If you have been trying to decide how to spend your limited time online read this…
The great advantage of having your own business is that you escape office politics.
If you work in a high-pressure environment with tight deadlines controlling a business offers you lifestyle freedom.
You call the shots.
What is a Membership Website?
In its simplest form, a membership website is a gated site that includes members-only content. They’re used by nonprofits, clubs, associations, and even businesses to “gate” content that only members have access to provide additional value.
What is a subscription service business?
Subscription businesses involve selling a product or service and collecting recurring revenue for continuing to provide that service or product. Most subscription businesses charge either monthly or yearly. One of the first and easiest to understand subscription business models is magazine subscriptions.
Which approach is more profitable?
Let’s look at the numbers. Both business models give you the ability to charge whatever you want for the content.
100 members or subscribers paying $50 a month is a $60,000 a year business.
You can increase the number as high as you would like. But there are some challenges with both models.
The downside of membership sites:
The typical membership site has the following components:
- Courses – it can take a long time to create courses to load into your membership site. And a big, under-publicized, problem is that new members will often join to download your courses and then refund.
- Live coaching – live streams and coaching are a tremendous time drain. Many site owners do live coaching via streaming a couple of times a week. This requires preparation and scheduling.
- Community – this is usually billed as a great place where members come together and share ideas and learn. But the reality is that these communities (forums) are riddled with base advice from members. Worst yet many new members spam these forums to sell their other services.
The downside of subscription business:
- Cancellations – the biggest problem with the subscription model is that people will cancel.
- New content – you must provide value-added content for your readers which can be a challenge if you don’t know-how.
Which approach is better?
A better question may be how much time can you carve out for this side business. The demands of a membership site are significant when compared to a subscription business.
The Winner?
Our choice is the subscription business model because:
- You control the content and there are no worries about subscribers downloading your content and refunding. You schedule content and control the process.
- You can even create a thriving subscription business without needing a website! This is unavoidable with the membership model.
We use the scenario of 100 people paying you $50 a month for their subscription. This gives you a $60,000 annual income.
PaidLetter.Com teaches you how to command a higher price tag for your content ($97 or more) which drives you into the six-figure income range faster with fewer subscribers.
