Retain Live 2019 was a phenomenal success – especially for our very first live event!
However as we discussed during the first part of our “debrief”, it was a little rocky in the build up.
In this concluding episode, Callie and I talk through the event itself, breaking down everything that happened and how it all came together; sharing some of our biggest lessons and top takeaways for anyone thinking of running a similar event.
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Two weeks ago, we kicked off our very first live conference: Retain Live 2019.
It’s the first time we’ve run an event of this scale, and to say it was a new, interesting and challenging experience would be a major understatement!
While the event itself was a huge success and we’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback – getting there certainly wasn’t smooth sailing.
In the first of our two-part debrief, Callie joins me on the show to discuss the weeks leading up to the event – as the workload (and stress levels) ramp up.
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One of the biggest reasons memberships never get off the ground is that the initial idea for the product just wasn’t right.
While you can research the market and survey your audience until the cows come home, it’s extremely easy to allow your bias towards what you think is a winning concept to sway your analysis of that research or – even worse – to ignore warning signs that you’re heading down the wrong path.
If you want to be successful, you need to truly test and validate that your idea is worth pursuing, and one of the best ways to do this is with an MVP.
Join me for the latest episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, where I deep dive into what an MVP is, why they’re important and how to go about actually creating one.
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B2B and B2C membership sites share a lot of similarities, but there are a few key differences you need to be aware of.
These differences are important because they can potentially impact how you approach your strategy, marketing, and even your mindset when it comes to your membership site.
So, what are the main differences between B2C and B2B memberships?
And, why you should you even care?
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Holy smokes, has it really been four years already?!
It honestly feels like yesterday that we were gearing up to open the doors to the Academy. I’m not sure we fully realised the awesome journey we were about to embark on.
Join us as we celebrate the 4th anniversary of Membership Academy by taking a look back at the last 12 months and highlighting the 7 ‘ups’ and 3 ‘downs’ from the past year.
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Like it or not, membership cancellations are going to happen.
Hopefully if you run your site well those cancellations will come at the end of a long tenure, but regardless they will happen.
How you deal with these cancellations has numerous implications for the continued success of your membership site or online course; so it’s important to know how to handle them and also what to avoid.
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Chris Ducker joins Callie in the final season 3 episode of Behind the Membership to talk all about his membership site Youpreneur Academy.
Chris already had several successful 7 figure businesses before starting Youpreneur Academy four years ago, and here he talks about how his desire to create a legacy and help others achieve success led to him creating his membership in the first place.
Chris also discusses how the positioning of the membership and its place in his ecosystem has evolved over the years as he’s added additional features like a live event, new book and round table mastermind, as well as new projects he has on the horizon.
And Chris talks about how he spent 12 months testing the closed door model, and why he wouldn’t do it again. How organic marketing and content is the key to their new member sales, and what he’s doing to achieve a five to 6% retention rate, including the importance of growth records in his community, and why he’s stopping his monthly member q&a call.
Plus, Chris reveals that he spends just three hours a week on the membership on average!
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Choosing a membership plugin isn’t easy.
For the most part, your decision comes down to the nitty gritty details of how you plan to structure and run your site; as well as the specific integrations you need for things like payment processors and email marketing software.
With so much attention given to the granular details, it can be easy to overlook some pretty important things that could have long term implications for your business…
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“Fairy art mother” Caylee Grey joins Callie on this episode of Behind the Membership to talk all about her art journaling membership, Get Messy Art. Caylee’s membership journey is actually a little different to most, as the membership was started accidentally as a result of a personal project rather than being the goal from the start.
However, it’s safe to say it was a great accident as the membership is now four years old and has flourished, creating an amazing business for Caylee that has allowed her to quit her job and achieve more freedom than she previously thought possible.
In this episode, Caylee discusses how she makes use of seasonal themes for her content, and is currently testing out the closed door model to only let new members in at the start of each new season. As well as how she utilises the experiences of guest teachers and members to help with content creation.
And Caylee also talks about how she focuses on making the membership action driven, and how she nutures members and provides the space for them to connect and engage with each other on a deeper level. Plus the challenges she has had along the way, and much, much more besides!
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Have you ever had someone tell you that they can’t afford to join your membership?
What was your reaction?
For most membership owners, hearing that sort of feedback tends to send them into self-doubt over whether they’re charging too much or delivering too little.
However in this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I reveal why that’s very rarely the case, and how you should handle these types of objections.
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In this episode of Behind the Membership, Deborah Engelmajer discusses her membership site for makers and handmade businesses, Tizzit HQ. Deborah’s membership is just eight months old, but already a six figure a year business.
Deborah shares how she actually delayed creating her membership site in order to build her audience first, which she attributes as the key to her success. She also talks about how having a membership site has reduced stress and provided more balance, enabling Deborah to do what she loves, like focus on her community.
And Deborah also discusses how engaged the Tizzit community is and what she does to encourage this, including how she sent welcome packages to her first 250 members when she initially launched. Plus the challenges of content creation, how aspects of the membership such as coaching calls, have evolved since the membership first opened and much more.
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One of the best ways to learn about growing a successful membership is studying what others are doing.
Academy members often tell us that this is one of the biggest benefits they get from being in our community.
With that in mind, I wanted to highlight 5 specific things that have made a major difference in our success – as well as a few things that turned out to be a bit of a waste of time.
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John Hatcher from the Blues Guitar Institute joins Callie for this episode of Behind the Membership. John was previously a CPA and tax accountant working 60 to 80 hours a week, but since having his membership he has been able to quit his job and now focus full time on his membership site, giving him far more freedom. This is even more impressive when you consider that John’s membership only actually costs $9 a month!
In this episode John talks about how he made that career transition, as well as how he manages his time and the challenge of content creation in a video-heavy membership site. John also talks about how he went from not having any community at all in his membership, to struggling to get engagement, to now having a thriving community with members connecting and sharing their own videos as well. And of course lots more too!
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As more and more companies move into the membership space, consumers now have an overwhelming amount of choice.
Streaming services, music subscriptions, subscription boxes for everything from beauty products to underwear, SAAS subscriptions and of course – online memberships.
It all adds up.
And this can lead to what’s being called ‘subscription fatigue’ – where people get fed up and overwhelmed by juggling a countless array of subscriptions and start clearing out anything they deem non-essential.
So, how do you avoid ending up on the scrap-heap as a result of subscription fatigue?
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Varvara Lyalyagina from Start Blog Up joins Callie for this episode of Behind the Membership to talk all about her membership for Russian speaking entrepreneurs, The Studio.
In this episode Varvara’s talking about how she is succeeding with her membership despite it being for a market not as familiar with the membership model, and why she has decided, after a year of being open all the time, to experiment with moving from an always open model to closing the doors and only letting new members in at certain times.
Varvara also talks about the emotional challenges of running a membership and learning not to take cancellations personally, the power of members promoting your membership for you, and how adding a personal touch with things like video and gifts is aiding her retention. And Varvara also shares her strategy for running online parties to both engage existing members and attract new ones, plus more!
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Memberships have become a hot topic in recent years.
But what happens when all of this hype dies down and people move onto the next thing – what will that mean for the future of the membership industry?
Are memberships just the new shiny fad? And is there any point starting a membership if the bubble is about to burst?
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