341 - Behind The Membership: The Metalsmith Academy

Imagine launching a membership based on your passion… It’s the dream, right?But what if you’ve built your business delivering classes in-person and are faced with the challenge of finding an online solution that will deliver the same value?And you need to do this in the midst of a global pandemic…That’s exactly what Lucy Walker from The Metalsmith Academy did…And her story is awesome! She’s only a year into her membership and has thousands of members…And while she’s been hugely successful as a membership owner, the past year hasn’t passed by without its challenges… In this episode Lucy joins us to share her journey so far… Listen to hear about:  How the pandemic forced Lucy to put her entire business online and make the transition from offering courses to launching her membership. How The Metalsmith Academy launched with over 3,000 members in total, with 1,300 of them opting for the annual plan. The reasons behind changing her enrollment model from closed to open. How Lucy uses Instagram and YouTube to drive people into her membership funnel.Her approach to fostering a positive community and driving engagement.  Key Quotes:“We try and get people straight into the forums. As soon as they join, the first thing we say on email is ‘Hey, go and say hi in the forums, I’ll be there waiting for you. Come and introduce yourself” “With jewellery, it’s such a practical skill. When we were teaching in-person classes you could just have a vague outline and show people then be there to guide them through their problems. With online classes, the clearer you make them, the less work you have to do in the background, so being online has made me be a lot clearer in my teaching.”“As a team we can often pack up and head off to a tropical island to work and that’s absolutely amazing.” “I wish I’d started building an audience earlier. I wish we’d started concentrating on Instagram when I first started making jewellery, rather than doing it when I started the business because I had to.”