157: Running a Successful Membership that is ALL about the COMMUNITY (Featuring Zac Small & Craig James)

Today we’re doing a few things differently, so get ready: we have two guests and zero “traditional” online courses involved. But don’t worry, because my discussion with Craig and Zach of Fraternity of Excellence is still super-relevant to many aspects of having a more typical online course business or membership model. “Don’t let the fear of not being perfect when you launch keep you from launching.” - Craig James “Inside a membership community, it’s all about relationships.” - Zach Small In This Episode, We Talked About: (0:40) Dr. K is back: where was he and what do lizards have to do with it? (6:18) Our Asheville, NC recommendations + David’s ideal Instagrammer (8:47) Getting recognized “in the wild” (10:27) An update on my quest for the ultimate course platform (11:37) Creating course content with other teachers and how I’ve set up compensation (14:25) Setting the stage for today’s interview (17:09) Why and how Craig and Zach partnered to create their membership site (21:06) The 4-Hour Workweek mindset versus the community-based membership model (21:35) Bootstrapping and their early business models (24:35) Figuring out pricing with nothing to compare to (27:38) The challenge of communicating value in exclusivity (28:56) How Craig and Zach would change their approach to pricing if they were starting over (30:27) Who their audience is and how they provide value to their niche (33:18) How Craig and Zach’s offer has evolved (36:25) A favorite story of how their group impacted one of their members (39:11) How Zach quit his day job as their membership grew (42:53) Getting started with their site and figuring out best tools and software (46:21) Slack, “babies,” and focusing on the end goal (50:47) Is the paid version of Slack worth it? (53:00) How Craig and Zach make sure their membership never gets too big for its own good? (55:32) The pen name dilemma (1:03:41) Live events: how important are they? (1:07:19) What Craig and Zach do to prevent member churn and encourage community-building (1:10:35) Dealing with trolls and naysayers (1:15:40) Making partnerships work (1:18:43) Advice for new and aspiring course or membership creators (1:22:19) David’s questions about the appeal of membership to me (1:24:08) App development stories (plus an AI interruption) (1:31:25) A not-so-shocking reveal (1:34:36) Thinking about the challenges inherent to partnerships (1:38:26) How I handle trolling plus how David avoided impersonating Michael Scott (1:48:46) Finding the line between trolling and constructive criticism (1:50:14) Wrapping up That’s all for now, folks! See you on the next episode of The Online Course Show.   Links Offers and Tools: Bonjoro Free Trial ClickFunnels Free Trial Win of the Week Guest Links: Fraternity of Excellence Family Alpha Masculine by Design Resources and Recommendations: Chandler Corbin Tupelo Honey Cafe Pizza Mind Upwork Fiverr Paid Memberships Pro Slack Zoom Episode 95 David's video about running Jacques’ Courses: The Online Course Accelerator Next Level Courses Piano in 21 Days David’s Courses: Wellness Program Expert