going to become more important over the next few years, not less. But then she took it one step further, and this is where I got uncomfortable because the implication became, so why bother with email at all? And that's where I think we need to slow ourselves down.

[00:02:59] [00:03:00] One thing that I have learned after years in this industry is that the bigger someone gets, the easier it becomes for people to copy their strategy without understanding their context, and context changes everything. Because when I looked at the advice being shared, I realized something. It makes perfect sense for her, right?

[00:03:21] Her business model is built around community. She has multiple Skool communities. She has a YouTube channel, her digital products she sells then to her Skool communities and her YouTube audience. This is a very specific customer journey. Of course, that advice makes sense from that perspective, right? But most business owners listening to this podcast, and probably tuning into her training, don't have that exact business model. You might sell digital products. You might run workshops. You might host summits. You might be doing bundles. You might have a podcast. You might have affiliate income. You might have multiple offers.

[00:03:57] You might do high ticket. You might do low ticket. you might [00:04:00] love social media, you might hate social media. Like, suddenly the conversation changes completely because instead of asking, "Should I build an email list?" I would ask, "What role does email play in your business?" Because those are very different questions.

[00:04:16] For me, email is the glue, right? It's the thing connecting everything together. If you look at my business, if somebody discovers me through a podcast interview, where do they go? Usually my email list. If somebody joins a bundle, where do they go? My email list. If someone attends a workshop, email list.

[00:04:34] Challenge, email list. Summit, email list. Finds me on Google, they end up on my email list. Join my Skool community, they give me consent, but they still end up on my email list. Even this episode you are listening to right now, most people will hear about it because I send an email. That's why I call email the glue, because it's not the whole business, it's what's connecting all the parts.

[00:04:57] And this is the part that always makes [00:05:00] me laugh a bit because people will say, " We don't need email anymore. Build a community instead." And I think, okay, sure, but how are you getting people into the community? How are you announcing new things? How are you bringing people back when they start to go quiet?

[00:05:15] How are you promoting events? How are you launching your offers? How are you communicating when the platform changes? Because ultimately, you're still building relationships through communication. The tool changes, but the thing that we're doing doesn't. Now, before anyone gets their knickers in a knot and jumps into my DMs, I love Skool.

[00:05:35] I use Skool. I'm obsessed with Skool. I have two Skool communities now. There are over 1,200 business owners inside one of mine. I genuinely think it's one of the best community platforms available right now. But here's the thing, I don't own it, and neither do you. And it's not a criticism, it's literally just reality.

[00:05:55] I don't own Skool, I don't own Instagram, I don't own Facebook, I don't own TikTok, I don't [00:06:00] own LinkedIn, I don't own YouTube. I am building on somebody else's platform, right? And whenever we're building on somebody else's platform, we simply need a bla- we simply need a backup plan. For me, that backup plan is email, always.

[00:06:18] Let's do a bit of a thought experiment. Imagine tomorrow Skool shuts down, or changes its algorithm, or decides to charge triple, or your account gets locked. they've literally just introduced this thing called Growth Boost, where they're bringing traffic to our Skool communities, which is great, but they're taking a 30% affiliate cut, right?

[00:06:38] So there's a lot of talk about that at the moment on the platform, whether it's good or bad here nor there. But the whole point of it is they can just make changes, like, quite quickly, right? And when they make a change and you're not happy with it, Or you can't contact people, or you can't tell them what happens.

[00:06:56] Like, where do you go? This is where email [00:07:00] becomes your insurance policy. And can I also add, the funny thing is most communities still rely on email, right? Like, if you think about it, you join a community, you get a welcome email, you get reminders, you get event notifications, you get updates, you'll get launch announcements, you get follow-ups, The community and the email list, they're not enemies here, they're teammates. And I think that's where this conversation gets a little strange because we're acting like we need to choose. That we need to choose one over the other, that one is better than the other, when in reality, the strongest businesses are usually using both.

[00:07:34] Now, let's talk a little bit about AI because I do think this is where people are getting nervous. AI is changing how people consume information, abso-fucking-lutely. People now ask ChatGPT for ideas. They ask Claude for templates and tools. They can get answers faster than ever. You've heard me talk about this on the podcast already, that there's information fucking everywhere, that that's not the currency anymore, right?

[00:07:59] That's [00:08:00] not what we place value on anymore because it is so easy to get. But do you know what AI can't replace? Trust, relationships, connection, personal experience, results, stories, perspective. And this is why email still matters, because email was never really about information, at least not the way that I'm teaching it.. It's about relationships, trust. It's about showing up consistently enough that when somebody is finally ready to buy, they already know who you are. They're used to seeing your name in their inbox and relationships are becoming more valuable, not less Whilst I never like to lead with income claims or talking about money on the podcast so much, I wanna be really transparent and honest with you. last year in 2025, my business generated over $120,000 through my email list. Not because I have the biggest list in the world, not because I send perfect emails, and definitely not because I have some secret funnel.

[00:08:59] If you know [00:09:00] me, I don't have many funnels at all. It happened because over the years I have built relationships. I show up, I collaborate, I have conversations, I stay visible. And then when people are ready to buy, there was already trust there. That trust didn't come from one email. It came from hundreds of interactions over time.

[00:09:20] So if I was starting completely from scratch today, would I build a community? Yes, absolutely. Would I be using AI? Absolutely. Mum to two little kids, very limited time to work, fucking need all the help I can get But here's the thing, building an email list doesn't stop you from building a community.

[00:09:38] Building a community doesn't stop you from building an email list. Like I said, the strongest businesses I know are doing both. Because I still want somewhere that I can communicate directly with my people no matter what platform trends come and go.

[00:09:53] So maybe the most dangerous business advice isn't skip email. Maybe it's that [00:10:00] copying someone else's strategy without understanding why it works for them. That's dangerous. Because what works brilliantly for one business owner can be completely wrong for another. Someone with a million YouTube subscribers can get away with things that you cannot.

[00:10:15] Someone with a massive Skool community can get away with things that you cannot. Somebody with a team of 10 can fucking get away with a lot of things that we just cannot right? That's not because they're wrong. It's because context matters. So instead of asking, "What is everybody else doing?" I want you to ask yourself, "What is going to support the business that I am trying to build?"

[00:10:38] For me, email is still a part of that answer, and I think it will be for a very, very long time. So to wrap this hot little episode up, maybe email isn't the shiny thing right now. Maybe community is. Maybe AI is. Maybe something else entirely is on its way. But when I look back at every major opportunity in my business, every client, every launch, [00:11:00] every collaboration, every workshop, every summit, every sprint, all the things, they all connect back to one thing: relationships.

[00:11:09] And email is still one of the best ways I know how to build them. So no, I would not skip the fucking email. All right, my loves. That is all from me this week. I know that this was a bit spicy, but it got me on my high horse because I think that that was very dangerous information to tell a wider audience that is all at different stages. So I hope that this, if nothing else, gets you thinking, "What do I need to focus on?

[00:11:33] What am I building? is email going to be my backup plan?" And from you to me, I highly recommend that it is. That is all from me this week. Next week we have a really exciting guest episode with Dharma Jou. I cannot wait to bring that to your earbuds But until then, I love you so much.

[00:11:50] Thank you again for being here, and I will see you next week. Bye for now

[00:11:55] Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the Email Growth Show. I hope you found valuable [00:12:00] insights into the next steps you can take to grow your email list and boost your business without relying on social media or paid ads. If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to rate and review the show and share it with others.

[00:12:12] Your feedback helps me reach more female entrepreneurs just like you who are ready to say goodbye to social media and leverage email marketing to grow their business and make a bigger impact. Thank you so much for listening, and I'll see you in the next episode.