Terms
Ben L Collins, the Google Sheets expert behind the educational site benlcollins.com, is incredibly thankful for his membership company and the economics of creation in digital media as a whole. "When you've made something - whether you're an artist, designing a technical course or a building membership the moment a stranger opens their wallet and gives your cash, you'll know that you're extremely lucky to have the ability to design that kind of product and communicate with so many people.
"If someone is looking to look at my offerings and is impressed enough to pay for it I'd love to do all that I can to ensure it's as flawless as possible for the person," he continues.
Ben enjoys the idea of membership because it's more than just a one-off price: "We're not talking about an agreement of consulting in which clients hire you to do something that's structured and written out and everyone knows what they're getting. This is more an alliance where someone wants to say, "I'd like to join your team for the coming year or month or quarter. I'm grateful for what you're accomplishing and I'd like to help your efforts and join in this."
The membership program gives you the motivation you need to become the best that you can as well as to strive to produce wonderful material. "People expect that I create high-quality content however, I would really want to make it so for their benefit and my own. "
Ben says that it aids in building a strong relationship you have with the community "I believe that I'm contributing to the community rather than being an anonymous person who buys the course, but can not be sure if you will actually glance at the course. It's more immediate when you join the membership or get closer. It's about creating an intimate friendship that transcends an exchange."
Beginning with "always ever" to microdeliverables
When the covid-19 outbreak, Ben taught classes on manipulation of data using Google Sheets for 10 years. "I had delivered over 15 classes via Teachable and possibly even 25 launch dates, as some of my courses were being relaunched. If you're a trainer it is essential to invest as much - or even more effort in marketing, than actually delivering the class. Although it's fascinating, I'm not a fan as it's not what I do well at."
Ben L Collins Ben L Collins had taught online courses for the past 10 years, at which point her attention was captivated by the covid.
Ben realized that he liked to work on the technical spreadsheet content and helping people. "People came to me asking 'How can you do this? The problem is fascinating to work out.
"Membership was something that I've thought about probably two, maybe even three times before," says Ben. "I loved the concept since it's an ongoing source of revenue. Membership isn't having to be launching things continuously in order to earn cash. You can see a massive increase in revenues, but after that you're left with no more." The creator says that it's a reliable platform that allows the developer to focus on the development and interaction with people that use the platform, rather than in managing marketing.
"For some time, I'd thought about membership but never got past the initial research. I was concerned that it could feel as if I was always on if I did this model in which I was constantly taking part in activities. I'd pull my weight back, but continued to follow the classes." But he had completed what he had set out to accomplish.
"I'd close to completing all the subjects to be taught in full courses. It was hard to find alternative courses that weren't getting more sophisticated as well as a decrease in demand as you get to advanced items," he continues. "There was not a viable economical reason to take any of the courses I'd consider."
Ben insists that he had a feeling of burnout. "I thought "I have to create 100 Teachable videos that have to be coherent. It was a challenge for me to summon the courage to create all of this in one go. It's impossible to know for certain whether the people who buy it will purchase it. "
Ben says that online classes will require that the authors release the course prior to attempting to market the course. However, there is no way to tell whether it will succeed. "It might take 3 to 6 months to create a good course. If the course does not succeed, you can't just repeat the course in the future, " he adds. "I found that I required an ongoing communication to my customers, where I would have microdeadlines and microdeliverables."
Chess Simulation of a game of chess using Google Sheets
The idea of membership suddenly came to light. "I'll join an everyday newsletter. There are guidelines and templates but they don't have to form part of an entire area, nor tied to each other. It could be a smaller amount of content that is easier to manage for me as well as easy for readers to digest."
From the perspective of a customer, not many people finish the online course "It's daunting to pay for an online course that includes 10 hours of video. Students find it difficult to manage 10 hours of content so you give up and never ever. If you only receive an email every week, it's possible to arrange 30 minutes during the course of a lunch break and benefit plenty of benefits from that week then you can put it aside for the next week." Ben explains.
As the first day of spring 2024 Ben was beginning to contemplate about being a part of the team. As the summer progressed, Ben began to sketch the exact outline of what his plan would look like before launching in September.
Email is still king
In the interview he gave about his professional life, Ben is keen to thank his wife. "I'm extremely fortunate to have my wife has accomplished all the things I've talked about in the past. She's owned her own business as well as launched a range of new products, and she knew how to create an email database." Ben was given a variety of advice early on in his career in membership "that were extremely beneficial" among the tips was to set up an email list.
Ben's wife worked as a content marketer when Ben was beginning to establish his network. "She owned an agency who managed marketing for clients, as well as blogging and SEO, as well as social media. This was extremely helpful, evidently to the work I was trying to accomplish in the moment," Ben adds.
"Emails are the primary means of reaching out to the people you want to reach," he continues. The author admits that it might not be the case for youngsters, however he says: "The problem with social media, particularly those that are more modern, such as TikTok is this gap in communication between your targeted viewers and the people you are targeting.
It is your obligation to produce content, but the platform displays what is popular and what is trending - regardless of whether you've got 10 or 100,000 fans. If your piece of content isn't viral as per the algorithm, it's unlikely that everyone is likely to be able to access it. It's a tension. Your existence is subject to the rules of that platform. When they change their algorithms, or they cease to be popular We've witnessed a number of social media sites cease to exist, which is why having an email database in place is crucial.
A few tips for members who are interested in becoming membership operators
"If someone were to start the process of joining a new organization, I'd recommend that they "Just begin!" Ben smiles. "With the retrospective view, I'd prefer to have begun this within the past two years. The things that take long. Once you've started to get started then the more time you have."
Ben on Zoom Ben hosting an online session with clients
It's simple to do a little further research "You might convince yourself there's something wrong or that there's a better way to go about this. I've tried it before. When you click "Go" after which you put an item in the universe and begin interacting with actual people the thing is a completely new concept. The focus shifts to actually solving the things you need to solve instead of imagining these problems."
It's crucial to be mindful not to think too much about it "If you're trying to solve a person's problem and they need to address a challenge that you're able assist them with, and your group could help, then go out! Your ability to grow is going to come with time."
More details
For more information and to join Ben's daily Google Sheets tips, go to benlcollins.com.
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