Why ANYBODY Can Launch a Membership Site with Aprille Reed

Shelli: Aprille Reed, welcome to the It’s A Tribe Thing podcast, my friend. How are you? Aprille: I am great. Thank you so much for having me here today. I’m excited. Shelli: I’m honored to have you because I’m super stoked to tell everybody about what you do and about your incredible journey. So, you have a membership site called The Webinar Club. But I’m wondering… Aprille: Correct. Shelli: Yeah. If you can share with all of us sort of who it is you serve, how you got to be in this business in the first place, and the transformation that you create for the people that are in your community. Aprille: Yeah. Definitely. So, again, my name is Aprille Reed. I’m a webinar funnel architect and the people I serve are coaches, consultants, and service-based business entrepreneurs that are tired of the one-to-one servicing that they do and want to adapt the one-to-many servicing and so how we do that is with webinar. So, I help them get high-ticket clients via webinars instead of like that social media hosting. So, that’s what I do, and I started out as a coach myself and that’s what I did. I mean it’s a good tactic to get those first few clients and I don’t know if it’s just my personality, but I don’t go into a room and say, “Hey, I’m here. Hi. How are you?” So, even transfer that online it was kind of just so much resistance there and like I said, I would post, and I would go back and comment and add value and now I love the adding value part. Somebody had a genuine question, I love that part, but it didn’t really just feel authentic to me and I’m not saying it’s not authentic, but it didn’t feel authentic to me to hop in Messenger, “Hey, how are you doing?” just because I know I’m trying to build connections to see what. Like, it just didn’t fit. Shelli: Right. Is that kind of like the difference between serving and spotlight? So, you love serving, but you didn’t necessarily… Aprille: Yeah. Shelli: To be able to do it. Aprille: Yes. Exactly. Exactly. I love the serving but the actual chasing and all that, yeah. So, and I got clients, but it was such an energy kill like a buzzkill I suffered from feast and famine like a whole bunch because it took so much energy just to do what I needed to do to get that next client. Shelli: Totally make sense. Yeah. Do you find though as a coach, like when you were first starting out as a coach while exhausting, chasing your client, it probably gave you I feel like a really deep insight into the actual needs of the people you are serving because you have the opportunity to literally have a two-way conversation as opposed to trying to assume you know what they need? And do you think that that was part of how you came to realize that this was an easier way for you to move forward? Aprille: Yeah. So, I love market research. I love talking to people on the phone and kind of getting what it is that they want. Market research, that’s important, people. A little buzz there. So, yes, talking to people and I also just found that after a while because I was coaching for six months even that could lead too drainy because a lot of times and this is something I also add to my membership is mindset because people weren’t really doing what I was telling them to do. And so, it’s like here’s myself included so here’s all the strategy but we’re taking little baby step actions. And it was really insightful to kind of hear what it is. Because even when I was coaching them, and they were already a client, it was still listening to their needs and their wants. Shelli: Got it. So, I imagine though and I’m always interested in hearing people’s journey from a one-to-one personal human-to-human model, which is amazing too but how they’re able to transition to a one-to-many model which sounds awesome and it is for many reasons, but to your point as well, not the very least of which is conserving your own energy. Aprille: Right. Right. Exactly. I think I just did it because I was doing some soul-searching and it was like, “Do I not like coaching?” and it’s like, “Well, no, I’m a natural cheerleader. I’m a natural teacher,” and it was just that one-on-one aspect of being because when you do one-on-one, you got to the hold space for that person. Shelli: Exactly. Yeah. Aprille: And some people can be needier than others. And so, just like I don’t have a group program, so it went from one-to-one to membership. Shelli: I love the segue too because I’m excited to know and to hear and share your story because I know of your story so I’m super stoked for people to be able to get a handle on what you actually did in terms of starting the membership site. So, what did that look like for you when you first had the idea to say, “Okay. I’m going to go from one-on-one coaching. My topic is webinars and the like,” and taking that into your personal business being of a membership model? Aprille: Yeah. So, like I said, I realized that I love teaching. I love that teaching setting. And so, I decided that I was going to start a membership site. I wasn’t sure what that looked like and because I didn’t know what it was going to look like, I wasn’t sure, I knew I was going to teach webinars, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to deliver, and all that uncertainty kept me stuck. I have like maybe five or six launch dates. Shelli: Infinite launch dates. I’m familiar. Aprille: They came, and they went. They came, and they went. And also, then it was like, “Okay. Am I sure I want to do this?” I would allow other things to come in my way, come in my focus to where I wasn’t working on my membership site or I wasn’t working on launching, period. And then a really good friend in a group that I’m in that’s also doing a membership, she kind of was talking to me about, “Okay. I’m going to hold you accountable. You’re going to set a date and you’re going to do it.” So, I’m like, “Okay. Okay, mom.” Okay. So, I did set the date and I think I just set a date. I don’t even know if I was being true to myself when I said that. I mean, on one hand, I was true to myself when I set the date, but then on another hand, it was kind of like, “Eh, I don’t know.” But what I decided to do was I was going to host a Facebook live, and I remember like a launch path that dealt with doing a live and then sending my beta email scripts, I’m like, “Okay. You know what, I already did the hard part and scheduled the live. Let me like hop into these email scripts kind of create something really quickly and just see what happens,” And another reason why I changed my launch date so many times was just because nothing was ready. Everything just felt like a hot mess like a rush and it really just kept me stuck in fear and though the lady, I don’t know if I can say her name. Shelli: Sure. Aprille: Sandy, she said, “You know what, instead of coming from an attitude of, ‘How many members I’m going to get? I’m going to make the revenue goal that I set for myself and is anybody going to join,’ why don’t you just come from the mindset of what can you learn from this? What can you get from this? How can you grow from this?” And I said, “Okay. Let me sit in that space and just a little tweak from your members.” Is it going to be like nobody’s going to talk back to me when I post? And just coming from a, let’s just let this be like a learning like so much resistance. I was so scared but so much resistance came down. Shelli: I’m curious to know what you think in hindsight now looking back was the thing that was holding you back all of those times, because I love the reframe and sometimes it’s so easy as a quarter turn or a mentor or somebody in your community saying, “Hey, have you thought about it like this? Have you thought about it just like either this is a learning experience, or just going through the process of the launch is the win regardless of how it turns out?” What was the thing that was holding you back now in hindsight as you look back on that journey? Aprille: Off the top of my head I would say rejection and maybe if I had time to like unpackage that, what exactly does that mean? So, if I offered this and nobody wanted it, it was kind of like taking it personal which you shouldn’t, but it was like a reflection of, well, maybe I’m not good enough. Maybe what I’m offering isn’t good enough. I mean, I think we still no matter where you are in your entrepreneurial journey have those limiting beliefs that keep you from the next level. And so, that’s what I was dealing with. This whole membership thing was new. Another thing is I didn’t have a membership. I didn’t have anything. I didn’t have a sales page. I didn’t have email. I didn’t have nothing. Shelli: You had an idea and an intention. Aprille: Yeah. Shelli: Love it. Aprille: Yeah. It was like, well, basically I’m just going to whatever I tell people to do on one-on-one, I’m just going to tell them again but it’s… Shelli: On a bigger stage. Aprille: On a bigger stage. And so, that was probably a lot of it too. Shelli: So, when you decided to pull the trigger and say, “Okay. This time no more. This time I’m going to step up and I’m going to do it and I’m reframing what that means for me,” so, instead of having all of those fears and doubts and worries about rejection, “Am I good enough? Am I going to get enough people?” it’s just like, “Hey, coming from a space of what can I actually learn from this,” what was then the outcome for you? Because I had the privilege of reading some of your notes throughout your journey and I loved how vulnerable you were with just sharing about what that looked like for you. But your results on the backend were incredible. Aprille: Oh, like I couldn’t have imagined so I had a very tiny list. I just started a new Facebook group and I think my group had 60 people in it. So, I wasn’t really – my goal was just to get one person like before I switched it to just learning, it was like I just need one, just one person just validates this. Please. When I launched, I launched on a Thursday with my live and I got people talking to me, a few people on my Facebook live but as far as sales goes, nothing. And I offered a monthly membership and then I also offered a lifetime pricing of $249. Shelli: Okay. Aprille: And Friday, crickets, and I’m like, “Okay, I probably should do another live but nobody’s buying,” and I had to talk myself into doing it. I remember, this is just you got to at least do the minimum, or you can’t say you actually did it. So, I did a live on Saturday and still no sales because my close date was going to be Monday at 11:59 PM Pacific.  So, Sunday, no sales. I’m like, “Ugh, I have to do another live.” Nothing’s happening. I’m doing all this. I’m putting myself out there. I’m making myself vulnerable. I’m going to get egg on my face and I did a live on Monday where I kind of get like a walk-through and just say like, “Hey,” and also this is why you need to join because, from the time I opened cart, I quickly created like a skeleton of a membership in my website. Shelli: So, just for clarity for those listening, you did not have this built. Aprille: No. Aprille: You’re like, “I have an intention, I have an idea, and I’m stepping off the cliff and I’m going to knit my parachute in freefall.” Aprille: Yeah. Exactly. The only thing I had done was just the menu. Shelli: Brilliant. Aprille: Dashboard, learning, account. I had that done. And then these blank pages I’m like, okay, I’m just going to kind of talk them through the vision and just so, “Okay. This is where, if it was done, this is what will go here but I need you to join this membership with me. That’s why I’m offering a founding member rate, so you could help me shape this into something that you want to be,” and I made it clear like the value that you’re going to get is gold. “So, just because it looks like this, empty, I just need you to help me put this in line and tell me what to put here and how do you learn best and what there, but the content that you’re going to get is going to be amazing. So, if you join me, today’s the last day,” and it was probably like 10 PM and, no, actually, you know what, it was about 4 PM Central and somebody messaged me like, “I sent you payment. Did you get it?” I’m like, “Payment for what?” I like completely forgot. I forgot that… Shelli: At that point, you just thought you were going through the motions. Aprille: Yeah. I was just going through the motions like, “What was she paying me for?” And she was like, “Yeah. For the Webinar Club, I wanted to make sure you got it.” And I checked my PayPal and I have my first member. She paid for a lifetime membership and I was like, “What?” I added her to the Facebook group and I was excited. I’m like, “Okay. That’s probably it,” and about midnight that night because I’m like, “Yeah. I’m not going to get anybody else and I haven’t seen anything.” Somebody calls me through Google Voice and I’m like, “What in the world?” No, actually, I got an email from Google Voice saying I have a message. I’m like, “Okay, what’s this about?” and it was somebody who was trying to pay but the way I set up the payment with Infusionsoft it was giving them issues and I’m like, “Are you serious? Somebody’s, another person is trying to join?” So, I called her at midnight. I’m like, “I’m so sorry. You’re trying to join. Let’s work on this together.” I hop on Infusionsoft chat. We’re trying to figure this out. We get it to work. And while I’m in Infusionsoft, I see there are like two more people that try to join. Shelli: You must have been tickled. Aprille: Oh, my God. Yeah, I was. I was. Shelli: Okay. So, the first couple Facebook lives you did, I’m just interested in like putting this out there for everybody who’s listening, so the last Facebook live you did, which was the one that ignited people, what you said was you were talking through the vision and just for all of us out there listening, it’s so important because like, Aprille, to your point, you have the knowledge and the know-how, you have the passion, you had the idea, you had the intention, but when you’re able to share your vision with other people, it’s kind of like creating an aha moment in their mind, even though you didn’t have it built and you didn’t have it all structured and perfectly figured out and were vulnerable enough to say, “Okay, guys, we’re going to build this together,” but let them know about the things that you know in your areas of expertise and where you could lead but where you’re actually stuck was where do you want to be led to. Aprille: Right. So, I did have my success path completed and using that was great. It was great. I would say, I mean, don’t let it hold you back if you don’t have one, but it really helped me take them from this is for you if you don’t even know where to get started. Maybe you’re not even sure if webinars are right for you and what I want to do for you is take you to this journey to stage 5 where you have this coaching or consulting business empire and this membership site is just really the tool that’s going to get me there. And I also added the fact that so many people who want my help, but necessarily maybe couldn’t afford it, this is a way that I’m going to be able to help more people. Shelli: Yeah. And that’s something that people need to hear as well too. They get to be in your energy, they get to be in your expertise for a much lower buy-in figure. Aprille: Yes. Shelli: So, I want to ask you this question because I had a chance to read a testimonial, so I wanted to ask you about your favorite testimonial and so just with a little bit of context with what we spoke about, you went from having a whole bunch of launch dates that you didn’t execute on to executing on the one to really figuring out what was the secret sauce of showing people the vision you had. So, you had people join. Tell me about the testimonial that you got. Aprille: Oh, wow. So, the last member to join she wrote this wonderful testimonial and even wrote a review on my Facebook page and it was like wow. It was so, so touching and she tagged my name on it and so it’s on my profile as well just basically and it wasn’t really even about, I mean, yes, it was about the membership, but it was a testimonial to me and my personality as well. I think my favorite part in that testimonial was just she said, you know, I’m introverted, which is true, but I won’t let you fail. I will hold you accountable. I will hold your feet to the fire and if you’re not ready to work and probably don’t even enjoy, and just how action-oriented she was. Yeah. And how she says that I am in her corner, I’m in anybody’s corner, and I really want to see them succeed. And I do. I genuinely, genuinely do. I want to see everybody happy and that same member, this is really crazy, this is the biggest testimonial of just taking action because she’s a one-on-one coach as well and I was telling her why I was switching to a membership. And she was like, “Yeah. That makes sense. I think I’m going to do that too.” So, I’m thinking you hear people say, “I’m going to do that too,” like, yeah, in six months, a year or two years from now that’s something you want to add on, or maybe that’s just me, that’s just something you want to add on to your to-do list. Two days later, she wrote another testimonial like she didn’t even tell me. It was just like a testimonial and she kind of tagged me that she had just launched her membership. She just got her first paying client. Shelli: What? Aprille: That’s what I said. And, “The cart closes on Monday if you want to join.” And I’m like, “Seriously?” And I had a post in our Facebook group like what are your wins and she just basically said, “Yeah. I’m switching to a recurring revenue model just like you. I’m just doing whatever you’re doing because I don’t have anything so I’m just going to Facebook just like you are.” Shelli: That’s incredible. Aprille, what does that feel like? Because here’s the most interesting part of that. Again, you had a bunch of launch dates, you are having a hard time pulling the trigger, worked through all of the behind-the-scenes, the emotional stuff that was keeping you held back for that, and then basically created like a path for somebody else to go, “Oh, that’s what it looks like. I’m just going to do what Aprille did.” And so, not only did you launch your membership site, you made it possible for her to launch hers. Aprille: Yes. So, first of all, she was very aspiring to me because that was action to the fullest and it made me think about, “Look at me.” Well, I wasn’t trying to beat myself down. It was more just, you know, you did all these launch dates, everything had to be perfect, and she just did it like she literally just did it and I even think in the testimonial she was like living on a Motel 6 and she just did it. Shelli: Wow. Aprille: And she just did it anyway. Shelli: So, it’s possible for everybody, you all. If you’re listening right now, this is possible for all of us. Aprille: Yes. And I’m still mind blown. I don’t even know if that even sunk in because what she does is she helps women with trauma. And so, it’s like a ripple effect like I can’t even wrap my brain around that like me, little old me, held a space for somebody to help all the women that she’s helping now. Shelli: Right. But if you track it back, Aprille, you track it back to your bravery and you saying yes even though you were scared. Aprille: True. Shelli: So, let me ask you one last question. If you had some advice for yourself in the early days when you said that very first, “I’m going to launch this thing,” and didn’t, what advice would you give all of our listeners who were in that boat and what advice would you give yourself then? Aprille: The advice that I would probably give myself is just enjoying the journey. You know, you hear all the time just do it and there’s definitely something mental that goes on that keeps you from just doing it but, again, like what my friend, Sandy, said just coming from a place of growing and learning and it’s not about the results that you’re going to get. It’s just about growing within yourself. It’s just about, yeah, developing your own personal development and learning from that and taking action from there. Yes. Shelli: Well, yeah, because to your point as well when you can get to the root of what’s actually holding you back, then you have the power to change it. Shelli: Correct. So, if anybody’s looking for you online, where is the best place for them to find you? Aprille: The best place for them to find me is on Facebook. It’s www.facebook.com/aprille.reed and I spell Aprille, A-P-R-I-L-L-E and then dot R-E-E-D. I have my free Facebook group. I am also on Instagram as Aprille Reed and Twitter as Aprille Reed. Shelli: Sounds amazing. Well, thank you so much for coming out sharing your incredible journey and also for your amazing inspiration because the takeaway for all of our listeners is sometimes if you can find the root of what holds you back and be brave enough to overcome it and say yes, the ripple effect you have for other people, I mean, this lady who’s creating a membership site helping people with trauma by virtue of the fact that you said yes is incredible. So, thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for being here. Aprille: Thank you, Shelli. I had a fabulous time and thank you for having me. Aprille: Thank you, Shelli. I had a fabulous time and thank you for having me.