Why A Membership?
I explored so many ideas. I knew I wanted to work with groups of creatives, but I wasn’t sure how. I thought about courses, programs, I held workshops, and while all felt interesting… they didn’t feel like the thing I was searching for. Then there was this idea that kept resurfacing, and I kept pushing it away, but it came back again. Finally, I decided to listen to it, and that’s when it all clicked.
A membership. A community of creatives, following the seasons and the creative process together. I started exploring this idea further, and everything just fell into place. This idea made sense on so many levels, in a way that no previous idea had. In this blog post, I want to tell why it made sense, why this feels like the thing I’ve been searching for, and why I believe membership communities can be so incredibly powerful.
The two sides of a creative life
There were a lot of reasons not to start a membership. The biggest one was that I felt like it was probably too early in my journey. From a strict business and income standpoint, offers that are higher priced might make more sense simply because my audience isn’t super big. To get a membership to a good income level might be a longer journey than with, say, a small group program with a higher price point.
But do you know what? I’m okay with that. Since the beginning, I’ve said that I prefer building my business in a slower, more long term sustainable way. And when I started unfolding this idea, I simply couldn’t let it go. My heart was already set on bringing it to life.
So why did the idea of a membership speak to me so much? Well, after spending weeks working on it, I’ve come to this conclusion: I think it’s because it allows my business to reflect two sides of myself, of my creativity, and of the creative life.
One thing I’ve been grappling with is the identity of being a slow living enthusiast on one hand, who loves calm, cosy creative days, talk about nature and seasons, but on the other hand a nerd, a creative coach who loves to explore theories, methods and mindsets. These are quite different energies. How do they go together? In one brand? Of course, both do exist within my brand. But sometimes I’ve felt that they’re pulling in different directions, and that the day to day slow creative lifestyle doesn’t have a natural place in the paid side of my business - my coaching.
When I work 1-1 with coaching clients, it’s often in their focused seasons. When they’re ready to get things moving, they’re energised and inspired and we do so much good, game-changing work together. It’s a season of creative growth for them. But not all seasons are like that, and shouldn’t be like that. It’s the same for me - I have highly focused periods when I uncover things, do big work and go through challenges. But most of the time, I have a calm, creative rhythm that moves me forward slow and steady.
What I’ve realised is that these interests, identities, tend to fluctuate with my seasons. In periods of focused work when I’m diving deep, then I’m leaning into the nerdy parts of being a creative coach. I’m drawn to and like to talk about things like processes, mindsets, skills. In the calmer seasons when I’m settling into the day to day work, I’m pulled towards a slower lifestyle, daily creative habits, reflections and nature.
Both exist within me, and my creative life, and both can exist for you too. And a membership alongside my 1-1 coaching makes both sides exist in my business too. In the season when highly focused, I can talk more about my coaching. In the seasons when I’m settling in, I can talk more about the membership. It fits my energy, my interests and the natural rhythms in my creativity.
The power of community
Looking back, communities have played a big role in my creative journey. It started with NaNoWriMo. I joined the writing challenge when I was trying to write a first draft of a novel, and the community of everyone attempting to write 50 000 words at the same time helped me so much. It helped me write, it gave me a sense that I wasn’t alone in my struggles, and it brought some much needed fun to my writing process.
Fast forward a couple of years, I had started finding blogs online about creativity and creative business. This gave me the idea to start my own blog, and that’s how this blog was born. I became friends with other bloggers and small business owners.
A while later, I found the world of slow living, photography and creativity on Instagram, joined Sara Tasker’s The Insta Retreat and found so much community around posting on Instagram. It helped me learn photography, explore a slower pace, and when I started my business, I found a different, more human way of thinking about business and marketing. I decided to take my business leap and go full-time, and during a year I was part of a group of small business owners, led by Kayte Ferris.
At every step of the way, I’ve relied on creative communities for insights, perspectives, help, and simply to not feel alone. They have been absolutely essential in my creative life. Without these communities, my creative journey would not look the same, and I’m convinced I’d be a less confident, less skilled creative. In fact, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be doing the work I’m doing now.
Having community around your creative work can be incredibly powerful. Many of us don’t have a lot of creatives in our immediate circles of friends and family, and having the perspectives of people who get it, who have been through similar experiences, can make a huge difference. It can help us build the creative lives we want.
The agony of launches
It’s easy to come to business with the same mindset the working world forces on us. That there’s a formula, a frame, that you’re just supposed to fit yourself into. It doesn’t matter much what you think of it - you’re the one who has to adjust. But in business and creativity, you get to challenge the rules and the common practices.
For me, the frame I had in my mind, was the big courses and programs launched a couple of times a year. That’s the model I’ve seen many other creatives use online, and it’s the one I assumed I should follow if I wanted to work with groups.
There was just one problem: I find launching very stressful. The whole cycle of putting something out there for a short period, market it intensely, with the goal of making a substantial part of your yearly income in a few short weeks? Stressful. The pressure of delivering results in a limited time frame shifts my whole perspective to the outcome, and I don’t like it. The weeks I spent launching my Deep Dive workshop were the weeks I disliked the most since going full-time with my business, and that was a short launch. The idea of regular launches becoming a core part of my business model… well, it quite honestly made me feel a bit sick.
At first, I thought I just had to accept that this was part of the deal. But was it, really? I sell my coaching evergreen. I considered creating a range of evergreen courses, but then I wouldn’t get to work with groups of creatives, which is what I longed for.
Having a membership community with no open close launches, at least for now, takes the launching stress out of the equation. It doesn’t matter if I have a bad week, or if the way I talk about the membership doesn’t resonate. I can try again, I can tweak and I can build it over time. Nurture it. Instead of having my income in a couple of big chunks per year, it’s more of a steady trickle. As someone not fond of launching, who craves a bit of stability and predictability, it’s a huge weight off my shoulders.
The lesson here is: if there’s something you dislike in your creative work, it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. It doesn’t mean you just have to suck it up. While there are some things we might need to accept as a part of the package, for the most part, there are other ways of doing it. Your way of doing it.
In the future, when my business feels more stable and I have steadier ground, I’ll probably do bigger launches. I have an idea for a writing program percolating in the back of my mind. But for now, I’m beyond excited to work with the amazing creatives that have already joined my new community, and nurture it over a long period of time.
The missing piece
I could go on and on for many more thousand words with why I’m starting a membership. For example, while I’m an introvert, and don’t see myself as a traditional leader type, I’ve often had the role in my life as someone who brings groups together - I used to lead a student organisation, I started group projects with my friends as a kid. I know some find Instagram DMs and comments overwhelming, but I actually love responding to messages and chatting with people. I’ve found so much inspiration when working with clients, I get so many of my content ideas from the things I help creatives with, and I know working with a group of creatives will be an invaluable source of inspiration for me. I miss the good old days of community on Instagram. I’m thrilled to have a way to apply my seasonal philosophy while working together with creatives. I love the idea of being able to support people over a longer period of time.
It might not sound like a big thing, to start a membership. It’s probably not. But it feels big, like finding the missing piece to my business. Like the work I’m meant to do. And that, my friend, is why I’m starting a membership.
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