These days ‘Passive Income' seems to be the pot of gold (quite literally!) at the end of the entrepreneur rainbow. So it's not surprising that people might think and hope that a membership site is a good way to achieve this.

But the short, honest, answer to this frequently asked question is actually no, I wouldn't say a membership site was the best way to achieve passive income – although it can certainly be a lot more passive than a service business.

I'm actually not a big believer in totally passive income  – the mythical holy grail of making money without actually doing anything – to be honest. Somewhere along the way work has to go into it, unless you are reselling someone else's absolutely awesome product that everyone wants so much you don't even have to market it.

In my opinion, a membership site is not a quick path to overnight riches. If it was I would probably be in Aruba right about now, drinking cocktails and annoying everyone by posting copious amounts of beautiful sunset photos on Facebook.

What a Membership Site Will Provide…

Whist not the best source of passive income, a membership site is a great source of recurring income on your own terms and this is why I particularly love the membership model. I would far rather have a predictable yet accumulating monthly income, which can grow to 5, 6, 7 or even 8 figures.

But that extra income doesn't just fall into your lap, it involves time and effort, whether in the creation of the site and content, managing your community or in marketing your offering. And usually you'll be investing time and resources in all three.

How much work are we actually talking about?

Ultimately, the amount of work involved in your membership site depends entirely on what you are offering. Possibly an unhelpful answer I know, but an honest one at least.

If you are offering a monthly membership site with new content each month plus interaction like a monthly webinar and community to provide added value for your members, then the continuing time and effort involved is a lot greater than if you are creating an all in one course where you might only need to spend some time promoting the product once it is finished.

The great thing though is that you only have to create the content once, but it can be utilised by all existing members and future members too. So you are getting paid multiple times for the same information. That beats delivering a bespoke service or consultation hands down on the time for money spectrum.

It might take you 4 weeks to create all the initial content for your membership site, but if you then have a 100 members who pay you $30 a month and all you need to do to keep that is spend a few hours a week marketing the site to new members and supporting existing ones, then that is time well spent, especially if it is also impacts positively on other aspects of your business.

The goal isn't passive income, it's regular recurring income.

Which is exactly what a membership site can create for your business. 

And I'm not ruling out the possibility of drinking cocktails in Aruba as the result of a membership site, I'm just being realistic about the time and effort involved in creating a successful site. A site that you're proud of, a site that highlights your expertise and knowledge and opens up more doors for your business, a site that provides exceptional value for your members.

A membership site that provides you with ongoing income, not a hit and run source of quick cash which won't offer any real sense of fulfilment in the long run.

That's far better in my opinion.

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