SCFO #008: A Solopreneur’s Million-Dollar Membership Site
Read time: 2:45 minutes
We’re spotlighting another solopreneur this week.
The goal is to identify how million-dollar
one-person businesses are created.
The hope is to give you inspiration on your journey
toward scaling revenue all while working less.
You may have heard that membership sites are a pain to run.
And that is true in some cases.
Take million-dollar solopreneur Justin Welsh, for example.
👇
BUT just because it didn’t work for Justin doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
And it can.
Take Dave Gerhardt, for instance.
He recently wrote an article about how his million-dollar media company was an accident.
I don’t know about you, but I wish I had an accident like that.
Let’s dive into how he built his $800k membership site while working less than 40 hours per week.
Create an Accidental Audience
To me, the super secret ROI of doing a podcast as an individual is learning.
— Dave Gerhardt
As discussed in last week’s newsletter, to scale as a one-person business, you need an audience.
Without it, you won’t have the reach you need to monetize a 1:many offer.
But you don’t need to overcomplicate it.
Focus on areas that interest you, and you’ll attract the right audience.
Dave Gerhardt did exactly that by starting The Growth Show podcast with HubSpot in 2015.
Since then, he has hosted 3 other podcasts, and it’s now part of his weekly routine.
The best part is that he loves doing it.
During his journey, he also incorporated posting on LinkedIn and Twitter.
The recipe was simple for Dave → build and grow in public.
Austin Kleon said it best in his book Show Your Work:
“Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you’ll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It’s that simple.”
Dave did just that and now has 190k followers across LinkedIn & Twitter
Accidental Audience ✅
Monetizing Your Audience
When you build an audience, it gives you the ability to distribute a product at scale.
For Dave, this started with Patreon.
He created a private podcast, thinking he’d land 100 subscribers for $10/month and an extra $1,000/month.
6 months later, he was bringing in $10,000/month.
This is the power of an audience.
He later added the Exit Five Marketing Facebook Group to the mix, and it’s now his primary revenue generator.
The group is a collection of B2B marketers who share insights about what is and is not working in marketing.
The most recent numbers?
Community Members → 3,300 (including me 🙋♂️)
Membership Price → $20/month
TOTAL REVENUE → $792,000!!!
The best part is that he’s doing this in less than 40 hours per week.
Community-Led Membership Site
Solopreneurs like Justin Welsh and Kieran Drew got burnt out from membership sites because it was driven by one-way communication.
Meaning the site relied almost entirely on their efforts.
The beauty of the Exit Five B2B marketing community is that it is a community-led membership site.
Because the members are skilled and engage often, Dave doesn’t need to answer every single question.
In fact, other people are often better suited for certain questions.
He primarily works behind the scenes as a:
Curator
Moderator, and
Conversation starter
As counterintuitive as this might sound, when you create a membership site, make it less about you and more about your members.
Don’t become the star of the show, or you’ll pave your own path to burnout.
Work as a curator to drive engagement and moderate the group.
TL;DR
Creators that scale share one thing in common → they show their work.
Dave Gerhardt did exactly that by launching multiple podcasts and documenting his journey publicly on Twitter & LinkedIn.
Later, Dave was able to monetize his audience with a community-led membership site.
If you plan to create a Membership Site, make it community-focused. Don’t be the hero, or you’ll end up the villain.
You can start showing your work by documenting your journey publicly (Twitter, LinkedIn, Podcast, YouTube, etc.).
Thank you for reading!
P.S. if you’re a solopreneur and feeling stuck on your journey to building true wealth, book a free 15-minute call today.
Let me help you get unstuck, so you can focus on doing the things you love.
