Terms
Ben L Collins, the Google Sheets expert behind the educational website benlcollins.com Ben L Collins is extremely grateful for his membership-based business as well as the digital creator economy generally. "When you create something - whether you're an artist, or you're designing an instructional course, or even another building-related membership, when a random person opens their wallets and offers your money, you'll realize how incredibly fortunate you are in this particular moment at a time when you're able to accomplish this kind of thing and connect with so many individuals.
"If someone's spending the time to first of all - just take a look at my work and is impressed enough that they're willing to purchase it I'd like to do absolutely everything I can to make this as good as possible for them," he continues.
Ben is a fan of membership, because it's much more than a single cost: "We're not talking about"consulting agreements" wherein people hire you to perform an assignment that's written and structured and everyone knows what they're getting. This is more of a partnership where that person is saying, 'I want to join your bandwagon for the next calendar year, or for a month, or a quarter. I appreciate what you're doing and I'd like to help you and be part of this."
He believes that membership gives you a really strong incentive to do the best you can do, and strive to make great quality content. "People expect me to make high-quality stuff, but I also really want to - to make it for them as well as for myself. "
Ben explains that it helps to establish a great bond with the group "I think I'm contributing to people rather than an random person purchasing a course and you never have any idea if anyone even looks at the course. The experience is more tangible with the membership, or more intimate. It's about establishing a stronger friendship that transcends transactional."
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 about 15 courses through Teachable possibly with up to 25 courses, since certain classes had been revived. While teaching the course is a must to commit as much, as much effort, if not more - to marketing 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 delivering e-courses for 10 years, when she was struck by covid.
Ben knew he preferred to concentrate on spreadsheet technical content and helping people. "People would come to me asking "How can I accomplish that?' and it would be a fascinating problem to work on.
"Membership was something I had thought about maybe two or even three, times in the past," Ben says. Ben. "I loved the idea because it's recurring revenue. Membership isn't having to constantly launch something to make money where you have a big spike but then you're left with nothing." The author explains it's a stable platform, which allows the creator to focus on the creating as well as the connection with the people who are using the platform, rather than to do marketing.
"For several years I'd thought about the concept of joining a club, but I'd never gotten past the process of research. I was concerned about feeling like I was always in the loop if I did this model that required me to be always doing something. I was always able to pull back and continued to follow the classes." He had finished what he set out to do.
"I'd basically covered all the different things that I could have covered with my full-courses. It was difficult to find other courses that weren't getting increasingly specialized and therefore there is a decrease in demand when you move to more advanced techniques," he continues. "There wasn't a good economical reason to take one of the courses I might consider."
Ben also notes that he felt burnt out. "I was thinking 'I have to record 100 Teachable video tutorials that must be one cohesive thing.' I didn't have the motivation to create this in a single block. There's no way to tell whether people will purchase the item. "
Ben explains that e-courses require authors to make public their creation before trying to sell it. With this, it's impossible to know for certain what will happen if the course is successful. "It may take about three to six months to develop the best course. If the course does not succeed it, it's not possible to resell the course in the future, " he adds. "I realized that I needed a longer-term relationship with my customers that would include microdeadlines and microdeliverables."
Chess Playing a simulation of chess using Google Sheets
The idea of membership suddenly became clear. "I'll commit to a weekly newsletter, and there are examples and guides, but they don't all need to be the same topic or be linked to each other. It could be bitesize and more manageable for me which is also easier for others to read."
Also, from a user standpoint, very few people take their courses online "It's daunting when you buy the course which has more than 10 hours worth of videos. It's difficult for students to manage 10 hours of content so you give up and you never get around to doing it. However, if you only receive a single email each week, you can take 30 minutes during a lunch break and get a lot of value this week. Then, you'll be able to forget about it for the next week." Ben explains.
At the beginning of spring 2024 Ben started to think hard about membership. Over the summer, he sat down to draw out precisely the kind of membership he wanted before launching on September 1st.
Email is king
When he talks about his work, Ben is keen to be grateful to his co-worker. "I'm very fortunate that my wife has accomplished all of this before. She's had her own company; she's launched various products and knew how to create an email list." Ben received a number of tips early during his career in membership "that was extremely helpful" - and one of the lessons was the need to establish an email list.
Ben's wife was working as a content marketer when the time came to begin building his network. "She had an agency that did marketing for clients. They also wrote blogs, SEO posts as well as social media. It was extremely useful, clearly for the work I was trying to accomplish at the time," Ben adds.
"Emails are by far the best way to connect with your audience," he continues. The author admits that this is perhaps less relevant for the younger generation, but says: "The problem with social media, especially newer platforms like TikTok has to do with the disconnect between you and your audience.
When you create content and the platform showcases what's viral and what is trending - it doesn't matter if you have 10,000 or 100,000 followers, if your piece of content isn't viral as per the algorithm, it's unlikely that any of your followers ever going to see the content. There's a risk of a weak relationship. You exist at the whims of that platform. If they modify their algorithms or fall out of fashion - there have been many social media sites disappear - so building an email list is vital.
Advice for aspiring membership operators
"If somebody was starting an account right now, I would say "Just start!" Ben smiles. "With the benefit of hindsight, I'd like I'd started this two years ago. It takes time to complete these tasks. As soon as you begin to get started, the more time you'll can enjoy."
Ben at Zoom Ben hosting an online session with his members
It's simple to conduct a bit more research "You might convince yourself there's something missing, or there's another approach. I've made that mistake in the past. However, when you press "Go" and release an item in the universe and start interacting with real people the thing takes on a new life. It becomes a matter of actually solving problems you must resolve, not just these hypothetical questions."
He urges people to not be too concerned: "If you're addressing someone's issue - and if they is in need of solving a issue that you're able to help them solve, and your group can do that, just get out there! You can improve it in time."
Additional information
For more information and to sign up to Ben's weekly Google Sheets tips, go to benlcollins.com.