Terms
Ben L Collins, the Google Sheets expert behind the education website benlcollins.com, is incredibly thankful for his membership company and the economy of creators all over the world. "When you're creating something, whether it's an artist, or you're designing an instructional course, or even another building-related membership, and some random stranger opens their wallet and gives your money, you'll realize the incredible privilege you have to be at a time when you're able to create that type of product and connect with so many individuals.
"If somebody is willing to first of all - look at my stuff, and they like it enough to pay for it I'd love to do all I can to make this the best possible experience for them," he continues.
Ben loves the concept of membership because it's not just a one-time cost: "We're not talking about"consulting agreements" wherein people hire you to perform an assignment which is written down and everyone knows the terms of service they're receiving. More of a relation in which the person says"I'd like to join your bandwagon for the next year or month or quarter. I like what you're doing; I want to support you as a part of that."
It is his belief that joining the club gives you a really compelling incentive to try the best you can do as well as to strive to produce wonderful content. "People expect that I create high-quality content however, I really would like to do it to make it for them as well as for myself. "
Ben explains that it helps to build a wonderful relationship you have with the community "I think I'm contributing to the community rather than being an random person purchasing the course but you do not know whether they even look at the course. The experience is more tangible with the membership, or more intimate. It's about creating a more intimate relationship that goes beyond being an exchange."
From "always-on" to microdeliverables
The covid-19 epidemic hit, Ben had been delivering classes on manipulation of data using Google Sheets for 10 years. "I taught around 15 different courses on Teachable possibly with up to 25 launch dates, as some of the courses had been relaunched. When you teach the courses is a must to put as much effort - or even more effort in marketing, than actually delivering the course. Although it's fascinating, I don't love it and it's not my strength."
Ben L Collins Ben L Collins had been delivering e-courses for 10 years, when she was struck by covid.
Ben realized that he liked to work on the technical spreadsheet content and helping people. "People would come to me asking "How do I get that done?', and the problem would be really interesting to solve.
"Membership is something I thought about maybe two or even three, years ago," says Ben. "I enjoyed the concept because it's recurring revenue. By joining, you're not needing to launch things constantly in order to earn money. You can see a massive spike in revenue and then it's virtually nothing." He says it provides a more stable platform for creators that allow them to concentrate on the creation and the relationship with the users, not having to do the marketing.
"For some time I'd thought about the idea of membership, however, I never did the initial research. I was afraid that it might feel as if that I was always on when I followed this approach in which I was always doing something. I would always pull back, but was able to keep going through the lessons." However, he was accomplished what he was trying to accomplish.
"I'd almost done everything to cover with full courses. It was hard to find an alternative course that wasn't becoming increasingly specific and there is a decrease in demand as you get to more sophisticated techniques," he continues. "There was not a viable economic case to do some of the courses that I would consider."
Ben also notes that he was exhausted. "I thought "I've got to create 100 Teachable videos that all must be one coherent thing. I just didn't have the motivation to sit down and create this in a single block. There's no way to tell how many people will buy the item. "
Ben explains that electronic courses need the creator to publish their work before they try to sell it, and there is no way to tell whether it will be an success. "It might take you between three and six months to create an excellent course. If the course doesn't work it, it's not possible to resell the course in the future, " he adds. "I realized that I needed an ongoing connection with my audience where I would have microdeadlines and microdeliverables."
Chess Playing a simulation of chess. Google Sheets
Membership was suddenly logical. "I'll be committing to a weekly newsletter, and there are guidelines and templates however they don't require to be part of the same topic or be connected to one another. The information could be a bit smaller which is more manageable for me - and more manageable for people to consume."
Also, from a user viewpoint, a lot of people don't finish their online courses "It's difficult to purchase a course that has 10-hours of content. It's difficult for students to manage the 10 hours of video content, and therefore you stop and never come back making it happen. However, if you only receive a single email each week, it's possible to take 30 minutes during a lunch break and get plenty of value during the week before you ignore it for the next week." Ben explains.
The spring of 2024, Ben began to contemplate about joining. Over the summer months, he took a seat down and mapped out exactly what the membership would be - and he launched on September 1st.
Email is king
Talking about his career, Ben is keen to acknowledge his wife. "I'm very fortunate that my wife has accomplished everything I've mentioned prior to. She's had her own business; she's launched various products and knew how to create an email database." Ben received a lot of advice early on when he began his membership journey "that greatly helped" One of them was the need to establish an email list.
Ben's wife worked as a content marketer when he was starting to build his online community. "She was part of an agency that did marketing for clients. They also wrote blog articles, SEO and social media. This was extremely helpful, evidently for what I was trying achieve at the time." Ben adds.
"Emails are the most important method of interaction or connecting with your audience," he continues. The author admits that this may not be as relevant to the younger generation, but says: "The problem with social media, especially modern platforms such as TikTok, is that there's the disconnect between your target audience and you.
When you create content but the platform just showcases what's viral as well as what's trending. no matter whether you've got 100,000 or 10,000 fans, if the piece of content doesn't rank according to the algorithm, then not any of your followers ever going to see it. There's a risk of a weak connection. Your existence is governed by the rules of the platform. If they change their algorithms or fall from favor, we've seen lots of social media sites disappear - so building an email list is crucial.
A few tips for members who are interested in becoming membership operators
"If somebody was starting a new membership I'd advise them to 'Just get started!'" Ben smiles. "With hindsight, I wish I'd started this just two years ago. These things just take time. When you start sooner to get started, the more time you can enjoy."
Ben at Zoom Ben hosting the Zoom session of his members
It's possible to perform a little additional research "You might convince yourself there's something wrong or you can find a different method of doing it. I've done that in the past. However, when you press "Go" and release an item in the universe and interact with people in real life It begins to take on new meaning. It becomes a matter of actually solving the things you need to solve and not these imaginary questions."
The author advises members to not be too concerned: "If you're addressing someone's issue - and if they requires help to resolve a situation, and your membership is able to do so, get out there! The ability to improve will come over time."
Additional information
To find out more and subscribe to Ben's weekly Google Sheets tips, go to benlcollins.com.