28 January 2011 ~ 22 Comments

Foolish Adventure Membership Site Questions Answered

As Izzy and I continue to tweak and test our membership site to get it ready for launch day, we wanted to make sure we answered a bunch of questions we have gotten so far.

Foolish Q&A

“It will be like a coaching site then… I like it! but will be limited, like 1 review at month or… what? And when you are going to launch?  Finally, one last question: the course of wordpress and other stuff… when you will offer it again?”

The site will be like a coaching site and an instructional site. We will do one site review or business hotseat per month as long as there is a volunteer.

We are launching Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 11am Mountain Time and closing enrollment Saturday the 5th at 11am MT.

We may release a WordPress training guide inside the membership site, but we don’t have a timeframe for it yet.

“I wonder how the brainstorming w/others will work as a level of trust and non-compete would need to exist to get honest feedback and help.”

The way brainstorming would work is to not share anything you don’t want the world to know.  Another thing to keep in mind is that ideas aren’t worth very much.

Execution is where it counts.  Ideas become valuable only after they have been brought to market in product form.  Lastly, most people are cool and if you ask someone to keep something confidential, they usually will.

“Will the memberships be limited?”

There isn’t a preset limit.  We aren’t promoting this site beyond you and other Foolish listeners so we don’t expect a flood of people.  However, if we get a ton of members we may not open the site again till later in the year.

“If someone joins ‘the club’ a few months after the launch, can they have access to material from previous months?”

The content will be sequentially delivered.  Meaning in month 1 you get the content designated month 1 content, then month 2 and so forth.  Also, the “content” is broken into different tracks.  The main track is content on creating and running an Internet Business.

The second tract will change every 4 months.  We will build a Foolish Guide on a major topic within online business and we are starting with our Foolish Guide To Niche Membership Sites For Content Creators.

We suspect some people will join just to get the Guides at a discount while others join more for the coaching and instructional side of their membership.

“If I pick one track, can I change my mind and move to the other?”

You’re going to like this one!  You get access to both tracks.  The Guides are actually a bonus.  You are getting access to them as we make them.  Eventually, the Guides will be released for sale individually at around $400 to $500 each for the premium versions.

“How soon after you guys close the charter signup will you guys open the doors?”

We expect to open enrollment again in 3 to 4 months, but at the regular price.  The charter membership price is just to reward our listeners for helping make Foolish Adventure a success.

When we open again we will include affiliates who will promote the site to people who haven’t been listeners.  We don’t think it’s cool to give the same discount.

“I’m fairly technical and feel confident in the tools/content side of things — I’m just not sure how to get customers (I mean, I’m catering to a niche and creating stuff they want, but how do you let those that don’t already know about you, know about you — or, in this case, me?”

The mechanics of getting online are not as difficult as people imagine, but we will cover tools and techniques that need to be covered.  That’s where member feedback will be really helpful.

As for marketing, that’s what I do and am most passionate about.  So there will be plenty marketing advice given.  Izzy and I will be adding content each month and we will be available in the forums, on webinars, teleseminars and/or livestreaming to help you succeed.

“Are you guys going to go into topics like Wishlist Member vs AMember, drip memberships, payment processors & gateways, shopping carts, securing streamed content (vs Izzy’s downloading approach to IzzyVideo), etc.? That’s a lot of nuts & bolts of course in addition to the sales & marketing!”

Yes, but maybe not the way you may imagine.  We will be training on things that these vendors don’t cover.  If say Wishlist has a video or article on how to do something with it, we will link to it.  Also, we will only be covering what we know and have experience with.  The goal of this membership site isn’t to be a technical resource, but a training ground for online entrepreneurs.

“Will you guys get into details of how to install aMember and how to integrate it (if necessary) with WordPress?”

Yes and no.  See the above.  There are a lot of gaps in knowledge from the vendors.  I’ve built our membership site using WordPress, Wishlist Member, AWeber and Paypal.  There were things not taught on how to get it to work and no map of how it should look and what to do first.  These are things we will cover in the Guide to Niche Membership Sites For Content Creators inside the members’ area.

“Is the charter membership a monthly fee?”

Yes it is.  We had considered other types of payment structures such as annual memberships, but we decided to deliver the content monthly and feel paying monthly is more fair to members.  Also, you’re not having to come up with a huge payment for our product like you would for most Internet Marketing courses.

“How much is it to join?”

ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!  (said with Dr. Evil accent)

We will be charging $99 per month for our regular memberships, but charter members won’t pay this.  Let me explain.

If a regular member stayed for 12 months, it would still be cheaper than many Internet Marketing courses which cost $1500 to $2000.  We’ve researched other courses on “how to make money from membership sites” and found that the better ones cost about $1000.  Our Guide on membership sites will eventually sell for $400 to $500, and it comes as a bonus to our members.

You could stay a regular member for 4 months and get a much better value on just the membership site training.  But you get so much more than that.  You get a whole community of Content Creators, including Izzy and me, helping you and supporting you.  And you get the content Izzy and I create on how to run an online business.

I know, I know…How much is a charter membership?

Charter members will be able to join for just $49 per month, which we guarantee won’t go up for at least 12 months, and we are considering not raising the price ever for charter members as long as they stay members.

What does this mean? If you become a charter member, you are getting our membership guide for $196 ($49 x 4 months) if that’s what you’re most interested in.  Later, the stand-alone premium version will sell for at least double.  But as I said, the Guide is a bonus to our members.  And as a reminder, we’ll be making a new guide every 4 months (3 per year).

I say all this because I know some listeners just want the Foolish Guide To Niche Membership Sites For Content Creators.  And to those listeners, the forum, live calls with Izzy and me, and additional online business training is just “icing on the cake.”

That covers the questions we’ve gotten so far.  If you have more questions, please add them to the comments below.

We are super excited that we’ll be working with everyone inside the members’ area.  I hope you choose to join us on this new Foolish Adventure.

All the best,

Tim “Biting Nails From Anticipation” Conley

  • http://blog.mshanhun.com Melissa

    Yay for the details – I love the monthly payment as it will give me a foot in the door for a more achievable cost.

    Off to go get a few more sales and pay for my membership! :)

  • http://www.thedigitalcelt.com Nancy

    The monthly payments are a great idea for those of us that are new entrepreneurs and do not have a bunch of cash to spend up front – THANKS!

  • http://www.facebook.com/n8ture Kevin J Railsback

    Awesome! Can’t wait to get started with this!

  • http://snowmoon.us Janet

    YAY! Setting myself a reminder for 11 AM on Tuesday. :) Cool stuff – you guys are the best!

  • John Lortz

    Tim (and Izzy) – I was really holding my breath on price, and now I can let it out with a big sigh of relief. You guys really ARE awesome. Although I’m just starting my own business (my “real” job went away), THIS I can afford, and frankly can’t afford NOT to do. Your content and style are a prefect fit for my situation.

    Now to a question.. and please pardon my ignorance since I’m probably the only one who needs clarification. Does the monthly membership fee we pay give us access to the ongoing guides? i.e. When the next guide comes out in month 5, do we as continuing members get it for free, or do we still have to pay an additional guide price in addition to the $49 monthly fee?

    Thanks again… can’t wait until Tuesday.

  • Daniel

    All great news Izzy and Tim! Thanks!

  • http://FoolishAdventure.com Tim Conley

    As long as you are a member and as long as Izzy and I keep making Guides, you’ll get access to them as we build them for the price of membership.

    I do want to reserve the right to build a guide in 3 months and take the 4th month off, but we will be starting a Guide Build every 4 months (3 per year) until we are done making guides.

    The idea for doing it this way comes from the way one of our listeners (and a cool dude we interviewed), Marc Spagnuolo aka TheWoodWhisperer.com. In his membership area, he does 3 big woodworking projects per year.

  • http://twitter.com/IllinoisR Drew Veeneman

    Thanks for the update. I’ll work on “being great content” in the meantime.

  • John Lortz

    Wonderful, Tim. That’s what I figured but wanted to be sure. And we would certainly understand you taking a LITTLE bit of time off, now and then. :-)

    I’ll be waiting in line on Tuesday, at noon (I’m in CST zone).

  • http://queengeekllc.com QueenGeek

    Thanks for making it affordable!!! I was working on my taxes and banking on a refund to afford an expensive course but you guys offered a wealth of knowledge at an affordable price. As always, you both rock!!!

  • http://www.liznessstudio.com Liz Ness

    I’ll be there in the sign-up line! =)

  • http://FoolishAdventure.com Tim Conley

    I can’t wait to work with y’all inside the members area.

  • Thewoodwhisperer

    Sweet! So I get what, 10%? :) Very cool Tim and Izzy. Can’t wait to see how this develops.

  • Too many questions…

    Ok, got it about the dripping content, month by month, the coaching, etc… but the FIRST GUIDE, that one you sold on December I think and many of us are expecting it… will you deliver it on the first month, or on the fourth? As you said, a lot of people will buy the membership to get the Guide, (or guides), because they (and me) want to build their sites following your advice in it… it’s a little hard wait so long (again); I really like your whole idea, but… what can I do without a running website? Thanks again for your work: Inspiring and hope-ful(ish) :)

  • http://FoolishAdventure.com Tim Conley

    The only guide we’ve sold so far was the Foolish Guide to Creating a Website With WordPress. We will eventually recreate it inside our membership site, but we don’t have a timeframe for it just yet.

    However, we will cover the basics of getting a site up and running for those who don’t have a website yet.

  • http://FoolishAdventure.com Tim Conley

    How about a couple of pints on me?

  • John Lortz

    Just got your email about the coding issues. Bummer Tim! Know all about what that’s like. But you know, you have a pretty loyal following here… and I bet that if you are still having issues tomorrow, but have the sign-up system all done, you could still let us sign up even if things aren’t perfect. Just let us know what doesn’t work, and I bet everyone would understand.

    Now, I know you probably won’t do that… since I can tell that both you and Izzy are “professional” guys and probably consider opening up a membership site that’s having problems, as a business sin.

    Still… since you are really only opening it to loyal readers at this point, and not promoting it via affiliates worldwide, you could probably get a way with it.

    I know, personally, I just want to get all signed up and be done with it!!! Hate this anticipation stuff… :-)

  • http://FoolishAdventure.com Tim Conley

    Truth is with any custom or semi-custom setup like I’ve put together with our membership site, bugs will be found once there are enough users. I think it is a law of web app that the more people who use something the more stuff will break.

    I’ve been testing, tweaking and retesting and I really didn’t want to open up with known problems since there will be some bugs found as more people start using it.

    A good way to kill loyalty is to put customers through endless frustration. So I’m taking on the frustration of putting together membership and forum software along with payment and email systems so you don’t have to see how messy the backend can be.

    The best part is I have some good teaching material for our Foolish Guide To Niche Membership Sites.

  • Anonymous

    I was absolutely expecting a $2k membership plan just like everyone else offers. I should have known you guys would be awesome and make it affordable. That’s 50% less than my phone bill for a custom service operating on a personal level that deals with some of the most important issues my business experiences. You guys are absolutely great!

  • http://FoolishAdventure.com Tim Conley

    Thanks! What a great way to put our pricing into perspective–half your phone bill. Izzy and I spent a long time discussing what we would create and how much we would charge and when we struck upon doing a membership site it just kind of clicked.I’ve purchased several $2000 programs in the past and we will be providing a lot more than any of those programs–mainly in the form of time with the teachers. A year with us will be like getting 2 or 3 of those $2000 programs for half your phone bill.Thanks again, Johnux!

  • John Lortz

    Although it’s at your expense, what your going through WILL be great for us to learn from. Glad your taking it that way… Perhaps it softens the frustration. Hang in there!!!

  • Araujo_nina

    And every episode that you have released is filled with practical advice as well as current technology! You really stand out among other “similar-missioned” (that’s not even a word, but foolish adventure isn’t either : ) sites.