183: Stu McLaren Reveals the Messaging Shift That Will Transform Your Sales

Already have a subscription box but struggling to plan ahead? Or maybe you're dreaming of starting one but don't know where to begin. Join me for my free 6 in 60 workshop on Sunday, March 2nd at 7 PM Central Standard Time, where I'll walk you through my proven method to curate 6 months of subscription boxes in just 60 minutes. By the end, you'll have a plan, clarity, and confidence to move forward. We start soon, so sign up now at 6in60workshop.com. Today we're diving into the secret sauce behind building predictable profits in your business. And who better to break that all down than my mentor since 2018, the one and only Stu McLaren. If you've ever felt stuck, constantly chasing sales, or wondering how to create real stability in your business, this episode is for you. Stu is revealing the game-changing messaging shift that helped me scale my subscription box, and trust me, you'll wanna take notes. Grab your headphones and let's jump in.

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. I have a very special, very special— I say that a lot, a very special guest, but this was an extra special guest. This is a special, special, special, special. This is the triple special guest that I have today. I would love to introduce my wonderful mentor since 2018, Stu McLaren is in the house with me today on the Launch Your Box podcast. Stu, say hi to everybody.

What's up? Let's go. Thanks, Sarah. Great to be here, buddy.

So if people don't know who you are, give them a little background of who you are and kind of what you're doing these days.

Well, I've been focused on one thing for over 17 years, and that is helping people specifically Launch, grow, and scale profitable membership sites. I am obsessed with helping business owners generate recurring revenue in their business because, you know, Sarah, I mean, this is like Subscription Box 101, but you have multiple streams of recurring revenue in your business. And when you do, it like transforms the confidence that you have to be able to invest in your business, whether it's your marketing or team. It eliminates stress, which by the way is the number one thing affecting business owners is financial stress. And that comes from not knowing where the sales are going to be from one month to the next. And so I'm just passionate and believe that every business should have some form of recurring revenue in their business. And that's what I've been focused on for the last 17 years is helping businesses do that.

Yeah. And you, packaged it up pretty nicely recently, right?

I sure did. In my brand new book called Predictable Profits.

Yeah.

It's essentially like my nearly 2 decades of experience squeezed into 250 pages. And I did not hold back. Like, it's like the whole soup to nuts plan on how to launch a membership, but really proud of this book.

It is so good, Sue. What I love about the book and for anybody listening, this book has little bite-sized chapters, right? So like you're going to get one nugget from every chapter. How many chapters does the book have, Stu?

It has 41.

41 chapters. I haven't made it past like 35 yet. I'm still working on it, but it's so good because you can read all about one of these concepts or one of Stu's thoughts or frameworks or whatever that chapter entails. You get stories and case studies in that chapter, but then it's done. That's what you have to learn. And now it's like, okay, I can, I can consume that in a bite-sized way and now I can go implement that in my business. And what I love is like, it's like your— I call it like your blueprint. It's like everything you've taught me is in this book. And I want to go back to when I came into your world in 2018 and I took your course and this is how you and I met. I took your course in 2018 and at that time I had about 300 box subscribers. I just had the one subscription. And I had about 300 subscribers and I was really, I had hit a plateau. And so I thought, I need to figure this out. I didn't really know what I was doing when I started this subscription box, but in my mind I felt like there's gotta be more to this. This isn't as good as it gets. This is great. And I was so happy with 300 subscribers, but I felt like there was so many things that I just didn't know. And so I was kind of, you know, looking around to figure out where I could go to learn something. And at that time, You know, we didn't have people like me on the internet teaching people about subscription boxes, but you were like the next best thing. You were like, I, and I just related everything you said when you talked memberships. I'm thinking subscription box, membership, subscription box. And that's how I consumed your content. And when I took your course, I had so many aha moments that I didn't really think about. And I would love to talk about that today because I think my audience would really love to kind of put it in that different perspective the way that I did when I took your course. And the amazing thing, everyone that's listening, is that the stuff that I learned from his course is in this book. Like, that's the incredible thing you're going to get. I paid thousands for Stu's course. You're going to get that knowledge for like $26. Okay. In his book. Right. But let's talk about some of that, because as product-based business owners, We tend to focus on the products. We tend to focus on the benefits of the product, of that particular, the features of the product. But there was something that I was missing, and this is why I was plateauing. And when I jumped into your course, it was like, it's not about the products. And it was really about the people. And it was all about messaging. And I was just selling products. I wasn't I wasn't leaning into the people. Can you talk about that for a little bit?

Yeah. Well, what's interesting is that, you know, it's a common mistake that a lot of business owners make, which is like when we're offering anything, whether it's a subscription box, whether it's a membership, whether it's consulting, whether it's software, whatever it is that we're offering and selling, like the natural tendency is we just get so excited and focused on like all the things, all the stuff, like all the earrings in the box or the bags in the box or the monogrammed items. Like we get excited about that. Like it looks pretty, it's gorgeous. Oh my gosh. But we lose sight of like why people are buying that because they're buying the things because they want to feel better themselves. They want to look better. They're hoping that in putting on the earrings and wearing the the cute t-shirt matched with the bags and the monogram stuff that it's going to be a conversation starter with their friends or their girlfriends, or it's going to be an element where their husband or partner maybe comes out and says, oh my gosh, like you just, you look great today. And like, maybe they don't know why, but secretly like inside, like she's feeling like, well, I know why, because I'm sporting this cute stuff that I just got from Sarah. Like, They're gonna— it's about the feeling and it's about like the emotion that we create with the things that we provide. And when we lose touch of that, what begins to happen is like our messaging doesn't land, it's out of alignment and we can't put our finger on it and people can't— have a hard time communicating it with us, but there's just something that's out of alignment. So like one of the most fundamental things that we need to do is we need to get our messaging in alignment with what the market really wants. And I talk about that. Like you mentioned, like I didn't hold back on this book and it's true. Like if people, not if, when you go and grab a copy of this book, the very first thing that I want you to jump into is chapter 4. It's called How to Discover What Your Customer Is Really Thinking. And then chapter 5 builds on that. It's called "This Simple Tool Makes Attracting Your Audience Easy and Effortless." And I walk you through a really simple exercise that helps us get in alignment so that what we're saying is exactly what the market wants. And once that happens, it makes converting people into customers so much easier. And so messaging is a foundational element. And when we don't have it right, We plateau, sales don't, you know, happen as quickly as we want, but when we get it right, it's like we are running downhill and everything just becomes so much easier.

It was something that you taught me that I'd never really understood for my product-based business. And it was something about, you know, serving your audience. And I can do that very easily with the coaching business, right? Like right now I'm serving my audience by providing this podcast lesson and helping them learn something. But it was hard for me to translate that into the product-based business. And so I had to really figure out how was I going to serve them because I was just selling to them. I'm selling you shirt, I'm selling you the bag, I'm selling you the accessories, I'm selling, selling, selling, selling. And that's what my messaging was. I wasn't serving them. And so I had to pull that back and I had to show that I had to teach them and to serve them with a style guide. Let me show you how you can wear this one thing 6 different ways that creates functionality in your wardrobe. You don't need a ton of stuff in your wardrobe. I'm going to also show you how I'm going to pair it with something else in another box that you can use with that shirt as well. So I'm just kind of creating this atmosphere that all this stuff is super functional, and I'm going to show you how to use it and how to wear it. And, and again, that feeling of I want to feel good about myself when I walk out the door each day. You know, as women, especially at that time, you know, I was overweight and I struggled with my self-esteem a lot. And so this subscription was really a way that I could help people put looks together that maybe didn't think that they could be trendy or maybe didn't think that they could wear a certain color or maybe they didn't think they had style to put something together. And I had to translate my messaging instead of buy my cute thing to let me show you how to feel confident as you go through the day. And there is a big big difference when my sales started to shift because my messaging was shifting and I was now serving this audience. And in turn, I was selling the things, but I wasn't selling to this audience constantly.

Well, what's interesting about what you just said is that, you know, initially you were focused on selling the thing with like the subscription box and all the things in the subscription box. But you said something there that I think is the real breakthrough, which is You actually, that's not what you're selling. What you're really selling is confidence. And the thing to go from not feeling confident to feeling confident, the bridge is the subscription box. But see, we lose sight of like ultimately what is it that really people are after? It's the transformation of feeling confident in themselves and feeling good about themselves. And that's what we should spend more time focused on versus the stuff. The stuff is a way to get there, but it's not the thing that they're actually after. They wouldn't be buying the subscription box if it didn't make them feel good. They wouldn't be buying the subscription box if they didn't feel more confident because of what they're wearing as a result of that. And so if we focus on the true thing that people are after, that transformation of going from not confident to feeling confident, from not feeling good to feeling great, that then will lead more people to buying the box. And we don't have to sell it. We don't have to talk. We don't have to like hardcore, you know, give people all these reasons why we don't have to come across slimy and sleazy. Like people naturally bridge the gap. Like, oh, okay. Like, yes, I want to feel better about myself. Yes, I do want to feel more confident. They automatically associate that now with the subscription box being the thing that can help them do that. And so, it makes your life a heck of a lot easier and it's certainly a smoother transition for the audience.

Okay. So, let's give them like 3 tips to help them serve their audience in a better way. Do you have 3 tips just off the top of your tongue that you can give them?

Well, one of the things, I'll pull this from chapter 5. This is like the, you know, the simple tool that makes attracting your audience easy and effortless. What I would encourage people to do is take out a sheet of paper. Draw a line straight down the middle. On the top of the left-hand side, I want you to write "now," and on the top of the right-hand side, I want you to write the word "future." And what I want to encourage everybody to do is to list single words or short phrases that describe what your audience are thinking, what they're feeling, and what they're doing or not doing. So, here's an example. Actually, let's do this together, Sarah. We already gave people a couple words because we were just naturally talking about this, but You know, you were saying that your audience was not feeling good about themselves. They were not feeling confident. What else? What other words or phrases would you put on that now list?

They don't feel fashionable. They might feel like they're too old to, you know, have style. They might not want to go shopping. So the box is super convenient for them, right? So those are some things that— they're busy. They are busy women and they don't have— they don't take time to do things for themselves. And so that is a barrier for them, you know, to have those things or to feel, you know, the feelings of gaining those things.

Okay, this is great. So let me ask you then, I'm going to dig a little deeper. And because of that, if they're not feeling fashionable, they're feeling too old, they don't want to shop, so they're probably wearing the same old stuff over and over and over again, how is that making them feel?

Well, it's making them feel like they're not stylish. I can also speak to going into a mall and feeling like you can't wear anything at any of the stores because it doesn't fit you, or it's overwhelming to find something that complements you. Like, so you leave feeling frustrated. You like work yourself up to going shopping, and then you try things on and you feel frustrated by the random sizing that are at different stores. So those are some things that I would think of.

Yeah, and it probably like when they're feeling frustrated by that and nothing's feeling like it fits, what does that do for their self-esteem?

It shuts you down. You don't want to go out. This is me. I'm just, I'm telling you me. You don't want to go do things. You stay at home. You don't go out with your friends because you feel like you have nothing cute to wear. And everybody's gonna have nice cute things on. And you've got this one old black shirt that you've been wearing everywhere you go for the last 5 years. And so you tend to just kind of either cover yourself in black, or you just stay home because you don't feel like you fit in.

Okay, I want to pause right there. Like, listen to how powerful that scenario is, that scene is that we just painted, right? And this is This is why just taking a minute to do this one simple exercise, it can be transformative because now we've described their now world. If we can describe it in vivid detail, like we've just outlined, people feel seen, heard, and understood on a level that nobody else gets them. And what happens subconsciously is they're like, she gets me, she understands me, she knows what I'm going through. And it's like instantly you create this trust. And so now what we then are gonna do is we're gonna contrast that world to their future world. And so on the other side of the page, on the future column, what we're gonna do is we're gonna do the same thing and list simple words or short phrases that describe what somebody is thinking, feeling, and doing. And if you struggle with this, just look at what you wrote on the left-hand side and ask yourself, well, what's the opposite? So, if I look at our list, I took a little list on a sticky note as we were going here, Sarah. What's the opposite of feeling not fashionable?

You're feeling hip and trendy.

Hip and trendy. Oh my gosh, this is so fun. And if they're, if they're feeling like they're too old for stuff, how are they feeling now?

They're feeling younger and more vibrant.

Young and vibrant. See, you're just a natural at this. So, They're feeling like they're too busy to find new outfits. What, what would we say the opposite of that?

Well, it's convenient. They don't have to find the time because we're going to deliver it. So I don't know what the opposite of that would be, but we're providing convenience for them so they don't have to go shop.

Yeah, perfect. And if they don't take time for themselves before, what are they doing now?

They're making time for themselves every time they open that box because we personalize it just for them.

Amazing. And then when we talk about nothing fitted— fitting, what's happening now?

Now I feel like things fit my body and I feel confident in them.

Fit, that equals confidence. Great. And then when we're feeling frustrated and overwhelmed, now we're feeling what?

Now we're feeling— I'm going to say relaxed because I don't have to go to the mall now, right? And I'm not overwhelmed because I have something new in my closet every single month. That I know is going to look great and fit great.

We're excited. I love it. And then before, like—

I love that. Wait, I love how you just took my 3 sentences and said, okay, we're excited. Okay.

Before, if it was shutting them down and they weren't going out, they're antisocial. Now, how are they showing up differently?

Now they're being social. They're wanting to go out and because they feel confident.

Got it. Now watch this. All we've done is we've just created a simple contrast between two worlds, their now world and their future world. We have not at all talked about any of the stuff, but watch what we've just said. If I were to communicate this, we took, was it 5 minutes here just to list a bunch of words, but listen to this, the shift in story. So if I was Sarah, here's what I might say. I might say, if you're a woman that feels like you're not fashionable, you're too old to be fashionable, and it's led to you like hating shopping. You're never ever wanting to go out and shop because when you— if and ever you do, nothing fits. It creates frustration and overwhelm, and ultimately, you never end up taking time for yourself. You end up shutting down and not going out and not being social, and you end up wearing the same thing. It's that same black shirt, that same black outfit, and it shuts you down, and you can feel yourself being this smaller, limited version of who you really are. But the great news is, is that you don't have to be a fashionista. You don't have to be a runway model to be able to find things that actually not only make you look good, but make you feel amazing. Things that are hip and trendy, things that have you feeling young and vibrant. And the best part is, is that you don't have to go and find the time because it can actually be delivered straight to your door, where now you're actually excited to make time to look and feel good, where things actually fit, leaving you feeling relaxed, way more confident in yourself, and excited about what you're actually wearing— the outfits— because they're no longer just that black shirt. Now you're looking cute and trendy, and you're actually wanting to go out. And when you do, people are commenting on your earrings, the colors of your outfits, all of which has you feeling like yourself? That's possible when you join Sarah Williams' amazing subscription box.

You are a genius. I, I'm just, I'm glad this is recorded so I can go work on this on my sales page. But that's what I'm talking about, right? That's what I was missing when I was just selling the bag, selling the t-shirt, selling the earrings. I was missing the whole messaging in actually talking to the person selling things without even selling them, right? Right.

And when we just took 10 minutes or so to make that list and stitch it all together, all I was doing in reading that back was I was just reading the words that we wrote down. Like there's no magic around this. Like it's just taking a moment to think about who it is that we're serving and what their world looks like right now. Contrasted to what their world will look like in the future after they buy our products and services. And if you take the time to do that and just think about what that person is thinking, what they're feeling, what they're doing or not doing, and then you contrast that to the future, it's like people are naturally drawn in. The bridge between those two worlds is whatever it is that you're offering. And so we create that foundation of trust by being able to voice their world more clearly than they could themselves. And that is messaging. That's when we know we've got alignment.

Yeah. And y'all, that's just chapter 5. We already said there's 41 chapters in this book. That's just chapter 5. What I love about this book, Stu, is that everything is very practical. Like, I can literally take each chapter and implement in my business. There's a chapter about sales pages that I really love. Like, it's just black and white. You need to have this, you need to have this, you need to have this. And it just walks you through what and why. There's a chapter about different ways to sell. You've got, you know, like the flash sales and the webinars and all different ways that you can actually increase your subscription or membership. You've got retention in there. There's just so many good nuggets in this book. And if you got nothing from this podcast, that was just chapter 5 nugget right there. There's a whole book full of these great things that I have learned from you over the years. And sometimes you've said them to me a lot, sometimes, and sometimes my brain's too full to consume them, or I don't have the bandwidth. But then I hear them again. And I'm like, okay, yes. And just like this messaging thing, I learned that lots of years ago. And I'm thinking I need to refine that even more. I need to go deeper with that now. And there's so many things that you can keep going back to and keep referring back to. And I love that you put it all in this book.

Well, yeah, I appreciate it, Sarah. I'm really proud of this thing, you know, because to your point, it doesn't matter if you're just in the beginning stages of growing a subscription box or membership or whether you're somebody like yourself who is, you know, seasoned, like has multiple multimillion-dollar memberships. Like one of the things that made me so proud was last week when you got the copy of the book and you said to me, Chapter 32 is loaded with ideas that I hadn't thought of that I can't wait to implement. Like that to me just shows how anybody can dive into this book. You're going to see when you look at the table of contents, there's going to be chapters that grab you that you want to just jump into first. Great. Jump into them. Like, you know, you can read it from top to bottom or you can jump into the chapters that grab you most. But The reason I'm really passionate about this is because we need more business owners to be, or to have recurring revenue in their business because it is a game changer. And that's exactly what this book is designed to do.

Yeah. We know it. You and I both know exactly how it's changed our lives, right? Like going back to before having the recurring revenue in my business. I mean, it was every day I had to show up and pay the rent. Like that was my motto. Every day I have to show up and sell to pay the rent of my building and to pay the mortgage of my house. And every day it became, okay, what am I going to do today? What am I going to do today? And when I started to build the subscription box in, it was like that first month when I had the payments hit again, I was like, I didn't have to show up today. I didn't have to show up today and I just made 50 sales. I didn't have to get out of bed. I didn't put makeup on and flip the camera on today. And it was like the best feeling. And then that starts to compound because it started with those first 44 subscribers and then it compounded into 75 and then I got to 150 and then I was at 300 and came into your world and we saw that that doubled very quickly after I learned the messaging and I hit 750 that next launch and then we got to 1,000 and here we are thousands and thousands later. But I've also applied that to my other businesses as well. So I took that and turned it into a coaching business that is 100% recurring revenue. And then I also turned that knowledge that I had in that messaging and that mindset about recurring revenue, and I've applied it to my blow dry bar too with our memberships at the blow dry bar. I couldn't imagine this day and age having a business without recurring revenue, and I will never have a business without recurring revenue again because of this stability. And it's that confidence. I'm confident about what's going to happen tomorrow. I'm confident about what's going to happen next month. I'm confident about what's going to happen a year from now. And when you don't have that recurring revenue in your business, you lack confidence to make decisions as a business owner.

It's true. And you end up holding back whether you realize it or not. You know, you, you become scared to invest in your marketing. 'Cause you're like, well, I don't know if it's going to pay off and this could be like a, you know, a big gamble or you're scared to invest in team. 'Cause you're like, oh gosh, like I don't know if I can handle or take on another salary. And like, it's just, it's a different mindset. It's like a cheat code for business owners. It's kind of like, you know, for anybody watching and listening that has ever discovered like airline points and being able to pay for travel with that, it's like, oh my gosh, like This is like a whole nother world. Like I had no idea. This is exciting. And it's the same thing. It's the same feeling. It's like, oh my gosh, like how did I ever run the business without recurring revenue before? And what's interesting too, Sarah, is like we may or may not see this, but there are so many businesses that we do business and transactions with as consumers every single day that are all moving to a subscription model. Like the Netflix and the Amazon Primes and the Spotifys, all subscription models. Did you know that Costco, Sarah, Costco has a membership? And as big as Costco is and all the stuff that Costco sells, over 70% of their bottom line profits come from their membership. It's not even the stuff that they sell in the store. Yeah, it's the, it's the memberships. They have hundreds of millions of members paying them Every—

I'm in the front door.

Yeah. And just to, just to get into the store and 70, over 70% of their bottom line profits is from a membership. So everywhere we look, there are businesses that are moving toward a membership model. And it's for all the reasons that we just talked about. It's that stability and predictability. And that's why I want to get this in the hands of as many people as possible and help them once and for all get predictable profits in their business.

Yeah. Well, Stu, I know they're going to need this book like now. So where can they go purchase your Predictable Profits book?

Well, you can get it in any of the major retailers, the Amazons, the Barnes Nobles, your local bookstore. And by the way, if your local bookstore doesn't have it, say, hey, I want this Predictable Profits book. How do we get it in? Like encourage the bookstores to get it. Or we have links on our website, which is at stu.me/profits. And there you'll also find a bunch of other things that accompany the book. But friends, you can get it wherever you get your books. And there's also the audio version. I went into studio. I recorded the whole audiobook myself. And what I recommend is that buy the audio version and the physical copy and follow along as I'm reading it to you. And you'll double your ability to learn and absorb everything that I'm sharing. So, Yeah, you can get the book anywhere, but stu.me/book is where we have all the links.

Mine already looks like a workbook. I'm already like, got sticky notes everywhere and notes on the, on the side. And, and can I tell y'all that there are a lot of amazing pictures in this book? So it breaks up a lot of the text because I'm one of those like, okay, how many more pages to the end of this chapter? You're reading it so fast because the chapters are so quick that you don't even look ahead to see how many pages that till the end of the chapter is. And then he's got some great graphics that follow along with what he's teaching. It's a really usable book. So go get the book. Yeah.

Okay. Uh, confession time though. I got in trouble from our publisher because they're like, Stu, I know you love pictures, but this is not a picture book. So you're going to have to like, you know, hold back a little bit. But I, for the same reason though, like Sarah, I want to pay, I paid a lot of attention to the reading experience. It's just like in a membership. Like a book is great, but if people don't consume it, they're never going to get value from it. So I wanted to design it in a way that, you know, made it easy and effortless for people to read. That, you know, you feel the win as you're plowing through these short chapters. You're like, oh my gosh, I just banged out 12 chapters. That's amazing. And there's a picture. Yes, I love pictures. Like I love those wins too. And so anyways, yeah, I hope everybody has just as much fun reading the book as I did trying to design the experience.

All right. This is your call to action. Go over and grab Stu's book wherever you buy your books. And if you're not a book reader, just start with this one because it'll help you get through it. Stu, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with my audience today. I know they're going to get a lot of value out of this because it's all about the messaging and that's really what's going to sell our, our products.

For sure. I just want to take a moment to acknowledge you, buddy. Like you have been this incredible source of inspiration for so many. Because you've taken the principles of what we talk about in this book and you did not dismiss them because your initial business was not a digital membership. You asked yourself a powerful question, which was like, how could I apply this to my business? Initially, that started with your subscription business, then your subscription box business, then it led to your coaching business, and now it's leading to your blow dry bar. And this is a really important lesson I hope everybody picks up on, which is like, A true entrepreneur does not stop when things don't fit perfectly with exactly what they're doing. They just ask different questions. You asked, how could I apply this to my business? And that unlocked your brain to be able to see the ways it could be adapted. And so I just want to take a moment and acknowledge you because you have done so much to inspire so many people through this podcast, through your memberships, through your coaching programs and masterminds. And I know that everybody watching and listening, you know, would love to say thank you to you personally. I'm saying thank you to you on their behalf. Thank you.

Don't make me cry on my own podcast.

Thank you for being a great example. I talk about you in this book and it's for good reason. And yeah, it's been magical to see what you've done with your memberships and the way in which you show up and serve your people.

And that's all we want, right? Both you and I, all we want is to continue to help more people. And that's that's why we wrote our books is so that we could get it in the hands of as many people as possible because we know what recurring revenue does for people, for business owners, for entrepreneurs, for anybody, whether you're a business owner yet or not. We know the power of it and the impact it can have on your life. And that's why we're so passionate about it.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you so much, buddy. I appreciate it. And I just, again, want to encourage everybody, go get a copy. Predictable Profits. Get the audio version. Buy a copy for a friend. Talk about it. Mastermind around it. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast. It was great to chat with you always.

All right. Thanks, Stu. We'll be back next week with another great episode. Thanks for joining us on the Launch Your Box podcast. If you're looking to grow your audience, head over to launchyourbox.com and grab the The 10 Steps to Help You Start Building Your Audience Guide. It's packed with practical tips to help you connect with your future subscribers. Until next time, keep launching and growing on your subscription box journey.