If you and I were to meet somewhere, I’d be the guy either in the corner of the room sitting down by myself or I’d be the guy standing next to the extrovert who was attracting a crowd.
If you were to ask me what I like to talk about, 3 things would jump out of my mouth in a heartbeat.
1. My faith in Jesus is extremely important to me.
2. I love Star Wars and I know for a fact that Han shot first.
3. I love self-employment and want everyone to consider it
I could talk with you for hours on those subjects if you’d let me.
Creating Recurring Income
In fact, I combined #1 and #2 when I launch TheChristianJedi.com in 2012. Since then I’ve written 6 Bible Studies based on Episodes 1-6 and a daily devotional based on all 11 live-action Star Wars movies.
Having Bible studies and a devotional on Amazon provides a royalty commission every time one is sold. I spent untold hours on creating these works and can potentially earn money from them for decades to come.
Now, I am in the process of creating a membership site. It will be a Christian Jedi Academy.
The content is being thought of and created now since the launch is happening later this spring or early summer.
Before I decided to do a membership, I downloaded Stu McLaren’s free guide, “Launch A Successful And Profitable Membership Site.”
The reason I got Stu’s information guide is that he co-founded the company that makes WishList Member, the WordPress plugin I’ve been using for my web design clients. The plugin is so easy to use and I love it. That’s why I’ve set up multiple clients on it.
Before I created my membership site, I had a few questions to see if having a membership site for TheChristianJedi.com made sense.
I went over to GetTribeGuide.com to get the guide.
The Guide I Needed
The guide Stu McLaren put together helped walk me through the following 8 decisions.
He was my Obi-Wan Kenobi or Yoda.
- 8 Decisions To Make
- How to Know if a Membership Site is Right for You
- How to Choose the Best Membership Format for You
- How to Start a Paid Membership Site (Even If You Don’t Have an Audience)
- 3 Simple Rules for Naming Your Membership Site
- How to Be Known as an Expert and Build Trust
- How to Quickly Grow Your Audience (Without Wasting Time and Money)
- How to Choose a Pricing Model for Your Membership Site
- The Best Content Strategy for Your Membership Site
Decision #1: “It starts with the people you want to serve. If they’re looking to solve an ongoing problem, develop new habits, or master a skill—and they’re already talking about it—you’ve got great indicators that a membership site fits your market.
Decision #2: Stu walked me through deciding which of the 6 main membership formats was right for my audience.
- The Publisher Model
- The UPS Model
- The Coaching Model
- The Community-based Membership Model
- The Drip Membership Model
- The Combo Model
Decision #3: Stu offers two tracks based on whether you have an existing audience or not. Since I have an existing audience for TheChristianJedi.com I was able to move the practical. I need to pick a date, cast a vision, and invite people to be founding members. Don’t worry if you don’t have an audience for the niche you want to serve. Stu will help you work through a number of questions in order to create/find that audience.
Decision #4: I already have a branded website, so I have a name that is easy to remember, spell, and people can identify with it.
Decision #5: I’ve established myself as an authority in the Christian Star Wars area but need to bring that to the membership portion of what I am doing. Stu’s guide is helping me walk through a set of 4 questions.
Decision #6: According to numerous sources, my email list and social media following are large enough to support at least a founding member’s launch. That said, I will still be working through Stu’s “3 Proven Hacks to Get the Following You Really Want ”
Decision #7: I am working through Stu’s “6 Ways to Price Your Membership and Set Yourself Up for Success” portion of the guide. Not only does he list out all 6 ways, Stu provides excellent guidance on which will work best depending on your situation.
Decision #8: There are basically two ways you can deliver content for your membership site. You provide Core Content all at once or you drip out the content over time.
“When you’re running your own successful business, you get to decide the rules of the game.” ~Stu McLaren
Read about Ashley Raetz and Sarah Williams by clicking their name below. They created and are running successful membership sites.
