Sometimes it seems like everyone's talking about having a membership site. But does having a membership site really live up to the buzz?
Well, it depends on what you want to do. There are some great financial reasons to have your own membership site, but there are also a lot of great personal benefits as well. Overall, my favorite by-product is the change that you will see in your lifestyle. Here is a list of some of the personal benefits I have noticed when you have your own membership site.
1. You Can Be Your Own Boss
Wouldn't you love to not have someone breathing down your neck all the time? Wouldn't you love it if you didn't have to notify or beg someone if you could leave on a spontaneous trip? Well, one of my favorite perks of having a membership site is that I don't have a boss! I do what I want, when I want. I think of how I can take care of my members, and I don't have to worry about a boss.
2. You Can Actually Balance Work and Life
Having a membership site can help balance your life. When you work on-site for a company you have to pick and choose what you can and can't do. But if you have a membership site and you work from home, it can give you the freedom to be more flexible. You can run to a doctor's appointment, go to the gym, catch a movie, or even take a nap in the middle of the day if you want. You'll still work when you have a membership site (and chances are you'll work very, very hard) but it will be on your schedule, so you'll have the time you need to take care of yourself and your life.
3. You Don't Have To Endure Long Commutes
I'm always reminded of this one when I'm traveling during rush hour, or stuck in a giant snow storm (yeah, that's a thing here in Salt Lake City). A commute can really add up by the end of the week too. Let's say you had a modest commute of 30 minutes to work each way. By the end of the week you'd have spent a total of 5 hours in the car! That's almost a full days work wasted. Think of all the things you could do with that extra time: you could re-invest it back in your business, spend it with your family, or finally have time to get back to the gym.
4. You Get To Meet Awesome People
When you have a membership site, chances are you're going to come in contact with a diverse group of people. Many people from different countries and time zones. You also have the opportunity of meeting great people who have the same interests as you.
5. You Set Your Own Dress Code
Need I say more? You haven't lived till you've done a Google Video Hangout wearing a nice shirt and pajama pants. I call that business on the top and party down below. Seriously though, I work best when I'm able to wear comfortable clothes, and when you work in a home office you dictate your own dress code.
6. No More Useless Meetings or Insane Deadlines
Once you start your own membership site, you may still have some deadlines, but you will be the one making them. You won't have a boss making you stay up an entire weekend because of some miscalculated or artificial deadline.
7. You Can Focus On Your Passion
Think of spending most of your time doing what interests you, and helping others with those same interests. You will most likely go much further spending time on what you are passionate about then prodding along doing something that you don't care about.
8. You Can Stop Trading your Time for Money
I remember hearing this all the time from my parents when I was a kid: “the best way to make money is while you are sleeping.” Think about waking up and having made money before you have even started the day. Is this realistic? You bet it is. WordPress Membership Plugins like MemberPress will track and manage recurring payments on your membership site. You may no longer get a paycheck every two weeks but you can definitely wake up to payments happening while you sleep. This is a key step in life because you'll no longer be trading time for money, which is generally the prevailing way people make money. Once you're able to stop that cycle, you'll open your world up to many more possibilities.
9. You Can Collect Recurring Payments
Membership sites are different than many other eCommerce sites because they charge for on-site content and more often than not, they are based on subscriptions. This means that as long as you can maintain a core set of members who reliably pay a fee each month, year, etc., then you can be successful. Typically a membership site will need fewer active customers because they pay regularly.
10. Freedom!
Isn't this the ultimate goal of most businesses anyway? Membership sites though are one of the most reliable and consistent vehicles to deliver freedom because of the way they work. You may not have absolute freedom when you first start your membership site but eventually, as you tweak and build your platform, freedom will come.
I know that my life has been better since starting a membership site (despite the hard work and challenges) and I think it's a great option for anyone who's passionate about what they do and interested in starting their own platform to help others.
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