Interview with Stu McLaren - My amazing business coach! FREE Workshop coming soon!

We are live. Hey guys, it's Christie Renee Hawkins with The Social Easel and I have my business coach who teaches me all about running a membership here with me. This is Stu McLaren. I joined Stu's tribe 3 years ago, just about today. And he's the guy who taught me all the things I know all about building memberships. So Stu, welcome.

Well, listen, thank you so much. And timeout, let's just take a moment and appreciate all that has happened in the last 3 years. And more importantly, like, I think of the thousands and thousands of people that you are serving in your membership, which is amazing. And I, you know, I don't lose sight of like the ripple effect. This is why one of the reasons I get so passionate about this, and it's certainly a reality for you and all of those people that you serve inside of your memberships.

Yes, so it's crazy. Um, I was thinking about this yesterday. So I'm in the— I just finished doing a painting challenge. Let's see if you guys can see this behind me. So that painting behind me there in our background, I just finished teaching this in a group of women. And before I had a membership, I was teaching paint parties locally, and the most I could have was maybe 40 to 45 Women a Night. Um, inside this class, we had 4,500 women sign up to learn this painting from me.

Christie, that is crazy.

It is crazy.

Like, okay, you know what makes it even more crazy is like when you take a moment and you just think about like, what would 4,500 people in person look like? Like, that's an arena. That's an arena full of people. Like, isn't that amazing? And this is what— this is what's so fun for me is like the world we live in. Yes, it's full of craziness. I'm not like downplaying all the craziness, but it's also full of amazing opportunity for us to reach and impact so many people. And that's a perfect example of it, right? Just amazing.

Yes, it is. And I will tell you, so like inside this group and kind of how I am in my memberships, I treat my challenges, my painting challenges, and my memberships the same. And it's all about community, and it's all about creating this safe place and this happy place. So like, you can tell by looking at that painting, it's happy, it's joyful, it's messy, it's crazy. It's like all my personality thrown into a painting, and that is the vibe in there. And right now, people need that because there's so much negativity going on everywhere else. I like take great pride in keeping my group and my membership a happy, joyful place to be able to come to.

100%. And, you know, you know, when we talk about, like, opportunity, I want to kind of put this into perspective for people. Like, COVID has been, you know, all kinds of stressful and it's still creating stress here. You know, P.S., like, where we are up in Canada, like, everything's shut down again. Everything's in lockdown again. It's just— it's craziness.

Yeah.

And it's been tremendously disruptive to all of our lives. But here's something interesting though. I was talking to somebody else from our membership community and he was telling me about his membership site. In his case, he's teaching people, this is super niche, they're learning the Bible through the old Greek, you know, like—

Oh, wow. Yes.

So he's teaching people Greek and then they're going through the Bible as part of the whole process. Well, long story short, he said to me he was in conversation with one of his members and his members said, like, he's actually very grateful for COVID because he was driving more than an hour one way to work and an hour back. So 2 hours a day to work. But he said COVID shut everything down. So he was working from home. So instantly he gained 2 hours a day. And in his mind, he's like, I'm going to use this to learn a new skill. And so he's put it to use to learning, in this case Greek, but we've seen it in your community and in so many other communities where so many people are, you know, signing up to memberships because they're wanting to use this time to better themselves. They want to use it to explore an interest or something that they've wanted to do for so long but just never had time. Now people, you know, have found time just like this gentleman who used to commute 2 hours a day. He's like, I don't have that anymore, so I'm going to use it. So it's just a weird, weird time because yes, there's challenges and yes, there's struggles, but at the same time, there's also opportunities and, you know, a tremendously positive thing that can come from it, too.

Yeah. And I mean, you know that I have seen this, like, in my world of what happened during COVID last year, right before COVID hit, I had just opened the doors to my membership and just closed them. And we welcomed several hundred women in there. And then a month later, you know, everything was, everything was shut down. And I had a lot of women, you know, people lost their jobs and, and money was tight and they couldn't afford to be inside of my tribe. But they would, they were like, don't you have anything else? Like, isn't there another way I can still paint with you? And this had been something in my heart, in my mind for over a year. I wanted to do a painting of the month club. And I thought, well, this is the perfect time to offer that to these people because they still want to paint with me, but they, they can't do Tribe. So I launched a new membership in the midst of this. It's actually one year old. We're celebrating a one-year anniversary of my Painting of the Month Club and a three-year anniversary of my Tribe. I have to show you this really quick. See this cute little painting?

Oh, that is amazing!

I literally just opened my mail and got this from Pauline. She's in my Tribe, and these are all animals that I have taught them to paint. Happy birthday, happy third birthday. But it's crazy to me, we're celebrating 3 years of my VIP membership and 1 year of Painting of the Month Club. And, um, between those two, we're now teaching thousands of women every single month how to paint because they have the time to be able to do that.

Well, and this just kind of speaks to, again, the other side of the story. You know, the, the media is always portraying like the doom and gloom, but there's another side of the story. And our other mutual friend, Casey Hope, like, you know what happened for her? Well, she saw like there were, as soon as COVID hit, there were millions of us parents who were now at home, you know, teaching our kids because schools were shut down. I say us, let's be real. My wife, you know, 100% was leading the charge on that. But that was a challenge, right? Because now, like, all these parents are now thrust into becoming homeschooling teachers while also trying to figure out and navigate, like, how they are going to continue their careers, their businesses, etc. And so Casey's like, well, wait a minute, like, this is what I did in my art studio is teach kids art. Like, I could create a membership that would give parents, like, the relief of, you know, you know, giving their kids something productive to do, she launches an art membership for kids, has welcomed more than 500+ members into this art membership. Like, this is what is so amazing about the time that we live in. You can go from an idea to immediately implementing and creating an experience for all the people that you want to serve and also for yourselves. And so I'm just, I'm passionate about this, Christie, because now more than ever, like, I believe every single business should have some type of recurring revenue in their product mix because of the stability that it creates. Because you and everybody else who's got recurring revenue don't experience anywhere near the stress that a buddy of mine who owns a restaurant has experienced this year. Like, he doesn't have recurring revenue. And because of that, like, he's open, he's closed, you know, revenue is coming in. Now it's not like— it's been craziness for him. He had to actually go get a second job this year, which is just heartbreaking for me. And this is why I'm passionate about what we're talking about as it relates to memberships, because it's so important and so vital and also creates an amazing opportunity to serve so many more people. As you said, like, you know, those paint parties used to be 40 people. Now it's 4,500 people.

Oh my gosh, it is crazy. And I mean, you know how I feel about this too. I mean, memberships have obviously given us financial stability that, you know, Corey and I— my husband's a chiropractor. We've been entrepreneurs since the beginning, and to a lot of our family, crazy, because we didn't live the typical life, you know. I mean, everything was what we put into it. We built our own businesses, and because of that, we never had a stable income. It was up, it was down. Um, hold on, I just realized I need to mute that. I think that's better. Um, and that was hard. And when it came to doing my paint nights, even that started being up and down, where when I opened it was huge and I was selling out all the time, and that was like, okay, this is how much money a month we make. Well, then you have dips, and then you have snow days, and then you have bad weather, and all of a sudden I don't have any income. And then COVID hit, and Corey couldn't be a doctor for— I think he took off 5 weeks from being a doctor, but we were able to do that and not be stressed out because of the membership revenue that I have created over the last 3 years gave us that financial stability. And, you know, I know people are looking at me and saying, well, that's cool, you're an artist and you teach painting, but how's that work for me? Like, it can literally— I go around with ideas. Like, I talked to my hairstylist, I'm like, you know, you could teach people how to do hair online, right? Like, you know, like, you're, you're, uh, the guy who's the chef, like, you You know, you can like teach people how to cook online and then you're having recurring revenue from that while you're waiting for your restaurant to be able to open again.

Oh, there's so many. And this is like, once you start opening your mind and becoming more aware of how memberships are intertwined into our lives in all kinds of different ways, you start to see how very easily this can be possible for virtually anyone. Like product-based businesses, We only need to look as far as our friend Sarah Williams, who has created an amazing subscription box business, right? And t-shirt of the month club business. And that was born from her retail shop where she was very intentional of like, what are people buying on a regular basis? Like, what are her best customers buying? And she paid attention to that and realized there was an opportunity there to create a subscription box. Now she's the subscription box queen, you know, like—

She is the queen.

She is the queen. But even like on its most simple basis, like going back to product-based memberships, the old, you know, Dollar Shave Club, which is just selling one product, razors, like that went from a fledgling startup to a sale that they sold for over $1 billion in 4.5 years selling one product on a monthly subscription. This is where we see like Socks of the Month, Coffee of the Month, all the things of the month. My wife belongs to an Earring of the Month Club.

I just signed up for a new membership that delivers fresh flowers to me every month. Month because I use them as painting inspiration. I'm like, why haven't I had this my whole life?

Where have you been? Exactly. Like, there's, there's so many ways when you start thinking about how to take like a traditional business that would have been selling one-off transactions where they're hoping people come back and instead turning it into a more intentional membership and subscription. There's service-based memberships, right? Like, I think of the— your stylist. You know, reminds me of a barbershop in Toronto who have a membership. And so instead of hoping that their people are going to come back into the barbershop, they know with certainty that they are going to get paid from all those members who belong to that membership. And it gets them a certain number of cuts and buzzes or whatever it might be. But like, they've taken it from a one-time cut to, you know, a consistent revenue in that membership. Or as you mentioned, you know, you get flowers every month. My wife and I, we get fresh organic fruits and veggies delivered.

And so I have HelloFresh. I get meals delivered weekly so I don't have to come up with meal ideas.

Exactly. So like instead of going to the grocery store or the farmer's market, we could do that. But it's just, it's more convenient to have it, you know, on subscription. And again, what have they done? They've taken a subscriber or customer and instead of hoping that they come back, they've created that relationship where they know that they're going to come back. Even our car wash.

I was just going to say that.

Oh my gosh. Like, you know, a car wash right across from our office. I want you to hear how they've positioned this. You can go through the car wash one time for $9, or you can pay $10 a month and go through an unlimited number of times. Like, it's a no-brainer. So I got a membership. We got my wife a membership. And when I was getting them, I asked, like, how many members they had grown to because they would open, you know, for— this was when they were in the early days, and when I got Amy's membership, they were already up to 4,500 monthly paying customers. So timeout for a second. Like, just think about that. Every other car wash in the city is hoping that people are going to come back and come through their car wash. This car wash knows with certainty that they are going to be paid by 4,500 customers no matter what happens. At the beginning of that month. And that changes the business. Like now you can plan, now you can hire, now you can invest back in the business, you know, with a different level of certainty. And then of course there's the knowledge-based memberships. This is what like, you know, our memberships are about, where we're teaching people what it is that we know, love, and do, and or we're creating an experience for them. And those are like, those are my favorite because those are, the high profit margin memberships that you can launch very, very quickly. And again, it's all based on what we know, love, and do, right? So I'm just passionate about this because I really— there's a fit for everybody in every kind of market. We could talk about crazy types of memberships if you want, but there's all kinds of opportunity.

Yes, I mean, definitely. It's funny, like when you So when you look at it now and when we look at from our point of view, like I said, it's like I see membership ideas everywhere I look now that I can tell people like the stability that it's going to give you. And like you were talking about them knowing they had that income every month, being able to grow their business and hire new people. Like I have a whole, like this is so weird to me because I ran my business as a solo person for many years. For 6 years I did it all by myself, and now I have 7 people working for me. That, that in itself is amazing because their lives are changing because I'm able to have the money to be able to pay them every single month and increase that and give them more hours. And, um, it's just huge, uh, what it, what it has been able to do to help me out, um, to continue to grow my business as well by hiring more people.

Yeah, and then that creates more capacity for you to be able to reach more people and have greater impact. Like, one of the most memorable stories was a message that you sent me. And P.S., like, you know, I always love and look forward to your messages and your updates. But one of them I won't forget, which was you sent me a story of somebody who was in your community who was sharing your paint projects in a retirement home or an old age home. And I just thought about that. I'm just like, wow, like, look at, look at that ripple effect. Like, it's not just the members that you're serving, but they're then using that to help other people as well. And I was just like, that's what this is about, you know what I mean? Like, it's about, you know, yes, creating the stability for ourselves, but it's also about the ripple effect of how we can impact so many other people's lives. And so, yeah, it's super fun. I also, I would encourage everybody in the comments, like, what are some memberships that you belong to? Like, what are some memberships and subscriptions you belong to? Because I think let us know in the comments. But the more awareness you start having around this, the more it gets the creative juices flowing for yourself in terms of, oh yeah, like that yoga membership that I belong to. I mean, that's a membership. Oh yeah. Like the, you know, I'm looking around for my wife, but the creams of the month that, you know, I'm getting, that's a membership. Like, you know, like you start to see all the different ones. Like I'll share another one with you real quick that I just joined. So many times I get asked like, Stu, why would somebody join my paid membership when they could just do a Google search or a YouTube search and find all kinds of information on that subject matter? I'll tell you why. I'm in the midst right now of revamping my home office, and I'm looking to create like a video studio. So what did I do? I went online and I did a YouTube search, and I'm watching all these YouTube videos of like, you know, how to create like a home video studio. And I must have spent— Christie, like, this is embarrassing, but I spent hours watching these YouTube videos, and I'm like taking down all kinds of notes and I'm getting all kinds of ideas. And then I just got to the point where I was just like, I've got lots of ideas, but where do I start? Like, what do I do next? Like, I'm just— I don't know where to go, what to do. So then I legit went into one of our Facebook groups and I said, like, this is what I'm trying to do. I've got all kinds of ideas, but I don't know where to begin. Can anybody help? And then Dana, she's like, Stu, there is a membership for that. And so she sent me to livestreamingpros.com. So I go to Live Streaming Pros and for $97 a month, they map out everything you need to know from like planning, from set design to like the equipment you need, like everything. And I'm like, done. It was a no-brainer. Why? Because yes, there's a million different videos that are available online and sites that I can go to. But all that does is it just creates overwhelm and confusion. And what I wanted is I just wanted somebody to simplify it for me. Just tell me the things. Yeah, just tell me what to do. What are the few things I need to do? And I'm willing to pay for it. And so are others. And this is why memberships are so powerful, because it's not about loading people up with a whole bunch of information. It's about creating clarity for people so they can begin moving forward and making progress in their lives, whether it's me, you know, learning how to create a video studio, whether it's, you know, learning how to paint, whether it's learning how to develop better relationships, whatever it might be, it's all about giving people clarity and helping them make forward progress. Look at all the different memberships that are in the comments, by the way.

I know, I love that Craft Gin Club is her favorite. Then we have a crochet book of the month. Nurse Practitioners Entrepreneur Membership, or I'm assuming that's what NP stands for. This— we even have a membership.

Nice, nice. You know, it was interesting. My family and I, we were on a walk the— on the last weekend and I took this picture. I don't know if you can see it. I walked by a knitting store and they have a knitting membership. I'm like, see, memberships are everywhere. Like, every once you start looking, you start seeing them. And that raises the awareness of just what's possible for all of us.

Yes. Hey, we did have one question here. I'm going to pull this up. Sue is asking, what is needed technically to start up? What, who is, are needed background to keep it going? Thinking admin, IT, etc. Do you want to answer that? You want me to answer?

Well, I'll answer it and then you can share your experience with it too, Christie, if you're okay with that. So my advice here, Sue, is like you can make it as complex or as simple as you want it to be. You know, and I think of Cheryl Hatch. So Cheryl, I love Cheryl's story because she wanted to start a membership, but the tech was not something that she was comfortable with, and it was becoming a roadblock preventing her from actually getting going. So she asked herself a very powerful question, and this is the question I encourage everybody to write down. She asked herself the question, how can I keep this super simple? How can I keep this super simple? So for her, she was comfortable with a Facebook group and email, and that's how she began. She created the community aspect in a Facebook group, and she delivered all the deliverables in the membership via email every week. And so she did this for 2 years, 2 years, and she welcomed more than 600+ paying members.

Wow.

Before she ever created a members area. So again, coming back, you can keep it as simple as you want it to be, especially in the beginning. And that's my recommendation. Keep it simple because that'll help create momentum. And with that momentum, you can add the things afterwards. But simplicity is most important to get going.

Yeah. And that was actually the same way I started my business. I didn't have a website built. I didn't have Kajabi, like all these things where we host our membership. I didn't have any of that. I didn't even know what that was. I knew I could run a Facebook group and that I could take my phone and video what I was doing. And that was as simple as it was. And here's the other thing I want to say to people. And I know you'll be able to speak to this because during the last Tribe launch last year, we saw so many people literally launch while Stu's teaching us what to do and like create memberships, like on the spot, like immediate recurring revenue. And what you have to realize is you don't have to have it all figured out in the beginning. I didn't have it all figured out in the beginning. I went to my local audience and I said, and they all thought I was crazy. They were like, that's cool. We just want to paint with you in person, but that's cute. You know, but out of, you know, the thousands of women that I knew locally, we ended up with 68 of them joining my founder founding members launch. And they helped me decide what my tribe became. I did not have it figured out in the beginning. You don't have to have it figured out. Like, you learn as you go, and that's what makes it so cool.

100%. Like, uh, in my decades of helping literally tens of thousands of business owners create memberships, I have never, ever, ever seen a membership that is the exact same when it launched 3 months later, 6 months later, 12 months later. Like, every membership is going to change, and the reason is because when you start working with people, you start realizing like, where are they getting stuck? Oh, I could help them here, or, oh, I can improve this, or, oh, that's not clear. And so you make the experience better and better as time goes on, which is why the earlier and faster you start, the earlier and faster you can really get that experience dialed in. And to your point, like, yes, last year, you know, every year we host a free workshop. And Christie, I'm sure you'll share the link with everybody, you know, where they can come join us this year. But Every year we host this workshop one time a year. And last year was magical because we held it live for the first time ever. And oh my gosh, like it was just the energy and the momentum that was created from people showing up live was just extraordinary. And as you said, Christie, that we've had, we had more people launch memberships during the free workshop than we've ever had before.

It was so cool.

It was amazing. One of them was Steph McFadden and she owns a brick and mortar microblading studio. Clearly through my bushy eyebrows, I did not know what a microblading studio was, but I've learned. And anyway, her business got shut down because of COVID So she was like, you know, what do I do? And so, you know, during the workshop we talked about memberships and we may or may not talk about the founding member launch on the very first workshop at the end. Got to stay around. And anyways, so we talked about this and so she got into action. And so she did it. She went to not tens of thousands or thousands of people, but her local customers. She had just over 200 of them and 110 of them signed up for her membership. She did not have anything created, you know, did not have anything. She went using what we talked about and followed the steps and that generated out of the gate over $10,000 a month in recurring revenue. And it was a game changer for her. So I'm just sharing this because I'm passionate about this, gang. It works, definitely come and join us on April 22nd for the free workshop. We're going to show you how to take that idea or how to identify what type of membership is right for you. We'll talk about what to provide in the membership, how to attract people to the membership, and a whole lot more. But most importantly, you're going to come through, you're going to get a ton of clarity, and you're going to gain momentum in moving towards having recurring revenue in your business. That's the purpose. That's why I'm passionate about it. And I can't wait and hope you come join us.

Yes. And I know you have to go. So he's got back-to-back interviews going on today, but I'm going to stay on here and answer some of their questions and just share a little bit more about what being in your tribe has done for me. So if you're sitting on the other side of this thinking that's scary and overwhelming, trust me, I didn't know anything in the beginning. And you learn all the things you need to know from Stu and TRIBE, and you're going to learn so much in this free workshop. So I highly recommend taking it.

Christie, thank you so much for having me, buddy. And listen, again, I just want to sing your praises because what's happened and transpired over the last 3 years is truly amazing and extraordinary. And it's my favorite thing to get your messages and to get your updates on what's happening in your memberships and your communities. And I just love the way in which you show up for your people. And really, it's a great example. So for everybody watching, I mean, I would just watch and pay attention to how And, you know, Christie shows up for you and the whole community because it's a perfect example of how when you show up for your people, they'll show up for you. And so thank you so much for having me, Christie. You're awesome. And we'll talk soon.

All right.

Bye. See you again.

Okay, guys. So the workshop, the link, I'm going to post it again. I've posted it. It's in the description as well. So you can click on that. April 22nd. And someone was asking the time. I don't know off the top of my head, but when you go to that link, it will be there, um, for you. Um, and as far as like cost and all, this is a free workshop, so that's all we're, we're talking about right now. And that will give you a good idea of whether you think joining Stu's Tribe— I know it can be confusing for those of you who follow me and you hear me talk about my tribe. We just happen to both call our things the same thing. But his is all about learning how to build memberships. And I literally learned everything I did from him. And the course is amazing, but I really encourage you to first take the free workshop and get those ideas that are in your head out on paper. And it works. And still say this all the time, it works, it works, it works because it does. And if you know me at all, you know that I have built now 2 successful memberships over the past 3 years. But I also am a part of this amazing friend group of business friends who have also built 1 to 2 amazing memberships that have completely changed our lives over the last 3 years. And we all came in to Stuubs Tribe course at the same time. None of us knew each other prior to that. And then now we're all best friends. And we talk every single day. And you will find that inside that community is other people who are also building a membership and going through the same things that you're going through and having the same questions that you're having. And you find that community inside of there, inside his course as well. So let me see if there were any other questions. Deborah's asking it. Well, I had already asking about integrating Constant Contact. Um, I had that prior to ever having a membership, so that is what I used to reach out to my local audience when I did paint classes and stuff. So, um, you want— it doesn't have to be Constant Contact, but you want some kind of email marketing, um, system. But start easy and simple. Um, don't get overwhelmed by the big stuff, okay? Fear will stop you, but you have to take action to kill the fear. So my advice is to start with taking the free workshop. Get signed up for that now. My link is in the comments and in the description. And that would be my biggest recommendation. It's April 22nd. It's right around the corner. So yeah, stay tuned for that and we'll have more to come. And if you're interested in seeing some more interviews with Stu and I or more about other people who have successful memberships in all genres, in all areas, I encourage you to go to Steve McLaren's page and hear some of the other success stories from other members that have done the course with him. So, but right now, get signed up for the workshop because that's the best thing that you can do. That is where I started. I went through the entire free workshop. And debated and debated on whether I wanted to join the course. But it gave me so much information. It's not fluff. I'll tell you that right now. It's not fluff. This is gonna give you a good, good insight of how you can take the next steps to move forward in your business. So thank you guys so much for hanging out with us today. Thank you, Kay. And Jennifer signed up. Woo-hoo. Yeah, so I'm anxious to hear from you guys. Um, if you sign up for Stu's workshop, I would love for you to shoot me a text and just say, I signed up for Stu's workshop, um, and let me know what your membership idea is. And you can text me— I'll put it here in the comments— 417. Okay, it's there in the comments. Okay, I've put that in there for you. So, um, now don't be texting me for like customer service and asking me all kinds of crazy questions and stuff. I want you to text me and let me know that you signed up for the workshop. And, um, the text is not for customer service, we have an email for that, but it's for you to let me know you signed up. If you paint with me, you can send me, um, a picture of your latest painting so I can see what you're working on. So, um, it's for that and for text alerts so I can let you know when I'm going to go live and all that good stuff. So, um, I look forward to hearing from you. I'm anxious to hear some of the ideas that people have for, um, how memberships can work in your life too. So, um, that's it. Y'all have a good rest of the day. And for me and for painting, if you want to paint more with me, I want you to save the date for this Sunday night. This Sunday night, 7 PM Central Standard Time, we're going to be painting— let me show you real quick— this little guy right here on my page at 7 PM Sunday night. And that's when I will be opening the doors to my membership again, um, which I only open twice a year, and I open it in the spring and in the fall. So this is your only chance to join for several months because it's late fall that we open it back up again. So my membership opens on Sunday night at 7 PM Central Standard Time, and you'll hear all the details about what my membership includes and how you can become a part of it and a part of our amazing community of women. So I look forward to seeing what you guys do. Bye!