Business ReBoot Camp Day 3 – Season 2 | Episode 32

Melissa: Welcome to day three of business reboot camp. And I'm pumped that you're here. And I know by now you probably have a list of different opportunities, things that you're opened up to. Isn't it amazing when you ask yourself just these different questions, how your mind opens up to how many different opportunities and possibilities are really out there for your business.

It's amazing. So today we're going to talk about selling. Is it okay to sell right now? This is a question that Paul and I hear a lot and nowadays we, especially hear this is it okay to sell right now in challenging times. So today Stu is going to talk a little bit about selling and how selling right now is essential because selling is serving and giving people what they need right now and what they're asking for and wanting more than ever right now. 

So we're going to talk about selling and how selling is really all about serving your clients. And Stu is also going to introduce us to a concept of recurring revenue and memberships.

This is something that Paul and I do in our business. We have a very, a couple of different memberships that we run and we absolutely love this model. So Stu's gonna talk about how this model can really change your business. 

Change the prediction of things that are going in your business and allow you to serve at a much higher level.

So let's go ahead and get started with day three, talking all about selling and recurring revenue. 

Paul: So coming, into today and knowing all the opportunities that are there. I think something that, that stops a lot of people and this isn't anything new, you know, it's like anybody that leans into like doing a business for themselves versus a third party that shift of, Is it okay to sell ,it the seams like dirty?

This is, is this the right time? I feel a little insecure. Do you have anything that, that you could share from your point of view on, because for us, we, we feel very comfortable and very competent. We actually, in the past week, while everybody else's hesitating, we've actually seen an uptick in our membership.

Where in our membership is not inexpensive. It's several hundred dollars a month for people that we're mentoring and these people are leaning in and making a decision to invest. So we, we don't see this, but we do see this little bit of an echo in some of the Facebook groups and online where people that do have a practice service, or want to maybe try out a new idea, whether they're just like, they feel like it's ambulance chasing is one of the phrases that I've heard.

Like, do you have a way of maybe helping people to kind of see this differently versus that mindset? 

Stu: Well, I would say we've gotta be very careful about What we take into our mind because there's really only one side of the story that's being told in the media and in our Facebook feeds, sorry, my microphone is just slipping.

I'm getting excited. I'm knocking everything all over. Yeah. But there's only been one side of the story that's being told, but there is another side of the story and this is what I'm sharing and that is the people want to learn. They want to invest in themselves. It's why we're seeing in our community.

All these online memberships are booming in all kinds of different markets. You know what I'm saying? And so if there's a shift here and that is, is that you've got to start paying attention to what is actually happening, you know, there's that side of the story. But there's this other side of the story as well.

And that is that people want to learn. Like I said, the research is indicating this to us. It's telling us this, like, people want to learn, they want to invest in themselves. And just like you guys are seeing an uptick, just like Sonia, you know, she sent me an email yesterday in the last 90 days. She's more than doubled her membership, adding more than a thousand new members to her membership.

People are investing in themselves. They're looking at this saying, okay, I want to come out of this a better human being than when I went into it. And there's never been a time when they have the opportunity to invest in themselves and dedicate them selves and immerse themselves in learning new skills.

 Improving themselves in some way, pursuing passions that they have never had time for before. And so I think it's actually selfish when, when people are like, I don't, I don't want to sell. I'm like, okay, I get that. You're, you're trying to be sensitive, but you're actually doing the opposite of what people want.

If you really want to show up and serve, then show up and serve, like don't hide. This isn't a time to hide. This is a time to show up this isn't a time to pause. This is a time to pivot, you know? And so we've got to wrap our head around the fact that people want you to show up. People want to see you offer and make offers because they are looking for ways to improve themselves.

 I know people are intentionally being selfish by, you know, saying, oh, I feel bad about selling. Listen, this is not a time to feel bad. This is a time to show up and serve. And that's what people are looking for. And it's being reflected in our communities. We see it every single day.

Memberships are booming right now because people are investing in themselves. 

Paul: I had to say for us, it, we transitioned out of a brick and mortar having a photography business, which I did lean into after 2008 and meeting you just several years ago. And with the first version, of course, that, that you came out with that allowed Melissa and I to shift.

We were already dabbling in the online space. We were already, we had courses and we had a small membership. And we realized very quickly we were doing it all wrong. We were making very complicated and it was way more simple than we ever could imagine. But then Melissa and I were just talking about the other morning.

It's like we were reflecting like, wow, we closed down at the top of our game, like our photography business with headshots who did over 5,000 headshots. It was the best year that we ever had multi six-figure income, but because of what we're doing with memberships and reoccurring income coming in, it allowed us to just cut it off because our dream was to be location independent, to be able to travel and have fun while we, we might be hesitating on the travel right now.

So we're definitely like bagging some money that we could do better travel. But it, something that, you know, definitely just want to thank you real quick, because we had to be open-minded and not Heather's limiting. We had to be willing to take the risks, invest in ourselves. To move forward, because if we did make that investment in you and, and have our mind open up and, and move forward, we wouldn't be sitting here right now, even having this conversation.

So just want to thank you for that. 

Stu: I, I appreciate that. And, and I, I love hearing those stories, you know, like in the past few weeks it's been fascinating for me. Like I've, it's actually grown my passion for this work so much more because I've heard from people like Casey Hope. So, Casey. You know, she had a brick and mortar art studio and she sent me a private message.

And she said, Stu, I can't tell you how grateful I am. That you helped guide me through the process of launching my own online membership. She said, because we just had to make the very tough decision to close the art studio. And before I would have been full of fear of how am I going to pay my employees, or how am I even going to pay myself?

Can we even keep the doors open when this thing ends. She's like, I don't have that same level of anxiety because I've got the online membership. Now she has a online calligraphy membership.

Now the thing that I love about Casey, by the way, she also is a smart and savvy business owner. She recognized that again, there's millions of parents who were at home, not knowing what to do with our kids.

So she launched her second membership and it's a art membership for kids. Now, the crazy part is, is that it was her biggest loss that she's ever had. She welcomed over 300 members into that second membership right off the bat. So I love Casey story, but I've heard from Sarah Williams, same thing.

She had a retail shop. Thank you. Thank you for helping with the online membership. She grew her membership last year from 300 members to 2000 members. So she doesn't have that same level of anxiety of so many brick and mortar business owners who have had to close doors. I'm wondering where revenue is coming from.

She's got the online membership. That's helping bridge that gap and it's not just, you know, Casey or Sarah. I've heard from Tracy whose husband has a chiropractic. They've had to close that, but Tracy's membership is bridging the gap or Mary Claire for that who had an massage studio. She had to close that.

But again, she sent me a message like saying thank you because she also has her online membership, which is helping her bridge that gap. And so I'm sharing this with you because I've never been more passionate than right now. Memberships creates stability in the best of times, but they show up in a massive way when times are challenging, which has happened right now.

And this is why I am so passionate about memberships and recurring revenue for every single type of business owner. It doesn't matter whether you have a product based business. There are memberships all over the place with product based business. We talked about Sarah Williams, hers is a product based membership.

Do you think of the. A dollar shave club. That's a product based membership. That thing grew from zero to in four and a half years being sold for more than a billion dollars. Why? Because of the recurring revenue model, you know, you think of service-based businesses. Well, I think of our local carwash that's right across the road from our office, instead of hoping that people are going to come back.

They sold on a membership and it's a beautiful setup. Instead of you could pay one time for $9 or you could pay $12 and go through an unlimited number of times per month. And of course it's a no brainer. And so they've got 4,500 customers who are paying them every single day. They're not worried about, you know, whether now like every other car wash right now.

Well, there's a fraction of the people who are driving around. So a fraction of the business people actually going into the carwash, but the other one, the one that we belong to, they don't worry. They know for certain that 4,500 customers are going to be paying them or there's knowledge-based businesses.

Obviously in our community. There's so many of those, if you've got experience or expertise or there's things that you have learned along the way, you can absolutely teach people how to do that inside of a membership. You know, one of my favorite stories from last year, A woman, her name is Holly, she launched a new membership and she ended up welcoming 400 plus members during her first launch.

And it was a membership that taught a balloon artist. Different, you know, balloon animals to create. She, it was, I love the name. She called it the twister hood. And anyway, she once she made the post in our committee, she said like 400 plus members that generated over $6,000 a month. She said that doubled her family's income.

And so like if we have and see the craziest market. That are served within a membership because it's about sharing expertise and online, it gives us access to people worldwide. And so we get to tap into all these amazing little markets. And so it doesn't matter if you've got a product based business service based business, knowledge-based business or community-based business, where you're just bringing people together.

And so at the end of the day, I am passionate about this. Like never before, because I know. The stability that it creates in good times, but also in challenging times. And it showing up, it's showing up by relieving stress, relieving anxiety for those business owners who have that in place. And that's what I want to help others get in place as well.

Paul: Wow. Day number three of business reboot camp. I am so happy. So excited that Stu kind of gave us permission. That is okay with everything going on in the world. It's still okay to sell. We really have to reframe that. Now he did have a nice little goodie and Melissa, do you want to talk about that.

Melissa: Absolutely. So for anyone interested in learning more about memberships, if you head over to freemembershipguide.com, you can grab that guide and see how people have made memberships work in their businesses. And you'll also see how they've sold them too. So go to freemembershipguide.com and go ahead and grab that guide.