Membership Geeks Podcast with Mike Morrison

Can a membership business ever really provide passive income? Lots of so-called internet marketing gurus out there will point you in the direction of the membership model and claim it’s the “ultimate way to make passive income.” We’re here to tell you that’s false…sort of. Memberships are not a way to make 100% passive income, but can they make any passive income? In this episode, we discuss what...

Are you ready to finally hire your first employee? It’s an exciting yet daunting experience because there’s a lot to cover and plan for. But don’t worry, this episode takes you through all the steps you need to know about. In this episode, we cover the early stages of hiring an employee, how to design a smooth and seamless application and interview stage, why you need to have the finer details wor...

Are you a bit of a perfectionist? A little bit of perfectionism can be a good thing. It can help you strive towards creating the very best content and value for your members. But too much can be a big problem. In fact, perfectionism can kill progress. If perfectionism is holding you back from launching your membership or taking it to the next level, this episode is for you. We’ll be discussing how...

Is your membership not attracting enough members? Are you wondering where you’re going wrong? In this episode, we cover nine of the most common reasons why people don’t sign up for a membership site. There might be something you haven’t thought of yet, so this episode should give you some food for thought. Tune in to see if you’re guilty of any of these mistakes and find out ways to fix them. Find...

Are you ready to build your email list? Do you already have one but you’re not sure how to get the most value out of it? Whether you’re starting from scratch or are revamping your email series, this episode is for you. We cover five great email types to send your new subscribers to entice them into signing up to your membership site. These are simple yet effective ways to give people a taste of wh...

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of a membership? Maybe you’ve considered joining one in the past but just have no idea what to expect. Does your audience feel the same way about your membership? Hopefully not, but if you’re looking for a way to bring some transparency, trust, and a behind-the-scenes look into your membership, then this episode is for you. I go into four simpl...

Are you comfortable talking about money? Many aren’t and avoid the topic altogether. Others are on the opposite end of the spectrum and will flaunt it all day on social media. As money isn’t something that we talk a lot about, either here on The Membership Guys or in real life, this episode is a bit of a different one. In this episode, I explore some financial food for thought about memberships an...

Are you ready to build your membership website? Before you get started, there are a few key tech decisions you need to make first. These decisions will influence every element of your membership, so you need to choose wisely! How you host your website, build it, choose a domain name, and build a community are just some of the most important but tough decisions to make. In this episode, I cover fiv...

Are you considering a switch from a closed to open-door membership? Maybe you’ve heard about all the benefits of open membership models and want to try it out for yourself. Great! Open memberships can be a fantastic business model. It’s the very same model we use for our own Membership Academy . But don’t just jump headfirst into the switch! If you’re changing to an open membership model, it’s not...

Are you toying with the idea of switching from an open to a closed-door membership model? Hold on! Before you make the switch, there are some vital things to consider first. In this episode, I’ll take you through the top things to prepare for, decide on, and consider before switching your enrolment model. Switching to a closed-door model isn’t a decision to take lightly. It doesn’t just affect you...

Good news... it's my birthday!!  Bad news... I literally NEVER work on my birthday… It’s one of my rules... And as much as I love The Membership Guys podcast…  I can’t break this rule.  So I’m taking the day off…. And that can mean only one thing...  CALLIE IS TAKING OVER! (And I get to eat cake) Join the other (some would say better) half of The Membership Guys for a very spec...

Whether you are new to memberships, thinking about starting one, or have been doing it for years, there are some key things that everyone needs to know. In this episode, I share some of the admittedly boring yet super important things you need to know about running a membership. This episode covers things like insurance, tax, payments, and copyright laws – all that fun stuff! To keep your website...

Is your membership stressing you out? When you first started your journey to being a membership owner, the chances are you didn’t picture sleepless nights and dreading going to work. In fact, you probably imagined finally getting to live the life you always wanted ­– so, where’s it all gone wrong? Owning any business, including a membership, is going to come with stressors. That’s just a fact. But...

Are you ready to launch a membership? Are you really ready? If you’ve been toying with the idea of launching a membership for some time, you might be wondering if the timing is right. Many business gurus out there will tell you to jump in and “just start,” but hold on! Memberships are a funny business. Launching your membership is all about timing it right. If you get it wrong, it’s much harder to...

In this one-off bonus episode to mark Mental Health Awareness Week, I'm opening up about my history of dealing with clinical depression. To say this is not a typical episode of The Membership Guys Podcast would be an understatement... There's nothing here about memberships, there are no tips, there is no advice. Just my story of mental health challenges which I'm sharing in the hopes of removing t...

What’s the secret to marketing your membership? Spoiler: there isn’t just one secret! There are multiple different methods to try, but there are some universal truths to always bear in mind first. In this episode, we share the 12 universal truths to membership marketing. There may not be some hidden secret that will guarantee you success, but these truths apply to all types of membership (and many...

There’s a lot of advice out there about memberships, some of it good, some of it downright awful! If you’re not sure who to listen to or you’re worried you’ve made a mistake about starting a membership, don’t miss this episode. In this episode, we break down the five top pieces of bad (and damaging) advice we’ve seen about running a membership. We take you through competition in the membership wor...

In this special one-off episode, we're asking you guys to help us shape the future direction of The Membership Guys Podcast by having your say on the topics you'd like us to hear more about. To help you do this, we're testing out some incredibly nifty new tech from our podcast hosts Captivate that add interactive surveys to our show - so not only do you help us out, you also get a glimpse at some...

How can you launch a membership without any audience? The simple answer is you don’t have to. You need to put in the work to build that audience first .   That’s exactly what we did, and in this episode, we share all the little details that went into building our audience BEFORE we launched the Membership Academy. So, join me on a trip down memory lane. We’re talking about the early days of T...

How do you make your membership ‘stickier’? By that, we mean, how do you get members to stick around for your content? The key is to give them something worth sticking around for. You might have great content on the horizon, but do you members know about it? In this podcast episode, I share seven simple ways to let your members know about all the amazing things you have planned for future content....

What should you do after you launch your membership? Once the launch is all over and done with, what next? Do you just wait for more members to drop by? No, you’ve still got plenty of work to do to grow your membership business. In fact, the easy part is over!   In this podcast episode, we share six things you need to do once you launch your membership to keep growing. You’ll want to focus on...

Every superhero has an origin story… And as we're celebrating a  huge  milestone of recording 300 episodes of The Membership Guys podcast, Callie and I decided to do something a little bit special and share ours. In this episode we talk about things we’ve never talked about publicly before, giving you an insight into how The Membership Guys came to be and how we got to where we are today...

What if your membership has a natural end date? While no membership will last forever, some hit a natural point where members drop off.  This doesn’t necessarily mean the content was bad or you did anything wrong. That’s a whole other story. Sometimes members get everything they need and simply don’t need to remain a member.  For example, if you have a membership site for helping people...

We all want to win over as many new members as possible. But did you know that keeping those members is often more important? Member acquisition is still essential. But unless you’re keeping those members, you’ll find yourself always relying on short-term, one-off members to make ends meet. Making people stick around is often harder than getting them interested in the first place. However, this is...

The guiding principle of membership sites is that they are a value exchange. People subscribe to your site and you provide them with enough reasons to keep their subscription going. And so far, you are probably doing a fantastic job at solving their biggest problems and creating amazing content. But why stop there?  You can sweeten the deal for your members by amplifying the perceived value y...