Terms
Ben L Collins, the Google Sheets expert behind the education website benlcollins.com Ben L Collins is extremely grateful for his membership-based business as well as the creator economy of digital media all over the world. "When you create something, whether it's an artist, or you're designing a technical course or a building membership - and some random stranger opens their purse and hands your money, you'll realize the incredible privilege you have to exist at this moment at a time when you're able to accomplish this kind of thing and reach so many individuals.
"If you're spending the time to firstly - look at my stuff and like it enough to purchase it, I want to do absolutely everything that I can to make it as perfect as it can be for the person," he continues.
Ben is a fan of membership as it's so much not just a one-time cost: "We're not talking about a consulting agreement where people hire you to perform something that's structured and written out and everyone knows the terms of service they're receiving. This is more of a partnership with the individual who says, 'I want to join your bandwagon for the next year, month or quarter. I like what you're doing and I'd like to help your efforts and join in that."
The membership program gives you a really powerful incentive to be the best you can do as well as to strive to produce great material. "People expect me to make high-quality stuff however, I really would like to do it for them and for me. "
Ben says that it is helpful to establish a great connection with your group "I feel like I'm helping people rather than an anonymous person buying the course but you do not have any idea if anyone even looks at it. It feels more immediate with your membership or closer. It's about establishing a stronger relationship that goes beyond being transactional."
From "always on" to microdeliverables
When the covid-19 pandemic struck, Ben had been delivering classes on manipulation of data using Google Sheets for 10 years. "I had delivered around 15 different courses on Teachable possibly with up to 25 launches, because certain courses had been relaunched. When you teach the courses, you have to honestly commit as much, as much effort, if not more - to marketing the course. Although it's fascinating, I'm not a fan and it's not something I enjoy."
Ben L Collins Ben L Collins had been delivering e-courses for 10 years before covid struck
Ben knew he preferred to concentrate on spreadsheet technical content and helping people. "People came to me and say "How can I accomplish that?' and it would be really interesting to solve.
"Membership is a concept I was thinking about probably two, maybe even three, times in the past," says Ben. "I enjoyed the concept due to the fact that it's a regular revenue. By joining, you're not being forced to create something every single time to make money where you have a big spike but then you're left with nothing." The author explains it provides a more stable platform, which allows the creator to focus on the creating and establishing a relationship with their users, not having to do marketing.
"For several years, I'd flirted with the idea of membership, but I'd never gotten past the research. I was worried about feeling like I was always in the loop when I followed this approach where I had to be always doing something. I always pulled back and kept on going with the classes." However, he was finished what he set out to achieve.
"I'd almost done everything that I could have covered with my full-courses. It was hard to find an alternative course that wasn't becoming increasingly specific and the market gets smaller with higher-end stuff," he continues. "There was no economic reason for me to pursue some of the courses I might be interested in."
Ben is also adamant that he had a feeling of burnout. "I thought "I've got to create 100 Teachable video tutorials that have to be one big coherent thing. It was difficult for me to find enough energy to create the entire thing in one go. You don't even know how many people will buy the product. "
Ben explains that electronic courses need the creator to publish the work prior to trying to market it. However, there is no way to tell what will happen if the course is a success. "It might take you about three to six months to design a really good course. If the course does not succeed in the market, you won't be able to sell the course tomorrow, " he adds. "I discovered that I required an ongoing connection with my customers that would include microdeadlines and microdeliverables."
Chess Simulating a game of chess using Google Sheets
Membership was suddenly logical. "I'll sign up for a daily newsletter, and there are guidelines and templates However, they don't require to be part of an entire topic, and tied into each other. The information could be a bit smaller and more manageable for me which is also easier for readers to digest."
From a consumer perspective, not many people take their courses online "It's intimidating to buy the course which has 10 hours of video. It's difficult for students to fit in the 10 hours of video content, and which is why you quit and never come back making it happen. Whereas, hopefully if you receive one email per week, you could plan 30 minutes of a lunch break and get a lot of value the week before you forget about it for the next week." Ben explains.
The spring of 2024, Ben started to think hard about membership. Over the summer, he sat down and mapped out exactly the kind of membership he wanted before launching in the month of September.
Email is king
When he talks about his work, Ben is keen to thank his partner. "I'm really fortunate that my wife has accomplished all of this before. She's had her own company; she's launched a number of products and was able to set up an email list." Ben received a lot of advice early on during his career in membership "that was extremely helpful" - One of them was the need to establish an email list.
His wife, Ben's, was employed in content marketing when he was starting to build his online community. "She owned an agency that did marketing for clients. They also wrote blogs, SEO posts as well as social media. It was super-helpful, obviously for the work I was trying to do at the time," Ben adds.
"Emails are the most important method of interaction or connecting with your customers," he continues. The author admits that this may not be as relevant to younger people, but he says: "The problem with social media, especially modern platforms such as TikTok, is that there's this disconnect between you and your followers.
You create a piece of content but the platform just shows whatever is viral and what is trending - regardless of whether you have 10,000 or 100,000 fans, if the piece of content doesn't rank per the algorithm, not all of them are likely to be able to view the content. This is a tense relation. You exist at the whims of the platform. If they change their algorithm or they fall out of fashion - there have been many social media networks disappear - so building an email list is essential.
Advice for aspiring membership operators
"If anyone were starting a membership now I'd say "Just start!" Ben smiles. "With hindsight, I wish I had done it just two years ago. The things that take time. The sooner you get started and get going, the longer time you'll will have."
Ben on Zoom Ben hosting an online session with his clients
He acknowledges that it's possible to perform a little further research "You can convince yourself that there's something missing, or you can find a different method of doing it. I've done that in the past. When you finally click 'Go' and put something into the world and begin interacting with real people, it becomes a whole new thing. Then you begin to solve problems you must overcome, and not the hypothetical problems."
The author advises members to not overthink it: "If you're addressing someone's problem - or is in need of solving a issue, and your membership can do that, just go out! You can improve it over time."
More information
For more details and to subscribe to Ben's weekly Google Sheets tips, go to benlcollins.com.