Is a Membership Program Ridiculous for Me?

I work with speakers, coaches and experts in different fields all asking the question, "Is a membership program or online course the right next step for me?"  They are folks that do really well one-on-one or in person.  They deliver what they know well and now want to consider an online version of what they already do.  This would better leverages their time, enable them to impact a wider audience and allow them to grow a new income stream for their business.

At the same time, change is so terribly difficult.  When someone works a certain way that works, when they deliver what they do a successfully using an established process, when they have something that works, it's difficult to change.  Even if the evidence overwhelmingly supports taking a that step, everything internally can be saying, "NO WAY!"

To illustrate how difficult it is to change, let me refer to a story a speaker shared with me.  It's shows clearly how difficult change is.

A research group took heart disease patients who were alive only because their surgeons opened them up and fix something. They were patients that had issues with weight, sedentary lifestyles, and poor eating habits. They had all gone through traumatic, life threatening experiences that put a fire under them to change.

In this study, they told a first group they must lose weight, eat better, and exercise. They were told they MUST change their lifestyle. This wasn't a light threat. It was their doctor sitting down with them and telling it to them straight. The message, "Change or die."

The results for this group shocked me. They followed these patients closely and found out that 90% of them were back to their old lifestyle - eating poorly, overweight with no exercise - within 6 months. In a short six months, these people caved and went back to the way they had done it before. The terrible scare they experienced had zero impact on them.

They took a second group that had gone through the same health issues and gave them a different option. They enrolled these folks in support groups. They had looked death right in the face like the others and had the same change or die sentence.  The results for this group were drastically different.

78% of them were able to make the needed changes and the change stuck with them for years.

It hit home the message that without support, environment wins. People just continue down the path they have followed unless they take some definite steps surrounding themselves with a support system of some sort to keep them focused.

My team and I are in the process of scheduling the next installment of our Breakthrough Course Building System.  It's a program I facilitate aimed at helping expert business owners take their existing coaching and consulting programs online.  It provides a support group of fellow online membership site / course builders so they can interact with others going through the same process.

If you like, you can click here to schedule time with me to go over the program and determine if the program is a good fit for you and your expertise.

Let me know