First off- when I tried to upgrade my subscription just now from the app it said it wasn’t possible. Boo that Substack.
Secondly- as someone who just tried to upgrade I can wholeheartedly say that I can get behind someone who is willing to be honest about their process. The good and the ick.
HELLO and welcome!! Yes the app thing is annoying - to the best of my knowledge it’s because Apple want to charge Substack 30% extra to buy subs via the app so Substack hasn’t enabled upgrading via the app because that’s daylight robbery! And also - thank you. I was so apprehensive about that piece and how it might be received but the response has been nothing but supportive 😊
I think there is so much value in your membership!! Are there any ways your current members could help you recruit more? I would happily pay it forward by sponsoring a membership for someone who can’t afford it right now, hoping that perhaps that might ultimately create a snowball effect.
Oh my goodness. I only just saw this? How is this possible!?! It is so good that you have done the numbers and the maths on this. For many, this will be a lesson in calculating your time. I know you will have a lot to reflect on from the comments so won't pile on for that. But having tried to raise my price on Substack and then dropping back down again, I felt I couldn't raise to high on this platform so whilst I was having some growth here I was going to keep lower for now. Not to say it wouldn't change later.
I also really appreciate the shoutout to my piece. I can't tell you why I have any confidence in sharing a fail but I can tell you that never wasting any lesson is important. There is a part 3 to that at some point...
This was honestly amazing. I really value your candor. Every single entrepreneur worth their salt has a story like this. I've got at least 10 (and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head).
Because the truth is, no one ever gets anywhere playing it safe. Growth always involves risk. Sometimes the risk works out, sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it just takes a little reworking.
Taking the chance (and openly sharing the results so other people can learn from it) makes you an A+ entrepreneur in my book. 💛
oh wow this is such a kind message - thank you so much for reading and sharing your insights.Everyone has been so supportive and also it was so cathartic just to put this out in the world and stop pretending! I really do hope it helps someone else ❤️
One of the things I struggle with most when charging for my 1-2-1 services is that the backend work is totally invisible and for some reason I feel like I have to justify what I charge so I'm uncofmrtable with people not knowing this! It's a whole mess of unhelpful money-related narratives that I carry around with me so I find that fellow solo business owners are the best people to talk about it with as you understand that what I charge for an hour's consultation is not what I'm being paid for every hour I work!! Thanks so much for reading and commenting - your support is deeply appreciated ❤️
Nicola thank you so much for your bravery in sharing this with all of us. I want to put my hand up here and say that I did the exact same thing 5 years ago when I launched a membership in lockdown to help other people without extended that justice to myself. Memberships are SO rewarding (and fun!) and I still loved the fact that I did it, but they need a big list and they need to scale in order to be profitable. I promise you that whatever you decided with this, none of this is lost. NONE OF IT!
When I pivoted my business after closing my membership, I took so much learning, as well as a ton of resources that I still use to this day. It is all adding to your beautiful body of work.
Thanks again for sharing this and I look forward to our continued work together.
Hey Marisa, thank you so much for your ongoing support and for all the sense-making you do of my ramblings!! I'm having so many lightbulb moments at the moment - I've just had one about feeling resentful that people don't understand that my hourly rate is not what I get paid for every hour I work, but then I thought - but what if it was?? Why should that make a difference to what I charged??!!
It's a pleasure Nicola and you never ramble! It makes perfect sense. It's really that big difference between total work hours and billable hours. They are not the same!! I'm looking forward to more of your lightbulb moments!
Such an amazing post in so many ways. I’m actually considering raising my membership price soon as I’ll be releasing tutorials on how to realign with our ancestral minds alongside dream to deal so new members will have to pay more. I’ll be offering a tutorial once a month and possibly a live Q&A (I’m test running a live series as we speak). I know the tutorials will take a couple of days to make a month so raising to £12 a month or a discounted £90 a year is fair. I’m just going to trust the people who love what I do will find me and convert. I’ve realised people buy in not because of the price but because of what you offer and who you are. What you offer is AMAZING, so adjust your prices but crucially see where you can get back time. Sending you love and I’m glad I could be of some inspiration!xx
It's such a minefield!! Some context I left out of the piece because it would have been too long was that I launched the membership at a lower price because I wanted to reflect that there was no archive, and I knew I needed time to get up to speed with what I was offering. I then raised the price to £12 per month after three months. I don't think it's expensive for what I offer, but I do worry that everyone else thinks it is which is what deters me from putting the price up further. I am going to send a survey out to members to see what they're finding most useful and I do have some ideas about how to save a little bit of time each month, but I'm also going to think some more about raising the price further for new members. Stomach-churning!! I haven't decided what to do about that yet! Thanks so much for your support and encouragement, Anna - you're an absolute gift ❤️
Just popping a little message here to say how much I value your content, wisdom and insight (even if I’ve been a slightly absent member of this community lately).
I wonder if an answer would be some middle way between some of the options you’ve listed? Could you do an extra tier, for all the bells and whistles, and charge a higher fee, more in line with what you need to cover your own time and costs? (A bit like Virgina Solesmith’s Extra Butter?) And then run a more streamlined version of your current offering and keep the price point accessible? Personally, I struggle to keep up with everything on offer, but would happily pay the current rate for the practical posting ideas/tutorials and perhaps the create-a-longs alone.
Hey Jennie - thanks so much for your kind words and support ❤️ I do need to play around with the offer and figure out what everyone is finding most useful to see if there are some ways I can scale back the time commitment without affecting the value you get! Adding an extra tier is definitely worth considering - I'm making a list of all the ideas in these comments as there are loads of good ones!
I feel the same, Jennie. Would happily receive “less” for what I’ve paid (I also struggle to keep up with everything but value being able to look back on certain bits - practical posting ideas/ a tutorial or two)
Thank you, Nicola, for your bravery in sharing something which felt nerve-wracking to say but which other self employed/people with memberships also wrestle with.
Hope you find the solution which includes value + justice for you, too.
Thank you so much for your support Dominique - it's such a minefield but I feel so much better for having said it 'out loud'. Making sure members get value from your membership is really important to me so I am going to send out a questionnaire soon to see what you all find useful to see if there are ways I can scale back without affecting the value. Part of my problem is I'm a chronic over-deliverer which I try to tone down as I know it actually overwhelms peolpe, but I also have tooooo many ideas about all the ways I want to help and it's a challenge to filter them! As I've been typing this though, I've just had an idea - perhaps I should also survey periodically what members would most like help with!... something to think about ❤️
Thanks for sharing, Nicola. Freelance work is an ongoing struggle and it's probably impossible for the vast majority of us to get it right most of the time. I recently read a report that getting pricing right is one of the things that freelancers fret over most. I know I do: charging what I know my expertise and experience is worth and sometimes losing clients (√) vs undercharging in the hopes of attracting more work and then working long hours on complex projects for a pittance (√). I signed up for your membership because I can't afford one-to-one atm, and the membership is very affordable. Lots of people charge a smaller fee to start in order to attract subscribers and then raise the fee accordingly. I have already got so much out it that I would happily pay more, or stick around with a reduced set of services. But I realise that unless more people like me are willing to be members and pay a bit more, it just might not be sustainable.
Hey Carrie - thanks so much for your support, it means a lot! Ideally I do not want to raise the price for existing members, that would be my absolute last resort so hopefully it won't come to that. I am going to be sending out a survey though to see if there is anything I can scale back, that people aren't finding as useful, while there are other things I continue with. It's such a minefield and I'm pleased I decided to write this piece as comment likes yours remind me that I'm not on my own!
This really resonates - running a community is hard. One thing we figured out with Substack is that people are paying for a service not our writing. While I can turn a neat sentence what our subs want is help & support and that takes time to do well. We’re still figuring out how that fits with our other services, and with this platform, but the kind of calculations you made about time/cost are so helpful. Thank you for sharing and good luck as you figure this out.
Hi Bec, thank you! This is exactly how I see my place on Substack too - as a service - which is a very different proposition to running a classic newsletter. I'm not sure how well I communicate the difference between the two approaches though which I think then leads to confusion and the price - in comparison - looking high. It's a work in progress, as you say, but I feel so much better for saying some of this out loud - it's been really carthartic and also so lovely to receive messages like yours in solidarity which remind my I'm far from the only one!
For sure there is WAY more value in the membership than I'm paying for. I already had the mindset that I wanted to compensate you for what you were offering for free, so that early bird price point was a no-brainer. The biggest value for me is in the things I can show up for (versus passive content). I have so many other thoughts and I don't want to ramble and get into the weeds here, but I'd love to give you more detailed, specific feedback in person if that's of interest. Meanwhile, enjoy the break!
Sorry to be jumping in here so late. I just read this (after reading about it on Katie’s Substack) and don’t know how I missed it.
There’s very little I can add to what the others have said, except to echo their support for you. It’s a structural problem. It’s not you. You rely on authors for your income. We can’t make minimum wage either.
I’ve worked my ass off to promote my book because my publisher has done nothing. I couldn’t have done any of it without your help. As it turns out, I just got my first audit and was absolutely dismayed. After all the money and time I put into this project the last year… it feels like a waste.
Nic: I’ve gotten more from your help and support than the money I spent. Your fees are low, but tbh I couldn’t afford (too much) more. You have been a Godsend to me and I’m
a smarter, more savvy, person for having spent all that virtual time with you. I wish we lived in a world where we all were paid living wages.
This is such useful feedback as always, Cat. You always have such insightful things to say, thank you! I'm going to send out a survey to everyone and then take it from there so I'll definitely be in touch if I need more specific feedback but it's super useful even for me to understand the different parts of the offer in terms of the active and passive content which wasn't a categorisation that I'd considered, but you're right the two are very different!
Thanks so much for sharing - as someone who writes a lot about understanding their audience in books (I should promote more 😜 the irony) I want to say that you are certainly not alone - and you’ve learnt so much about what your readers are reading engaging with; you’ve tested a model and now you are being super self aware and taking stock asking yourself those brave questions (is this sustainable financially? Does this make sense for me?) Your approach is spot on and so many businesses just keep going without taking stock and hit a wall. For what it’s worth setting up 5 interviews (mix of existing members and non members) with your target audience could be a worthwhile next step. More than happy to send you a comp. copy of my book think it could really help and as a thank you for sharing so much goodness for authors like me hiding behind their books 😛🤪
Hi Katie - thanks so much for these insightful and kind comments. It has been genuinely cathartic to share the behind the scenes in this way and everyone is being so supportive, it's amazing. I've decided I'm going to send out a survey to all members as a first step, and then perhaps take it to a more personal level of interview although obviously who I speak to will require careful thought! No need to send me a copy of your book, but if you'd like to drop a link here I'd love to buy one! I've always shied away from 'business-y' books as I find them quite aliencating, but I'm learning that not all business books are BUSINESS BOOKS, if you know what I mean!!
Have you considered surveying members to establish what’s of most interest? I know you can generally tell from activity but I was really surprised by the results when I asked people what they actually wanted from the space. I started mine in January 2024 and recently tweaked the offering. It still needs adjusting but I’m beginning to see it as an evolving thing. I had to give myself permission to keep pivoting but I feel so much better…feels more spacious I guess 💛
This is a great idea and is something I'm definitely going to do. Did you incentivise people filling in the survey or did you find the response was broad enough to be useful? I definitely agree the offer has to evolve and actually running through these comments has made me think that I can involve my members in this in other ways too - like, I always have more ideas of things I can create/ record/ write than I have time to do (plus I don't want to overwhelm everyone!) and maybe I should start polling my members to see what they'd like me to tackle next! Thanks so mcuh for your input - I felt so sill writing this piece but everyone's response has been so thoughtful and supportive and I actually feel exctied again!
No incentive for a simple survey. If people care enough about their experience I think they generally want to help. And involving them is a benefit to them so I find framing it in that way helps. That said, I did send out a detailed survey after the first round of my Playgroup came to a close and one of those who completes it will win their spot on the next round, but because it was quite involved and high ticket it felt right!
I would second this - I did a survey for my newsletter back when I was running a paid section and it was very illuminating. In particular, it highlighted that a few things I was trying to do that were quite time consuming were actually the things most people could take or leave. Xx
I'm definitely going to do this, Jennie. Did you incentivise the survey or did you find enough people responded that the results were useful without incentive? xx
This is such a great post Nic - I love seeing the inner workings of businesses like mine (as you know!!). I think you charge too little for your awesome membership 🤩. I agree that making it low cost to make it accessible doesn’t help anyone if you can’t afford to run it. Personally I’d raise the cost for new members and allocate a few free memberships for low income writers instead. It would still be way more affordable for writers than 1-2-1 would cost but that way it might be more sustainable for you. Honestly the membership is too cheap for the incredible support you offer!! Now that I’m running a membership myself - I can see why you’re loving facilitating it so much. I’m loving it too! But it takes a lot of energy….
Oh gosh I really do love it and don't want to let it go AT ALL! Maybe I'm my own worst enemy but I have some things to follow up on from the comments here, and my own thinking, so I'm going to give it another go! Thanks ( as always!) for your support, Penny xxx
Yikes, Nicola! But good for you for telling the truth. I feel bad for you, as I know first hand how passionate you are about helping writers get their work seen. I’m sure there must be a way to figure it out so you don’t end up running past yourself with your pockets flapping and your hair on fire. Sadly, I’m not the one who can help. Online courses, maybe, that you put together and sell as a package? My daughter does these for the business of fashion photography and they do really well. Big hugs. Cesca xx
First off- when I tried to upgrade my subscription just now from the app it said it wasn’t possible. Boo that Substack.
Secondly- as someone who just tried to upgrade I can wholeheartedly say that I can get behind someone who is willing to be honest about their process. The good and the ick.
💛
HELLO and welcome!! Yes the app thing is annoying - to the best of my knowledge it’s because Apple want to charge Substack 30% extra to buy subs via the app so Substack hasn’t enabled upgrading via the app because that’s daylight robbery! And also - thank you. I was so apprehensive about that piece and how it might be received but the response has been nothing but supportive 😊
Hard agree. Too bad for them them I also have a laptop.
I think there is so much value in your membership!! Are there any ways your current members could help you recruit more? I would happily pay it forward by sponsoring a membership for someone who can’t afford it right now, hoping that perhaps that might ultimately create a snowball effect.
Oh my goodness. I only just saw this? How is this possible!?! It is so good that you have done the numbers and the maths on this. For many, this will be a lesson in calculating your time. I know you will have a lot to reflect on from the comments so won't pile on for that. But having tried to raise my price on Substack and then dropping back down again, I felt I couldn't raise to high on this platform so whilst I was having some growth here I was going to keep lower for now. Not to say it wouldn't change later.
I also really appreciate the shoutout to my piece. I can't tell you why I have any confidence in sharing a fail but I can tell you that never wasting any lesson is important. There is a part 3 to that at some point...
This was honestly amazing. I really value your candor. Every single entrepreneur worth their salt has a story like this. I've got at least 10 (and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head).
Because the truth is, no one ever gets anywhere playing it safe. Growth always involves risk. Sometimes the risk works out, sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it just takes a little reworking.
Taking the chance (and openly sharing the results so other people can learn from it) makes you an A+ entrepreneur in my book. 💛
oh wow this is such a kind message - thank you so much for reading and sharing your insights.Everyone has been so supportive and also it was so cathartic just to put this out in the world and stop pretending! I really do hope it helps someone else ❤️
Thank you women for this honesty!!
It’s a big splash of bracing truth for membership-model dreamers. We need to know what does and doesn’t work!!
I offer tiny little classes at pretty high price points for exactly this reason: the backend work is so time-consuming it’s preposterous!
Without taking this into account we simply can’t sustain our lovely offerings.
One of the things I struggle with most when charging for my 1-2-1 services is that the backend work is totally invisible and for some reason I feel like I have to justify what I charge so I'm uncofmrtable with people not knowing this! It's a whole mess of unhelpful money-related narratives that I carry around with me so I find that fellow solo business owners are the best people to talk about it with as you understand that what I charge for an hour's consultation is not what I'm being paid for every hour I work!! Thanks so much for reading and commenting - your support is deeply appreciated ❤️
Nicola thank you so much for your bravery in sharing this with all of us. I want to put my hand up here and say that I did the exact same thing 5 years ago when I launched a membership in lockdown to help other people without extended that justice to myself. Memberships are SO rewarding (and fun!) and I still loved the fact that I did it, but they need a big list and they need to scale in order to be profitable. I promise you that whatever you decided with this, none of this is lost. NONE OF IT!
When I pivoted my business after closing my membership, I took so much learning, as well as a ton of resources that I still use to this day. It is all adding to your beautiful body of work.
Thanks again for sharing this and I look forward to our continued work together.
Hey Marisa, thank you so much for your ongoing support and for all the sense-making you do of my ramblings!! I'm having so many lightbulb moments at the moment - I've just had one about feeling resentful that people don't understand that my hourly rate is not what I get paid for every hour I work, but then I thought - but what if it was?? Why should that make a difference to what I charged??!!
It's a pleasure Nicola and you never ramble! It makes perfect sense. It's really that big difference between total work hours and billable hours. They are not the same!! I'm looking forward to more of your lightbulb moments!
I'd say raise the price + survey your readers? Your work is valuable 🥰
Thanks so much Sinù - I really appreciate your support 😊 I'm definitely going to be pulling together a survey - that's a great idea ❤️
Such an amazing post in so many ways. I’m actually considering raising my membership price soon as I’ll be releasing tutorials on how to realign with our ancestral minds alongside dream to deal so new members will have to pay more. I’ll be offering a tutorial once a month and possibly a live Q&A (I’m test running a live series as we speak). I know the tutorials will take a couple of days to make a month so raising to £12 a month or a discounted £90 a year is fair. I’m just going to trust the people who love what I do will find me and convert. I’ve realised people buy in not because of the price but because of what you offer and who you are. What you offer is AMAZING, so adjust your prices but crucially see where you can get back time. Sending you love and I’m glad I could be of some inspiration!xx
It's such a minefield!! Some context I left out of the piece because it would have been too long was that I launched the membership at a lower price because I wanted to reflect that there was no archive, and I knew I needed time to get up to speed with what I was offering. I then raised the price to £12 per month after three months. I don't think it's expensive for what I offer, but I do worry that everyone else thinks it is which is what deters me from putting the price up further. I am going to send a survey out to members to see what they're finding most useful and I do have some ideas about how to save a little bit of time each month, but I'm also going to think some more about raising the price further for new members. Stomach-churning!! I haven't decided what to do about that yet! Thanks so much for your support and encouragement, Anna - you're an absolute gift ❤️
❤️❤️❤️
Just popping a little message here to say how much I value your content, wisdom and insight (even if I’ve been a slightly absent member of this community lately).
I wonder if an answer would be some middle way between some of the options you’ve listed? Could you do an extra tier, for all the bells and whistles, and charge a higher fee, more in line with what you need to cover your own time and costs? (A bit like Virgina Solesmith’s Extra Butter?) And then run a more streamlined version of your current offering and keep the price point accessible? Personally, I struggle to keep up with everything on offer, but would happily pay the current rate for the practical posting ideas/tutorials and perhaps the create-a-longs alone.
Xx
Hey Jennie - thanks so much for your kind words and support ❤️ I do need to play around with the offer and figure out what everyone is finding most useful to see if there are some ways I can scale back the time commitment without affecting the value you get! Adding an extra tier is definitely worth considering - I'm making a list of all the ideas in these comments as there are loads of good ones!
I feel the same, Jennie. Would happily receive “less” for what I’ve paid (I also struggle to keep up with everything but value being able to look back on certain bits - practical posting ideas/ a tutorial or two)
Thank you, Nicola, for your bravery in sharing something which felt nerve-wracking to say but which other self employed/people with memberships also wrestle with.
Hope you find the solution which includes value + justice for you, too.
Thank you so much for your support Dominique - it's such a minefield but I feel so much better for having said it 'out loud'. Making sure members get value from your membership is really important to me so I am going to send out a questionnaire soon to see what you all find useful to see if there are ways I can scale back without affecting the value. Part of my problem is I'm a chronic over-deliverer which I try to tone down as I know it actually overwhelms peolpe, but I also have tooooo many ideas about all the ways I want to help and it's a challenge to filter them! As I've been typing this though, I've just had an idea - perhaps I should also survey periodically what members would most like help with!... something to think about ❤️
Thanks for sharing, Nicola. Freelance work is an ongoing struggle and it's probably impossible for the vast majority of us to get it right most of the time. I recently read a report that getting pricing right is one of the things that freelancers fret over most. I know I do: charging what I know my expertise and experience is worth and sometimes losing clients (√) vs undercharging in the hopes of attracting more work and then working long hours on complex projects for a pittance (√). I signed up for your membership because I can't afford one-to-one atm, and the membership is very affordable. Lots of people charge a smaller fee to start in order to attract subscribers and then raise the fee accordingly. I have already got so much out it that I would happily pay more, or stick around with a reduced set of services. But I realise that unless more people like me are willing to be members and pay a bit more, it just might not be sustainable.
Hey Carrie - thanks so much for your support, it means a lot! Ideally I do not want to raise the price for existing members, that would be my absolute last resort so hopefully it won't come to that. I am going to be sending out a survey though to see if there is anything I can scale back, that people aren't finding as useful, while there are other things I continue with. It's such a minefield and I'm pleased I decided to write this piece as comment likes yours remind me that I'm not on my own!
This really resonates - running a community is hard. One thing we figured out with Substack is that people are paying for a service not our writing. While I can turn a neat sentence what our subs want is help & support and that takes time to do well. We’re still figuring out how that fits with our other services, and with this platform, but the kind of calculations you made about time/cost are so helpful. Thank you for sharing and good luck as you figure this out.
Hi Bec, thank you! This is exactly how I see my place on Substack too - as a service - which is a very different proposition to running a classic newsletter. I'm not sure how well I communicate the difference between the two approaches though which I think then leads to confusion and the price - in comparison - looking high. It's a work in progress, as you say, but I feel so much better for saying some of this out loud - it's been really carthartic and also so lovely to receive messages like yours in solidarity which remind my I'm far from the only one!
For sure there is WAY more value in the membership than I'm paying for. I already had the mindset that I wanted to compensate you for what you were offering for free, so that early bird price point was a no-brainer. The biggest value for me is in the things I can show up for (versus passive content). I have so many other thoughts and I don't want to ramble and get into the weeds here, but I'd love to give you more detailed, specific feedback in person if that's of interest. Meanwhile, enjoy the break!
Sorry to be jumping in here so late. I just read this (after reading about it on Katie’s Substack) and don’t know how I missed it.
There’s very little I can add to what the others have said, except to echo their support for you. It’s a structural problem. It’s not you. You rely on authors for your income. We can’t make minimum wage either.
I’ve worked my ass off to promote my book because my publisher has done nothing. I couldn’t have done any of it without your help. As it turns out, I just got my first audit and was absolutely dismayed. After all the money and time I put into this project the last year… it feels like a waste.
Nic: I’ve gotten more from your help and support than the money I spent. Your fees are low, but tbh I couldn’t afford (too much) more. You have been a Godsend to me and I’m
a smarter, more savvy, person for having spent all that virtual time with you. I wish we lived in a world where we all were paid living wages.
This is such useful feedback as always, Cat. You always have such insightful things to say, thank you! I'm going to send out a survey to everyone and then take it from there so I'll definitely be in touch if I need more specific feedback but it's super useful even for me to understand the different parts of the offer in terms of the active and passive content which wasn't a categorisation that I'd considered, but you're right the two are very different!
I wholeheartedly agree that there is way more value on offer here than I am currently paying for! Xxx
Thanks so much for sharing - as someone who writes a lot about understanding their audience in books (I should promote more 😜 the irony) I want to say that you are certainly not alone - and you’ve learnt so much about what your readers are reading engaging with; you’ve tested a model and now you are being super self aware and taking stock asking yourself those brave questions (is this sustainable financially? Does this make sense for me?) Your approach is spot on and so many businesses just keep going without taking stock and hit a wall. For what it’s worth setting up 5 interviews (mix of existing members and non members) with your target audience could be a worthwhile next step. More than happy to send you a comp. copy of my book think it could really help and as a thank you for sharing so much goodness for authors like me hiding behind their books 😛🤪
Hi Katie - thanks so much for these insightful and kind comments. It has been genuinely cathartic to share the behind the scenes in this way and everyone is being so supportive, it's amazing. I've decided I'm going to send out a survey to all members as a first step, and then perhaps take it to a more personal level of interview although obviously who I speak to will require careful thought! No need to send me a copy of your book, but if you'd like to drop a link here I'd love to buy one! I've always shied away from 'business-y' books as I find them quite aliencating, but I'm learning that not all business books are BUSINESS BOOKS, if you know what I mean!!
I like to market mine as the least boring (aka actually quite funny in parts) book you'll ever read about market research 😎🤣Here is the link https://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguins-Eat-Peaches-unexpected-customers-ebook/dp/B0CGNG2N3V?ref_=ast_author_dp good luck we're all rooting for you
Have you considered surveying members to establish what’s of most interest? I know you can generally tell from activity but I was really surprised by the results when I asked people what they actually wanted from the space. I started mine in January 2024 and recently tweaked the offering. It still needs adjusting but I’m beginning to see it as an evolving thing. I had to give myself permission to keep pivoting but I feel so much better…feels more spacious I guess 💛
This is a great idea and is something I'm definitely going to do. Did you incentivise people filling in the survey or did you find the response was broad enough to be useful? I definitely agree the offer has to evolve and actually running through these comments has made me think that I can involve my members in this in other ways too - like, I always have more ideas of things I can create/ record/ write than I have time to do (plus I don't want to overwhelm everyone!) and maybe I should start polling my members to see what they'd like me to tackle next! Thanks so mcuh for your input - I felt so sill writing this piece but everyone's response has been so thoughtful and supportive and I actually feel exctied again!
No incentive for a simple survey. If people care enough about their experience I think they generally want to help. And involving them is a benefit to them so I find framing it in that way helps. That said, I did send out a detailed survey after the first round of my Playgroup came to a close and one of those who completes it will win their spot on the next round, but because it was quite involved and high ticket it felt right!
I would second this - I did a survey for my newsletter back when I was running a paid section and it was very illuminating. In particular, it highlighted that a few things I was trying to do that were quite time consuming were actually the things most people could take or leave. Xx
I'm definitely going to do this, Jennie. Did you incentivise the survey or did you find enough people responded that the results were useful without incentive? xx
This is such a great post Nic - I love seeing the inner workings of businesses like mine (as you know!!). I think you charge too little for your awesome membership 🤩. I agree that making it low cost to make it accessible doesn’t help anyone if you can’t afford to run it. Personally I’d raise the cost for new members and allocate a few free memberships for low income writers instead. It would still be way more affordable for writers than 1-2-1 would cost but that way it might be more sustainable for you. Honestly the membership is too cheap for the incredible support you offer!! Now that I’m running a membership myself - I can see why you’re loving facilitating it so much. I’m loving it too! But it takes a lot of energy….
Oh gosh I really do love it and don't want to let it go AT ALL! Maybe I'm my own worst enemy but I have some things to follow up on from the comments here, and my own thinking, so I'm going to give it another go! Thanks ( as always!) for your support, Penny xxx
We need an early May get together to run through backend stuff and do some planning!
This is such great advice! ✨✨
Penny's a 💎
Yikes, Nicola! But good for you for telling the truth. I feel bad for you, as I know first hand how passionate you are about helping writers get their work seen. I’m sure there must be a way to figure it out so you don’t end up running past yourself with your pockets flapping and your hair on fire. Sadly, I’m not the one who can help. Online courses, maybe, that you put together and sell as a package? My daughter does these for the business of fashion photography and they do really well. Big hugs. Cesca xx
haha YIKES made me smile - YIKES indeed! Thanks so much for your support, Cesca - your kind words mean more than you perhaps realise ❤️
Maybe you need some merchandising, like me…!!! Pretty mugs!