Behind The Membership with Callie Willows

Latest Episodes:

Building a 7 Figure Bass Empire with Scott Devine May 14, 2018

Show notes

I'm kicking off season two of Behind the Membership with a very special guest, the one and only Scott Devine from Scott's Bass Lessons.

Now, Scott was actually a client of ours for many years, the very last client we stopped working with in fact. And we saw his site go from free YouTube videos and a PayPal donate button to a seven figure membership site in the years that we worked with him.

Scott's Bass Lessons has been running for 6 years now and has attracted over 30,000 members in that time. It's also gone from one-man bad to having a full faculty of world class bass educators. So there's a lot to pack into this episode!

Growing Through Collaboration with Laura Robinson Oct 19, 2017

Show notes

Laura Robinson from Worditude joins Behind the Membership this week for the 10th and final episode of Season 1.

The Worditude Club is still in it's first year and Laura talks with us about how the membership has already changed and evolved in that time, why she is aiming for consistency more than scale, how collaborating with others has helped growth and also how the membership fits in with her one-to-one services as well. And much more!

Having the membership club does naturally market my one-to-one services, because I'm constantly marketing the club but there's always going to be those people that look at that and go, "No, I don't want to have to figure out this myself. I just want to pay you and you do it for me."

Laura discusses the lessons learned in her first 9 months of the membership, including:

Creating the membership based on audience demand
Moving from a hands-off membership to a more personal offering
Why she no longer creates new content every month and the benefit of member-led content
Creating a pathway to help members navigate through content
Closing the membership whilst making changes to ensure the best new member experience
Why consistency is more important than quantity
Juggling running a membership site with one-to-one work
Taking a break when times get challenging
Using collaborations to get in front of new people and attract new members
How having a membership has helped to break the feast-famine cycle of one-to-one work

Running a "Limited Lifecycle" Membership with Lisa League Oct 12, 2017

Show notes

Lisa League from QPractice is today's guest on episode 9 of Behind the Membership with Callie Willows.

QPractice has been running for 4 years and focuses on helping interior designers to pass their professional exams, which means that the membership is somewhat finite as there is a natural conclusion to the membership once members pass their exams. Listen in to find out how Lisa deals with this and ensures that the membership works for both her and her members.

"I really have liked how it's just grown and evolved over time...I've really, really enjoyed the under the hood stuff as well as making the content."

Listen in to find out:

How Lisa initially got started with online education and community building
Dealing with the inbuilt churn of a results based or limited lifecycle membership
Using audience feedback to steer course development
Pre-selling the membership and creating content live
Providing assessments, hands on review and feedback as core membership features
The challenge of getting and keeping good team members
How the membership site has drastically evolved over the last 4 years, including the need for custom software development
Being hands on in the community and dealing with high levels of customer support
Why she uses and recommend Mighty Networks for membership communities
Attracting members with SEO and content marketing
Using a guarantee to encourage action and implementation
Why she's focusing on simplifying for the future

Achieving Success in a Small Niche with Shannon Rogers Oct 05, 2017

Show notes

Shannon Rogers from The Hand Tool School joins Callie on episode 8 of the Behind the Membership podcast.

The Hand Tool School has been up and running for 7 years now offering standalone courses (Semesters), and the recurring membership element (Apprenticeship) was added just over 12 months ago. Shannon provides a unique approach to his teaching model and makes impressive use of automation and tagging to provide a more hands on and customised approach to his members.

Shannon has a wealth of experience to share so listen in to find out:

How he's managed to succeed in a low-cost hobby based market by being a niche within a niche
How his site grew from a podcast and video show to monetising with an online school
Why he created a coaching based membership alongside his standalone courses and how he's combined these into a cohesive learning system
How advances in automation have helped him to scale and enable a more personal approach
How he's using live video and tripwire products to attract new members
How he manages running the school alongside a full time job (and without a team!)
Why creating content based on member needs forms the backbone of his membership
How he completely redesigned and relaunched his site a year ago
Why you just need to be one step ahead of the people you're teaching
Why fostering a strong and supportive community makes life easier
And much more!

Experimenting Your Way to Success with Holly Gillen Sep 28, 2017

Show notes

Holly Gillen from Business Cinema Academy and Holly G Studios is joining Callie on this episode of Behind the Membership.

Holly has been running her membership alongside her video production business for 15 months now, after trying lots of other business models previously. Holly shares a lot of great tips for us in this interview, including how she uses challenges to attract new members, her experience with using Kajabi for her membership site, and how important it is to only attract members when they're ready for your membership.

Holly talks with Callie about the first 15 months of Business Cinema Academy, including:

How Holly attracts new members with free video challenges
Using themed months to help members focus
The power of watching members transform and succeed
How using Kajabi has cut out the tech headaches of running a membership
The #oneminuteonetake video challenge
Using a quiz to tell sales page visitors if the membership is for them
The value of experimenting and not staying stagnant
Increasing engagement and connection with personal check in videos
Why she wished she'd started the membership site earlier!

Building a "Non Guru" Membership with Christopher Sutton Sep 21, 2017

Show notes

Christopher Sutton from Musical U joins Callie on episode 6 of Behind the Membership.

Christopher has run his business for 8 years now, with his membership site being the predominant offering since 2015. Christopher places a lot of emphasis on user experience and gamification in the membership and unlike many membership site owners, Christopher is also not the figurehead or guru of the membership, in fact most of the content is created by other people.

Christopher talks about the last 2 years of the Musical U membership, including:

How Christopher started his company after noticing a big gap in the market
Moving from creating and selling iphone apps to a membership model
How Christopher has built his business by predominantly outsourcing content creation and not making himself the guru
Gamifying the member experience for increased success
Why his community is such a vital part of the membership and aids retention
How more sales created a need to change the member experience and reassess his UX
How offering a trial has benefited his membership sales
Making use of personalised opt-ins and segmentation for better results
Building a team with a shared mission and the freedom that brings
Why his focus is on organic growth and not Facebook ads
Adding new products and membership tiers as the membership grows

Attracting Ideal Members with Julie Christie Sep 14, 2017

Show notes

Julie Christie from Togs in Business joins Callie on this week's episode of Behind the Membership.

Julie's membership is less than a year old, and Julie shares some great insights into the first 6 months of her membership and how important narrowing down her ideal member has been and why her focus is on quality of members rather than quantity.

We talk Julie's journey so far, including:

How Julie began teaching the business of photography and decided to escape the launch cycle
The challenge - and importance - of identifying and attracting her ideal members
How quality of members is more important than quantity
Juggling both a forum and a Facebook group for her membership community
Moving to an application process and purposefully adding obstacles to joining
Attracting members with live and automated webinars
How Julie created 'Success Month' to get new members off to a great start
And more!

Making the Leap from Products to Membership with John Tuggle Sep 07, 2017

Show notes

John Tuggle from Learning Guitar Now joins me on this weeks episode of Behind the Membership.

Learning Guitar Now has been around for over 10 years now, starting out selling books, DVDs and standalone courses before adding a membership offering into the mix. John's membership now accounts for around 75% of his monthly income, with one-off product sales making up the rest and John has a lot of great experience to share!

John has been running his membership for 3 years now, after spending 7 years selling higher priced one-off products. We talk:

How nicheing down and focusing on his passion made all the difference to John's success
Starting out selling DVDs and courses for hundreds of dollars and why John then decided to add a $19.95 per month membership
How going all in doubled his sales and brought him more freedom
Promoting a membership with free lessons and member exclusive extras
The benefits of selling one-off products alongside a membership
Dealing with ill health and the challenge of staying creative
How using a forum for answering member questions provides additional content
John's course production process
and much more!

Thinking Outside the Box with Avalon Yarnes Aug 31, 2017

Show notes

Avalon Yarnes from Avalon Cakes School joins Callie on this episode of Behind the Membership.

What makes Avalon and her membership so different is just how creative she is, not just with her topic but in both her marketing and her retention tactics as well.

Avalon has been running her membership for nearly 2 years now and we discuss some great topics, including:

How Avalon walked away from her job of 10 years to start the membership site with her partner
How she thought outside the box about what competitors were doing, and turned it into a great retention hook
Getting creative with video trailers and free tutorials to attract new members
The challenge of balancing life and business and wearing all the hats
Why choosing a Facebook group for her community was the right decision
The most fulfilling part of running Avalon Cakes School and the impact having a membership has had on her life and business
Why she wouldn't offer two tiers of membership if she was starting over
and more!

Pivoting Your Membership with Colin Gray Aug 31, 2017

Show notes

Joining me on this episode of Behind the Membership is Colin Gray from The Podcast Host Academy.

Colin actually had a false start with his membership, something many of us fear, but is now starting to thrive after pivoting his approach and brand.

Colin's membership is still quite young, but he shares some great insights, including:

Why his first membership site didn't quite work and what he did to fix that
Making a natural link between free and paid content, and the different roles his blog and podcast play
Why he's not sure about having a community in the membership
The challenge of creating ongoing value
How live support plays a large part in his membership success
The value in creating short actionable content to aid member results
How looking outside of other membership sites for inspiration is a good idea
How he's adding a SaaS product into the mix with his membership
and more!

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