Trials And Tribulations Of A Membership Website

Every human being on this planet has the potential to be wealthy. Bar none!

That's a pretty bold statement, but it's true. You can create your own financially independent lifestyle in a multitude of ways. Today, we'll look at recurring income as your wealth creation vehicle.

Recurring income is money that flows into your bank account on a regular basis. Some of the common business models that take advantage of recurring income include subscriptions and membership fees.

The most common recurring online plans pay out on a monthly basis. Some pay out on an annual or bi-annual schedule, depending on the payment plan. Many independently wealthy people have developed their empires using these business models.

Subscriptions and Membership Fees

Subscriptions and membership fees work in a similar fashion. The subscriber or member is granted access to a product or service in exchange for a regular recurring payment.

This business model guarantees the subscriber/member continued service and guarantees the provider a locked in, guaranteed income.

But there are pitfalls. If you're thinking about creating a recurring billing product, you could be in for a wild ride. The following case study is the real life journey that I took, while creating The Business Professional Private Members' Site.

CASE STUDY: The Business Professional Private Membership Website

President and CEO: Terry Telford Vice President: Edwin Ryan Development Start Date: December 15, 2003 Website Launch Date: May, 1, 2004

In the research phase, I decided to keep everything in-house except for the payment processing. This gave me greater control over the entire process, but created a lot more work in the beginning.

The basic modules that needed to snap together and make the membership area run, were:

1. Membership software to create logins and passwords

2. Affiliate software to track affiliate sales and commissions

3. Autoresponder

4. Payment Processor

Discovering what software to use was a matter of trial and error, but I finally ended up choosing:

1. Membership Manager from GroundBreak

2. Ultimate Affiliate Manager to handle the affiliate functions

3. Autoreponse Plus for the autoresponder software

4. PayPal / 2CheckOut to process recurring payments

The next step was to have a programmer connect the dots and make all three programs play nicely together. This was the step where I realized I'd done everything backwards.

Instead of finding the software and then the programmer, I should have found the programmer and let him decide how to create the system. I was now at a fork in the road. Do I scrap the software that I already purchased and start from ground zero, or do I invest in a programmer to attempt to make all the software play together.

To make a long story short, I decided on option two and paid a programmer a small fortune to attempt the impossible. In the end, The Business Professional works 90% on autopilot and 10% on manual.

It was a long and costly process, but a fantastic learning experience. And the adventure was far from over.

Now I had a cool Private Membership site, with a $5,762 price tag. Next, I had to fill it with content. It took another two months to top up the content and get things rolling.

Fast forward to today.

Challenge:

Both Edwin and I are spending 80% of our time marketing The Business Professional and don't have enough time to build solid content into the member's area.

Solution:

Outsource the marketing to a handful of skilled entrepreneurs, so we can focus on upgrading the member's area.

The marketers collect and keep 100% of the membership fees, and we get a continual stream of new members who order our products and services. This cooperative business model builds a stronger, more profitable business for everyone.

Summary:

Generating a monthly recurring income by building a membership website is a great concept. In practical terms, it's a costly way to learn the ropes.

My recommendation to anyone who is considering a recurring monthly income is, start out promoting an existing product or service. You'll save a lot of time and energy and can start generating a profit, your first month in business.

Without expenses, it's all profit :)