How to Transition from Free to Paid Without Losing Followers

A community of people on the same path should be a source of joy, energy, stimulation, motivation, knowledge for you as the host, as well as for each and every member. That's what I want for you. That's what I want for everybody who is launching a paid program for the first time. Hi, I'm Gina Bianchini and this is People Magic, where I show you the absolute easiest way to create a $1 million community.

Hi Gina. I'm getting ready to launch my community. I'm excited and I'm nervous because it's the first time I'm charging money for my work. Any advice on that transition for my followers who are used to getting my work for free?

Oh my gosh. This is one of the best and toughest questions because this is a question that brings up for people a lot of emotion, a lot of fear, a lot of uncertainty, especially if you're charging for the first time. So first and foremost, there is a lot of fear that is intertwined with pricing, strategy and what to offer and how to offer it that I just want to acknowledge. Because when there is something to do that is different, and especially if somebody like me is like, go against your fears and try this other approach, I totally want to just acknowledge and recognize that is easier said than done. That being said, I want to offer a few different angles to tackle this. So number one, you are still going to offer something to prospective members for free. So you'll want to have, whether it's a seven day challenge or whether it is a free course, like a free email course, there will be something that you can continue to offer people for free. And your content or your framework isn't necessarily the most valuable thing that you are able to offer when you start to charge. So that's pretty standard strategy. So being able to offer something for free, you have in your. If you do have a social media following, you do not need a social media following, but it sounds like you have one that you want to be able to keep offering the framework content for free, what you are offering when you choose to launch a paid program. So I'm going to just define it as a community where the whole goal is to create relationships between your members in pursuit of navigating a transition or achieving results and transformation that they can't get on their own that is extraordinarily valuable and something that you absolutely should charge for. So if you think about the idea is that your content is something that you can put out there for free or give people a taste with a free trial or A challenge or a course or a live event. That is how you want to reframe and rethink about what you offer for free. If you have a free community today, I want to encourage you to consider deprecating it, saying goodbye to it. One of the things that we have seen in our data is that if you have a choice between putting a paywall at the front door to your community and monetize that with a membership with courses, with paid challenges and events that is super effective, you're going to have a higher conversion rate, you're going to have more excited people. You can do it, offer it, create value from it with just 30 people. So you don't need a lot of people that are paying to create something that's really valuable. And what's beautiful about this is that you are going to be able to start a flywheel. You get those members in, they are there with greater motivation, greater intention, higher engagement. And typically the most motivated people are happy to pay. They're happy to pay to achieve results in transformation that they can't get on their own. As they get those results, what do they want to do? They want to talk about it with other people. And now you've started your flywheel of people that will pay you money. The free community with a paid set of programs does not work as well as being able to offer something. Yes, some may refer to it as a lead magnet. I'm going to call it a challenge, or a course or a event. But when you can use that to bring people into a paid experience, where the whole purpose of that paid experience is to get members to take your framework and apply it in their lives, supporting each other and most importantly, sharing their stories, their experiences. Interestingly, not advice. Advice shuts a conversation down where sharing stories, experiences and ideas radically expands. People being engaged, people building a habit, and ultimately people taking and applying your framework in their lives so that flow works really, really well. One of the big fears of charging is, oh my gosh, what if I don't actually have something valuable to offer? What if all these people who are following me or my free email list when I actually offer something that's paid, they don't join. And here's what I want to offer as a reframing thought to that. Number one, you do not need very many people to get started. You just need 30 people to create that kind of environment that people are going to support and encourage and be with each other as they are navigating a transition in their lives. That's where community really Shines. It is kind of the whole point of community, as a matter of fact. So as you think about how many people you need to get into the paid part of your program, it's just 30 people. So don't be afraid of charging. Then. As you think about your price, one of the most important things is to aim at the highest price you possibly can charge, such that it reflects the value of the results that your members are going to get as they make the transition that they are excited to be with other people who are on the same journey. Number two is the replacement. So the only thing that should be taking your price down to a lower level is that if what your members are used to paying for is a lower price. But get creative with how you think about what the replacement value is and really lean into the results. Like, what does it mean if somebody is able to get a new job or get a promotion as a manager because they belong to a community that is all around learning frameworks for management and applying those frameworks in their lives and being able to learn from the stories, the experiences and the ideas of other new managers or other managers who are on the same path. So that value or the results, and the value of those results, the replacement that somebody else would be paying for, maybe it's a conference, maybe it's another course and this is a membership you're offering that can be so much more valuable. Because memberships tend to be more valuable than courses, especially right now with the content overload that is out there. And then finally you want to have respect. This is. How do you have a price? Because people pay attention to what they pay for and you'll pay attention to what they pay for, as well as a data point to anchor you on. Our average monthly price across mighty networks is $48 a month. $48 a month, or, you know, over $576 a year. So you can charge a lot. This is not Netflix. This is not of Starbucks coffee. This is the one place joining a community, participating in that community, contributing to that community. Again, monetized or structured as memberships, or structured as courses, or structured as challenges or events. This is the one place where people think cheap equals bad. The more you charge and the more clear you are about the value that you are creating for people in their lives, help them achieve results and transformation, they can't get on their own. The more people will be drawn to what you are charging for. So I know that's a little counterintuitive. The final piece that I want to add here is a different way to think about your first cohort or your founding members. Let me just say if, like I'm going to try to convince you to not offer it for free the first time. Most people really get stuck there. Here's how I like to think about it, which is there are people who are getting paid lots of money for consulting projects all over the country, all over the world today, and they have never done it before. And for better or worse, it's one person. When you are launching a paid community based program, what is beautiful about it is you are setting up the structure which in and of itself itself is hugely valuable. But then also each member is making it more valuable for everybody else by sharing their stories, their experiences and their ideas. So I actually think when more people are involved, you should be charging more. It's more valuable, not less valuable for someone to join. So reframe that. I have to start for free. I'm doing it for free for the first time. If you need to do that, that's fine. But there is another path. And that path is thinking about yourself as setting up a consulting project that you would otherwise charge for or a service that you would charge for. And that you're just doing it in a hands on way with other people where your job is to tease out the stories, the experiences, the ideas that you bring to the table, but also all the other members bring to the table in pursuit of successfully navigating a transition, applying your framework to their lives, and ultimately building really strong relationships that first of all are just fun and awesome, and second, are going to help that person stick with new practices, habits they want to change, habits they want to build. And that is what we are doing when we charge. So this is a topic I have a lot of passion about because I have seen more people who are doing lots and lots and lots of things for free, that get exhausted, that show up to mighty networks crying just from, just from exhaustion. And I don't like that because I actually care about what you are creating and that it's sustainable and durable and high value for the people that you are bringing together. And yes, there will always be something that you will be able to offer for free to bring people in. But that does not mean you have to keep giving and giving and giving and giving in ways that are going to burn you out. This is about creating something that is a source of energy. A community of people on the same path should be a source of joy, energy, stimulation, motivation, knowledge for you as the host, as well as for each and every member. That's what I want for you. That's what I want for everybody who is launching a paid program for the first time. I'm Gina Bianchini. This is People Magic, and I'll see you in the next episode. Thank you for being a part of People Magic. If you want more of a deep dive in any of these topics, but certainly having the framework of People Magic profit, head on over to the website. The link is in the show notes. Have your own burning question about creating People Magic? Well, I want to answer it. So here's what you're going to do. You're going to just drop your question in the review section, wherever you're listening to this podcast and keep tuning in.