{"version":"1.0.0","segments":[{"startTime":7.839,"endTime":11.519,"body":"For the past year, I've been running a paid membership community called The Creator Club."},{"startTime":11.519,"endTime":15.305,"body":"I've learned a ton, what worked, what didn't, and why I'm now"},{"startTime":15.305,"endTime":18.845,"body":"completely switching things up by making The Creator Club"},{"startTime":18.905,"endTime":22.445,"body":"free. If you've ever considered starting a paid membership"},{"startTime":22.585,"endTime":26.425,"body":"community, this episode is for you because I'm gonna break it all down. And"},{"startTime":26.425,"endTime":29.68,"body":"by the end of this episode, you'll know why I'm making this change, what it"},{"startTime":29.68,"endTime":33.04,"body":"means for you, and the lessons you can apply in your own journey. I started"},{"startTime":33.04,"endTime":36.88,"body":"the creator club in October of 2023. It's been"},{"startTime":36.88,"endTime":40.64,"body":"right around 14 months in total that I've been doing it. To be"},{"startTime":40.64,"endTime":44.105,"body":"honest with you, at first, I was afraid nobody would join. I have"},{"startTime":44.105,"endTime":47.625,"body":"a, I don't know, relatively engaged"},{"startTime":47.625,"endTime":51.385,"body":"audience. Numbers wise, you know, I reach a lot of people every"},{"startTime":51.385,"endTime":55.225,"body":"week, every month, but I didn't know how many people would join. I didn't"},{"startTime":55.225,"endTime":58.745,"body":"have a wait list for the creator club. I had a domain and a"},{"startTime":58.745,"endTime":62.239,"body":"dream. Before it was called the creator club, it was called content creator circle"},{"startTime":62.239,"endTime":65.54,"body":"because I didn't know if I wanted to pay the money for"},{"startTime":65.68,"endTime":69.2,"body":"the premium option of having the creator"},{"startTime":69.2,"endTime":72.775,"body":"club.com. I think it was a 1,000 plus dollars, and I wanted to"},{"startTime":72.775,"endTime":76.215,"body":"validate my idea that anyone would join before I spent that type of"},{"startTime":76.215,"endTime":79.575,"body":"money and Content Creator Circle was the minimum for a"},{"startTime":79.575,"endTime":83.415,"body":"dotcom domain. But people joined pretty quickly, and my"},{"startTime":83.415,"endTime":87.15,"body":"fears were at ease. The days were long during that period because"},{"startTime":87.29,"endTime":91.05,"body":"I was just hoping that it wouldn't be like one person and I"},{"startTime":91.05,"endTime":94.89,"body":"would have to have this weird, hey, it's just us. Because I was"},{"startTime":94.89,"endTime":97.61,"body":"having weekly live calls and there were a lot of resources in there. And if"},{"startTime":97.61,"endTime":101.395,"body":"you've ever done any type of online launch, I'm sure you can relate with that"},{"startTime":101.395,"endTime":104.995,"body":"feeling. But right away, I started quickly AB testing"},{"startTime":104.995,"endTime":108.275,"body":"various landing pages to dial in the messaging, and I think I ended up with"},{"startTime":108.275,"endTime":111.715,"body":"around 15 new members that 1st month. So fast"},{"startTime":111.715,"endTime":115.53,"body":"forwarding to now, the creator club has gone through stages of growth."},{"startTime":115.77,"endTime":119.369,"body":"It hasn't been as explosive of a transformative community I"},{"startTime":119.369,"endTime":123.13,"body":"initially envisioned. I work in marketing. You know? I"},{"startTime":123.13,"endTime":126.49,"body":"am victim to the marketing brain, which if you"},{"startTime":126.49,"endTime":129.85,"body":"haven't heard this before, but, like, marketers are great at"},{"startTime":129.85,"endTime":133.665,"body":"envisioning what's possible and then sometimes thinking beyond, you know,"},{"startTime":133.665,"endTime":136.725,"body":"what actually happens, which is needed. Right? You have to be a little bit unrealistic"},{"startTime":136.785,"endTime":140.465,"body":"when you're starting to build something that's never been built before, but there"},{"startTime":140.465,"endTime":144.145,"body":"are some truths and hard lessons that come across with that. And that's"},{"startTime":144.145,"endTime":147.959,"body":"all on me. You know, I learned some hard truths about what content"},{"startTime":147.959,"endTime":151.58,"body":"creators truly want and how they engage with communities."},{"startTime":151.799,"endTime":155.18,"body":"One of the obstacles I ran into right away was the messaging,"},{"startTime":155.4,"endTime":158.76,"body":"which, like I said, I was AB testing on landing pages, in"},{"startTime":158.76,"endTime":162.519,"body":"promotion through paid ads, in my email newsletter, things"},{"startTime":162.519,"endTime":166.175,"body":"like that. The main two obstacles I would run into with"},{"startTime":166.175,"endTime":169.855,"body":"messaging, which isn't unique to the creator club, but I'm sharing it"},{"startTime":169.855,"endTime":173.535,"body":"here because you will run into these options at some point is number"},{"startTime":173.535,"endTime":177.27,"body":"1, who's this for? And number 2, why do they need"},{"startTime":177.27,"endTime":181.11,"body":"it? The better you can answer who this is for and the better"},{"startTime":181.11,"endTime":184.87,"body":"you can answer why they need it, everything sells easier. You"},{"startTime":184.87,"endTime":188.33,"body":"can make things clear as possible. But the lack of clarity,"},{"startTime":188.47,"endTime":191.995,"body":"especially when I started out content creator circle, made the"},{"startTime":191.995,"endTime":195.675,"body":"messaging to dial in difficult up until, I would say, maybe a"},{"startTime":195.675,"endTime":199.295,"body":"month or 2 ago, and I'm continually refining it. But"},{"startTime":199.355,"endTime":202.715,"body":"when I started out, it was like, is this for, you know,"},{"startTime":202.715,"endTime":206.315,"body":"entrepreneurs? Is this for podcasters? Is this for content"},{"startTime":206.315,"endTime":209.7,"body":"creators? Just those 3 alone are 3"},{"startTime":209.7,"endTime":213.54,"body":"different categories of people, I will say, and they have different"},{"startTime":213.54,"endTime":217.239,"body":"needs. And so articulating in the messaging of who this is for,"},{"startTime":217.3,"endTime":220.819,"body":"you have to be pretty agile with the testing and messaging on the landing pages"},{"startTime":220.819,"endTime":224.525,"body":"and ads, and that was just something that I had to figure out as I'm"},{"startTime":224.525,"endTime":228.205,"body":"building it. Oftentimes, people will do that research before they launch"},{"startTime":228.205,"endTime":231.725,"body":"something, but I'm like, let's just build it as we go. And then"},{"startTime":231.725,"endTime":235.37,"body":"answering that why they need it piece, I developed all of"},{"startTime":235.37,"endTime":238.57,"body":"these resources which I put in the creator club, but just because you make a"},{"startTime":238.57,"endTime":242.33,"body":"tool doesn't highlight why someone would need it. Just kinda"},{"startTime":242.33,"endTime":245.37,"body":"like you could go to Home Depot and maybe buy everything you would need to"},{"startTime":245.37,"endTime":248.81,"body":"build a house. Doesn't mean that people are gonna just start building houses because they"},{"startTime":248.81,"endTime":251.825,"body":"can get access to Home Depot Even if you just gave them, like, a credit"},{"startTime":251.825,"endTime":255.424,"body":"card where they could just buy everything, money almost even isn't the"},{"startTime":255.424,"endTime":259.264,"body":"objection at that point. It's answering that deeper part of why do"},{"startTime":259.264,"endTime":263.08,"body":"they need it. And then to wrap a little bow on that, how does that"},{"startTime":263.08,"endTime":266.8,"body":"all apply right now in the age of AI and, you know,"},{"startTime":266.8,"endTime":270.48,"body":"it's an election year and there's, like, just so much always going on. It"},{"startTime":270.48,"endTime":274.32,"body":"doesn't matter really what season you're in. You're constantly needing to make a case"},{"startTime":274.32,"endTime":277.68,"body":"for why this is needed, and this is for that person right"},{"startTime":277.68,"endTime":280.955,"body":"now. And targeting a paid community at a low cost,"},{"startTime":281.335,"endTime":285.115,"body":"like say $20 a month or so is an interesting scenario because"},{"startTime":285.175,"endTime":288.615,"body":"paid memberships require constant value delivery and a"},{"startTime":288.615,"endTime":292.455,"body":"clear ROI. Doesn't matter if it's $20 a month, $200 a"},{"startTime":292.455,"endTime":295.85,"body":"month, $2,000 a month, $20,000 a month. The"},{"startTime":295.85,"endTime":299.45,"body":"mission is still the same. Constantly add value, have a clear"},{"startTime":299.45,"endTime":302.73,"body":"ROI for the people that are joining. And again, this all comes back to the"},{"startTime":302.73,"endTime":306.25,"body":"importance of, like, simplifying the messaging so that it aligns with"},{"startTime":306.25,"endTime":309.985,"body":"audience's needs and is a complete balance, which is something that,"},{"startTime":309.985,"endTime":313.505,"body":"you know again, this is all on me. It's something that I was struggling"},{"startTime":313.505,"endTime":317.264,"body":"to nail in. And I had done member surveys, people"},{"startTime":317.264,"endTime":321.104,"body":"that didn't join, why they weren't joining, and got some really interesting"},{"startTime":321.104,"endTime":324.28,"body":"feedback. And a lot of that is what I'm sharing with you right here in"},{"startTime":324.28,"endTime":327.9,"body":"this episode. There is a reality of sustaining engagement"},{"startTime":328.04,"endTime":331.8,"body":"in a busy digital space, which the creator club was hosted on"},{"startTime":331.8,"endTime":335.26,"body":"Circle. And if you're not familiar, Circle is kinda like, Kajabi,"},{"startTime":335.48,"endTime":339.115,"body":"Mighty Networks. These places where you can create online communities, and"},{"startTime":339.115,"endTime":342.655,"body":"they cost around, like, $49 and up per month to host."},{"startTime":342.715,"endTime":346.395,"body":"But just like last week's episode where I was highlighting these different social"},{"startTime":346.395,"endTime":350.074,"body":"platforms and there was 10 of them, having a community is just"},{"startTime":350.074,"endTime":353.76,"body":"another place where people would need to go. And if you're already going to a"},{"startTime":353.76,"endTime":357.46,"body":"few different social apps, you have your email, you have YouTube,"},{"startTime":357.52,"endTime":360.98,"body":"you have Reddit, you have any other online sources,"},{"startTime":361.28,"endTime":364.935,"body":"there's only so much time in the day for people to check-in. A"},{"startTime":364.935,"endTime":368.475,"body":"majority of people are not familiar with a community like Circle."},{"startTime":368.695,"endTime":372.535,"body":"So many more people are used to it today than ever, but the fact"},{"startTime":372.535,"endTime":376.375,"body":"remains, like, it's not in someone's habit of checking"},{"startTime":376.375,"endTime":380.13,"body":"in communities, which leads me to the 1% rule, which is"},{"startTime":380.13,"endTime":383.57,"body":"basically a rule that says 90% of people in any"},{"startTime":383.57,"endTime":387.35,"body":"online community space, something like the creator club, Reddit,"},{"startTime":387.49,"endTime":391.155,"body":"even social media apps, 90% of people just lurk."},{"startTime":391.235,"endTime":394.835,"body":"They don't actively contribute. 9% of people will"},{"startTime":394.835,"endTime":398.595,"body":"basically engage from someone else's post, and 1%"},{"startTime":398.595,"endTime":401.955,"body":"of people will actively contribute new content to that"},{"startTime":401.955,"endTime":405.62,"body":"space. So looking at the numbers, that basically means if you had a 100"},{"startTime":405.62,"endTime":409.379,"body":"people in an online community, 90 people are just lurking, 9"},{"startTime":409.379,"endTime":412.84,"body":"people are gonna comment on other people's posts, and around 1"},{"startTime":413.06,"endTime":416.745,"body":"person would make new posts that sparks the engagement. And this rule of"},{"startTime":416.745,"endTime":420.585,"body":"thumb is super interesting because you start to see, like, the scale needed if"},{"startTime":420.585,"endTime":424.345,"body":"you wanna have an actively engaged community. You need a lot of people, which"},{"startTime":424.345,"endTime":428.105,"body":"leads us to the shift, the new direction. So after these 14 months, I'm"},{"startTime":428.105,"endTime":431.94,"body":"pivoting the creator club to something more accessible, which is a free discord community"},{"startTime":432.4,"endTime":436.24,"body":"for creators. The messaging is simple. The creator club is an online"},{"startTime":436.24,"endTime":439.94,"body":"space for content creators who want to grow and connect with other creators."},{"startTime":440.16,"endTime":443.84,"body":"By moving to discord, this allows us to focus on connection, sharing"},{"startTime":443.84,"endTime":447.474,"body":"resources and building a space where creators can help each other with"},{"startTime":447.474,"endTime":451.175,"body":"less barriers. By making the creator club access free, it increases"},{"startTime":451.235,"endTime":455.074,"body":"the reach. The operational demand will go down on me versus"},{"startTime":455.074,"endTime":458.754,"body":"not doing weekly calls and not needing to really be thinking a lot"},{"startTime":458.754,"endTime":462.47,"body":"about how much more I can cram into the creator club"},{"startTime":462.47,"endTime":466.07,"body":"to make it worthwhile for the investment for the people that are paying to be"},{"startTime":466.07,"endTime":469.75,"body":"a member. And having said that, future opportunities do remain open"},{"startTime":469.75,"endTime":473.59,"body":"for being able to, like, re include resources that were once in the creator club,"},{"startTime":473.59,"endTime":477.044,"body":"things like the weekly live calls, which I am going to miss, prompt"},{"startTime":477.044,"endTime":480.724,"body":"libraries, things like that. I don't have a timeline for future"},{"startTime":480.724,"endTime":484.565,"body":"opportunities beyond the creator club whole migration to Discord and"},{"startTime":484.565,"endTime":488.34,"body":"starting to thrive there. That's gonna be my focus, But it is something"},{"startTime":488.34,"endTime":492.18,"body":"that I do want to bring back in is more live calls and"},{"startTime":492.18,"endTime":495.88,"body":"interactions, more so around the accountability and connection"},{"startTime":496.42,"endTime":500.18,"body":"beyond just something text based, which is what Discord will be text"},{"startTime":500.18,"endTime":503.755,"body":"based connection. So for those of you who are running or considering"},{"startTime":503.755,"endTime":507.515,"body":"memberships in the future, think about this. Sometimes simplifying is the"},{"startTime":507.515,"endTime":511.275,"body":"best move, and what's more important, complex offers or truly"},{"startTime":511.275,"endTime":515.115,"body":"serving your audience. If you're seeing a paid membership community as a"},{"startTime":515.115,"endTime":518.73,"body":"potential revenue generator, I would offer you this to"},{"startTime":518.73,"endTime":522.19,"body":"consider. Number 1, the number of people in your audience."},{"startTime":522.57,"endTime":526.41,"body":"Does it make mathematical sense to have a paid membership community? And"},{"startTime":526.41,"endTime":529.77,"body":"if it does, what do you need to charge? What's the amount that they would"},{"startTime":529.77,"endTime":533.265,"body":"need to pay and what's the amount that you would need to earn"},{"startTime":533.565,"endTime":537.085,"body":"to make it worthwhile? Setting aside marketing brain for a second"},{"startTime":537.085,"endTime":540.925,"body":"which you need that, I wanna say delusional but unrealistic thinking like what"},{"startTime":540.925,"endTime":544.365,"body":"it could grow into, it's not some lottery ticket when you do a paid"},{"startTime":544.365,"endTime":547.959,"body":"online membership community that people wanna pay it. That just because you"},{"startTime":547.959,"endTime":551.8,"body":"charge $20, you know, people will pay that. The fact of the matter is it"},{"startTime":551.8,"endTime":554.86,"body":"could be just as easy to sell one thing for $10,000"},{"startTime":555.72,"endTime":559.125,"body":"than it is to sell 500 things for $20. If I didn't"},{"startTime":559.125,"endTime":562.485,"body":"have my company content clips running the past couple"},{"startTime":562.485,"endTime":565.925,"body":"years, I don't know that I would have been able to keep the creator club"},{"startTime":565.925,"endTime":569.685,"body":"going as long as I have because of a need for revenue generation, but"},{"startTime":569.685,"endTime":573.525,"body":"I've picked up so many lessons and insights over the past 14"},{"startTime":573.525,"endTime":577.3,"body":"months that doing things how I have done them have been so"},{"startTime":577.3,"endTime":581.06,"body":"worth it. And last things I wanna just end on is remember to"},{"startTime":581.06,"endTime":584.76,"body":"consider the core goals of your audience. If that's connection,"},{"startTime":584.82,"endTime":588.5,"body":"like what type of connection? Is it live interaction? Is it quick check"},{"startTime":588.5,"endTime":592.185,"body":"ins? Is it accountability? And then resources, do they"},{"startTime":592.185,"endTime":596.024,"body":"want access to something? Do they need help doing something in"},{"startTime":596.024,"endTime":599.625,"body":"their workflow or whatever it is? And when do they want it by?"},{"startTime":599.625,"endTime":603.33,"body":"Thinking about like a paid membership community, that's something that's ongoing"},{"startTime":603.33,"endTime":607.09,"body":"and usually long term. And if the goal of your audience is to solve a"},{"startTime":607.09,"endTime":610.85,"body":"quick solution then something long term like a paid membership community might not"},{"startTime":610.85,"endTime":614.625,"body":"be ideal. Also experimentation is part of the process. So whatever"},{"startTime":614.625,"endTime":617.845,"body":"you're doing similar to what I've broken down in this episode,"},{"startTime":618.145,"endTime":621.825,"body":"remember to document, remember to gather, remember to"},{"startTime":621.825,"endTime":625.585,"body":"learn from your experiments because that's key to your own growth and how you're"},{"startTime":625.585,"endTime":629.19,"body":"gonna be able to not keep making the same mistakes and finally get traction. And"},{"startTime":629.19,"endTime":632.95,"body":"then last, it's okay to pivot. As creators and making something like a"},{"startTime":632.95,"endTime":636.79,"body":"paid membership community, I've found it would be really easy to fall"},{"startTime":636.79,"endTime":640.25,"body":"into the sunken cost fallacy. Thinking"},{"startTime":640.755,"endTime":644.275,"body":"because I've been doing it for say 14 months that I need to keep doing"},{"startTime":644.275,"endTime":648.035,"body":"it because I've already put in 14 months. It's okay to pivot and it's okay"},{"startTime":648.035,"endTime":651.735,"body":"to want to innovate something knowing that long term, it could be"},{"startTime":651.875,"endTime":655.61,"body":"better for everyone involved rather than focusing on, well,"},{"startTime":655.61,"endTime":659.37,"body":"I put in this time. Nobody cares how much time you put"},{"startTime":659.37,"endTime":662.81,"body":"in. Really, they care about the goals that they're trying to reach. And my job"},{"startTime":662.81,"endTime":666.51,"body":"is to try and help people like yourself reach those goals faster"},{"startTime":666.649,"endTime":670.155,"body":"and get unstuck and make less of the same mistakes. So you're"},{"startTime":670.155,"endTime":673.915,"body":"invited, of course, to join the new discord for the creator club, which I'll make"},{"startTime":673.915,"endTime":677.515,"body":"sure to link in the show notes. The whole goal with the creator club again"},{"startTime":677.515,"endTime":680.975,"body":"is to just network and connect with other content creators."},{"startTime":681.195,"endTime":685.01,"body":"There's other communities, you know, Reddit and Facebook groups and things like"},{"startTime":685.01,"endTime":688.69,"body":"that. I don't really trust them. I feel like there's ulterior motives with those places,"},{"startTime":688.69,"endTime":691.89,"body":"and I found also some really bad advice. So you can see me as a"},{"startTime":691.89,"endTime":695.49,"body":"bit of, I guess, a moderator of the creator club. And I think the speed"},{"startTime":695.49,"endTime":699.135,"body":"at which we could share these new resources will be better served in"},{"startTime":699.135,"endTime":702.895,"body":"Discord versus another community like Circle. I know I already said, like, last"},{"startTime":702.895,"endTime":706.562,"body":"thing, but really the last thing is being a creator means evolving. This is just"},{"startTime":706.562,"endTime":710.322,"body":"one step in my evolution, and don't forget to take the next step"},{"startTime":710.322,"endTime":713.442,"body":"in yours. I'd love for you to be a part of the creator club, and"},{"startTime":713.442,"endTime":715.467,"body":"I hope to see you in the discord. See you in the next one."}]}