What is an online subscription business?
By now, you have probably heard of online subscriptions… we can probably thank Onlyfans for that. Simply put, an online subscription business is a business where members pay you monthly for access to your offer. That could be a course, exclusive content, a software tool, or our personal favorite, an online community. The cool thing is that there are tons of amazing ways to start an online subscription business, and one of the best ways to do it is to start an online community. If there is a topic you are interested in, chances are there is a huge opportunity to build a community around it. It could be fitness, finance, photography, gardening, coding…. The list goes on.
Are you really into Harry Potter? Imagine making a full time living managing a community of Potterheads. It’s possible!
Why start an online subscription business?
Monthly recurring Revenue
One of the biggest benefits of a subscription business is monthly recurring revenue. Unlike other business models like ecommerce, or selling online courses, a subscription business allows you to make predictable revenue every single month. Imagine getting paid every month to support a community of like minded people?
Scalability
The second huge advantage to an online subscription business is that it offers you tremendous scale as a business owner. You can create something once and it can reach thousands or hundreds of thousands of people. One of our favorite examples is that of Tash Oakley and her subscription, the Pilates Class. We created an entire breakdown of how she was able to get over 53,000 members in her first year. You can watch it here.
Predictable Growth
Another amazing benefit of a subscription business is the ability to have foreseeable growth. So, as long as not too many members are leaving you can pretty much bet that the progress you make month on month will build on itself. This means you can even make projections about where your subscription business will stand a year down the line.
Community Effect
Lastly, one of the best benefits of an online community is the fact that your members are self managed. They are there to connect with each other, build friendships, and support one another. We like to say that people come for the content but they stay for the community. This also means you can focus on marketing and growing your business without having to spend time on managing your members. At MemberUp we have created features to help your community interact and engage without you having to do any work.
Conclusion
In simple terms, an online subscription business involves members paying a recurring monthly fee for access to what you offer. Starting an online community stands out as a fantastic choice. If you want to learn more about how you can start an online community, check out this article where we break down the step by step process. Also if you are ready to get started, you get access to MemberUp University when you sign up for MemberUp. We give you everything you need to get started with building your first online community today.
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