Terms
Ben L Collins, the Google Sheets expert behind the education website benlcollins.com, is incredibly thankful for his membership company and the creator economy of digital media generally. "When you've created something - whether you're an artist, or you're designing a technical course or an building membership - when a random person opens their wallet and gives your money, you'll realize that you're extremely fortunate to be when you are able to create that type of product and connect with so many people.
"If somebody is willing to first of all - just check out my products and is impressed enough to pay for it I'd like to do everything I can do to make it as perfect as it can be for them," he continues.
Ben enjoys the idea of membership because it's more than just a one-off cost: "We're not talking about an agreement for consulting where people hire you to perform something that's structured and written out and everyone is aware of what they're getting. This is more of a partnership where that person is saying, 'I want to be part of your bandwagon for the next year or month or quarter. I appreciate what you're doing; I want to support your efforts and join in this."
The membership program gives you a really powerful incentive to be the best you can do, and strive to make wonderful material. "People expect that I create high-quality content however, I really would like to do it in their interest and mine. "
Ben explains that it helps in building a strong relationship you have with the community "I feel like I'm contributing to the community rather than being an unidentified person who buys the course but you do not be sure if they will even glance at the course. It's more immediate when you join the membership or closer. It's about creating a more intimate friendship that transcends an exchange."
From "always on" to microdeliverables
In the time of the outbreak of covid-19, Ben had been delivering classes on manipulation of data using Google Sheets for 10 years. "I had delivered more than 15 courses via Teachable, perhaps with 25 launch dates, as some of my courses had been relaunched. When you teach the courses, you have to honestly put as much effort - or even more effort in marketing, than actually delivering the course. Although it's fascinating, I'm not a fan as it's not what I am good at."
Ben L Collins Ben L Collins had been teaching e-courses for the past 10 years, when she was struck by covid.
Ben knew he preferred to work on the technical spreadsheet content and helping people. "People would come to me and say 'How do I do that?', and the problem would be fascinating to figure out.
"Membership was something I had thought about probably two, maybe even three times in the past," says Ben. "I enjoyed the concept because it's recurring revenue. With membership, you're not needing to launch things constantly in order to earn money. You can see a massive spike in revenue but then you're left with no more." He says it's a stable platform, which allows the creator to concentrate on the creation and the relationship with the people who are using the platform, rather than to manage marketing.
"For a few years I'd considered the notion of membership but never got past the initial research. I was afraid that it would feel like I was 'always on' if I did this model in which I was constantly doing things. I would always pull back, but continued to follow the classes." But he had completed what he had set out to do.
"I'd almost completed all of the things to be covered in full courses. It was hard to find other courses that weren't becoming more specialized, and there is a decrease in demand as you get to more sophisticated things," he continues. "There was not a viable economical reason to take one of the courses that I would consider."
Ben is also adamant that he had a feeling of burnout. "I thought "I need to make 100 Teachable video tutorials that must be one coherent thing. It was difficult for me to find the energy to sit down and create this in a single block. It's impossible to know for sure whether people will buy it. "
Ben explains that online courses require the author to release the work prior to trying to market it. However, there is no way to tell whether it will be a success. "It could take, say, three to six months to design a really good course. If the course does not succeed, you can't just resell the course tomorrow, " he adds. "I discovered that I required an ongoing connection with my customers where I would have microdeadlines and microdeliverables."
Chess Simulating a game of chess with Google Sheets
The idea of membership suddenly became clear. "I'll sign up for a daily newsletter. We can also have guidelines and templates however they don't have to be part of an entire topic, and linked to each other. The content could be smaller, which is more manageable for me as well as easier for people to consume."
From a consumer perspective, not many people finish their online courses "It's intimidating to buy an online course with 10 hours of video. It's difficult for students to manage 10 hours of content so you give up and never come back to doing it. If you only receive a single email each week, you could plan 30 minutes of the course of a lunch break, and gain lots of value from that week then you can put it aside for the next week." Ben explains.
At the beginning of spring 2024, Ben began to consider about joining. In the summer, he sat down to draw out precisely what it would look like before launching in September.
Email is still king
In his interview about his professional life, Ben is keen to acknowledge his wife. "I'm very fortunate that my wife has done everything I've mentioned before. She's run her own business; she's launched a number of products and knew how to build an email database." Ben received a number of tips early during his career in membership "that was extremely helpful" - and one of the lessons was how to create an email list.
Ben's wife worked in content marketing when Ben was beginning to establish his network. "She owned an agency who handled marketing for their clients, as well as writing blog articles, SEO as well as social media. This was extremely helpful, evidently to the work I was trying to accomplish at the time," Ben adds.
"Emails are the most important way to connect to your target audience," he continues. He admits that this is perhaps less relevant for younger people, but he says: "The problem with social media, and especially the more recent platforms, like TikTok has to do with this disconnect between your target audience and you.
It's your responsibility to create content but the platform just displays what is popular and what is trending - regardless of whether you've got 10,000 or 100,000 followers. If your piece of content isn't viral as per the algorithm, it's unlikely that all of them are likely to be able to view it. This is a tense relationship. You exist at the whims of that platform. If they modify their algorithm, or if they go out of fashion - we've seen a lot of social media networks disappear - thus establishing an email database is crucial.
Advice for aspiring membership operators
"If someone were to start a new membership I'd advise them to "Just start!" Ben smiles. "With retrospectively, I'd rather I'd started this in the past two years. The things that take time. As soon as you begin to get started, the more time you have."
Ben in Zoom Ben hosting an online session with his clients
It's easy to do a little further research "You might convince yourself there's something wrong or that there's a better way of doing it. I've done that before. But when you actually press "Go", and then put an item in the universe and begin interacting with actual people the thing becomes a whole new thing. It becomes a matter of actually solving the things you need to solve and not these imaginary issues."
It is important to remember not to think too much about it: "If you're addressing someone's issue - and if they needs to solve a problem that you're able to help them solve, and your group could help, then go out! The ability to improve will come in time."
More details
To find out more and sign up to Ben's weekly Google Sheets tips, go to benlcollins.com.