Why low ticket memberships are the devil

When you hear the word “devil,” you associate it with things like…

Hell.

Sin.

Torture.

Eternal damnation.

And Hillary Clinton.

Further, if you look up conspiracy theory stuff like The Aussie Hermit, you associate it with:

The Masons.

Adrenochrome.

Hollywood pedophilia.

A “god” our government worships.

And Hillary Clinton.

But there’s one more thing The Aussie Hermit thinks we Coaches can link to “the evil one.”
That thing?

Membership sites.

Yes, membership sites.

The reason being, membership sites are like sins.

They’re very alluring.

After all, who doesn’t want safe, secure, recurring revenue every month?

It’s music to the ears of the struggling Coach who has inconsistent clients, and all the stress that goes with that.

But also like sins, membership sites are fraught with terrible consequences.

Consequences that suck Coaches into a deep, fiery pit of despair.

Here are a few reasons why:

For starters, membership sites take a crap ton of work.

Seriously.

What many Coaches don’t know is that in order to get people to join you need to create a “bribe” (AKA: a low ticket product/course).

The reason being, no one joins your membership for your membership.

They join for the free bribe.

And the problem with that is, the bribe only works for a short period. Then you have to create another one. Then another one. Then another one etc.

On top of that, you have to constantly be creating new content for your members (typically in the form of newsletters, video trainings, recurring workshops and other courses).

This takes *a lot* of time each month.

Great if you like being chained to your desk for hours every day.

Bad if you started a coaching business to get freedom from a 9-5 type lifestyle.

Next:

Membership sites attract low-quality prospects.

And I don’t mean that the people you attract are “bad” people.

Not at all.

But when you charge low-ticket it attracts people that expect a lot for their $47/mo (or whatever low price you’re charging).

And if every little one of their expectations isn't met?

They’ll refund.

They’ll bitch to others in the group.

And they’ll bad-mouth you on social media.

Low-ticket customers are the worst.

More:

Memberships are just as hard to sell as high ticket coaching.

Actually, I would argue for the regular Coach they’re harder.

The reason?

Because you need to know copywriting.

You need to know how to write a sales page.

And you need to know what makes someone want to join a membership.

Just because it’s low ticket doesn’t automatically mean the sale is easy.

It’s anything but.

This is the most dangerous assumption Coaches make about low ticket memberships.  

More:

The other thing you have to consider is that membership sites require a more complicated tech setup.

So if you struggle with tech, it’s going to be a struggle to set up and manage.

You have to know how to assign different membership levels and send out the right content to the right people.

It can become a real cluster (you know what) if you don’t know what you’re doing.

More:

Membership sites take a long time to get a decent amount of members.

Sure, if you have an email list with 10,000+ people, you might be able to launch with 100 or so recurring customers.

But The Aussie Hermit already knows that for 99% of Coaches reading this, your email list is probably under 2,000.

(I know this from the hundreds of conversations I’ve had over the years).

And so if you want to build a membership site you have to be patient.

Very patient.

If you’re getting 500 new email subscribers per month, I’d probably say about 15-25 of those would become recurring members.

(A conversion rate of 3%-5% which is industry standard)

That’s IF you’re getting that many subscribers IF you’re emailing every day, and IF you have a great offer/bribe/sales letter for them to join.

Most Coaches don’t have any of those “ifs” and why they struggle with memberships.

I could go on about hell membership sites put you through.

But I’ll leave it with this final piece which should frighten you the most…

Membership sites will put you in the “red” for many months before you’re even profitable.

Here’s what I mean…

If you want to fill your membership at a decent rate you’ll need to advertise.

(Of course, you could go the organic route. But then you’ll significantly reduce the number of people joining your membership. And ain’t no Coach getting rich with 2-5 new $47/mo customers joining each month)

And that costs money.

Let’s do some calculations…

Let’s say you wanted 500 new email subscribers every month to get 25 new recurring members.

Well, those 500 subscribers will cost you about $3,000 IF your leads are $6 each (most people have a more expensive lead cost, but let’s go with $6).

Now let’s say that each of those new 25 customers are worth $47/mo to you (an average membership price).

So if you run the numbers it means you’ve spent $3,000 and made back $1,175.

In other words, you’ve lost $1,825.

“But Aussie Hermit, that $1,175 is *recurring* revenue. So won’t that $1,175 get bigger as more new people get added?”

Sure it will.

But for many months you’ll be running red until at one point you’ll break even (usually this takes 6-9 months). Then you’ll slowly start to become profitable.
In other words…

You will be making a loss for many months (usually about 6-9). And almost every Coach I speak to doesn’t have the cash flow to sustain that type of business model.

Membership sites sound great.

But when you look at the work involved.

You look at the skills you need to make it work.

And you actually run the numbers, all of a sudden, it’s not that alluring.

Now if for some reason you’re still wanting to run a membership site because you’re some sort of masochist, then this is what The Aussie Hermit recommends…

Step 1. Build your list with paid ads.

Step 2. Sell that list a high ticket service (which will immediately cover your ad spend *plus* give you good profits).

Step 3. Sell the leads on your list that don't buy the high ticket into membership customers.

That, in my hermity opinion, is the right way to build a membership.

Personally, though, I say why bother?

It’s a lot of work and a lot of headaches.

I’d much rather have a business where I coach for a couple of hours per week, earn a great living, and get to spend the rest of my time doing what I want.

With that being said…

If you want to create a coaching business that scales quickly, then you’ve got to start running ads.

And if you want to create a coaching business that turns advertising into profits even faster, then you’ve got to sell a high ticket program.

Inside The 15 Minute Client program I show you how.

Specifically, you’ll learn…

—> How to identify your “high ticket” market that has the motivation and money to invest….

—> How to craft a high ticket offer that market would feel silly saying no to…

—> How to build your list on autopilot with paid ads and a simple lead magnet…

—> How to send regular emails that build trust, credibility and has prospects reaching out to work with you…

Plus much more including…

—> How to invite those prospects into your high ticket program using The Aussie Hermit’s sales script…

If that sounds like a system you want, make sure to put your name on the waitlist here:

https://The15MinuteClientWaitlist.com

-Luke Charlton
The Hermit Hole, Canberra