When you are running a membership site, there are so many things to think about, plates to spin, and jobs to do… but not all worries are created equal.

Some problems are not even problems, or they may be reasonable concerns but simply not worth the amount time and energy they are taking from you.

As a membership site owner, your workload is large enough already – you don’t need add to it unnecessarily!

We hear all sorts of concerns from membership site owners and have identified six of the most common worries that we can waste our time with.

Let’s look at why they aren’t as big a deal as you might fear and why it’s okay to start letting them go…

Undercharging your earlier members

We hear this a lot and, honestly, it’s completely backwards.

If you’ve been running for more than a year, then chances are you’ve put your price up at least once.

You might have launched with a discounted rate for the first few weeks or months.

After that time period elapsed, your prices went up to full price.

If things have gone really well, or you’re a few years in, you may well have increased your prices again.

This is something we recommend as one of our Key Steps to a Successful Membership Site Launch Strategy.

If you still have some members from those early days where they joined at a discounted rate – that means you’re doing a good job! But wanting those original members to either pay more or restrict their access somewhat is such a bad mindset.

Those people have the better deal because they backed you in your earliest days.

They joined when all of the risk was on them, when you had less content and less to offer, but they saw something in you and joined.

If 10% of your members are paying half price, that’s their reward for supporting you and sticking with you throughout the development of your membership site.

You shouldn’t resent the fact they’re around, you should be looking for ways to reward them further for their loyalty.

Without them, your membership site may never have gained the momentum it needed to give you the privilege of this worry!

Trying to please everybody

It’s an impossible task and, in truth, you shouldn’t want to be pleasing everybody.

You don’t want a membership that is broad and generic in an attempt to satisfy everyone, it’s simply never going to happen and you can drive yourself crazy trying to tick everybody’s boxes.

Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans theory is a great model to think about in this case.

Find your 1,000 true fans that love your message, your style, your everything and focus on them rather than watering down your offering, personality, and brand in the hope that you’ll tick everyone’s boxes.

Don’t try and please everyone with your membership, it’s never going to happen.

It’ll do you the world of good to shift your mindset about this from being a problem to a positive, encouraging you to stick to your mission to connect with your true fans.

That one guy…

You know that one guy.

The one who’s always got a complaint, always got something to say, the nit-picker, the noisemaker, the thorn in your side.

It’s time to shut that one guy down.

That one guy doesn’t actually have an issue with you or your membership.

That one guy’s issue is with himself.

If 100 people have one complaint, that’s an issue.

If one person has 100 complaints, then the issue is with them.

Learning the difference will save you hours of stress and worry.

Don’t let that one guy monopolize your attention or cause you problems.

People like that can be toxic to your membership, especially if they’re making these complaints on your forum or social media channels.

That one guy will never actually be satisfied, so don’t waste your time and energy trying to listen to a broken record.

Take a look at our post on How to Deal with Problem Members Inside Your Community if you want some pointers.

Uninvited and unconstructive criticism

People love to help, but constructive criticism is rarely truly constructive, and it’s often dished out without being requested.

If someone offers up unconstructive criticism, or just any criticism that you haven’t invited, you need to be steadfast enough to say “no.”

It’s up to you to control the flow of feedback and we’ve written before about How to Deal With Negative Feedback About Your Membership.

I’m not saying you should bury your head in the sand and ignore your members’ issues, but if you want that feedback – you should seek it out by surveying your members or getting members on 1-on-1 calls.

That way, you can find solutions to problems that will genuinely improve the member experience.

The best way to solve this worry is to have the confidence in your genuine belief that what you’re doing is good.

After all, if you didn’t know what you were doing, you wouldn’t have paying members.

But trust me, I know criticism can be hard to take and knock you back.

100 great reviews weigh the same as 1 bad review.

Flipping that around and focusing on the positives can be hard, which is why we keep a “Happy Folder” on our Dropbox, in which we collate screenshot of any nice comments we receive – wherever they come from.

That way, if somebody is sharing unconstructive criticism, we can turn to the “Happy Folder” to avoid getting too preoccupied with a negative comment or a pointless barb.

What your competition is doing

As membership site owners, we can assume that we’re the only one who has any doubts, deals with any failures, and is still trying to figure things out.

Whether it’s our direct competitors or just people in a similar space, we can see others trying something new or different and presume that it’s because they’ve got the inside track and that we’re a step behind.

The truth is, everyone is still figuring this stuff out – especially with membership sites.

If you’re seeing someone try something new, it just means they’re doing what we’re all doing – trying our best to keep growing and perfecting our craft!

There is no one-size-fits-all formula for membership site success.

We have been involved in multi-million-dollar membership sites and can tell you categorically that there is no fool-proof formula for success.

Try not to get preoccupied with what other people are doing, we’re all just trying to find our own way, and we only see the tip of the iceberg of what other people are doing.

You’re comparing your ‘behind the scenes’ with others’ highlight reels.

Your members joining other memberships

It’s a common assumption that people will only pay for one or two memberships and, so, if you see one of your members join another membership, that puts their continued subscription to your site at risk.

But we don’t read just one book, watch one series, follow one band, or have one mentor.

Someone who is inclined to be a part of a membership is likely to be a part of several others at the same time.

Yes, there might come a day when they assess their subscriptions and weigh up the value of each one… but if that happens, you can’t control it and you can’t stop them from joining other memberships.

Restaurants can’t stop you from eating elsewhere, podcasters can’t stop you listening to other shows, and you can’t stop your members from joining other sites.

All you can do is focus on showing up and serving your members as best you can and offering amazing value.

Isn’t that a weight off your shoulders?

If any of these are complaints you’ve made in the past, believe me when I say you are most certainly not alone.

But now is the time to let them go.

Take a breath and wave goodbye to these unnecessary worries.

Your headspace is too important to be filled with irrelevant and insignificant concerns like these.

Start focusing the time and mental energy that you’ve spent on these unnecessary worries and focus it instead on your membership and delivering great value to your members.