4 Reasons You Should Start A Membership Site & 2 Reasons You Should Avoid It

Jan 18

You may have heard a lot of buzz lately about memberships as an online business offering, and perhaps you have joined an online membership yourself to learn a skill, receive coaching, or become part of a community.

I think that memberships are the bomb—I’ve grown tremendously through the memberships I’ve participated in and I’ve had a rewarding experience creating my own membership offerings. I’ve also helped scores of entrepreneurs create Searchie membership Hubs to bring their memberships to life.

But is hosting a membership right for every online entrepreneur? No, of course not. Before starting a membership, think long and hard about whether it’s the right model for you. Here are four reasons why you might want to start a membership and two reasons why you might want to avoid it:

Membership Reason #1: Scale Up to Help More People

There’s an upper limit to how many clients I can handle one-on-one in my Build My Searchie Hub VIP Experience, and the same goes for your one-on-one client work, too. We only have so many hours in a week! But what’s magical about creating a Searchie membership is that you can help many more people without running yourself ragged. You can prepare educational materials that can be enjoyed by your clients on their own time and then do group coaching calls and live help sessions that members can attend live or watch in a replay. You’ll be doing more good in the world and growing your circle of influence.

The same holds true for coaches. While one-on-one coaching is wonderful, not everyone can afford to pay the premium price that entails. Searchie coaching programs (which are the same as memberships, no matter what you call it) allow clients to access your help, gain support from your community, and make progress towards their goals without going broke.

Membership Reason #2: Steady Cash Flow

As I just said, you can help many more people using the membership model at a cheaper price point than one-to-one service, and the income flows in steadily every month. As any entrepreneur knows, cash flow is king. It’s so nice to not have to start each month with a blank slate of income. Your Searchie membership can provide solid and steady income.

Membership Reason #3: Your Membership Grows in Value

Every month, you’ll be adding content to your membership. You can use Searchie automations so that each time you do a live coaching or support call with your members it automatically uploads (with searchable captions or transcriptions) to the membership Hub. Let’s say you do two live calls per year. In a year, your new members will be signing up to a membership that has 24 live calls already in the library! The same is true for all of the content that you add… the membership library becomes an ever-more-valuable resource.

The more value you can offer, the higher price you can command. And you’re maximizing the use of work that you’ve already performed!

Membership Reason #4: A Membership is the Most Efficient Way to Serve Clients

All of the first three reasons just listed dovetail into this: The most efficient way to serve clients is through a membership model. There is no reason to grind away for a million hours a week, handling the same client struggles again and again. If you know how to lead your clients through a learning path that you’ve developed, you can accomplish this using a Searchie Hub and limited live support calls.

Your clients get the coaching or education they desire. You get to make a living and still have time and flexibility. I don’t know about you, but one of my requirements for my online business is that I can do it from anywhere—including at a beach rental!

Hold Off on a Membership if You Don’t Want a “Business Baby”

One reason for an entrepreneur to pass on hosting a membership is that while it provides regular, steady income, it requires regular, steady care and feeding. If creating new content every month and regularly meeting with members on live calls is not your cup of tea, you may be better off creating a Searchie course. This can be created and then made available to the marketplace. This could be a more hands-off experience for your clients (which many people prefer). They buy the course and take the course and have no live contact with you. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that!

Hold Off on a Membership if You Want to Offer a Variety of Digital Products

Let’s say you’re cranking out digital products like ebooks, pdf guides, and online courses. You’re not exactly sure which of them might be a big income producer, but you’re having some success with these offerings and you’re in the thick of creating more. What a creative place to be! These digital products can produce good income on their own and can always be repurposed inside a Searchie course or Searchie membership or coaching program later, if you choose. There is no one right way for knowledge-based businesses to serve their clients and grow.

Hot Tip for Creating a Membership

If a membership seems right for you, here’s how to create a Searchie Membership Hub even if you’re a totally newbie: use my Guided Searchie Hub Template to walk you through the process of creating an effective, great-looking Searchie Membership Hub! My template helps you know what content you need and where to put it. It’s like training wheels for those who just want to get it done!

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