We recently had the privilege of interviewing one of our most successful customers – Kyle Weiger. Kyle is a handstand coach, yoga instructor, and internet entrepreneur. He shares some of his experiences starting and growing membership businesses with this interview!
Interview Questions
When did you first launch your membership site/business?
I technically launched kyleweiger.com in September 2017. It had no online products for sale and contained just a just a few blog posts, because I was still in the process of filming my first course.
What were your goals in launching your membership business?
I had some specific financial goals in mind, but moreover, my goals were more focused on reach. I wanted members on multiple continents spanning tons of countries. I knew that if I could get my site seen by people all over the world, the financial goals would easily follow.
What were some of your earliest challenges?
Honestly, I had a hard time staying on top on content..and I don’t mean product. The product seemed to take over all of my mental energy, and all of the sudden I would notice that an entire month would go by and I had neglected my blog, or my frequency of making quality posts on social media.
When did you decide it was time to seek help and eventually work with us (MemberDev)?
Well, I had the privilege of working with MD previously, so when I made the decision to commit to building my site, there was really only one option for me…
How are things different today in terms of business growth, revenue, members, etc. from when you started?
Today I feel MUCH more in control of my growth, whereas in the early days I couldn’t find any sense of rhythm. Today it’s pretty easy for me to generate some social media campaigns, or run a flash sale to my current list, and know for a fact that I’m going to make money. In the earlier months of my site, there was a lot of anxiety in not knowing. Also, and this is big, today I don’t panic over anything. When you first start out, EVERYTHING is a big deal! The more experience you get under your belt, the more patience you get too.
What is your favorite part of running your membership site? What is your least favorite part?
I love this question! So my favorite part is getting an email from one of my members telling me how their Handstand practice has empowered them like never before. How they now feel a new sense of youth and confidence. Oh, and the constant stream of revenue into my bank account is pretty nice too. My least favorite part is getting a Support Ticket from a member who changed their password 7 times and can’t remember which iteration they went with last :/ C’mon dude…
How do you market your site and/or acquire new members?
I use FB and IG to target my people. I have had tremendous success with Flash Sales and giving away a free video to get them in the sales funnel!
Quickly describe how you track and keep a pulse on member acquisition:
Sales – I sell one-time course purchases, so this one is easy. Either they bought it or they didn’t. I look at the overall health of my list as a ratio of Customer/Optin. So for me (at the time I’m writing this) I have about 1400 people that have purchased at least something from me out of a list total of about 5150. So at 1400/5150 about 27.2% of my list is made up of active customers.
Engagement – I use a beautiful tool called MemberMouse (membership software) that gives me super transparent data on how often my members log in and what pages they are visiting, and how long they are staying on pages.
Retention and Churn – I use the old method of measuring “churns by returns”…If someone asks for a refund, I made a mistake somewhere that allowed them to not be 100% satisfied. Now, not all refund requests are within my control and I try to not be so hard on myself and realize that I can’t win every single customer for an entire lifetime.
How has working with MemberDev helped you reach your business goals?
Simply, without MemberDev, I’d probably be trying to monetize a YouTube or Vimeo channel, scraping for ad views and getting paid whatever the advertiser deems appropriate. Instead of that, I have a beautiful website branded just for me and i can directly my potential customers to beautiful landing pages with a smooth checkout process. Most importantly, MemberDev not only built me the Porsche, they taught me how to drive it. I have access to all the important backend things that allow me to create products, post blogs, change imagery and copy, and all the essential things that an online marketer need to do!!!
What advice would you give to someone just getting started with a membership site?
My advice is simple: How bad do you want it?
If you’re willing to work through things like: confusion about your product, writer’s block on blog topics, recording an entire video just to realize your mic wasn’t turned on, and feeling somedays like you have no idea what you’re doing, then you have what it takes to do this job. If you think getting noticed online is going to be as easy as making a few Instagram posts, or that you’re going to hit 1000% ROI on your first FB campaign, I have some bad news for you…
You HAVE to put the work in.
