Last month in the Membership Freedom Community, we did a special two-hour content creation workshop. Essentially, the group collectively answered six questions that we brought to the workshop to discuss. These six questions were asked to prompt conversation for the members to create content unique to them and their niche.
One of the questions was this.
“What pisses you off about the industry or the niche that you are in?”
That got the wheels turning. Let’s just say it was a lively discussion. So I thought I’d share with you what pisses me off about the industry that I am in.
For those of us building memberships and online communities, it’s easy to get hyper-focused on the wrong things. And if you don’t have a guide that’s being honest with you, it’s even easier to be led down an expensive road- both financially and time-wise.
In my space, that would be around technology. When most people just get started in the world of memberships, their initial questions quickly turn to the technology that will be needed to get started.
I think it’s one of the least important things to think about when you are in the beginning stages.
But many leaders in my industry preach that the platform that you use to host your membership is the first-, and oftentimes the most important thing, you should concentrate on.
And that pisses me off.
Why?
Because not only is it not important yet, but it financially benefits the person promoting it. And it can handcuff, limit and slow down the person being taught.
Let me address both points.
I would guess that you are familiar with the phrase affiliate marketing. If you aren’t, affiliate marketing is essentially where you promote another company’s product or service, and you get paid a commission when someone buys that product. I personally have a love/hate relationship when it comes to affiliate marketing because I don’t know if someone is promoting the product because they love it, or because they can make money off of it.
Sometimes, it can be both.
In our business, we offer an affiliate to members of our membership, because they are already members and fans of it and have invested in it. And I appreciate others who promote an affiliate for something they love and use.
But the world of affiliate marketing can get a little sleazy.
In my industry, we have people that are shamelessly promoting community building software. We use a company called Kartra, but this world is flooded with others, like Kajabi, Go High Level, Circle and many others. Each has its own benefits. None are perfect and every one has advantages and disadvantages.
But if you follow the industry leaders in our space, most go “all in” on promoting one particular service. Is that because it’s the absolute best option for you? No, it’s not. Do you want to know the real reason why they consistently and heavily promote this one piece of software?
It’s because they have an affiliate. And it’s not just any affiliate- it’s a very profitable affiliate that pays them handsomely when you sign up and stay. Not only that, but if they can convince their entire community to sign up for this service, they can make oodles of money just on affiliate commission from their own community.
I’ll reserve judgment on that. But the next point is what really pisses me off.
If you are one of those people who signed up for that service, and you begin building your membership on that platform, you have very little leeway to ever move away from that program. Once you are set up and create your content inside of there, you will most likely be with them as long as you are in business. It’s just too difficult to change.
And these people know that.
So when you sign up, they essentially have your affiliate commission in perpetuity.
One company goes as far as saying that buying their recommended service is the first thing their members should do. Before you have a niche. Before you have a solid idea. Before, you have the following. Before you have any of the things that really matter in building a community or membership, you need to sign up for a service that starts with a k and ends with an i.
So, not only do they collect a monthly commission before you even sort out your idea, the unsuspecting victim has to spend months figuring out a technology platform instead of doing the foundational work that truly matters. And this is why so many people fail. It’s also why so many think the tech side is so important, and why so many wind up hating technology.
So they start off the wrong way, with an expensive purchase that they have to keep on paying unless they quit all together.
That is something that pisses me off about my industry.
I talk to so many successful membership owners and community builders who agree that the technology side of this isn’t vital at the start. I just talked to one person who had all of their content on a google drive until there were 1000 members and it worked just fine. By then, she understood the business, the tech needed and the knowledge to invest in the right technology.
It’s why we teach a much different approach of building your connections, creating meaningful content, committing to a niche and then doing meaningful market research before getting into the tech side of it. It’s just not important early on. Those other things are what really matter.
But the push to invest in technology that gives an affiliate commission early on? That really, truly pisses me off.
Have an AMAZING week!
Vincent
