45: Should You Start a Membership? The 4 Green Flags You're Actually Ready

"Should I start a membership?" If you've ever asked yourself this, this episode is your permission slip to pause and get real before diving in.

Today, I'm sharing the unfiltered truth about running a paid community—what works, what doesn't, and the one thing I believe no one is talking about: your membership has to benefit YOU too.

Click here for the full blog/show notes!

Inside this episode:

• Why I refused to start a membership until it felt sustainable
• The exact moment I knew I was ready
• What made 406 women join my community in just 2 weeks
• Green & red flags that tell you if you’re ready to launch a membership
• The four things I do to keep my community alive without burning out

This is the episode I wish I had when I was on the fence about launching mine.

So whether you’re dreaming of starting a membership, struggling to keep yours going, or just curious how The Content Coven came to life—press play.

And remember: a community should support you just as much as it supports your members.

Resources & Links mentioned in the episode:

• The Visual Edit - My signature live program (formerly called the Insta Canva Collective) that was the precursor to The Coven. This is where the community aspect first came to life.
• Heartbeat Platform - The platform I use to host The Content Coven. It's incredible for polls, engagement, and creating that community feel.
• The Create Connect Convert Method - The built-in curriculum inside The Content Coven with 3 modules and about 10 lessons that guide you through creating content, connecting with your audience, and converting followers into customers.
• Previous Podcast Episode 41 - I recently talked about why the "perfect expert" vibe is out, and connection is in. It ties directly into why communities are thriving right now.

Connect with me:
🫶🏼 Follow me on Instagram for daily insights
🫶🏼 Join my 321 Create Newsletter for weekly content tips
🫶🏼 Check out The Content Coven Membership

Be sure to hit "Subscribe" or "Follow" so you never miss an episode!

Transcript

0:00

This community had to benefit me too. And I think that's a really important part that like no one who owns a community membership talks about this community has to fuel me too creatively, energetically, mentally, not just financially, right? If I built something that drained me. I knew it wouldn't last. Welcome to the Creative Bodega, a podcast about content marketing, Instagram growth and personal branding for female service-based solopreneurs who wanna grow their business without letting it take over their lives. I'm your host, EM Connors, and each week I'll share actionable tips, expert advice, and unfiltered truths to help you create engaging content, connect authentically with your audience and turn followers into loyal customers, all without the burnout. If you're ready to simplify your content creation, navigate the ever changing trends and build a business that works for you while staying sane in this. Crazy season of life, then you're in the right place. Hello. Hello my friends. Today we are diving into something I care so deeply about because I've seen it help so many women create real momentum without burning themselves out, and that is running a membership community that is sustainable for you and your people. Okay? So if you've ever asked yourself. Should I start a community? Should I start a paid membership? You know, how do I keep people engaged? What does it take to actually run a membership without being on 24 7? This episode is for you. It is something that a lot of you have come to me about A lot of people inside my membership, the constant coven talk about, ask about, you know, should I, it's really like, like a should I. Honestly, good for you for not rushing into it, because that's honestly how I felt. It should I, should I, should I, and I will tell you how I sort of came to the realization that I was ready because I wasn't ready for a very long time. So a member inside the coven recently sent me a post through dms, which I love when people do that. They see something, they think of me, they think I should see it, they think I would find it interesting. And the headline was, influencers are out. Communities are in. And honestly I get that like we are craving connection and I talked about that in my podcast a couple weeks ago. Actually. I'll link that in the show notes where I talked about how, you know, the perfect, perfect, everything is out, like the whole full on expert vibe. It doesn't feel trustworthy anymore. People want real, they, they want you to be real. They want you to be honest. And everyone's craving that connection to even the leaders, you know, even someone they feel that's an expert, they wanna feel connected to them because if you're kind of too far away from where your ideal client is now it feels unrelatable. To be honest, and I think people are just tired of being talked at, but here's the truth that I don't think enough people are talking about. Your membership or your community, whatever you wanna call it, and these are paid. I'm talking paid. I'm not talking free. I honestly. I mean, I would, I was gonna say I would never have a free community'cause I wouldn't. But then I kind of laughed because honestly my Instagram, I consider that my free community, like my Instagram does feel like a community and it's free. But I would personally never run like a free community inside Facebook or anything.'cause that's just, you know, it's a lot of my time and I value my time and I would like to be paid for it to be really honest. But here's what no one's telling you about paid communities. It's only gonna last if it's built in a way that you can sustain. So many people that I know personally have closed their memberships. I mean, so many. I I could, I could list off like five names right now of people that I've seen start a community and then suddenly like it's gone. And listen, no shame to anyone who that happened to. I, I can see I can 1000000% see how that would happen because it's a lot, it, it really is a lot to take on. But let me tell you how mine started. Every time I ran my signature live program, the visual edit, which used to be called the Insta Canva Collective, there was a community aspect. So community was open for the whole time the live program was open. That's where you would post your questions, post your, you know, the work that you did for feedback and all of that. And it was so active, right? And the program would end after eight, 10 weeks and people would. Beg me to keep the group open. They would say, oh, you know, you don't even have to be a part of it. Like I just, you know, the women inside this group, I just really come to rely on their feedback and like, here's the thing. Like to pat myself on the back a little bit, like I do attract incredible women who are driven, creative, helpful, and I get it. They all wanted to keep being around each other and, but I couldn't do that. I couldn't just leave the community open and not worry about it, right? Like, not be a part of it. I knew that that wouldn't be possible for me because I'd wanna chime in and then once again. Here I am, like running this container and providing free value and, and maybe not getting paid at that point. So it just wasn't, I just would say, I'm so sorry, but I, not right now for me. Right. And this was in my first three years of business. So they love the connection, they love the creativity and the accountability and the conversation, but I knew that I couldn't keep giving. Without a structure that protected my time and energy. At that point in my life and in my business, I couldn't run like an infinite group chat. Right? So finally after round four of my signature program, I. I loved that group so much. I honestly was feeling that I didn't want it to end. I didn't want the community to close. And so I decided to pitch the idea to beta test a small paid community with alumni of my signature program only. So I opened it to that round four of women, and then I emailed the past three rounds of alumni and said, Hey, remember. What it felt like to be in this community. I'm going to open this up to you only for now, and let's try it. I'm open to your feedback. I'm really open to building this together, and that little beta group became the content coven. Okay? Fast forward a year. I launched it to my full email list, and that, that time was very important to me. I just, I wasn't ready to open it to my full list. I, I knew these women, they knew me. They knew what to expect. I knew I could rely on their feedback. I just needed to start small, get my feet wet. How often am I having calls? What does that feel like? What am I delivering every month? What does that feel like? You know? So a year later, I launched it to my full email list. And 406 people joined in two weeks. Okay. So exciting. I remember telling my current coven women at that time, my beta group, I would love a hundred. I'd love a hundred people. That would feel really good, and 406 people joined. It was so exciting. Like I can still remember the feeling I had over those two weeks. Oh my God, this is what a, what a compliment that this many people trust me and wanna hang out with me. Right. But it was also. Absolutely terrifying because I never expected that many people. And then I was like, how am I gonna manage this? But here's what I knew. This community had to benefit me too. I think that's a really important part that like no one who owns a community membership talks about this community has to fuel me too creatively, energetically, mentally, not just financially, right? If I built something that drained me, I knew it wouldn't last, and just like many memberships I've seen start with a bang and then quietly disappear. I have a feeling. That that membership didn't benefit the person that was in charge of it or owned it, right? So I wanna do a gut check with you, like, here's some questions to ask yourself to figure out if you're ready to start a community. Some green flags, meaning green go, right? You've got a clear path to a result. Even if it's small. Okay. A clear path to a result. So I have inside my membership a built in curriculum called the Create Connect Convert Method. It's basically a small online course, not even that small. It's three modules with about 10 lessons inside and the whole. Path that I'm taking you on helps you create, connect to Convert online, okay? That is the result. Another green flag, you can commit to some consistent cadence, okay? So if you're struggling with just showing up consistently online or showing up consistently through an email each week, or you know, biweekly or whatever, it's maybe not time for you. You, you need to work on your systems for those two things first, because that's what's gonna grow your community. To be really honest. You're okay with being a facilitator? So I love being a facilitator. I love kind of being at the, at the head. I love, uh, chiming in. I love when people post questions in the membership, and I remember working with a business coach and she was going to kind of like encouraging me to hire someone to basically answer everybody. And I was like. Uh, like that's actually what I love about I lo I like love teaching, so I love answering questions. So I'm cool being a facilitator. And last but not least, green flag. You have some support. So I do have a community manager who's also my VA Nicole, a few hours a month she is in there. She's helping me a lot. So some red flags. You need instant revenue. Like when people DM me and they're like, hello? Em, like, I need to make money really fast in my business. What would you recommend I do? I'm like, I'm not your girl. Like I, I, I, I've never been one to like, promote, do this, to make fast cash. Like, no. I actually really don't like talking about revenue very much or how to make money. Um, so if you need instant money, it's sort of a complete red flag. You're kind of setting yourself up for failure. You struggle to set boundaries. Listen, I'm a people pleaser. Through and through. I hate confrontation and I want people to be happy, and if I feel like I've made someone unhappy, I'm losing a lot of sleep over that. But in this, I knew that I had to set boundaries and feel really good and clear about them and not waver.'cause again. I burn out. This thing's going down right? And yeah, I have 200 plus women in there right now that are relying on me, and I would never wanna let them down. So red flag number three. You're not clear on what people actually get or achieve within this membership. You really need to nail that down and make it really, really clear. So to keep the content coven thriving without burning out, for me, I focus on four core things. Okay. So the clear path to the wins. So we've got that three part curriculum, the Create connect, convert. So new members join and they know exactly where to start. Like they don't come into this membership and they go to the feed and there's just all these posts and they don't know what to do. We have a very clear email workflow that starts being delivered to new members daily for the first week that they're there saying, Hey, why don't you go check this out? This is where I would start. If you're feeling overwhelmed or don't know what to do, and a lot of women do it. And then we have two dedicated threads. Within the membership, one is called bio reviews and one is called content pillars. And those are the first two things I really encourage people to post your bio for feedback post your content pillars, and this is after they're watching the lessons inside the curriculum on what my best practices are. So clear paths to wins. Okay, the next thing, a cadence that I can keep again. I'm not here to burn out. I really have nailed down a cadence that I feel like I can deliver monthly. So that is, uh, live workshops with me every other month on the off months that I'm not doing it. I have guest speakers. I started out by doing monthly workshops and I started resenting it so much. It felt like I'd finished one and I already had to start prepping for the next and ugh. I remember like my business coach and even members saying, it doesn't have to be that big. You don't have to make it like a big deal. Like, but I do. I can't not, like everything I do, I do to my best ability and I can't just throw a workshop together that just, it doesn't work for me. So I let people know, listen. I'm gonna be doing one every other month. You can always go back and watch the replays. Every single workshop I've ever done is inside our vault, right? So that's where all the call recordings are. So go back and watch ones that you need help with right now, but I can't do this every month. So, alternating me and a guest speaker. And I love the guest speakers. A lot of the guest experts that come in on the off months are members inside the community. Like I tap into them.'cause you know. Number one, I wanna help promote them and their business, but number two, they've, I've got so many smart, incredible women in this group. Why would I not tap into them? Right? Then I have weekly q and as. There's really no structure to these. I used to try to structure every call, like this call, we're doing this, this call, we're doing this. And I was like, and the members told me like, em, it'd be really nice if we just had like a Q and a where we just show up and talk. We talk about what's going on in our businesses. We talk about what's going on in social media right now. We ask you questions about X, Y, and Z, and I was like. Huh? Like an unstructured call, how novel, but I started doing it and I love it, and it's some of the best calls we've had. I've had women get off these calls and be like, that was the best call we've ever had. And I'm like, really? Because it was like, you know, I don't know, just unstructured and willy-nilly a little bit. But the conversation is really high level, and I think you'd walk away with a lot. And then we have these monthly themed challenges, so. This has evolved over time for sure. But these are optional challenges that people can jump in. They are, uh, really, they are very structured. We have a whole like, here's what we want you to do. Here's the goal. Here are all these resources, let's. Right. And it really helps people with accountability and just, you know, keeping up with working on their business and also stepping outta their comfort zone. And then, so that was two, like finding a cadence I can keep. Okay. So live workshops every other month, guest speakers on the off months, weekly q and as, monthly themed challenges, and then, uh, co-creation, right? So I am always asking my members for input. Like I am putting polls. I love the platform that I'm on. It's called Heartbeat. It's so amazing and I'm always putting polls in it. Guys, what should I name this next workshop? What are you looking to learn from a guest speaker? Are you seeing this trend? Is it something you're jumping on like from workshop topics to challenge ideas? This space is theirs too, not just mine. Okay. And the last one is boundaries that protect my energy so I don't respond. 24 7. I I, I let people know this is a community led space, not Emily led this is, this is all of us working together, okay? So while in a live program of mine, I do pretty much guarantee a response within 24 hours. The community is not that. And if you want that high touch and you want my eyes and feedback on everything you're doing, that's what my live programs are for. This is not that. This is a back pocket resource. And you know, that really protects my energy and I really set them up for success by explaining that in their welcome emails as well as on my sales page. I take weeks off in the summer, my vacation week. I don't do a call between Christmas and New Year's. I don't do a call. Okay. And those are my dark weeks. And people, oh my God, the women in my membership are so amazing. They're like, they, they love it. They're like, yes, and you take off. And I'm like, really? Because I feel like I'm letting you down. You know? Or you're like not getting what you pay for. And they're like, no, no, no, no. Like you need to recharge. We need to recharge. Go take your time with your family and God bless'em. Honestly, they're just like the best people ever. Okay, so if you're like, you know, if this sounds interesting to you, if it, if you're dreaming of maybe starting a community, it's something you've been thinking about, or if you've started one and it's feeling a bit heavy, I hope this gives you permission to build something that really fits your unique rhythm. If your community requires a version of you that only exists on launch week, like that crazy high energy, it's probably not gonna last. That's just not sustainable. But if you build it with clarity, with connection in mind, and with really strong boundaries. I really do think you can create something magical and beautiful that can last a really long time and help a lot of people. So if you wanna stalk how my membership runs, guess what? You can check out the content Coven. It is open 24 7 and I would love to have you inside. The link is in the show notes as always. And until next time, you know, start small. Publish some boundaries and really focus on building a community that you can actually keep showing up for. You've got this. I will see you in the next episode. Thanks so much for hanging out with me on the Creative Bodega Podcast. If you love this episode, please be sure to share it with a fellow solo. Who could use a little content creation inspiration. And hey, don't forget to check out the show notes for any resources I mentioned on the episode to help you create content that feels easy and actually gets you results. If you want even more Canva and content tips, head over to my website, the creative bodega.com, or find me on Instagram under the same name. Until next time, keep creating, keep showing up, and most importantly, try and have a little fun with your content. I'll see you on the next episode.