Membership Site Success Podcast

The game has changed when it comes to how email deliverability works. In fact, email marketing has changed forever. The problem is most marketers and business owners haven't been keeping up with these changes. If you've thought to yourself recently 'email isn't working nearly as well as it used to for my business...' Or 'my open and click through rates are getting lower and lower' and you aren't sure what to do about it... Then you'll want to watch this video to get some expert answers. In this new video interview and article, Adrian Savage shares what's changed with the way that email deliverability works. Adrian has worked with top marketers like Neil Patel, Lisa Sasevich, Eben Pagan (and many others) to improve their email deliverability. He also shares his best advice on how you can improve your open / click through rates and email deliverability with your email list. Along with a new, free tool you can use to measure your "email health score" and get other useful reports for tracking your lists engagement. Here's where you can get Adrian's free tool and your own email health score: It's no longer about the size of your email list. It's all about the quality and engagement of your list. To find out what that means and get Adrian's advice on how to get email working better for your business check out the full episode or link below. Check out the full episode notes here:

Today’s guest, Rachel Miller of Moolah Marketing, had sat next to Micah on an airplane 18 months ago as a complete stranger. Little did she know the advice she’d get on that flight would be just what she needed to hear to finally get the first version of her membership site launched. At the time she didn’t have an email list, she wasn’t well known and had been holding herself back from launching her own program with a few common mindset hurdles that people often have when it comes to launching a membership site. Rachel’s true strength was she’s really a certified expert at what she does. She had always wanted to share her expertise with others, but had never taken the steps needed to actually put that knowledge into a course. After that flight she really put Micah’s advice into action and launched the first version of her program called Moolah shortly after. About two years later, is now an incredibly successful membership program with roughly 500 paying members and thousands of past students that have gone through the course. Throughout this episode, Rachel shares how she went about launching the first version of her membership program after that flight and some of the biggest lessons she learned along the way. Listen to the full episode to find out how you can apply some of the same strategies to launching your own membership site or online course, completely from scratch... You’ll also be able to find out what magic advice Micah had given her on the plane. As a hint, it has something to do with notecards ;) What advice did Micah give Rachel and how can you you go through the same planning exercise? To go through the same exact planning exercise at home you check it out here: This episode has tons of helpful advice for any coach or expert who’s been thinking about starting an online course or membership site but has no idea how to get started. Before Rachel had started Moolah, she had created multiple Facebook fan pages with huge followings, we’re talking pages with over a few hundred thousand or million+ likes. Through her program Moolah, she teaches others how to build huge Facebook followings with raving fans the same way that she does for her clients. To find our more about Rachel, you can head over to or for more info on Moolah and how you can grow your Facebook Following, visit . You can also join Rachel’s Facebook group “” to get geeky about Facebook, find out the latest strategies for marketing your business on Facebook and growing your own Facebook page. Show Links

In this episode, Michael Hunter, the co-founder of GoSpiffy joins Micah to discuss how to effectively structure online course content so it’s focused on delivering real results for your students. A few years ago, having 40+ hours of content inside of an online course would be a great selling point. Over the years the way that you should structure an online course (or membership program) has evolved to being all about the results that it delivers. Over the years Michael has worked with some of the world’s biggest personal brands. For several years he was the CMO of  Brendon Burchard’s organization. Besides running Spiffy, he’s helped countless authors, experts, coaches and speakers in monetizing their knowledge online. Throughout this episode Michael shares a ton of nuggets that he’s learned from all this experience and shares some of the most common traits that these successful business owners have shared.   Micah and Michael discuss how starting a new online course or membership site is a lot like starting a new piece of software, and why it’s crucial to starting both with a “minimum viable” approach. They also discuss the psychology behind coming up with a price for an  online course and the difference that a $50 course versus a $2,000 dollar price point can have for a business.   What’s Spiffy and where can you learn more from Michael?     Creating a modern looking order form with Infusionsoft is tricky. What’s even harder is adding your own content and trying to customize an Infusionsoft order form. is an add-on for Infusionsoft users that makes it easy to build great looking, responsive order forms with Infusionsoft. They also have a ton of prebuilt order form templates, based on some of the highest converting order forms they’ve created for leading info marketers, that you can use to quickly create your own order forms with Spiffy.   To learn more about Spiffy, you can visit . Or if you’d like to see some examples of their high converting order form templates, visit: If you’d like to get in touch with Michael, pass along any feedback or ask any questions you can email If you enjoyed this episode we'd love it if you could subscribe, rate, or review the Membership Site Success Podcast on . Episode Highlights Michael shares his insights about the biggest mistakes people all to often make when it comes to building a membership site or online course. Learn how you can avoid these same mistakes and effectively overcome them with a minimum viable approach. The course landscape has evolved over time. Find out how these changes have changed the way you should structure your content inside of your membership program or course to being results oriented. He shares a lot of useful pointers in effectively managing these changes and staying relevant in today’s crowded online course market. Michael emphasizes on how the beginning can negatively or positively impact your business. How you start a new online course can make or break your business. Find out how to start it the right way. In this episode, Michael gives his personal advice to anyone who’s just starting out or is at the foundation phase of their business. He discusses about the concept of progress between membership site newbies and online information marketing veterans. Find out what successful info marketers have in common, what drives their success, and how you can apply their same strategies to your own business. Michael discusses how to organize your program’s content to achieve the results that you are looking for. Michael highlights the importance of building a community. How events can strengthen a brand and how those relationships can impact the success of your business. Links Mentioned:

In today’s episode, Chris Badgett, the CEO and co-founder of  joins Micah to share his insights about online course design, membership sites and his advice for anyone who’s thinking about starting an online course. Starting an online course is hard. When you’re trying to start your own online course, people run into what Chris refers to as “the five hats problem”. To run a successful online course, you have to be an expert, you have to be a community builder, an instructional designer, a technologist and you have to be an entrepreneur. Fulfilling all these roles yourself can be a huge challenge. Chris shares his advice on how you can overcome this problem and talks about the right way to approach launching an online course when you’re just getting started. Throughout this episode, Chris shares a ton of useful nuggets you can use to improve your online course or membership site. He discusses the importance of using feedback loops to improve the outcomes for your students and ultimately make your online course more successful. Chris Badgett is the CEO and co-founder of , one of the most popular LMS’ for WordPress. Chris started learning about online education on a glacier in Alaska. He's created courses on everything from organic gardening to wood working. He is extremely passionate about helping other entrepreneurial educators find success and create impact by helping them create online courses and membership sites. To learn more about how LifterLMS works you can visit their site and start using it for free. If you’d like to learn more from Chris, we’d like to invite you to to his LMS podcast or join the . Throughout the episode, Chris shares a ton of great advice for anyone with an online course or membership site. To find out all of the advice Chris had to share you won’t want to miss checking out this full episode…

In this episode Micah interview’s Tracy Childers, “the godfather” of membership sites. Throughout this episode Tracy shares how he co-founded WishList Member. He shares his advice on how to run a successful membership site for the long term and his advice on starting a reliable business partnership. Tracy and Micah talk about how the subscription economy has evolved over the years. Where it’s headed in the future and what this means for people who are looking to start a membership site. They also discuss a few important topics that every business owner should start considering to make sure their business stays prepared for the future. To find out what they are exactly, you’ll want to check out the full episode... In 2008 Tracy had co-founded WishList Member with Stu McLaren. At that time there was barely any other membership platforms available on the market. Over the years, WishList Member has became the world’s most popular and widely used membership platforms that exists today. WishList Member currently powers over 90,000 membership websites and online communities. You could say when it comes to membership sites, to put it lightly, Tracy really knows what he’s talking about. To find out the most important lessons Tracy has learned over the years and his advice on how to start a successful membership site, listen to the full episode... To learn more about WishList Member and find out more about how it works, you can check out their website at   Key Takeaways From This Episode:   As Tracy says, “People like to buy from people they know, like and trust.” To effectively market your product, you need to invest in building your reputation, and earn your audience’s trust.   It's never too late to jump into something that you truly want to do and are passionate about. Whether you’re a membership site veteran, or just starting out, when you’re equipped with the right tools and resources, remember to believe in yourself and don’t let anything stop you.   In any business, Tracy believes that you have to be yourself. Instead of trying to imitate the people that you look up to, innovate and find your individuality by learning from them, not mimicking them. Apply and take this knowledge to the direction that you want to take on.   Find and form partnerships. Don't let your limitations hold you back. If you realize you’re not exactly sure about what you’re doing, you can always reach out and ask for professional help.   Don’t be afraid of change. Change is inevitable, the only thing you can do is to adapt to these changes. Use them to become better.   Know where you are going. Do not get too hung up on having to have your membership site perfect in order to get going. Whichever order you do to start and build a membership site is fine because the steps that go along with it are just as important.

On today’s episode, Kyle Leavitt will be joining us. We discuss building a startup and what it takes to build one from the ground up. Kyle shares his advice on improving customer retention, increasing customer loyalty and the importance of core values in a business. Kyle Leavitt is the recent co-founder of LoyalStream. He had also co-founded CustomerHub, which he sold to Infusionsoft, where he became a key leader who helped grow the company from $1M to $100M+ in annual recurring revenue. Kyle joined Infusionsoft in 2005 then started talking to entrepreneurs every day on the phone and selling Infusionsoft to them. He left Infusionsoft in 2008 and started a software business with his brother and business partner called CustomerHub, which he then sold back to Infusionsoft and joined the product team where he served as Director of Product Management and later VP of Product. He was there for five years before leaving to start another business and get back to his original love, which is building software products that help small businesses succeed.In this episode, learn more about what it takes to have a successful membership site, how you can become proactive instead of reactive and how you can streamline your decisions and process to align with your overall vision. You’ll hear more about setting SMART goals, tips on building a loyal customer base and advice you can use to improve the retention of your members. LoyalStream connects to your customer data and teaches people the secret to loyalty which lies in your customer data. Customers start demonstrating behaviors indicating they aren’t happy or healthy long before asking for a cancellation. LoyalStream identifies customers that are at risk of canceling. If you would like to learn more from Kyle about LoyalStream, visit https://.loyalstream.com. You can also schedule a consultation directly from their website. Key Takeaways Being a good salesperson is about understanding the needs of the prospect that you are talking to. It’s about understanding their business and the problem they are looking to solve. Building a successful product is understanding a need that exists in the market for more than one person. A product persons’ primary job is to understand the needs of the market and create a solution that will solve the problem their target market has. Consider finding ways to be more scientific in your approach to building product. Determine ways to effectively measure everything that you are doing. Learn how to create a vision and how to execute against a vision. Setting SMART goals is crucial to achieving your desired outcomes. You have so many things that cross your plate that are opportunities. They are often time good opportunities but where people get off track in growing their business is in saying yes to too many things. Have a vision and have priorities clearly defined early on when starting a new business. The internet has put a heavy emphasis on customer loyalty. It’s more important than ever to build a loyal customer base. Its about getting the business owner from a state of reactivity to a state of proactivity. It’s not about saving customers; it’s about helping them be more successful. Links

Eric Christopher is an innovative business consultant and media expert who helps business owners position themselves as authority figures and assists them in gaining exposure through major media channels. Throughout this episode, Eric brings up some key questions every business owner should ask themselves about what the ultimate endgame is for your business and what the end game is for your membership site. Eric shares his advice on how you can better position yourself and your brand as a respected authority figure for the long term that matches up with the goals and core values that you have for your business. In this episode you’ll learn how to go about positioning yourself as an expert (and how to stand out from the pack), marketing your membership site, how to get media attention from major media outlets, the importance of building relationships the right way and much more... As a membership site owner, want to learn how to get attention of journalists and learn how to develop those relationships to get consistent media coverage? Eric is offering a free module from his membership site called “Free Media & Publicity Tips” that will help show you how you can go about getting major media exposure for yourself and your membership site. To get the free module, just text the word Memberium21, to the number 21777.

In this episode, long time marketing expert and finance veteran, Kim Sinder shares the inside story of how she launched her new membership site, “Sane Crypro” with Memberium for ActiveCampaign. Sane Crypto is a membership site that teaches baby boomers how to create a sane strategy for investing in cryptocurrencies to save more for retirement. Kim won Infusionsoft’s ‘Most Helpful Partner’ award a few years back and was big in the Infusionsoft space. Before that, she started an Investment firm that was on the Inc 5,000 list two years in a row. You’d think that someone with all this marketing experience would build an advanced membership site with a pretty complex marketing funnel, right? She did the exact opposite. Kim marketed and built her membership program strictly following what she refers to as the “reverse funnel concept.” This means before she even created one piece of content for her membership site, she did a lot of work figuring out who her target market really is, what they wanted and figuring out what messaging they responded best to. Once she figured out the best “hooks” that her target audience responded best to, she then pre-sold access to her membership program to make sure there would be enough people willing to join her membership site. All before she built or invested her time in creating one piece of content for her membership site. The way that Kim went about doing all of this is a lot simpler than you think. To find out how she did it, you’ll want to listen to the full episode to discover how… Over the years, we’ve seen a tons membership owners think they need to have the perfect membership site before they start selling it. This can turn into a project like Noah’s arc. Except once it’s built, no one comes...and no one ends up buying the membership. This is why we recommend taking a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) approach to creating a membership site, or even better pre-selling your membership like Kim has. In this episode Kim shares a ton of valuable advice for anyone who’s looking to start a membership site from ground zero or is in the process of starting one. You’ll also find out Kim’s advice on marketing a membership site in the early stages, how she’s created all of her ‘members-only’ content following a minimum viable strategy, and what’s worked best for her. To learn more about SANE crypto and Kim you can visit or check out her podcast, the SANE Crypto . You can also download her quick start guide or sign up for her webinar every Wednesday through the link above. Throughout this episode, you’ll also discover... The importance of targeting the right people for your membership site, how to find them and discovering the right message or “hook” that lures them to join your membership site. Find out what the reverse funnel concept is and why it’s the best strategy for solopreneurs and anyone who’s looking to start a membership site on their own. Find out Kim’s minimum viable approach to building her membership site’s content, how she successfully marketed it and much more. Kim’s advice on what to do, what not to do and when to do it when it comes to first launching a membership site. Building your marketing funnel for your membership is just like building a house, you start with the foundation first not the roof. Find out Kim’s minimum viable approach to building her membership site’s content, how she successfully marketed it and much more.   Resources/Links Mentioned:

In this episode, Micah Mitchell shares his candid advice on running online business and the inside story of how he’s lead Memberium to where it is today. Micah goes in-depth on a wide range of topics that most membership site owners and entrepreneurs can learn from. The story begins with Micah’s first decision to quit his first office job right after high school and start a lawn care company. That led him to start learning how to build websites in the early 2000’s and the rest is history. Micah shares some inspiring and helpful advice on how to be a successful membership site owner and tips on operating with a remote team. One of the key points Micah focuses on is how to entice your members to stay interested in the content you put out by providing value they will want to pay for. He explains his “quick and dirty” approach to implementing things in his business. Where he believes it is best to start with a minimum viable product first, so it gets out as fast as possible, and learn from market feedback after. There is no doubt Micah will impress you with his thoughts on competition, which he sees as an opportunity for collaboration and partnership. Other topics Micah touches up on in this episode include the importance of the team in a business, as well as the importance of diversity in a team and tips on managing a remote team across the world. He also talks about his hiring strategies for remote hires and much more. To wrap it up, Micah discussed about the importance of trusting your gut when running a business, especially as a self-made entrepreneur. He also discusses the importance of keeping the end in mind when it comes to business ownership.

In this episode, Micah interviews internet marketing legend Dave Dee. Dave shares his incredible story of how he went from being a struggling magician, to becoming one of the world’s most sought after marketers and head of marketing for GKIC. He credits this transformation to one big shift in his thinking. In this interview, Dave explains how membership site owners can use that same type of mind shift to transform their business for the better. This isn’t focused on certain tricks or gimmicky sales tactics for membership sites. Dave shares his best (and proven) sales advice that any membership site owner will be able to take advantage of.