Why Your Membership Business Systems Might Be Holding You Back | 103

Is your membership starting to feel like more work than it’s worth?

Then friend, it might be time to take a look at your membership business systems.

In this episode, I’m keeping it real and sharing exactly what it’s been like to run two memberships long-term, and why I recently hit pause to completely rethink the Systems Savvy Society. 

In this episode, we’ll talk about:

• The behind-the-scenes reality of maintaining a membership over time
• Where my membership business systems helped me, and where they failed
• The signs your systems might need an upgrade
• Why I’m rebuilding one of my core offers from scratch
• What I’m changing to make things feel easier, lighter, and more aligned

This is part one of a new mini-series walking you through my membership revamp journey, so stay tuned for the step-by-step next week!

Connect with Lucy:

✨ Join My Free Community: https://cheerstoproductivity.com/community-invite

✨ Free Workshop: https://cheerstoproductivity.com/steps

Show Notes: https://cheerstoproductivity.com/podcast/ 

Transcript

0:00

Hey, I'm Lucy Reyes, your host of the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast, where I'm on a mission to help online entrepreneurs that like you focus on all the right things and kiss overwhelmed goodbye. Here, you're going to learn strategies that will boost your productivity so that you can scale your online biz and impact lives sooner. It's your time to shine. So let's get started Hey, hey, welcome back to the Cheerful Productive Chess podcast. I'm feeling so refreshed. I missed out on a week of podcasting, and I feel really, really good about it because I didn't force myself to do something that I didn't have the energy for. Coming out of a launches always a period in a time when it's just nice to take a little break and to not feel the pressure of trying to stay consistent. So guess what? I lost my. Streak. I had a really strong streak going from the beginning of the year through now, so I'd say, you know, it was a pretty good one. But today I'm feeling a little extra chatty about a new project that I've been working on that has me. Super excited, but I really want to take you behind the scenes and get super real with you because honestly, this is going to be a topic that we don't talk about enough as online business owners, especially as membership owners, and it's about. What it's actually like to run a membership long term. And I'm not just talking about the shiny launch, the fancy sales page I'm talking about like all of the day in, day out realness. Of showing up month after month to serve your members, create content, manage tech, and keep the whole thing from falling apart. So today I'm gonna spill the T on my own experience from what I have learned about running memberships. I have two memberships that I've been running, one of'em for two years, and one of'em for. One year. So I have the Productive Entrepreneurs Club and the System Savvy Society. So when I share my own experience, I'm gonna talk about the systems, how they have saved me from burnout, and where the lack of systems definitely made things harder than they needed to be. So if you have a membership, are thinking about launching one. Or if you're just trying to stay more consistent in your business without losing your mind. This episode is for you. So let's start with what it's like to launch a membership. You know, you get that fresh energy vibes of wanting something new. You're creating this thing that's super new, super exciting. Maybe you like the idea of supporting members consistently without overloading your calendar or your schedule, you know, helping multiple members versus that one-to-one client. Maybe that's something that excites you. Maybe it's the idea of it being recurring revenue. There's so many things that gets talked up whenever you're trying to get ready to launch a membership. But running a membership isn't just about that initial launch. It's really about everything that you have to do that comes after the cart closes. So it's really about the monthly content creation. I. Keeping up with the tech, the customer support, the community platform. It's about keeping members engaged and answering questions and dealing with churn and evaluating what's working and what's not, and making decisions on what to do or create next. The list goes on and on, and this is on top of you running the rest of your business too, and for myself. I don't just have memberships. I am a prolific creator. I love to create, so I'm constantly creating new offers, new workshops, new templates. So I'm launching something different. I have flash shells. I'm having all these other things on top of my membership. So let me tell you, this shininess of running a membership really starts to wear off quick once you realize that it's something else. That you have to maintain on top of everything else, especially as a solopreneur. But listen, I love my memberships. I freaking love them, and I will not give them up, but. On a month when I am launching something else, or I've had just so many life things going on and life has been lifeing, which it definitely feels like it has been lately. Then the idea of having these monthly deliverables. No longer feels exciting. It feels like a lot. Which brings me to the biggest lesson that I wanna talk about in this episode, which is your systems will either save you or sabotage you. Listen, there were so many times, well, actually, let me rephrase that There. I've always been super grateful of having my systems in place, even if it's been a basic system. You know, I have systems for whenever I create new templates, new podcast episodes I have for, um, for member onboarding. My Trello board has outlined exactly what I have to do every single month for both of my memberships, and these have been. Lifesavers and they have given me the breathing room. I need to get that stuff done ahead of time if I wanted to, and reduce my overall overwhelm of having two memberships, so having these systems in place versus not having these systems in place. I would say my level of overwhelm is definitely way, way low. But there have been times when, if I am being honest, there have been times where I am. Feeling like I'm dragging myself to the finish line, and I have been creating the content the day before it's due, even though I have the reminder set. Even though I have my system set, I've been still pushing it off and still procrastinating because it's no longer feeling excited, exciting, and I'm trying to. Remember what I said I was going to do or change, or maybe realizing that a tech link was broken because I hadn't updated it or whatever. All of that stress, all of those last minute scrambles, all of that come combined, not just for one month for, but for honestly for a few months. That's. When I really started to feel the consequences, the consequences, I can't even say it, consequences of not having even stronger systems. Because here is what else is true. It's not just about having enough systems or basic systems because you actually can outgrow some of the systems that you have already built. And I'm not just talking about the tech or the tools that you're using. I'm talking about the energy that I had. When I first built those systems and when I first created my memberships and the content I promised and the perks and the resources and everything I was delivering, my energy wasn't matching that anymore. It wasn't the same, and so the structure I had set up, the systems that I had implemented for the first year that I had these memberships, it wasn't matching what I needed in the second year. So some of the workflows have felt clunky. Some of the automations have felt like they've added to my plate versus helped me and honestly, even my thoughts around certain parts of the membership. More specifically, the system savvy society. Have shifted. I've already made some changes inside of the Productive Entrepreneurs Club. I've made gradual changes and those feel good. I've updated those systems and that feels good. But the Society is a much bigger support system, which requires a lot more strategic thinking, a lot more decisions, a lot more systems. And so when I was having this feeling over time, over and over and over again. It really clicked and I recognized and I realized that it was time for a change. I needed more than just a system upgrade. I needed a bigger overall shift, and it was time to rethink. One of my core offers, one of the core memberships that I have been running for the past few years, which is the system savvy society. It's kind of like. It's, it's taking on a whole new rebrand and I'm letting that sink in right now because it's like, whoa, I'm actually doing this thing. Okay. Systems and especially memberships are not something that you just set and forget. They have to grow and evolve with you. Like I said, what worked a year ago may not be working now, and it may not work six months from now. Because your business, your capacity and your audience needs are always changing, and if your systems don't keep up. Yeah, then you end up feeling like you're just working against them rather than being supported by them. And that's where I felt to myself, that's where I found myself and how I ultimately ended up realizing that I needed a full revamp of everything, not just my systems, but the membership offer itself too. Because I don't just want to maintain the society how it is, if my energy isn't backed behind it. If it doesn't feel aligned, I want it to feel aligned again. I want to feel the light and have it be streamlined and have it be valuable and easy for both me and my members. And I couldn't just keep doing that by piling new ideas or testing out new things into an outdated foundation. So that's where I am at right now. This is my official announcement that I am revamping the entire experience from the ground up inside of the system Savvy Society, and I feel so. Freaking excited for it. I feel so excited for it. I'm revisiting the systems, the structure, the content delivery, the community supports every single thing. I have. Gone through it with a fine comb and figured out what exactly is going to be changing, updated revamping inside of the system Savvy society. And I have felt that energy and the spark come back to me, and I am so, so excited. I'm so excited that I've decided that I'm going to take you behind the scenes of this process because yeah, there's a lot of systems that are going behind the scenes just to make this revamp possible because it's a lot if you havet checked it out. And you, if you have seen what type of support I offer inside of the system Savvy society, there's a lot. So there's a lot to go through. So I am going to be hosting over the next few weeks a mini series of episodes. So if you have ever felt like you are stuck in something that you built or created, whether it's a membership, a program, a workflow, or even just your weekly content schedule. Then I am right there with you, and I want you to know that we all evolve and as we evolve, our business systems have to evolve with us. So I. If you've been feeling like something in your business is heavier than it should be, or if you're constantly tweaking things on the fly or avoiding parts of your business like I was because they just felt messy or outdated, I. Then this is your sign. Okay? Your systems might just need a refresh, or maybe it's the offer, maybe it's both, and that's okay. It doesn't mean that you did anything wrong. It just means that you have grown and that's a good thing. That's a good thing. So I'm really excited to take you on this journey with me to show you what it's like to revamp this entire membership that is all about systems and showing you. What my systems to make this revamp possible. I'm excited to take you behind the scenes with me there too. So this is something that you're excited for with me. Or if this episode is something that hit home for you and it's something that you feel like you could actually use a support with, then I will love for you to do two things. First go sign up for my free private podcast if you haven't already. The link is in the show notes. This is where I dive deeper into systems and how they can support your business behind the scenes without adding more to your plate. So these are super bite size and actionable episodes, so it's perfect for you if you are liking this episode in this podcast. So go ahead and sign up for that free private podcast. So you can go a little bit deeper on that. The second thing I want you to do is to follow me over on Instagram, because this is where I'm going to be sharing more real time updates as I go through this membership revamp. So I'm gonna be posting on my Instagram stories. I might do some reels or some carousels. I don't really know yet. I'm not there yet, but I do know. That I'm gonna be sharing some real time updates as I go through this membership revamp, so that way you can see what I'm doing, what I'm testing, and how I'm rebuilding up my systems to set me up for an even better experience, not just for my members, but for myself as the membership owner to make things easier for me and still incredibly valuable for my members. And lastly, if you are curious about the system savvy society and want to be the first to know when the new version is available or how I'm supporting my members through it all as it's happening, then just make sure you're on my email list. You can get on it by signing up for that free private podcast. So really. It's a win-win. All right, friend, that's all I have for you. Thank you so much for being here and for letting me share this honest, messy middle stage of the journey. I will see you in the next episode where I will start to dive deeper into the actual steps I'm taking to rebuild the membership systems and how you can use those same steps. To simplify your own business too. All right, talk soon. Thank you so much for listening to the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast with me, Lucy Reyes.To view the full transcript and all the links mentioned in today's episode, visit cheerstoproductivity.com/podcast. And before you go up, make sure you follow or subscribe wherever you're listening so that you know once the next productive chat is released. Talk soon and cheers to your productivity and success