Should you start a membership in 2026? (with guest expert Jaya Rose)

Wondering if it's still worth it to start a membership in 2026? What about if what you have to offer would fit a membership model? We answer that! 

Jaya Rose will even tell you what sort of personalities suit a membership, vs who should steer clear.

Check out Jaya's free workshop! https://thejayarose.com/membership-workshop

Follow Memberships Expert Jaya Rose: https://www.instagram.com/withjayarose/

On a Zoom call with a business-owner friend recently, I found out what he earns from his membership — and I went quiet. Not because of the number (okay, also because of the number), but because of how easy it all seemed! His people are happy, he's happy, and he's making real money doing it.

So I brought in Jaya Rose — the business coach who teaches memberships, content, and messaging, and who just sold out her own program on how to start a membership.

In this episode, we also cover:

• The real definition of a membership
• The difference between a learning portal, a group program, and a true membership.
• Why Jaya Rose scrapped her whole business overnight, and why it was the best decision
• Some key explanations like "what is a membership?", and "how do you scale away from a 1:1 service?"

Jaya's story of quitting her first membership over a single weekend is the kind of thing that'll make you look at your own offers differently — and maybe rethink what you're building before you build any more of it.

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Music by Jordan Wood

Hosted by Jenna Harding (Warriner), Creator of Magic Marketing Machine

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Tap here to get your free Posts That Sell Template (This caption got us 10 sales calls in 3 hours)

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Music by Jordan Wood

Hosted by Jenna Harding (Warriner), Creator of Magic Marketing Machine

Transcript

speaker-0 (00:00)
I don't want to be a gossip, but I'm gonna gossip with you right now because I was on a Zoom call with a friend, a colleague, someone I know from the business space. And when he told me how much he was making from his membership, I went quiet.

I was so shocked. He actually told me how many people he had. And he had previously told me the monthly cost of his membership, which is relatively low. And then I paused and he said, I can see the gears turning. You're thinking about how much money that is, aren't you? And I was like, actually, I was thinking about how easy it all felt. The way that he put this membership together, the way that he promotes it. It all just seems to like come together. His people are happy, he's happy, and I it's a lot of money. So

dear friend, I have brought to you today someone whose expertise is helping us become millionaires with memberships. Maybe, hopefully, I brought in today

Jaya Rose, who is a business coach who has a specialty in content creation, messaging, and memberships. And

also just sold out her program on how to start a membership. So hopefully we all leave this conversation millionaires. Is it possible for us, Jaya like Maya?

speaker-1 (01:18)
I mean, it's one hundred percent possible and I think it just totally depends on how much healing you've done.

speaker-0 (01:25)
Fair. And I know you're probably sitting there like, Jenna, we don't need to be millionaires. Why do you keep saying that number? Like, it's not your brand. It's my brand.

speaker-1 (01:34)
No,

and it's adorable. Like I love the idea of million dollar membership, just in full transparency. My membership is not making me a million dollars yet, but it absolutely could. So that's something. It's

speaker-0 (01:45)
Fully could. can you just explain to us like bare bones? So we're all on the same page. What are we talking about when we talk about a membership in general?

speaker-1 (01:52)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, well, I think there's a lot of different ideas of a membership. And I will use this example of how I joined one myself this week and all the lessons we can learn from that. But and I'm probably gonna say some things that aren't as complimentary. So the idea that a membership can just be thrown together and just be a say like a Facebook group or something on one of the apps where they host community, I would say that that's false. It's not

just a community where you offer some value. I think that that's a misconception. So what it actually is, is your expertise put into a learning portal, say like a course. You can think of it like a course and people rent that course from you. And while they're renting it from you, they're inside a community that helps them do it. It helps them with accountability. And I love to say too,

Practice. Like you're gonna have the best selling membership if you have something that people need to practice. And a lot of people have that going on and they're maybe doing one on one. And I look at it and I go, You can have all these people that you're talking to one on one learning in a portal. I just call that I call it a portal, a learning portal, but it's a you know what I'm saying when I say that, right? Like a course where you have laid out maybe the teachings and things. Yeah, yeah.

speaker-0 (03:16)
There's podcasts. There's materials you learn from that you log in to see.

speaker-1 (03:19)
Thank you very much. Yes. So so you could put your expertise into the learning portal and then not have to teach people the same thing over and over. Hallelujah. Right. And then we have what they have to do to get the result, which is actually the action taking. And that part requires practice. It requires feedback. It requires support and community. Perfect for a membership.

speaker-0 (03:43)
Right. So like we wouldn't just put our like write a ebook and then put that behind a wall because once you read it, you're done.

speaker-1 (03:51)
Yes. It has to be a journey. It really does have to be a journey people are going on. I don't know what to say isn't a journey, but fitness

is always a good example of someone going on a journey. Maybe they aren't working out and they want to be doing it consistently, but they have the constraint of being a stay-at-home mom. Well, a membership design for them specifically is really great because we can meet those needs. you're at home. Okay, it's on demand. it you're with a kid. Okay, let's make them short.

Right. Let's make them effective. So whenever we can be more specific in that way, a membership is gonna do better.

speaker-0 (04:26)
there's a misconception then that I have had because some people say that well, some people join Magic Marketing Machine, my program, and then they start calling it a membership. And I'm like, it's not a membership, it's a program. And other than the pricing structure, which is, you know, there's payment plans or a lump sum, but whatever. So, like aside from that element of it where it's not a subscription, I always thought it needed to be a program because the beginning is a proven process. So the beginning of the program, modules one to three, we want you to do

them in order as a proven process and that was like part of our selling feature. But then after that it's material, support, calls, co-working, like it's all those different things. So now I'm wondering if maybe that does sound more like a membership based on how

speaker-1 (05:08)
Well, except

what are they what's the agreement? What's the time constraint agreement? Do they ha is there an end?

speaker-0 (05:17)
Well, they it's a year's access because

speaker-1 (05:20)
Ning.

speaker-0 (05:21)
once someone does the proven process, there's like you said, a journey, there's all sorts of things. They want more views, they want to run a promotion, they grow and they want to know what to do with this new audience, they wanna grow their email list. So that's the journey of it. And then people started getting to the end and wanting to stay. So then we created ways for them to stay.

speaker-1 (05:38)
I mean, that sounds like it could be a membership really easily. what have I done? I know. I know. Well, I mean, you've created something that you can transition into a membership, which is great.

speaker-0 (05:48)
Wait, hold on. Maybe this call will end with me being so rich because you open my brain to like a new way to structure everything.

speaker-1 (05:56)
Except I don't know what you're charging, if someone pays w do you wanna s say what you're charging or yeah I

speaker-0 (06:02)
I

sure, because it's a thousand bucks, but then last year we created an extended payment plan of $99 a month. So a lot of people just

speaker-1 (06:11)
Yeah.

So you're basically giving it's literally a membership, but you're having a demand of the time. So it's a year. It has to be a year. but also you're kind of saying it's only a year. but on average, a membership, I actually I need to check these numbers, but I think retention is around three months for a membership. So you're actually doing better by

bringing people in and actually helping them get results over time and having them commit to that, that sounds better to me.

speaker-0 (06:42)
Well, I mean, if this can be a lesson for the listener, it's like there really is no perfect structure. So how do you decide what is gonna be and no and you can also always change your mind, always change your structure. But

what would you tell someone if they're trying to decide if this is the structure they want for their business?

speaker-1 (07:01)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, first of all, personality plays a part in this. So there are people who just shouldn't run a membership and there are people who are very prone to doing it successfully. So I'll just talk about the successful part. If you like community and that's a part of your mission, is bringing people together around your work, kind of a no-brainer. Also, if you're somebody who tends to center other people, I think it's a really good thing. Versus there are a number of people in

our industry who are more like the main character. And I love a main character, but I mean, their brand is built around their persona and they're maybe more luxury. I would say those people in general might not be as good for a membership because it really is about bringing people together and it's not about you as much.

speaker-0 (07:52)
Mm.

speaker-1 (07:53)
also, you just really need to decide about access to you. That's what I was gonna say about yours. The fundamental difference between a learning portal that teaches you X, Y, Z to get this result, whether or not it's a group program where they get coaching.

Whether or not it's a course where they get nothing, or it's a membership where they have a community and ongoing access. The difference is really what access to you is needed for someone to get the best result. And sometimes people are going to say, I need to get on a call. For example, in my membership design school, it's not a membership, it's an eight-week program that walks them through the curriculum to pick their topic.

To get clear on the marketing, to map their membership and to launch it. That's the that's the trajectory, right? And with that, I could sell it as just a course, but I know that people need feedback. They need validation on their offer. They need insight on the marketing messages. So many things that are my expertise. And so I don't want to take myself out of it. I put myself in it. And so then it's a higher ticket group coaching experience versus a membership.

speaker-0 (09:05)
it's so funny that you say that part of what makes you good at this is centering the person you're talking to, right? Centers client because you have this. I don't want I don't want to make you hyper aware of it, but I love this active listening ism that you have. because and you can

hear it, everyone's heard all

speaker-1 (09:23)
That right there. Uh-huh.

speaker-0 (09:26)
Well, it's close. It's like when I ask a question, you go, mm-hmm. and then you answer. So it's like when I hear in that sound is yes, that's a really good question, Jenna. Good girl. And then you answer

speaker-1 (09:38)
So it's like a validation to you.

speaker-0 (09:41)
I

so validated every time. I'm like, I asked a good question. You can tell she liked it.

speaker-1 (09:46)
That's so interesting. I love that. And now I'm yeah, okay. I'm not gonna be aware of it. I'm gonna be unaware of it. it naturally works, right? I think there are people who want to take themselves out of their work and they want to scale, and that's fine. just be an education business, right? Just have courses and there are plenty of people who do that. And then for me, I have a go.

speaker-0 (10:08)
peep about that whole thing because I think people do that too early.

speaker-1 (10:11)
Sure.

speaker-0 (10:12)
the I don't want to say obsession because I don't want to shame people, but this like thing that we've been sold about passive income and scalable business models and stuff caused people who were who were still very new with their whole thing to want to remove themselves too soon. And it doesn't behoove them.

speaker-1 (10:30)
Or their audience.

speaker-0 (10:32)
Yeah.

speaker-1 (10:32)
Right. because the quality gets diminished. And I think that that's fair, especially if your work originates with actually helping people and working with people. Scaling it is an interesting thing. It's nuanced, and I think it needs to be it needs to be cared for. so I tried to take myself out of my work about four years ago and I developed courses and I sold them. They sold fine, but I was like, ew.

I don't like it. I want to help them. I want to help them. And so for me, I also don't want to be on calls all the time. So that's what's attractive about scaling my work is taking some of myself out of it, giving myself back time, but then also having the influence and the impact of working with the people. That's why I love like I'm obsessed with my membership. Yeah. I love it. I do a QA and I am.

So excited. They they probably almost think I'm weird because every single QA, and I've had it for three years now. And so I do a QA once a month, a live training once a month. I give them feedback on a video of theirs once a month. And then we do a batching club where I hold them accountable to them batching their videos. That's sort of the the breakdown of the live components of the membership, right? So every single time I do one of those live components when I'm working with them, I probably seem like a nerd. I'm like,

Yay. I'm so happy for you and all this. But it's because I genuinely love it and the load of work for me is so low that when I do the work, I'm genuinely happy to do it. And I just think that that's such a win-win.

speaker-0 (12:12)
Mm-hmm. Well, and I just want to clarify when we say scaling, because there might be people who are like, what are we talking about out there? So when we're saying scaling, we're like, if you're working one-to-one with someone and you want to make more money, you can do basically three things. You can charge more, you can start hiring people to work alongside you, like junior experts and build out your team, or you can find a way like a education product or a membership or whatever.

To serve many people at once instead of doing everything one-to-one. So what Jaya's saying is like when she s teaches in a group setting, in the time it would normally take 10 hours to do one-on-one with multiple people, she can do it in a group. And my experience is that people push back against that if they've never been in a good group. But then people like just from what I've experienced from the groups I'm in and the groups I teach, it's so much better for people.

It's so much better for the learning. You're learning from people who are ahead of you. People are always in my groups going, Man, I'm so good at writing hooks for other people. But then it comes to me and I'm like not as good at it. And like, perfect. That means you are gaining the skill, doing it for yourself is next, instead of just sitting there not

speaker-1 (13:25)
Mm-hmm.

speaker-0 (13:26)
do it, you know? So that's just

speaker-1 (13:29)
For Clarity. Totally. No, that's very helpful. And I think that if you're in one on one, it can feel really hard to figure out how could somebody still get results from my work and take this one on one component out. I know I was there for a long time before I came online. I was a personal trainer for 12 years and a life coach. I took that online 10 years ago. You know my brand name from then?

What? Did I tell you this? No. Booty, mind and spirit. I was booty mindandspirit.com and I had online fitness. It was fascinating because I had been working one on one with people for twelve years, right? I had a lot of expertise and a lot of experience. And so when I took it online, I had built a course. My first course was called the 21 Day Ab Challenge. And it was $21. I sold it to 150 people.

Which actually is quite impressive for just right. I'd only been online for a few months at that point. I was learning so much all at once. and then I launched another course and then I launched a membership. So that was my first membership 10 years ago called the Fit Life Academy. And once I got to that point, I was about a year in online and I realized that I had taken out the part of fitness that I liked, which was the people.

It was the working with people, the helping hold accountable, the work, you know, in transformation. And I had just stripped that and I was just a teacher. And I didn't like it at all. And I literally quit everything. I pivoted over a weekend, which welcome to my world, that it's not shocking if you if you know me now. But it was the first time I had done it at that point. I had built all that stuff for a year. And then I went for a walk and I had just listened to that book.

The Big Leap.

speaker-0 (15:24)
yeah.

speaker-1 (15:25)
Right. And that book was really transformational for me. And I thought about those ideas. If y'all haven't listened, it's the idea that we have multiple zones, one zone being your zone of excellence. Do you remember the different ones? Zone of excellence, zone of genius. Wasn't there another one? Okay. When I'm

speaker-0 (15:42)
No, I don't remember. Thinking

of of right now that you also might have read in that moment is 10x is bigger than 2x. And that's when I read that one, that's when I was like, and by let me look.

speaker-1 (15:52)
brain is it

up. Interesting. Well, this idea is that you have a zone of excellence, which is like what you're good at. that's not your million dollar idea, right? That's just your I help people idea. And so he talks about being in your zone of genius. And that zone of genius is the thing that really only you can do. And I went on this walk thinking about that. And in that moment,

I realized that I loved video because I had done hundreds of videos teaching fitness. And I thought I just want to teach people how to talk to camera and use their voice to share their message. And so I threw everything away for Booty, Mind, and Spirit and launched a program called Rock Your Videos. And Rock Your Videos scaled to 150K that year in 10 months.

speaker-0 (16:43)
I have the zones here. Zone of incompetence, zone of competence,

speaker-1 (16:45)
Zone often.

speaker-0 (16:46)
zone of excellence, and zone of genius.

speaker-1 (16:49)
Okay. Yeah, like you suck. You're okay. You're good. You're the best. There you go. good is really easy to stay at. Yeah.

Yeah, I just put everything on its head and challenged that. And that's when I started to scale my work. Even though Rock Your Videos, I think the first round had seven or eight people in it. But that to me was I was like, wow, this is so cool.

speaker-0 (17:23)
I mean, one of the things they say that is a marker of a good entrepreneur, and I don't want everybody to just blow up their business on a walk, but being able to make big decisions quickly is.

speaker-1 (17:36)
Well, I'm a good entrepreneur in that way, for sure. I'd be decisive AF.

speaker-0 (17:42)
And what an invitation for all of us to really tune into what it is that we like. Like some people might have been in the position you were in and just identified it as burnout and just been like, I'm burnt out, I don't know what it is, but never actually clicked into what it is that they miss so that they could so that we can move more toward the part we enjoy and the thing we

speaker-1 (18:01)
Yeah.

speaker-0 (18:02)
instead of just feeling a general sense of overwhelm or unhappy.

speaker-1 (18:06)
I love that. Right. It's like, what am I missing so I can create that instead?

And I have, I mean, that's been ten years. My membership is about talking to camera. So I'm literally still teaching that ten years later. And then now I teach you also how to create your own membership because I love it so much. So there you go.

speaker-0 (18:24)
Okay, so that program is sold out, but you are about to launch it again and bring in a new cohort of people who want to put their zone of genius turn it into a membership. So what's the scoop on that and how can we find you?

speaker-1 (18:38)
Yes. Well, I'm sure we can give you a link or something, right? To put somewhere. But I'm with Jaya Rose on Instagram and TikTok at with Jaya Rose, J-A-Y-A-R-O-S-E. And I'm pretty easy to find when I'm launching, but the base of membership design school really is getting that topic. I think this is very underrated, but the topic you have for a membership is the make or break of how you're going to build the whole thing and then sell it.

So I take you from that, from the ideation, all the way to having your first founding members launch where you bring in your first twenty to fifty people.

speaker-0 (19:17)
That's amazing. I'm so excited. I'm so excited for all the people you're gonna help. And you're gonna be back on the show because we still have a lot of we still have a lot of gabbing to do. I'm not I'm not finished with you.

speaker-1 (19:26)
Okay, I I'm I'll be back.

speaker-0 (19:29)
Okay. Thanks, Jaya

speaker-1 (19:31)
Thanks everyone.