082: Generating Over $20K a Month with a Digital Subscription

Subscriptions aren't always about a physical item showing up at your door. Think about your Netflix, Disney Plus, or even the online newspaper that you read. Today I'm talking with a blogger on how she generates over $20,000 a month with her digital subscription. Come join us.

Welcome to the Launch Your Box podcast with weekly tips, tricks, and strategies to start, launch, and grow your subscription box. Now here's your host, Sarah Williams.

Welcome back to the Launch Your Box podcast. Today I have a very special guest on the podcast. We're talking about something that we have never talked about on the podcast before, and it came up during my last launch. There were lots of questions like, does anybody inside Launch Your Box have a digital subscription? And I'm like, yes, there are several. And always the first person that comes to my mind is Stacy. So I brought Stacy to the podcast today. Stacy Collins. With Wilshire Collection. Stacy, hello.

Hello. Thank you for having me.

Yeah, I'm so excited that you're here because we're gonna break this down for them because there are people listening right now. They're like, okay, what's a digital subscription? I don't, I don't know what you mean. Yeah. And so we're gonna talk about it. We're gonna talk about what it is, what she does, how it's grown, all the things. I wanna give them a little bit of your backstory about your business before we jump right into all of that. So why don't you tell us about your business, Wilshire Collections, and then we'll progress to where the printable club came in.

Yes, awesome. Well, like Sarah said, I'm Stacy. I'm the owner of Wilshire Collections. I am a home decor and DIY blogger, so I like to say that I like all things involving decorating, crafting, and then of course you got to throw in shopping because you got to shop for all the cute things for your home. So I love going live on my page, doing craft projects, sharing decorating tips. I do a little thing called Whisper Shopping where I go shopping and just show people what cute things are out there.

So that's called Whisper Shopping because if you've ever watched Stacy on her Facebook page, she's literally in the stores whispering, whispering.

Yes, because if you've ever tried to record in a store, people look at you like you're crazy. So I'm not going to just go in there with my normal loud voice. So I'm like, oh my gosh, look at this face. Look at this sign. It's so cute, you know. So it just— it— I started calling it Whisper Shopping and it stuck and People love the whisper shopping videos. But that is in a nutshell as far as, you know, the business.

So I told Stacy last night that I need to go whisper shopping with her, like FaceTime her and me, because I'm shopping for my new office and closet.

You're gonna have to take me whisper shopping. I love it. Let's do it.

I feel like, I feel like you could schedule appointments with people, like you could go whisper shopping virtually with people. Probably.

Oh, that's amazing. I love it. Okay.

Before we dive into what the printable club is, I wanna just talk about like, what is a digital subscription? Subscription? Because I teach this product-based stuff, these physical products that go in a box and we send them out to people. But what is a digital subscription, Stacy?

A digital subscription is no shipping. That is the first, the first thing that comes to my mind for people that are like scared of the shipping, don't have the, you know, whatever. A digital subscription does not involve shipping. So it is something where they are going to receive a downloadable file or something by email. Just think of it as something being delivered to them, but just not through the mail. It's being delivered online through a, you know, member portal or email, like I said, or something like that.

So this sounds like a subscription box owner's dream right now.

Like, yeah, yeah, exactly. Like, wait, I don't have to ship anything? I don't— you have no physical products, you know, you are not shipping anything physical. It's all digital in the online world.

So I love it.

Okay.

So you started this thing called the Printable Club, and this is your digital subscription. So take me back to where you were at with your business and where this came from. Like, how did you decide that this is what you were going to do?

Yeah. So I actually love this story so much just because how it all came together was super organic. So back in May of 2020, we all know kind of what was going on in the world around that time. And I was going live on Facebook a lot, crafting and just, you know, hanging out with the ladies and doing all that. Well, before that, I had created a couple printables for my blog just randomly. And when I thought about a printable, I thought of something you would maybe go on to Etsy and purchase. You would print it out, slap it in a picture frame, and be done, which— that's a great way to use a printable. But in May, I was like, I'm going to create a couple more printables for the blog. And as I was printing them out, I had this aha moment and I'm like, wait a minute, a printable is on a piece of paper. A scrapbook paper is scrap, is paper too. If I can Mod Podge scrapbook paper, why can't I Mod Podge a printable? So I ran and grabbed a little surface. I, you know, Mod Podged something. I'll never forget the first little sign I made. And I'm like, oh my goodness, this is cute and this is going to work. Went live showing the ladies how I did this and they fell in love and immediately were like, when are you going to make more printables? When are you going to do more printables? We want more printables. And of course, I'm I don't even totally know what I'm doing. I'm like, sure, yeah, I can make more printables. So all during the rest of the month of May and June, I was designing printables, putting them for sale on my website, and it just took off. But people were excited because for ladies that don't have like a Cricut or a Silhouette, they don't have a way to create the cute custom stuff. This was allowing them to create cute decor for their home on a budget without all that fancy equipment. So flash forward to July of 2020. I'm like, there has to be a better way to do this for all of these ladies who are literally purchasing every printable that I put out there, and they're starting to spend a lot of money every month because they're purchasing all of them. There's got to be a way to deliver these printables to people and keep it super affordable for the ladies that literally want every one that I put out there. So that is when the Printable Club was born, because there was a true need for it. At that point, my audience was basically asking me for it, you know, they were asking me for it before I even really knew that that was the next step, you know, because it all just kind of grew so quickly.

And I think it, it probably grew quickly because when you had an established audience that you were showing up and serving, but also we were in a timeframe where we were staying home a lot. And so they were crafting a lot. And so it was a way for them to get these items without having to go to a store anywhere, without having to get out and go get them. They, they had the designs. They just had to find a surface, and they could get that on Amazon, and they could get that anywhere. So you were just delivering that for them, right?

Right. Yeah, the timing was definitely good as far as all of that went. And yeah, it just gave people an easy way to craft at home during that time on a budget, which is what so many of them, you know, are looking for.

So how much is your— was your printable club when you started it?

How much The very first time I launched, it was just $10 a month for like an intro, like, you know, just the, the first initial thing. We added over 800 subscribers in the very first launch.

Are you kidding me?

No, I'm not kidding. It was mind-blowing. It was mind-blowing. I mean, it just far exceeded any expectations that I had. And so obviously at that point I was like, okay, well, this is a thing. Like, this is a thing. This— there's a need for this. And you You know, as it has gone on and grown and changed, you know, we're evolving just like a subscription box that you ship out. You learn along the way what's working, what's not working, what are they loving, what are they asking for? So we've done a lot of growing and changing. You know, it's been 2 years. This is my 2-year birthday this month. So it's been, you know, really fun just to see it all kind of grow and change. And you just, you listen to the people and what they want, you know.

So you generated $8,000 in monthly recurring revenue by creating your digital subscription. Yes. And so then how did it grow? Take me through the path over the last few years.

So during that first year, we had it open all the time. And so what we do with the printable club is at the first of the month, they get their new download. So it used to be 5 in the beginning. Now they get 6 every month. We have a portal where they can log in and download everything. And they all say it's like Christmas morning because they wait on the first of the month to get their email like, new printables are here, you can log in now, and they get so excited. So we have the printable club open all the time. And after they would get their, their downloads at the beginning of the month, I would go live on my page every month, the beginning of the month, showing the new designs and just saying, hey, if you want to join the printable club, you can join. So we kind of had just this open model at the beginning. So by the end of our first full year, we we were pushing close to 2,000 members. I think we were around 1,700 or 1,800 members. So it was just amazing to keep seeing that growth all throughout the year because people saw the value in it. You know, I have it valued to where if you're going to buy more than a few printables a month from my website, it's a better deal just to be in the club. And even if there's one bundle that maybe isn't your favorite, you're still getting a good value from the other 5 that you do love.

So you really made it a no-brainer offer. And that's something we talk about all the time inside Launch Your Box because people wanna price things similar to what they're sold at in their shop. And like, no, we can't do that. It has to be a no-brainer offer for you to be a subscriber.

Right.

And that's what you created.

And that's what I wanted. I wanted them to be like, well, yes, I have to do this. This may— financially, this makes sense. I'm going to spend less money in the long run if I do it this way. So in the second year, at some point we did switch to more of a closed model where we would, you know, only open a few times a year. And there's pros and cons to both. For me, it was just more so I could have a little bit of a break in between instead of constantly feel like I'm opening and launching. And it gave time just to really focus on the printable club and the people that are there and changing things, adding things, and just kind of, you know, loving on the people that you have. So we've, we've gone back to that model and it's worked really well. And now we are well, well over 2,000 members. 2 years in.

So, and is it still $10?

Nope. It's $15. It's $15. So I kept it at $10 the first several months, but at some point, you know, cause I always knew that wasn't going to be my final price or, you know, my, that was just kind of a founder's price, I guess you could say, but it is $15 a month now, which is still an insane value for all that they get, you know?

So, so let's talk a little bit about it because I know people listening are like, oh my gosh, this is incredible. Like you're talking $20,000 or more a month. In recurring revenue by creating this digital subscription. So people's wheels are spinning right now. They're like, okay, I understand the concept. I understand how this works, but I wanna, I wanna talk about how you've kept your retention so strong. Yeah. And how you've built a community around it, because I think there's, there's something to be said about having a digital subscription. You know, you've seen them with templates, Canva template subscriptions. Yeah. I've been a part of those too.

Right.

But there's something about retaining people for long periods of time. You're 2 years in.

Right.

And so I wanna talk a little bit about how you've built this community because you told me already you don't have a Facebook group. There's not a, it's not a membership, it's a subscription.

Right.

They get one packet a month of digital files.

Yep.

And that's it. So how have you created this sense of community with them?

Yeah. And honestly, that was one thing going into it in my head. I was like, will this work? Because I'm not gonna have the Facebook group. Am I gonna have that sense of community, you know, are people going to stick around without that? But I've learned that they have, because you have to think about it too. We're all busy, you know. And so for some people, all they want are those downloads every month, and then they've got a creative mind, and they're going to go run and do with it what they want to. But what I have made sure to do on top of delivering, you know, delivering their printables every single month is, like I said, going live on my page, showing up, giving them ideas on how to craft with the printables. I also have a free group on Facebook, which has become a really good place for them to go and share their projects so they can inspire other people. They can get ideas. People are in the comments like, oh, how'd you do that? Where'd I get the printable? So I mean, it's just, it's been a great way for there to be a community, but it's not necessarily just for Printable Club, but it's just a good place for them to share their projects. So, and I encourage them, I'll do posts on my page like, show me what you've been making with the printables, and people will, you know, post their stuff underneath. So they still get this feeling like they are part of a community without it being a specific community for, for the printable club, if that makes sense.

So you're not, you're not recording any tutorials for them like privately. There's not a private portal anywhere. You're not spending hours behind the camera trying to create crafts for them. You know what I love about this, Stacy, is that you're taking the content from the digital subscription and you're using it for content to show up for your audience. So you're taking that content that they have to purchase just the, the printable, and you're showing up on your public page going live, showing them different ways to use that project, but they still need, they still need that printable in order to do that project. So you're creating a sense of community on your Facebook page with the people that are subscribers. You're creating content with the physical part of the digital subscription, and you're just using that, repurposing that everywhere, and it's creating this just I don't know, domino effect.

It is, it is. I mean, that's exactly what's happening because, you know, when I am live on my page, they have the option to go straight to my website and purchase just one printable by themselves. And a lot of times that's how the ladies will start out. You know, it's like, what is this printable business? I'm not sure. I'll just get one or two. And then quickly they become obsessed and they're like, wait, now I need in the printable club. So it's really serving the people that want just one or the people that are like, give me everything, everything that you put out there, you know? So yeah, it really works well.

I love it. And I, I think that it's important, and I wanna talk about this for a minute because you're not sending anything physical, right? We talked about it's all digital, but at the same time you're creating something physical. Yeah. And I think that is a good mixture of a subscription because if something is always digital and we only use it digital, it stays out there in that digital world. But when we can take something that's digital and we can make it physical, they can touch it, they can use it, they can feel it. And, and that's That's the best thing about your subscription, I think, is that you're creating something physical with it. But spoiler, you're not doing any of the physical work.

Exactly. I'm not even printing it out of the printer, you know. I mean, but yes, it's a tangible item that on the first of the month they log in, they see it, and they print it. And they're— within seconds they're holding it in their hand. You know, some ladies, if they don't have a printer, you can go get your copies made, you know, any place that'll make make, make copies, but most people print them right from home. So it's just super convenient. And yeah, it's just, it's like I said, the first of the month is like Christmas morning because people are immediately, once they get in, oh my gosh, this one's my favorite. I love this one. You've knocked it out of the park. And I just love getting texts and emails and all the things from all the subscribers about it. It just fills my cup.

Is it a surprise every month?

They don't know. It's a surprise. You get what you get and you don't throw a fit, you know? So it's like, but they, but, and then every month, Sarah, I so nervous every month. There has not been one. And I know you can probably relate to this feeling with your boxes. Are they going to like it? Are they, are they good enough? Are they the designs they want? Are they the colors they want? I haven't had one month yet where people are like, no, you know, throwing tomatoes at me. Every month they're like, you knocked it out of the park. You're, you know, whatever. So, but every month I'm anxious just to see their reaction and feedback. They're anxious to get the printables. But yes, it's a total surprise. Every now and then I'll show them a little sneak peek of one that's coming up, but I like to keep it as much of a surprise as I can.

So I love it. And I, I'm gonna ask you, you're 2 years in now. What advice would you give for someone that's listening and maybe they're thinking about starting a digital subscription of some kind for their own audience? What advice would you give them?

I would say definitely to lean into what your people are loving and asking for. And if there's something that they are loving and asking for that can be put into some kind of digital format, then you need to go with it. And I always tell people, don't wait till the time timing is perfect. You know, you're always gonna be scared. You're always gonna say, well, I have this going on and this going on. There's never gonna be a right perfect time. But if the need is there, then that tells you it's your perfect time because people want it. So you gotta just do it scared.

You know, my head is spinning about how I can create some digital, you know, social media calendars for all my members, right? Like, would you like to subscribe to like a 30-day plan out your month every month for your subscription?

Yeah.

Hello.

I mean, if you're gonna do that work for me, yeah, I'll pay for it. You know, even like if somebody is like a food blogger or somebody that's into that, I would pay to have somebody send me easy recipes every week. Or, you know, there's just so many things that you could do in the digital world beyond just a printable. I mean, there's so many digital things out there, you know.

Yes, I love it. So, all right, Stacy, if I am a crafter and I love some printables, how can I find the Printable Club?

So you can go to my website, which is wilshirecollections.com, and you will see the information for Printable Club. You can, you know, you can go to shopwilshirecollections.com to shop for them individually, but everything you need is on my website.

Go over and follow Stacy so you can get in on this whisper shopping because it's something. I love it. Thank you so much for joining me on today's podcast and go get your digital subscription started, y'all.

Yes, thank you, Sarah. Thank you so much for having me. This was great.

If the idea of creating a subscription box is swirling around in your head, I encourage you to head over to launchyourboxwithsarah.com, get on our waitlist, and grab some of our free downloads to help you get started. That's launchyourboxwithsarah.com.