189,100 gone

Yesterday, I saw a message I didn’t want to believe.

I was out with my kids on a beautiful day.

So I ignored it.

But this morning I checked.

And it was real.

A Facebook group I help manage—a group that was the primary source of leads for a newsletter and business I’ve been helping run —was just… gone.

When I try to visit the group, Facebook says:

“This content isn’t available.”

It was a public group with 189,100 members.

No warning. No email. No explanation.

Just gone.

To make things worse, the group’s founder is in the hospital right now.

So getting answers and support from her is complicated. And obviously, her health is the priority.

But the loss is real.

We’re in the process of selling this business. Literally just got it listed Friday.

And if we can’t recover the group, it wipes out a huge chunk of the business’ value.

Because without that group, the main engine of growth disappears.

Here’s the only saving grace:

We’ve been able to get 15,000 people onto an email list.

And 4,000 onto a Beehiiv newsletter.

Even if Facebook pulled the plug, we’ve still got those lists.

Because we moved them to a platform we own.

They’re ours now.

Facebook can’t touch them.

I have no idea if we’ll get the group back or not.

But at least we have those emails.

So this is your reminder:

Do not build your business on rented land.

If social media is part of your strategy, that’s fine.

But it must be treated as a traffic source. Nothing more.

Every reel, every post, every follower…

Your goal should be simple:

Turn attention into email subscribers.

Because it can all disappear.

With no warning.

No recourse.

No way to get it back.

Nathan