Wow… 6 years of Membership Academy!
It’s been a crazy year as we adjusted to running a membership during a pandemic and refocused our efforts and attentions on new areas of growth.
Listen in as Callie and I recap the highs and lows of the past 12 months of Membership Academy, and look ahead to what’s in store in the next year and beyond.
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Pricing your membership should be straight forward…
You do your research, decide on a price and you run with it, right?
For some people, yes that’s how it works.
But for others, it’s not that simple…
You see, when it comes to pricing your membership, there are so many different ways to approach it…
And a lot of different factors to consider.
Quite a lot of the time, pricing is downright illogical…
Because so much of it has to do with the perception of the value that your membership delivers…
And that’s not an easy thing to gauge.
So if you’re preparing to launch your membership…
And are struggling to price it…
Here are some important things for you to consider.
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In the final episode of season five of Behind The Membership, Craig Cannings, co-founder of Freelance University, joins us to share the story of how he and his wife Kelly transformed their business after switching to the membership model.
He tells us what inspired them to go down the membership route after selling a la carte courses for so long, why they made the decision to adopt the closed-door enrolment model and how they’ve found a way to stabilize growth in-between launches.
He also talks about what it’s like running a membership with his wife, the changes they made to the business during the global pandemic to better serve their audience and how they use badges and certifications to aid member retention… Plus much much more.
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Passive income… two simple but loaded words that have become associated with the world of online memberships.
It’s difficult to have a conversation these days on the subject without someone bringing it up…
And that’s because a lot of people think that starting a membership is a guaranteed way to make passive income…
You just set it all up once, sit back and watch the money roll in, right?
Erm, no not quite…
You’ll rarely see us talking about memberships and passive income in the same sentence…
And there’s a good reason for that!
There are a lot of so-called internet marketing gurus that point you in the direction of the membership model and promise that you can make money while you sleep…
The truth is, it’s just not that simple…
And if you’re reading this post looking for me to do the same, then I’ve got some bad news for you….
A membership is never going to bring you 100% passive income.
But does that mean you can’t make any passive income from your membership?
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Our guest on this penultimate episode of season five of Behind The Membership is Lisa Leander, founder of Women in Business Education.
Lisa’s story is a very interesting one. What started off as a planned side hustle targeting a very specific niche audience (possibly the smallest we’ve ever seen with only a few hundred people in the world in the market), quickly resulted in Lisa quitting her job and managing the membership full-time due to the pandemic.
During this episode, she shares what life is like as a membership owner. How she’s tapping into her 10 years of experience as a Director of a membership organization to build the business as quickly and efficiently as possible, why she made the decision to invest in building a team from the very beginning and how Lisa’s personalized approach to recruiting new members has a 50% to 70% conversion rate.
She also talks about why she only delivers live content to her members, how her site is structured to cater for different segments of her members to give them a specialized peer experience and her plans to grow her niche further later this year.
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Are you ready to hire your first employees for your membership business?
You may have already dipped your toe in the water by working with freelancers or contractors…
People who essentially work for themselves or third party companies and handle one-off tasks or work for you as and when needed…
But now you’re at a point in your business when you need more…
There are tasks that need to be completed on a regular basis…
And you don’t have the time or the bandwidth to do it…
So you’re now ready to hire your first employee…
And that’s a whole different ball game…
So where should you start?
Having completed our own recruitment drive here at The Membership Guys, we have some experience in this area…
And of course, as always we want to share our knowledge with you…
So here are our thoughts on how to go about hiring your first employees for your membership business…
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Our guest on this episode of Behind the Membership is offers an interesting and slightly different perspective on memberships…
Unlike the majority of our guests Ali McGee Kelly doesn’t actually own her own site, she manages The Social Media Marketing Society, a membership owned by one of the world’s biggest social media marketing blogs, Social Media Examiner.
In this episode Ali shares what it’s like to manage a membership as part of a wider team for a larger business, she talks about the changes the company has been forced to make as a result of the global pandemic and the Society’s unique approach to recruiting guest experts.
She also reveals some changes that have been made behind the scenes to enhance member experience, why the Society has decided to adopt the open door model and how Ali and her team manage content within the membership to ensure it stays relevant in an industry that changes almost daily.
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Is your quest to make everything perfect with your membership website holding you back?
When you’re at the beginning of your journey…
Or maybe even if you’ve been in business for a while…
The need to get everything right…
From features and tech to your content and community…
Can be all consuming.
So much so that it prevents you moving forward altogether.
You become stuck over-analysing, over-thinking and fretting over every little thing.
But it doesn’t need to be this way.
Here’s how to overcome perfectionism when starting a membership website…
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Sean Wilson joins Callie for this episode of Behind The Membership to talk about Sean Wilson Piano, his membership site for Gospel pianists.
During this episode Sean shares the details of his journey so far, how he tapped into a small but engaged audience to launch his membership back in 2017, why his approach to delivering content within his membership has changed and the positive impact the pandemic has had on it’s growth.
He also tells us how he recently overcame his subscription ceiling, now attracting over 100 members a month instead of 40, the steps he’s taken to make engagement skyrocket inside his community and how YouTube has played a huge part in the success of his membership … Plus so much more!
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Why are people not joining your membership website?
You could have the most incredible membership…
One where you work tirelessly perfecting each and every little element of it…
But people aren’t joining and you’re left scratching your head wondering why.
Well there may be a good reason for it…
And we’re going to help you find out what it is.
Here are nine common reasons people aren’t joining your membership site…
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Our guest on this episode of Behind The Membership is Vahn Petit, Founder and singing coach at School Vocalize, an online contemporary singing school based in France.
When Vahn made the decision to adopt a child she realised that she needed to make some changes to the way she worked so she could prioritize family time… and a membership offered her the perfect opportunity to do that.
Since launching School Vocalize just under two years ago Vahn shares how she has quadrupled her income after niching down to the French market, how she attracts new members using youTube and how recently introducing a new tier to her membership has enabled her to offer one on one feedback to a limited number of members.
She also discusses how the pandemic has had a positive impact on her membership, how she’s building a thriving community who plan to meet in person soon, her goals for the future and much more!
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Looking to drive sign ups for your membership using email marketing?
Well that’s good because your email list can be a gold mine for bringing in new members!
That’s because when someone subscribes to your email list, they’re expressing an intent…
They want to learn more from you.
So this is the perfect time to strike while the iron is hot…
And send them an automated series of email follow ups.
These emails are specifically designed to let your subscribers get to know you and your brand better…
What you offer, how you can help them…
And begin sowing the seeds to nurture your relationship further with the aim of eventually converting subscribers to paying members…
Sounds good doesn’t it?
But what should these emails cover?
We’ve got the answer.
Here are five essential emails that every membership email series needs.
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Do your potential members understand your membership offering?
The benefits of joining your membership…
What to expect as a member…
And how you can help them take the necessary steps to reach their desired outcome?
More often than not the answer to this is a resounding no.
And this can be for many reasons…
The most common of which is that they simply don’t know what’s inside the box.
In other words, they have no idea what goes on inside your membership…
And that’s preventing them pressing the ‘join today’ button on your sales page.
It’s our job as membership website owners to rectify this…
And there’s one very simple but powerful marketing tactic you can use to do that:
Taking them behind the scenes of your membership…
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Meet Anna Geiger – mom of 6 and owner of The Measured Mom Plus, an online membership that offers resources, printables and training to pre k-third grade educators.
In this episode of Behind The Membership, Anna joins us to share the story of how she has turned her hobby into a thriving business.
What started as a blog sharing content with family and friends while living abroad has become, over the space of 8 years, an online shop and membership that attracts millions of site visits per month and hundreds of thousands of subscribers to her mailing list.
In this episode Anna talks about how she’s built her audience, why she made the decision not to sell any of her products until two years after her blog went live and what inspired her to launch her membership just under 2 years ago.
She also shares how her site attracts over 100 members each month with little to no marketing, what she loves most about being a membership owner and the challenges she faces targeting teachers… Plus much more!
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Let’s talk about money!
When it comes to this subject people tend to be at wildly opposite ends of the spectrum…
Some will happily talk about money all day long…
Whether it’s about how much they make, how little they have or their financial goals…
Others, however, completely shut down as soon as the ‘M’ word comes up.
That’s because many of us have a complicated relationship with money…
Which is possibly why I’ve waited so long to tackle this topic!
But, the truth is, when it comes to business, it’s a subject you simply can’t shy away from…
That’s why I’ve decided to share some of my musings about money and mindset in the membership world…
Our perceptions of it, how we treat it, how we think about it…
And the impact that can have on our memberships.
So, let’s dive into some random musings about money, memberships and everything in between…
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Alisha Robertson from The Purpose To Service Academy joins Callie for this episode of Behind The Membership and she has a very interesting story to share…
After experiencing burn out as a coach, Alisha knew that she had to find a solution that would help her scale her business, without the time constraints of one-on-one coaching… and she did, in the form of a membership program.
But the interesting thing about Alisha is that before doing research and launching her membership, not only had she never heard of the business model before, but she’d never been part of a membership herself!
In this episode you’ll hear about Alisha’s membership journey to date… how her program looks very different from when she opened its doors nearly two years ago, her realization that she could serve her members better if she niched down and the challenges she’s faced being new to the membership space.
Plus you’ll hear how Alisha adds a few personal touches to her member experience, how her life has changed since launching her program and what her plans for the future are…And much more.
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