How to work for 16 hours a month... and get paid for 3

Misadventures in memberships, running the numbers, and confronting failure

I’ll be honest - writing this felt a bit silly, and I still feel silly sharing it.

I feel silly for a few reasons:

• because in The Grand Scheme Of Things what I’m about to say Isn’t That Deep, as my tween daughter likes to say

• because I’m a Xennial Eldest Daughter and showing vulnerability feels a lot like admitting I have needs and, if there’s one thing my born-in-the-80s inner child knows it’s that, needs are for other people

• because I have this niggling feeling that no one really cares or is interested in listening to me whine about my business woes 😩 - my purpose here is to be useful and writing something like this is the opposite of useful: it feels self-indulgent and icky and uncomfortable.

Basically, if I was to listen to how it feels, you wouldn’t be reading this right now.

But, as

Anna Rose

so perfectly put it at the weekend in Manifestation didn’t get the memo:

‘Sometimes we need to hear stories when everything hasn’t magically worked out, when opportunities and doors haven’t opened in the way we hoped they would. Stories where the universe hasn’t given us what we hoped to manifest, despite getting all the feels that it was going in the right direction.’

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The best laid plans

In June 2024 I launched my membership for writers and authors who want to use Instagram to get more readers, here on Substack and I definitely had ‘all the feels that it was going in the right direction’.

I wanted to create an offer that would mean I could support more writers than I have capacity to work with 1-2-1, and that would suit three groups of people:

• those who wanted to continue working with me less intensively after a period of 1-2-1 work

• people who weren’t ready/ able (for whatever reason) to invest in 1-2-1 support

• people who don’t feel they need 1-2-1 support but are looking for accountability, encouragement, a little bit of hand holding and to be part of a community all facing in the same direction.

A membership felt like the best way to do this and in some ways it has been a success.

The writers in the membership are a good mix of the above groups; they’re also The Best people you/ I could ever wish to hang out with; and the feedback has been super-positive.

BUT I assumed I could run the membership at a super-low cost because the low price would be offset by a high volume of members.

And I was wrong 😭

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The numbers

To be clear, I LOVE running the membership. I know what it takes to write a book and hate thinking that your book might not reach the readers it deserves. I love that I can help you with that! And I love having a way to share my knowledge and expertise that is accessible to more people.

BUT, almost a year after I opened the doors on the membership, the numbers are in:

I’ve worked out that for the same ££ as I earn working THREE hours per month with 1-2-1 clients, I’m working at least SIXTEEN hours each month creating resources and hosting live sessions for the membership 🤦🏻‍♀️

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Breaking it down

How exactly I spend that time varies slightly from month to month but to give you a general picture:

• every Monday I invite members to share their posting plans for the week in the Chat area here on Substack for accountability and so I can answer questions and offer support = approx 1 hour per week/ 4 hours per month

• twice a month I run a Content Create-along session - these are live co-working sessions so I don’t have to process the recordings or post them = 2 hours per month

• once a month I host an Ask Me Anything clinic. I prepare for this in advice, and it is posted to Substack with accompanying notes = 2 hours per month.

• approx once a month I interview an author about their experiences of marketing their books. Setting up, prepping, hosting and posting the recording of the interview = 2.5 hours per month.

• 1-2 x per month I write/ record exclusive resources to support members with their use of Instagram = 3-6 hours per month.

I intentionally made the membership relatively affordable, assuming volume of members would offset the time commitment. I had no idea how hard it would be to attract that volume of members.

If you’re wondering what the Too Much Instagram membership looks like, you can browse the archive here 👇🏼 to get a feel for the exclusive content members receive, alongside a weekly check in, and fortnightly content creation office hours.

Eating Humble Pie

I’m embarrassed I didn’t listen when other people warned me about making it too cheap.

I’m kicking myself that my impatience to run before I can walk means I didn’t research how big an audience I would need to generate the number of members required to make the membership a financially viable option.

I’m worried I’ve over-estimated the number of people who want to learn how to use Instagram to promote their books.

I’m panicked my income each month is not what I need it to be.

I’m pissed off I’ve put myself in the position where I have almost no time at all to work on my own writing projects.

I ashamed of failing at something I whole-heartedly thought was going to fly - what does that say about my judgement?

And I’m worried about what admitting all of this says about my ideas, my skills and my credibility.

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Things only change when you change things

Is that even the saying? I’m not sure, but I’ll assume you get the point. Something needs to change - but what?

• do I shut it down? Business logic suggests I should, and I now know I set the membership up too early in my business’s development, but I really don’t want to do this!

• do I reduce what I’m offering so running the membership takes less time? I also don’t want to do this! I find running the membership so rewarding, and members tell me how much they value it, Maybe there are things I could cut down on and not affect the advice people are getting - eg. if I stopped running the informal, drop-in Content Create-along sessions this would immediately save me 2 hours per month - but would this affect the community feel of the membership?

• do I double-down on building my free subs and generating new leads on Instagram? As things stand my conversion rate is around 4% so it’s in line with other Substacks which suggests the offer itself probably isn’t the problem, the size of my audience is. Can I afford to continue to expend this amount of energy and time on running the membership, PLUS the time and energy it takes to generate new leads though?

• do I spend time refining my messaging? I do I need to do this and will be spending some time on it - but is this throwing good time after bad?

• do I move the membership to a new home so the value proposition is clearer, rather than it looking expensive in comparison to newsletters that are not memberships? That comes with its own costs so I could be tripping myself up again.

• do I keep the membership where it is and simply put the price up (for new members)? This feels like an obvious step to take, but it would make the membership very expensive compared to other Substack subscriptions which might kill new sign ups completely. A crucial part of this calculation though, as the excellent

  Marisa Guthrie
  keeps reminding me, has to be that when I set a low price in order to make my work accessible to others, in order to ‘build justice’ for others, I forgot to include myself. Being skint and exhausted is not a sign of integrity, so what does a ‘just’ price look like for me?

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I still have a lot to think about and decisions to make, but rather than waiting until I have the answers and then giving the impression that was the plan all along, I’m glad I’ve written this.

It’s my attempt to push back on the shame of being ‘found out’, of not having everything figured out, of making mistakes and mis-steps and having things go wrong.

It’s a way to challenge my assumption that people will leave if I don’t have all the answers, and I also, quite simply, want to stop pretending.

I hope it helps some of you along the way ✌🏼

Work with me 1-2-1

I’m fully booked for April, I have two 1-2-1 slots available for May, and I’m also booking clients to start in June and July.

There are two main ways to work with me 1-2-1.

1. My most popular 1-2-1 service is my ongoing monthly calls. No more overwhelm, second-guessing yourself, or wasting time. We meet once a month for an hour (plus weekly check ins) and design a personal approach to Instagram that suits your unique needs.

   I’ll show you which corners you can afford to cut, which trends you should ignore, and how you can use Instagram in a way that suits you, while still reaching more readers.

   This service is for non-fiction writers who want to BUILD your following to strengthen a book proposal, and for writers of any genre who are working towards your book’s LAUNCH date. Click the pink links to find out more or email me on nicola@toomuchsocial.com

2. If you’ve got a specific knotty problem, you might prefer a one-off 90 minute Unravel Call. Maybe your account growth has stalled; perhaps your reach has plummeted; you don’t know how to find your ideal reader; or maybe you’ve run out of ideas for what to post. Whatever it is, we spend 90 minutes together and you’ll leave with a plan for what you need to do next. Find out more on my website or email me on nicola@toomuchsocial.com

And finally, shout out to

Lucy Werner

who, after she admitted to her ‘failed’ PR stunt, started me thinking maybe I could admit what I’ve been thinking about behind the scenes for the last few months:

I spent £1,000 on promoting my newsletter and made £0 👗

Initially I was FLOORED. Not by the ‘failure’ itself, but by Lucy’s audacity to 1. admit it and 2. to shamelessly - in the best way - turn it into another opportunity.

I wanted to know why wasn’t she hiding the mistake away and tormenting herself with a rerun of her own deluded foolishness in the shower every morning (always in the shower, right?)? HOW DARE SHE? But I quickly realised what I was feeling was jealousy in a thin disguise.

I want the freedom and bravery Lucy was living, so I borrowed some to write this piece. Thanks Lucy ❤️

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Photo by Elena G on Unsplash