Vacation or prison? A membership-based online business can feel like either, depending on how you design it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why am I writing about memberships this week?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because I\u2019m considering one for my business and wanted to share my thought process for deciding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many solopreneurs and creators hear about recurring revenue and think, \u201cyes please!\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s understandable. If you do it right, it dramatically increases your odds of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if you do it wrong, you create a business that is like an inclined treadmill: you have to keep working to stay in the same place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are three main reasons to consider a membership model:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of the benefits (and the pitfalls) come from those three areas: customer outcomes, delivery advantages, and recurring revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are main pitfalls of the membership model to design around:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my research, I\u2019ve found several different models aiming for the benefits without the pitfalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Josh Spector, author of the For The Interested newsletter, calls his the sessions system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a simple model where he creates one master class or micro-course each month. You can buy each individually for $50 or become a member and get access to a year of them for $250.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It does require a stream of new courses, but they are very reasonable to develop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jay Clouse, the founder of Creator Science, has an annual membership with a community-focused model where he caps the number of members and has a higher bar for membership, then they all help each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jay augments with his own content but without setting an expectation of constant net new content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He does commit a lot of his time, but he\u2019s mentioned that he wants to remain a practitioner and then report on his experiments and results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve also been a part of other memberships where it is a follow-on or continuity after a flagship course or program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amy Porterfield is a good example, as she has wildly successful online courses and then a follow-up membership called Momentum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For my potential membership, I\u2019m planning to leverage a few aspects of my current business and the needs I see in my audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First<\/strong>, my main business is done-for-you services. Our content repurposing service is growing rapidly. Our program, where we help creators build their entire business from scratch, is also popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are in the trenches every day learning and building, which gives us a ton of content, stories, and lessons to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second<\/strong>, I\u2019m committed to this for the long term as I like the people, topics, and challenges of online business. So I\u2019m not afraid of committing to ongoing content creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Third<\/strong>, not everyone in my audience is in the position to hire help, even our affordable fractional teams or service packages. Others may already have a team and need to fill in some gaps. So providing a membership and a more DIY or DWY model will help those segments (and of course, some will want to move into DFY when ready)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s the rough outline of what I\u2019m thinking<\/strong>…<\/p>\n\n\n\n The core content will be \u201cimplementation sessions\u201d. Like Josh Spector\u2019s model, the goal isn\u2019t courses with 153 modules and mile-long PDFs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The goal will be the fastest possible implementation of the essential elements of online businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our DFY program, we have the nine foundational elements all online businesses need (ex. sales funnels, website, content, etc.), so we\u2019ll have implementation sessions for all of those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For established businesses, we also have the nine systems needed to reach 7 figures such as process management, marketing, and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The sessions will focus less on theory and more on \u201cprovide this input, do these steps, and get it created in the next few hours\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our model already has an inherent success path and order to it, so folks coming into the membership would start at whichever element they are missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tools and tech are a big part of what we help with, so we will be taking many of the things we use day to day and building them into the membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One tier of the membership will likely include the entire tech stack creators and solopreneurs need so that for one low price, they will have all the information AND all the tools they need for success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This one I\u2019m still working on. The basic membership tier will have a private community and occasional training sessions or Q&A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the main membership tier, I\u2019m deciding how much to commit there\u2014certainly group coaching sessions, hot seats, and formats like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, so that I\u2019m not bearing all the load, we\u2019ll also have other experts helping out as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I read my plan back to myself, there is the clear challenge of differentiating. The above \u201csounds\u201d like a lot of other similar programs out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a HUGE step not to miss in your own planning. In every niche, you will be competing with already existing memberships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my case, the differentiation will largely be tied to our done-for-you experience. Most of the gurus teaching these topics are just regurgitating what they did starting ten years ago. Many of their techniques don\u2019t work in today\u2019s market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since we\u2019re helping people in-depth and in real-time, I think we\u2019ll have an advantage there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other is that most programs shy away from one of the biggest challenges: the tools and tech. They pick the highest-paying affiliate program they can find, then punt their students over to that and leave them to figure it out themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ll be going deep and simplifying all of that and in some cases, providing turn-key platforms, so that\u2019s an area we\u2019ll be leaning into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, the focus on implementation over information will be the biggest differentiator. Stu Mclaren has said the primary reason people leave memberships is overwhelm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The flip side would be people will stay if they are steadily moving toward their goals with the help of the content and support in the membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hopefully, this high-level view of a product planning exercise will help you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a quick summary that you can use in your planning:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where do we go from here? I\u2019m going to do another more detailed round of all of the above and then decide if we\u2019re going to move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we do, we will pre-launch with a trial offer and the first implementation sessions.<\/p>\n\n\nMember Content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Member Tools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Member Support<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How do we differentiate?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Take Action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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