How Jay Clouse Built a $500,000 ARR Community (in Less than 2 Years)
Sep 21, 2023
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Jay Clouse, Founder of Creator Science, talks with Greg about the benefits of cohort-based courses and achieving a 95% retention rate. They discuss building and selling products multiple times, the value of a shared vocabulary, the importance of membership communities, the choice between being a distributor and an artist, algorithm-focused distribution, revenue sources for creators, and membership performance and retention rates.
Cohort-based courses offer higher prices and better feedback compared to self-paced courses, making them a valuable approach for creators.
Membership communities can be a successful revenue stream for creators, providing a valuable and exclusive space for like-minded individuals to foster connections and offer premium content.
Deep dives
Importance of Cohort-Based Courses
Cohort-based courses are a valuable approach to product development for creators, offering higher prices and better feedback compared to self-paced courses. By creating a cohort-based version of a course, creators can address student issues early on, leading to better outcomes. Additionally, cohort-based frameworks can be useful for prescriptive nonfiction books, as they provide structure and valuable content for readers.
Building Strong Membership Communities
Membership communities can be a successful revenue stream for creators. By providing a valuable, exclusive space for like-minded individuals, membership communities create a shared vocabulary and foster peer-to-peer connections. These communities can focus on offering premium content or facilitating private communities, depending on the target audience. Pricing for membership communities can vary depending on the value of the content and the community experience.
Succeeding on Discovery and Relationship Platforms
Creators can leverage both discovery platforms (e.g., social media, YouTube, search engines) and relationship platforms (e.g., email, podcasting, private communities) to reach and engage with their audience. While discovery platforms can provide exposure, relationship platforms enable creators to build trust and deeper connections. A successful strategy involves using discovery platforms to drive traffic to relationship platforms, where creators can nurture their audience and convert them into paying customers.
Optimizing for Retention in Membership Communities
Retention is a crucial metric for the success of membership communities. Poor retention rates can indicate underlying issues and dissatisfaction among members. To improve retention, creators can invest in creating a compelling and engaging community experience, tailored events, and programming that foster connections among members. Offering different tiers of membership with varying degrees of exclusivity and access can also help retain members and provide value based on their preferences.
Today Greg is joined by Jay Clouse of Creator Science. In this episode, Greg and Jay talk about the upsides of cohort-based courses and what strategies Jay uses to achieve his 95% retention rate.
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LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE: Production Team: https://www.bigoceanpodcasting.com Jay Clouse https://twitter.com/jayclouse https://creatorscience.com/
SHOW NOTES 0:00 - Intro 5:40 - How Jay studies top creators 12:10 - Courses vs. Membership Community 19:30 - How Jay attracts audiences 24:20 - The secret dividends of viral posts 30:40 - Being a distributor vs. being an artist 43:30 - Why retention is the golden metric
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