Hey there! This email is long and detailed. If you want the short version here it is:
I highly recommend starting a membership so that you do NOT start from $0 each and every month. If you buy nothing from this email get this – a membership can be EASY to start and you don’t need a lot of tech or content to start.
If you want HELP you can buy membership content here (a lot of it for a great investment), you can learn about how to start a membership site here, you can learn how to write emails to SELL your membership here.
Full Email Content:
In 2010 I created my first membership site.
It was simple. You could call it a “subscription” site, even.
I showed up once a month and taught a class via live webinar.
Funny how, 12 years later, I’m doing the same thing with Email Practice Club! Great strategies can and do stand the test of time.
I have had memberships ever since 2010 except for the one and a half years just before I launched Email Practice Club.
I don’t like to say “never” but I don’t plan to ever go without having a membership site as long as I’m building business income. It’s just so much easier to have that recurring base income coming in month after month without having to start from zero.
So here’s how I suggest you get started:
- Come up with a monthly recurring offer that you can deliver. Something your people will be excited to buy month after month. This can be as simple as a planner download (Coach Glue has enough planners for 3 YEARS of monthly planner downloads RIGHT HERE).
- Choose the tech to get it started. I use ThriveCart, Mailerlite, Zoom, Vimeo and Canva Pro for my membership site. You can get help on choosing the best tools for you in Cindy’s training here.
- START your membership or subscription offer. Don’t delay. Don’t overthink. I thought of my first membership and launched it within a few days. I wrote out about 24 months of topics and just got to it! What that means is you’ll want to get specific on your first offer, set up a sign up page and start marketing (I like emails).
- START marketing – As I said I like email and if you want help learning how to write emails fast so you can do them EVERY day to build the relationship and consistent sales then check out my training this Thursday called Write Emails Faster OR join Email Practice Club for only $25 and get that training FREE.
When people think of starting a membership site they often think it needs to be this huge undertaking that has to take months and months to plan.
It doesn’t have to be.
Once I got the idea for Email Practice Club I got going very quickly and started get new members right away. My community knows me as a prolific email marketing and it was such a natural fit membership for me.
Think of how your community knows you and something you’d like to create for YEARS to come. I have been doing email marketing for over 15 years now so I am quite positive I’m not going to get sick of it anytime soon!
People have a lot of things holding them back when it comes to launching a membership site. Here are my answers to these biggest roadblocks:
Will it take up too much of my time?
It doesn’t have to! I bought content and Coach Glue’s VIP pass after my daughter was born and it helped me earn $79k in one year working a few hours every WEEK. I had NO TIME because my daughter took up so much of it but I put a plan in place and kept my membership running on very little hours. Now I recommend you have at least 15 hours a week for your membership in the start but it doesn’t have to take up 40+ hours a week.
Do I need a ton of content?
No! I started with one monthly workshop and that was it. Simple. Effective. Members loved it.
Do I need complicated tech?
NO, not at all. I am running my membership site in one course module in ThriveCart and sending membership emails via MailerLite. I get on zoom to host my training and upload it to Vimeo which I then post into the membership area. I create my monthly presentations (when I do those) in Canva Pro, graphics in Canva Pro and the PDF monthly swipes in Canva Pro. Easy tech compared to some of the solutions out there! No need to have a custom or complicated system.
Do I need to commit long-term?
Well, maybe. It takes work to build a membership site and if you’re only it in for six months it’s not going to be worth it. I would say you need to be willing to run a membership site for 3-5 years or so in order for it to be worth the effort you put in in the first year or two.
I hope that helps you decide if a membership or subscription offer is for you. If you have any questions at all just let me know!
If you DO decide to start a membership and want to grab any of the resources I’ve mentioned please shoot me a reply and any additional questions you might have – I’m happy to provide you with some impromptu coaching as a thank you for grabbing the offers through my links. (The offers: Coach Glue VIP Pass, Cindy Bidar’s Membership Site Mastery and my Write Emails Faster class).
Have a great day!
- Cross Blog Conversation with Kelly McCausey About Email Marketing: Part Four - October 31, 2022
- Cross Blog Conversation with Kelly McCausey About Email Marketing: Part Two - October 13, 2022
- Getting Paid to Show Up - October 11, 2022
