Creative tips and tricks

How do you adopt a membership or Subscription Business Model?

Dec 9, 2022

Contents

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    It's a lot simpler and less expensive than you'd think!  

This guide will provide you with details to assist your company in making the make the transition to a membership-based model.

We'll first go over some advantages of the model of membership before looking at some businesses who are capable of moving to membership. In the end, we'll give you ideas on how you can change your business.

If you're trying to stop trading time to earn money, add an extra income stream for your company or even move your business away from the current structure and create a membership site, this guide can help.

Let's begin...

Benefits of the Membership Model

One of the most attractive benefits of changing to the model of membership is the prospect of regular revenue.

Recurring Revenue

If you can sign up members up on a subscription basis, you'll be receiving payments at regular intervals, on a consistent basis.

Predictable Income

In recurring income comes the certainty. If you're working as an independent contractor or running an agency you'll be aware of the cycle of feasting and eating.

In one month, you may face more tasks than you are able to handle. Other months you see a dip in your income. A membership plan can generate a more predictable income stream that makes budgeting simpler.

Passive income

Another big benefit of membership models is the potential for the possibility of earning passive income. Although your venture will likely need a significant amount of effort upfront in addition to regular maintenance and updates, not to mention administration tasks for an ever-growing list of customers The potential for passive income is greater that if you're simply an ordinary service provider.

If you take just a couple of days, or a week or even longer off work, depending on how you've organized your membership business, the cash will continue to come from existing members and new sign-ups.

Scalability

If you're used to running in a company where you're your principal asset, and also the one responsible for all of the tasks the other advantage from a membership structure is the greater opportunity for scaling and outsourcing.

If you're in the business of offering an online education course (more tips for creating a membership website will be discussed later in this post) then you can hire staff to work on the administration of your course while you focus on the creation of content.

In the event that you provide access to certain assets for instance, stock images or code snippets on the basis of subscription like, say it is possible to hire experts to create those products.

Membership models offer plenty of opportunities for automated procedures, which makes it much easier to outsource and scale as compared to a typical freelance job.

Recycle and Repurpose Your Content

Instead of creating one amazing WordPress site for one client, then moving onto another project You could create a high-quality WordPress theme, and then make it accessible to all your members.

Similar to other things you may create for clients as a one-off item. If you provide coaching or consulting for your customers, you can reuse your expertise and create videos and other educational content to publish inside your membership site.

Instead of working on a one-to-one basis with those you serve by working on a membership website model, it let's your repurpose and reuse your talents as well as your knowledge and assets to work in an one-to-many partnership.

We now know some of the main advantages of membership models Let's look at what kinds of companies can benefit from the transition.

Businesses That Can Transition to the membership model

It's a good thing that, with some imagination, the majority of firms can make the switch to the membership model, in one method or another.

Coaching and consulting

People who are specialists in their field, or at least possess enough expertise to ensure that customers pay them for their services, make the perfect candidates to adopt the membership model.

Sharing your knowledge and experience and making it available through a paywall on your website can be a great means of helping other people while also earning recurring revenue.

Service Providers

Providers of services such as freelance graphic designers or coders could transition to the model of membership.

Designers and illustrators could start a subscription service where their customers have access to a certain quantity of images from stock or editable templates each month in return for a recurring cost.

The developers could develop products that are similar to those that they build for their clients , and offer them available to their members.

Product Businesses

There is also the possibility for makers of physical products in the future to switch to a subscription-based model. Subscription boxes are becoming increasingly well-known.

Instead of offering products that are available for purchase for a single purchase it is possible to switch to letting your customers register, join who then get products regularly.

This is a method that has proven successful with beer, clothing, coffee, and books to name the few. You don't even have to be the creator of the items, but simply someone who is able to design a beautiful subscription box each month.

If you're unsure how your business can transition into a membership-based model, the final section of this article has some tips on using your abilities and expertise to start an entirely new project for membership that is independent of your existing business.

Tips for transitioning into the Model of Membership

Offer Productized Services

Another option is to shift from offering bespoke services to making a service that is productized. A good example could be for freelance writers.

Instead of approaching every client in a different way and giving them an individual service that is tailored to their specific needs, try creating just one package and promoting it to your target audience. This could for example be a subscription plan that includes 4 blog posts that are 500 words every month, for a set price.

When you have a productized solution that your clients register, sign up for the membership program, and although you write unique content for every member, everyone is provided with the same content with the same format every month. This eliminates the negotiating and other time-consuming tasks that come with offering every customer something unique.

A further benefit of providing productized services within the membership program is the fact that you'll work with strict procedures and processes and not treating each job as a unique task. Due to this, outsourcing and scaling are much easier as your staff will be able to follow these procedures in order in order to offer the same services to all of your members. Like companies such as Design Pickle have shown that this method works well with graphic design so there's the possibility that it can be beneficial for the services you provide.

Create Educational Content

In the past, if customers are paying for your expertise, then you can monetize that knowledge and offer it to those who are paying for it.

Develop a Community

Your job could involve managing and hosting online events, or something less hands-on, such as moderating the interactions of your members. Fully transitioning your business to a membership-based model using this strategy could mean adding more content and features to your community, so that it is more valuable and allows you to charge more for access.

Start a Completely New Venture

Maybe you can't see an option for your existing firm to move to membership but you'd love to enjoy the benefits of the membership model like recurring income and serving a wider audience.

If that's the case it's possible to start your own business completely in a field that's unrelated to your company or at least distinct from the business. Do you have any hobbies or fields of expertise you believe people would be willing to pay to connect with you about or learn from your expertise?

Perhaps you're an expert pianist and want to make money out of this pastime by creating online learning materials for others to learn how to play. Maybe you are a fitness enthusiast and would enjoy motivating other people to become healthy and fit.

You could even create an online membership website that is separate from your business but helps others learn how to begin working in your current field. In the case of a freelance photographer, rather than moving that business into a subscription model, you can make a distinct membership site teaching others to get into the field of freelance photography. Or maybe a membership site to help your customers create better photographs is a more appealing way to earn money for your expertise.

If you have the proper tools and commitment to creating valuable content, as well as an eagerness to promote your site to the right customers, developing a lucrative membership site is possible for lots of people.

You don't have to be the best in your chosen field It's just important to understand more about those you're aiding.

Final Thoughts

This guide to the steps to transition your company to a membership-based model sold you on the benefits that come with it and also given you some suggestions on how you can do it.

This won't be an easy task, and will drain you from the time you can spend on your existing company. The rewards could make it worthwhile, especially if the idea of recurring earnings and regular income and the potential to expand and earn passive income, are appealing.

 Is your company ready to move to the membership model? Let us know, and ask us any questions you may have in the comments section below.

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