A summary of things you should know about The Membership Economy according to Robbie Kellman Baxter: Introduction In this episode online business expert Robbie Baxter gives an in-depth look insideRead More
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]]>In this episode online business expert Robbie Baxter gives an in-depth look inside her book, The Membership Economy, where she discusses how subscription-based businesses succeed.
In her book Baxter provides an online business roadmap that is packed with step-by-step digital strategies, useful resources, and case studies of super successful dot-com companies. The goal of the book is to show you how to get the most revenue from your online product, create an engaged community of customers, place your revenue on autopilot, and create sustainable loyalty programs.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs who already or plan to sell an online, subscription-based product or service and are not sure where to begin when it comes to building revenue.
There are a lot of books about specific types of models, there are books that talk about different kinds of trends or behavioral economics but my book really takes a broad and strategic look at what is driving this major transformational trend. My book talks about specific examples across a wide spectrum of organizational structure and I look at how those trends apply across everything in between.
I wrote this book to be read in whatever order you decide.
I want the readers to remember that the goal is no longer about the transaction being the finish line. The transaction is the starting line and the ongoing formal relationship with the customer is going to make the difference between the winners and the losers in the next 20 years.
The book is divided into four sections.
The first section talks about what the membership economy is, why it’s happening right now, what the drivers are, and gives the reader a sense of what the implications are across the social and professional landscape.
The second section is what I think of as the deep meat of the book, the most tactical section and that goes into the seven steps to the membership economy which I outline in detail. This is where you can get tidbits that you apply to your own business right away. I talk about what the implications are of the membership economy for the way you organize your company. I discuss in detail everything you need to know about onboarding. I believe that most organizations under invest in onboarding new customers which needs to happen in the first 30 days. The fourth and fifth chapters, pricing and the use of free, talk about how your members should pay and how to think about your pricing structure. We talk about the use of subscription model s but we also talk about other sources of revenue that membership organizations can layer on top of one another in order to build a robust model. And I talk about the use of free as a really useful tool for extending the reach of your organization. I talk about technology and what kinds of technologies are available for managing ongoing relationships, building loyalty, and mastering retention. I talk about the importance of a focus on the customer over the product. I believe it’s all about the customer and I go over how an organization can build out a customer success team and a culture that promotes a focus on the customer as more important than the product.
Section three goes into the six different types of organizations that are currently benefiting from the membership economy. That’s the digital natives which are subscription businesses and online communities. Then I talk about small businesses and professional services firms and then I talk about nonprofits and professional societies and trade. And finally I talk about what I call the gateway to the membership economy which is loyalty programs.
In the fourth section I talk about the specific points of opportunity in the membership economy which are the hardest spots for entrepreneurs to be successful. This is things like going from idea to startup. I talk about going from being a hot startup that’s really edgy to being a mainstream mature organization. I talk about going from offline business to online business and I also talk about going from a fixed product base pricing ownership model to an access model.
At the very end of the book I take you through very specific steps to get started at looking at your own business and get the reader thinking about where there might be opportunities to leverage the principles of the membership economy. And then I invite you to give me feedback on your own journey and ask me any questions you might have. Ultimately I want there to be a community around the book as well as the book that talks about community.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 06:15
I have been a strategy consultant for the last 25 years and for the last 15 years I’ve been an independent consultant. I have always been interested in how the psychology of the customer ties in with business models and currently run a successful consulting firm called Peninsula Strategies.
The inspiration behind writing this book was from a consulting project that I did about 12 years ago. I was asked to do a project at Netflix and I fell in love with their business model because of the recurring revenue and the quantity of data they were collecting about their customers. From that point on I really only wanted to work with companies that were thinking about those kind of issues and I felt like I needed to document my experience.
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Buy The Membership Economy by Robbie Kellman Baxter on Amazon today
Visit MembershipEconomy.com to learn more about the book
Visit PeninsulaStrategies.com to learn more about Robbie and her services
Follow Robbie Kellman Baxter on LinkedIn and Twitter
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books:
Escape The Expected by Tom Trush
Unselling by Scott Stratten
High Paying Clients by Trevor Crane
Relevant advice and tips:
7 Recommended Books on Starting An Online Business
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]]>A summary of things you should know about Business In Blue Jeans according to Susan Baroncini-Moe Introduction Business in Blue Jeans is designed to be as close to the experienceRead More
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]]>Business in Blue Jeans is designed to be as close to the experience of working with Susan Baroncini-Moe one on one. When you read the book it is very much like the way she works with her clients. She starts with letting you know that you aren’t alone, giving you examples of things you need to know. The other thing is this book is based on fundamentals and we all need those fundamentals because if your business isn’t growing its most liking you need to find out what fundamentals you’re missing. It is written for people who are starting a business and people who are in growth.
There are a lot of books out there regarding this topic but the way I say it is a lot different from others. I don’t start with saying let’s start your own business; I start with asking you what you really want out of life. We don’t want to just start a business that you hate; we want to create a business that makes whatever you want out of life possible. I am all about creating a business that makes since for each individual person. The other thing is this book is based on fundamentals and we all need those fundamentals because if your business isn’t growing its most liking you need to find out what fundamentals you’re missing. It is written for people who are starting a business and people who are in growth. There are homework assignments throughout the book for both audiences.
The most important concept to me is the chapter on brain junk. The reason I believe it’s the most important is it’s the starting point. If you don’t address your brain junk every step of the way is going to be impacted by your brain junk.
The book is designed to be as close to the experience of working with me one on one. When you read the book it is very much like the way I work with my clients. So I start with letting you know that you aren’t alone, giving you examples of things you need to know and when you read this book I want you to feel like I’m right there by your side. It’s written to be approachable and friendly. I talk a lot about how there is no get rich quick in business and it’s really not about that. There are certainly ways of making the process easier and shorter but it’s really not about going super-fast and getting rich quick.
The chapter I start with is titled Brain Junk and I start there because at the end of the day, if you don’t work on your brain junk, you will sabotage every piece of success that you’re able to create. We all have these ideas about ourselves, our business, and our money and we need to make sure those ideas are moving us into a positive direction. If we don’t deal with those ideas, they are going to hold us completely back. I also cover how to take care of yourself because you’re your own best resource and if the captain goes down, the ship goes down with it. We talk a lot about stress, sleep, time management, relationships and things like that. I think those are the fundamental places to start because they are really building a solid foundation.
I go more into what I call The Fire which is really about what you love doing and what your business makes possible. When you are deciding on a new business you need to know what you love doing and what you’re good at doing. It’s at the cross section of where those two things meet that you’re going to have the most likelihood for success.
Once you figure out what it’s going to take and you know your business is centered in the right place then we talk about what I call The Packaging. We talk about things like target market, mission statements and competition. We also talk about how to develop product and service offerings, creating a business model and how to deliver products and services.
And then I have a chapter called Leaning into your Marketing which is basically a philosophy of going a step beyond engagement marketing. It’s about how to create a marketing brand, what are the big mistakes in branding that a lot of big companies are making and leaning into your marketing. And I also include a piece on marketing with conscience because I think it’s important that we make the world a better place.
The last chapter of the book is about The Village and this is about creating a support structure for your business. I talk about the real intense and the perfection into masterminds and why it’s such a great concept. Then I talk about networking and getting your administrative staff together to help you manage your business. It’s also important to have a good advisory staff that can really help you and know the answers to the questions that you have. The book is design to give the reader really good start and/or a big burst in their growth.
“What builds success is creating a stable, strong business that’s based on fundamental principles and fusing that solid foundation with the best performing strategies that apply to your business and your target market.” – Susan Baroncini-Moe
I am the CEO of a company called Business in Blue Jeans. We are a digital marketing and consulting firm. We do full scale marketing all the way down from teaching/training you, to doing it for you. I also do a lot of business coaching and work with a large variety of all kinds of clients for the past 16 years or so.
I have always wanted to write a book but wasn’t sure what that would be. After working with a lot of people, I found myself saying the same things, and realized a book was a good resource for those that couldn’t afford to hire a coach. I thought I should really put this in book format so people can get a taste of my philosophy of doing business and how I do it differently.
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Buy Business In Blue Jeans by Susan Baroncini-Moe on Amazon today
Subscribe at BusinessInBlueJeans.com to get the first chapter and workbook for free
BONUS: When you buy the book you get a workbook for each chapter developed by Susan
Download the full transcript here
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Related books: The Carpenter by Jon Gordon | Lean Customer Development by Cindy Alvarez | All In Startup by Diana Kander | Startup Mixology by Frank Gruber
Relevant advice and tips: Top Financial Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Creating a New Business | 5 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make With Marketing and Branding
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