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How to Adopt a Membership or Subscription Business Model?

Dec 8, 2022

Contents

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    It's simpler and less expensive than you imagine!  

This guide provides tips to aid your business transition to the membership model.

First, we'll cover some benefits of the membership model before looking at some businesses that are well suited to changing to the membership model. In the end, we'll give you suggestions on how to change your business.

Whether you want to stop trading your time in exchange for cash and add a new revenue stream to your business or move your company away from the current structure and establish a membership website, this guide can help.

Let's begin...

Benefits of the Membership Model

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

Recurring Revenue

If you sign users through a subscription model that means you'll receive payment regularly, and on a consistent basis.

Predictable Income

With recurring revenue comes predictability. If you're working as a freelancer or even running an agency you'll be acquainted with the cycles of feasting and feasting.

A month in which you could face more tasks than you're capable of handling, while other months you see a dip in your income. The membership model can help to create a steady income stream , which makes financial planning easier.

Passive Earnings

Another big benefit of the membership model is the chance to earn passive income. Even though your endeavor will take a considerable amount of work up front, as well as ongoing maintenance and upgrades, not to mention administrative tasks that come with an ever-growing list of customers and their families, the possibility of passive income is greater than if you're just operating as a service company.

If you take just a couple of days, weeks, or more time off, depending on how you've setup your membership company, the funds will still come in from your existing members as well as new sign-ups.

Scalability

If you're used to running a business where you're the primary asset and the person who does all the work The other benefit from a membership structure is the possibility of scaling and outsourcing.

If you're in the business of offering an online education course (more suggestions for membership sites are available later in this article) then it is possible to hire personnel to handle the management of your program as you concentrate on the creation of content.

In the event that you provide access to assets, such as stock photos or code snippets on an annual basis like, say, you could employ individuals to assist in the creation of the items.

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

Recycle and reuse your Content

Instead of designing a single excellent WordPress website for a single customer, and then moving on to another project, you could instead produce an excellent WordPress theme, and then make it available to all of your clients.

The same applies to many other items that you might produce for your customers as a one-off item. If you're providing services for coaching or consultation to clients, you could reuse your knowledge and create videos and other educational content to upload to your membership site.

Instead of working one-to-one basis with those you serve by working on a membership website model, it allows you to reuse and reuse your talents as well as your knowledge and assets into a one-to-many relationship.

So now that we know certain of the major benefits of the membership model Let's look at what kinds of companies can benefit from the switch.

Businesses That Can Transition to the membership model

The good news is that with a bit of imaginative thinking, almost all firms can make the switch to a membership model one method or another.

Coaching and consulting

Experts in their area, or at least possess enough expertise to ensure that customers are already paying them to spend their time would be ideal for joining the model of membership.

Sharing your knowledge and experience and making it available through an online paywall is an effective means of helping other individuals while earning earnings in the process.

Service Providers

Providers of services such as freelance designers, coders or graphic designers can transition their business to the membership model too.

Illustrators and designers could begin an online subscription program where customers have access to a predetermined amount of stock photos or editable templates per month in return in exchange for a monthly fee.

Developers could create products similar to the ones they develop for their clients , and offer the products available to their customers.

Product Businesses

Also, it is possible for the creators of physical products to make the transition to a membership model. Subscription boxes are becoming increasingly popular.

Instead of offering products that are available for purchase for a single purchase, you could switch to having your customers sign up, become members which will then be able to receive items in a consistent manner.

This has worked for the coffee industry, beer, clothing and even books to mention just a few. It doesn't require you to be the creator of the products, only someone with the knowledge to design a beautiful monthly subscription box.

If you're unsure the best way to move your company to a membership model the final section of this article offers advice on using your skills and expertise to start the new initiative of membership separate from your current business.

Tips for transitioning into the Model of Membership

Offer Productized Services

One option is to switch between offering custom services and creating a productized service. One example of this could be for freelance writers.

Instead of approaching every client with a different approach and providing them with an individual service that is tailored to their specific needs, try creating just one package and advertising it towards your intended audience. It could, for instance, be a subscription plan with 4 blog articles that are 500 words every month for a fixed price.

With a productized service where customers sign up, join the membership program, and although you create unique content for every member, everyone is provided with the same content in the same format each month. This removes a lot of the negotiations, as well as other duties that go with giving each client something different.

A further benefit of providing productized services in your membership plan is that you'll operate from strict processes and procedures instead of treating every job as a unique task. Because of this, outsourcing and scaling will be much easier as your staff are able to use these processes for the same level of service to your entire membership. Like companies such as Design Pickle have shown that this method works well with graphic design, so there's the possibility that it can work for your services.

Create Educational Content

As mentioned earlier, if customers are paying to share your knowledge, you are able to make money off that expertise and share it with the members who pay.

Develop a Community

Your role could be managing and hosting online events, or something less hands-on, such as moderating the interactions with your members. Completely transitioning your company to a membership-based model using this method could require the addition of more features and content to your community, so that it can be more beneficial, allowing you to charge more for membership access.

Start a Completely New Venture

Perhaps you aren't able to see an option for your existing company to transition however you'd like to enjoy the benefits of the model of membership, for example, recurring revenues as well as serving a larger audience.

If so then it's time to begin an entirely new business in a field that's unrelated to your current business, or at least separate from the business. Do you have any hobbies or specialties that you think people might be willing to spend money to get connected to you or gain knowledge from you?

Perhaps you're a seasoned pianist who would like make money from this passion through the creation of online instructional materials for others to learn how to play. Perhaps you love working out and enjoy inspiring others to get healthier and fit.

It's possible to create an online membership website that is separate from your company, but that teaches others how to start working in your current field. If, for instance, you're an independent photographer, rather than moving that business to the subscription model, you can make a distinct membership site that teaches others how to enter the world of freelance photography. Perhaps a site for membership that helps your audience to take better pictures can be a better way to monetize your skills.

With the right tools and commitment to creating valuable content, as well as the desire to promote your venture to your intended customers, developing a lucrative membership site is possible for a lot of people.

You don't have to be an expert in the field you're interested in, you just need to know more than the people you're serving.

Final Reflections

This guide to how your business can transition to the membership model has sold you on the benefits that come with it and also given the possibility of the best way to go about it.

It's not easy and will drain you from the time you can spend on your existing business. However, the benefits can be worth it, particularly if the idea of recurring revenue and predictable income, as well as the ability to scale and generate the passive income you desire, sound appealing.

 Does your company have the ability to transition to a membership-based model? Let us know, and ask us any questions you may have in the comments below.

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