How I Started a $10K/month Membership Site in 6 Months

Need a passive income idea? If you want to learn how to make passive income by starting an online membership, here's how I did it! I want to share how to start a membership site that generates $10k a month.

0:00 Intro
3:59 Coming up with an idea
5:10 My membership idea
6:12 Testing my membership idea
6:55 Starting my membership site
8:15 How I launched my membership site
11:55 Membership launch results
14:09 How to launch your membership

🔹 Learn more about $100k Mastermind:

🔹 Read the blog:

🔹 How to Start a Membership Site & Attract Your First Members:

🔹 Courses VS Memberships (and which one is right for YOU):

// WHAT TO WATCH NEXT

Create and Sell a DIGITAL PRODUCT (7 easy steps)

8 Digital Products that Earn AT LEAST $100/day 💰

7 PASSIVE INCOME IDEAS (easily make $200/day)

The Ultimate Beginners Guide for Making PASSIVE INCOME (2022)

9 Business Ideas that Will Be BIG in 2022

How to Start Your Own Business in 2021 | Episode 1 – Small Business 101

// LINKS

Learn more about Gillian and find resources to build your online business:

Join our private Facebook group!

Follow Gillian on Instagram to get a BTS look at what it's like to be a digital entrepreneur:

// FILMING EQUIPMENT

My main camera:
Great (more affordable) alternative:
Microphone:
Tripod:
Ring light:
Other lights:

NOTE: This description may contain affiliate links to products we enjoy using ourselves. Should you choose to use these links, this channel may earn affiliate commissions at no additional cost to you. We appreciate your support!

Hey there friends if you are interested In starting a membership site of your Own or you're curious about possibly Doing that or what a membership site is Then you are in the right place because In this video i'm going to be sharing The story of how i got my membership Site started and up to ten thousand Dollars a month in recurring passive Income in just six months so it really All started back in high school i was Interested in making money and not Working pretty much i wanted to figure Out how i could make a good living Without having to do back breaking labor Because that was what i saw around me my Dad runs a landscape business and so Really the main way of making money that I was exposed to was people like digging Ditches and that just sounded really Hard and like i didn't really feel like I was up for that and so i was just like How can i somehow get paid to think Isn't there some sort of like thought Work i could do some sort of desk work Something like that but also something That wasn't super boring because i Didn't want to spend 40 hours a week of My life doing something that i hated i Wanted to do something that was Meaningful to me so i was looking around For different options and a friend gave Me this book four hour work week i'm Sure you've heard of it i'm sure you've

Seen it If you haven't read it i would highly Recommend because it's a really Interesting book and i would say a Really fun read and it just really opens Up your mind to lots of alternative Possibilities of ways to make a living And some of them are very passive ways That you can leverage your time and work Smarter not harder so that you can work A really small amount each week but earn A great living and that sounded like Exactly what i wanted to do and so that Really started to direct the course of My research and my learning which led me To learn a lot about online business and Digital products and eventually Membership sites another resource that Was really influential that i discovered Because of that journey of discovery i Was on was the smart passive income Podcast by pat flynn and i got Introduced to a lot of different like Options and ideas through that And i don't think that pat flynn had a Membership site at that point although Maybe he did and i just don't remember But i do remember that he interviewed a Lot of people who were successful course Creators and successful membership site Owners and as soon as i heard about Membership sites i realized that is Going to be my golden ticket if only i Can figure out some way to get it to

Work so if you're not familiar Membership sites are websites where People can pay to have access to the Site and the content and perhaps kind of Be a member of some sort of club so one Of the most popular membership sites in The world would be netflix right you pay Every month to have access to all of the Movies and shows that are on netflix and That's kind of an extreme crazy example Most people don't even think of that as A membership site but that's totally What it is But a lot of membership sites are Educational content where there's a Website that's just about a topic it's Teaching some certain skill or topic and You can pay a certain amount every month To have access to the content on that Website so that you can learn that skill For yourself a lot of the time they're a Lot like online courses except that Instead of it being a one-time purchase It's a subscription and that's what Makes them so incredible as a business Opportunity because instead of having to Work every single time you want to make A sale and make some money you can do Some work to make the sale and then that Person will keep paying you month after Month after month which essentially Means that you are going to passively Make a whole bunch of sales for the work That you did one time to get the

Customer and so depending on how much You charge for your membership site and How many members you have you can earn Anywhere from thousands to millions of Dollars every single month and most of It can be passive So anyway this sounded like an Incredible opportunity to me but i did Not know how to make it happen there Were a few big obstacles standing in my Way one was the logistics of actually Setting up the membership site and how Would i build it and how would i set up The subscription options and that sort Of thing but really a bigger hurdle at Least in my mind was how do i come up With an idea that people want to pay for Especially an idea that people want to Keep paying for month after month i just Didn't really feel like i had much value Especially much unique value to bring to The marketplace and i didn't want to try To start a membership site when i didn't Feel confident of that and then the Final big hurdle was and how would i Create the content for this that seemed So overwhelming to create because i Wasn't really looking at it as it could Just be a course i was looking at it as It has to be like months worth of Modules of content to keep people there Keep them interested and i felt like i Had to keep creating more and more Content on into the future now honestly

I've realized that that is not the case You don't necessarily have to do that it Just depends on how you decide to Position your membership site and what The value of it is but at the time i Definitely thought i needed to do that So that felt really overwhelming too so I think i thought about this idea for a Couple of years and kind of just hoped And dreamed that someday it would happen But it wasn't until 2018 that i finally Came up with a plan to get this thing Started and to hopefully turn it into a Stream of income for me so what i did Was i decided that every month i would Create essentially one month's worth of Content for the membership site before i Started the membership site so what my Idea for the membership site was was it Was going to be a membership that taught People how to make money online Essentially or start an online business And that every month i would be teaching A live workshop for the members and That's what they would be paying to have Access to so i thought how about i start Creating those workshops that content Before i start the membership and get a Bit of a proof of concept for the Membership like see if people actually Want to pay for this content just one Piece at a time before i try to create All the content and then sell it all Together

That seemed like a much more kind of Like incremental and logical way to Figure this out rather than doing a ton Of work and then just hoping and praying That people wanted it so starting in January of 2018 that is what i did every Month i taught a live workshop on a Different topic it allowed me to test Out a bunch of ideas which also paved The way to later creating some courses On those topics since i knew people were Interested in them but at the time my Main goal was to get that membership Site content created and make some money In the process and it worked so well Every month i had somewhere between 20 And 50 people sign up for one of those Live workshops which earned me normally Around like one to two thousand dollars Which was amazing because prior to that I hadn't really been able to Successfully sell any digital products So it was just a huge breakthrough for Me and it also gave me that proof of Concept that i needed the people wanted To pay for that content and then at the End of five of those workshops i felt Like i had enough content built up that I could get the membership site started So i set up a website where people could Access all of the content and i set up a Subscription option where people could Sign up for the membership and get Access to all of it and there would be

Recurring payments every month and to do That i used a software called access Ally that i still use today to run my Membership although when i first did it It was mostly a diy job and now we're Using the software kind of to its full Capacity and so we have this really Professional custom website built with It but i would highly recommend access Ally although i will say it is a bit Techy and it does require a fairly large Time investment initially to get it set Up but it was worth it um and i think it Is worth it for anyone who has proven Their idea i wouldn't really recommend Going that route if you are just like Doing your first tests but because i'd Already done those five different tests And i was fairly confident at that point That people did want this thing that i Was going to sell i felt it was worth The time and money investment into using That more complex software so leading up To the launch of the membership site in July of 2018 i was working on two main Things one was actually setting up the Membership site and the other was Building my wait list so i wanted to Build a little bit of hype ahead of time Both for even more proof that there was Demand for it and also to get people Excited about it so that the launch Could be more successful by july of 2018 I had 300 people on the wait list and i

Had no idea if that was enough people or If it was plenty of people or what and i Also didn't know if it meant that 300 People would sign up or if it meant that Like some small fraction of those like 30 or 10 people would sign up or if way More people than that would sign up Because more people just hadn't bothered To join the waitlist i had no idea but When i launched in july of 2018 i had Exactly 300 people sign up which is Crazy now of course it was quite Statistically unlikely that i would have Exactly the same number of people buy as Were on my wait list however i have Found since then that it's pretty common To be able to make the same number of Sales or like a similar number of sales As people who sign up on your waitlist If you have a bit of an audience beyond Your waitlist so if your entire audience Is just your wait list then you'll Probably see somewhere between like five And fifty percent of your waitlist Purchase but if you have an audience Beyond that wait list then you often Will get around the same number of sales As you had people sign up for your wait List but anyway i digress i had exactly 300 people sign up for startup society When i first launched it which was Incredible that was definitely more than I was expecting or hoping for it was Just beyond my expectations for sure

And i did it through a week-long email Launch i didn't use a webinar or any Other like sales mechanism i just opened Up the doors announced that it was open And every day for a week i sent an email Talking about a different aspect of it And explaining what the value of it was And telling them that at the end of the Week we are going to close down Membership because i was only going to Be opening membership twice each year And that system worked really really Well now the funny story that follows That is that the last email i sent During the launch had the subject line Humor my curiosity and in the email i Asked people why didn't you buy i'm Curious tell me what held you back why Didn't you decide to join And i had 500 people respond to that Email and also on that last day of the Launch i was leaving for vidcon so i Finished the launch hopped on a plane Went to vidcon and i spent the entire Week i was at vidcon answering those 500 Emails because at that time i didn't Have a team at all i didn't have anyone Working for me it was just me doing all The customer service and everything and So i just had to get through all of Those emails because i wanted to answer Everyone who had taken the time to Respond to me especially because a lot Of them said more than just why they

Hadn't joined a lot of them also asked Me questions or were leads for future Launches also something that i forgot to Mention while i was actually filming This video is that for two of those six Months while i was creating the content For the membership we packed up and were Actually traveling around europe for two Months so for two months i was running My business on the road working just a Few hours a week making a couple youtube Videos and producing two of those five Workshops that i did so two of them i Did on the road still worked fine still Got the content created and i was also Prepping for the launch of the Membership site for the launch of Startup society and also you might Notice in these pictures i'm pregnant Because i was also pregnant during these Six months it was a crazy time but it Was a great time So that is the story of how i created The membership those 300 members created Ten thousand dollars in recurring Revenue because at the time that i Originally launched the membership was 33 dollars per month and so that like The math there is so satisfying to me All those numbers that i have 300 people On the wait list then exactly 300 people Joined it was 33 dollars a month and That meant that it created almost Exactly 10 000 a month in recurring

Revenue just like what who planned that Thank you god because i wouldn't have Planned that you know i definitely Couldn't have made all those things play Out could have made those stars a line Not actually but you know what i mean And so that was just crazy and that Changed everything for my business Honestly it created this baseline of Income that allowed me to start Experimenting with more things testing More ideas and to figure out how to Serve those members better and better Because once you have customers you can Figure out how to serve those customers Better which allows you to figure out How to attract more customers and how to More effectively sell your products also So it was just a huge like game changer For my business and for my life and Really took everything up to the next Level i honestly feel like almost can't Even take credit for the strategy that i Used to launch the membership site that Worked so well because i didn't really Mastermind it ahead of time it just came To me and i carried out the ideas as They came to me and it happened to work Really well now i will say that since Then i've been able to teach so many People how to use the same strategy for Themselves and it has worked so well for Other people and so now it is a strategy That is proven and that i highly

Recommend but at the time i just Happened to stumble upon it which again Just like praise god because i couldn't Have really figured that out on my own Because i didn't know what i was doing And so that is the story of how i Started my membership site how i created It and set it up and got my first Members and grew it to ten thousand Dollars a month and the whole process Took six months but the Creating the ten thousand dollars a Month that part kind of happened Overnight like literally in a week i Went from zero members zero dollars to Ten thousand dollars a month before we Wrap this up there's one more thing i Want to share with you in today's video And that is that a couple months ago i Created a new program to teach people How to do this for themselves now the Program itself is actually focused on Online courses because the other thing That happened through that whole process Was i was able to test all these Different topics for potential online Courses and figure out which ones were More popular and more successful and There was more interest for and then Later i was able to take those course Ideas the most popular ones and turn Them into full-fledged online courses And then start selling them and create Automated sales funnels that sell them

On autopilot and create multiple other Streams of revenue streams of thousands Of dollars per month so it really Just so many good things happened Through this process so in this new Program i created called 100k mastermind I teach you how to create and launch a Digital product specifically an online Course or a membership site and then how To create an automated sales funnel that Sells that product and then grow that Funnel to ten thousand dollars per month So if that's something that you're Interested in learning how to do then Check the description below for the link To find out more about 100k mastermind And apply to join the program well that Is everything for today thanks so much For sticking with me till the end i Would love to see a comment from you Down below telling me where you're at With this membership site thing is it Just an idea you're considering do you Have an idea for a membership have you Already started working on it tell me Where you're at with it because i have Been thinking a lot about creating some More videos and podcasts about Membership sites and how to get your First members how much to charge or how To decide what to charge how to get your Content created different membership Site software options and stuff like That so i would love to know what your

Questions are and also just where you're At with it to figure out what content Might be most helpful for you if you Happen to not be subscribed make sure You do that before you go for more Videos like this every single week and To catch those upcoming videos about Membership sites and creating courses Online thanks again and i'll see you Next week