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Episode 110: Utilizing Free Content to Grow Your Email List
178 Plays4 years ago
LaShonda Brown is the latest guest on the Brands that Book podcast and we're chatting all about how she uses MemberSpace and Flodesk to grow her email list and generate passive income. LaShonda is an award-winning corporate film producer and Squarespace expert based in Virginia.
What I appreciate about LaShonda is how practical her advice is and how she shares exactly how she does things. If you visit her YouTube channel, you'll notice right away that she dives straight into the content. And if you're starting a business, or have a business, consider checking out LaShonda’s The Bootstrap Club, which you can find more details about in the show notes.
For the show notes, visit https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-lashonda-brown-episode-110/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Audience Preferences
00:00:05
Speaker
If you can justify the expense, then it's great. But for me, my audience wants simple. If they're used to going to LaShondaBrown.com for other stuff to go to the same place and just hit a button to log in, oh, they love it.
Podcast Introduction with Davy Jones and Lashonda Brown
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome to the Brands at Book Show, where we help creative service-based businesses build their brands and find more clients. I'm your host, Davy Jones.
00:00:35
Speaker
Lashonda Brown is the latest guest on the Brands That Book podcast and we're chatting all about how she uses memberspace and Flodesk to grow her email list and generate passive income. Lashonda is an award-winning corporate film producer and Squarespace expert based in Virginia.
00:00:51
Speaker
What I appreciate about LaShonda is how practical her advice is and how she shares exactly how she does things. If you visit her YouTube channel, you'll notice right away that she dives straight into the content. And if you're starting to business or have a business, consider checking out LaShonda's The Bootstrap Club, which you can find more details about in the show notes.
00:01:12
Speaker
Be sure to check out the show notes at DavyandChrista.com for the resources we mentioned during the episode. And I want to hear from you. Let me know what kind of content you'd like to see on the Branso Book Podcast as we move forward. To leave your feedback, send us a DM on Instagram at DavyandChrista. Now, onto the episode.
00:01:33
Speaker
All right, welcome back to another episode of the Brands of That Book
The Importance of Email List Growth
00:01:36
Speaker
podcast. I'm here with Lashonda Brown, and we are talking about bootstrapping your business. Specifically, we're talking about growing an email list, which is pretty integral, I think, to growing any sort of business. But Lashonda, excited to have you on. Well, thank you so much for having me here. This is one of my favorite topics.
00:01:53
Speaker
Yeah, well, I'm excited to dig in because I think that this is a topic, list building in general is such a difficult thing for people to get started with. There's all this uncertainty around what tools do I use? How do I go about building my email list? Is it even worth it? What happens if people don't read my email slash what should I be writing about? That sort of thing. So I'm excited to get into that a little bit with you. I have to say I've been watching a bunch of your YouTube videos.
00:02:21
Speaker
And I'm just I'm always so amazed at people that make it look so effortless. I'm sure a lot of effort goes into it, but you make it look so effortless. And I really appreciate that. I always like hold my breath a little bit when people go, oh, I've been stalking you. I'm like, oh, haven't helped me. What have they seen? But that's awesome.
00:02:40
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like it's so well done. You just get to the content so quickly. All your video is very practical and actionable. And then you're just so clear throughout everything. And I'm like, how does she do that? Because I say this on the podcast all the time. I just can't get into a good video routine. I feel so uncomfortable doing it.
00:03:02
Speaker
So, you know what? I think mediums are made for certain types of people. Sure. And I think that the video medium is a much better fit for my personality and for my skill set. My husband owns a video production company, but I specifically don't ask for his help because he's got paid work to do. I don't want to take him away from paid work. So it's me with my very few video making skills doing the best I can, which is why I didn't show my face for a very long time.
00:03:32
Speaker
I just now started filming and cutting to my screen caps. Sure. But I really do enjoy it.
Lashonda Brown's Background and Career Transition
00:03:39
Speaker
Yeah, well, you make it look so effortless. And if you're listening right now, and you have questions, I think along the lines of what we're talking about today, Leshonda's YouTube channel is a great place to go. And it's, can you remind me what's the name of the channel?
00:03:52
Speaker
Yeah, so it's Bootstrap Biz Advice. Yeah, Bootstrap Biz Advice, that's right. So head over there and check that out. But let's dive in. We take some time at the beginning of every episode to hear a little bit about our guest entrepreneurial journey. So we'd love to hear about how you got to where you are now. So I'm sure this is going to sound like cheating, but my background is in theater. So that's part of why I'm so good. Yeah, makes sense now. Makes sense. Yeah, I paid thousands of dollars for the skill set.
00:04:20
Speaker
But really, I wanted to be on Broadway. And with COVID and all of my friends not being able to perform in New York, I'm so grateful to be able to work from home. But that was really what I thought I would be doing. And I happened to fall in love with a filmmaker. And so he decided, hey, let's try to make money with my skill set. And so what that meant is we stayed in a little mountain town in Virginia.
00:04:49
Speaker
where there was one place to get paid to do theater. And so basically I made the decision at that point that, okay, professional theater probably not going to be my profession. And so I took over commercial film producing for my husband and I would help with logistics and script writing and casting. And so I was still using my theater degree, but in a film setting. And then we hit this point in 2016,
00:05:16
Speaker
a beautiful election year, much like the one we're in now. And I started to notice that people were cutting their marketing budgets because it cost so much money to be on TV. And I thought, oh my gosh, people have to know there's more than one place to put a video. You can do more with a commercial than just put it on your local ABC network.
00:05:40
Speaker
And so I said, okay, friends, why not, you know, why not put it on Facebook? Why not put it on your website? And so what happened is this desire to educate our video clients turn into a marketing firm, which turned into YouTube videos to explain the things that I kept telling people over and over and over again. And so I would start to refer people to those videos and say, okay, I did a video about that. Just go watch it. I did a video about that. Please just go check it out.
00:06:10
Speaker
I never intended for it to be a community or a thing. I was just using YouTube as a resource. And now I'm going down the path of becoming a full-time content creator because I love it. I love teaching people. I love empowering people. And for some reason, I found myself in this spot where I can understand developers, but I'm not so far removed from the customer.
00:06:36
Speaker
And so corporations see me as this unicorn and they freak out. And they go, oh my word, please, please make tutorials. Please make our software easier to understand. Our developers are not good at explaining these features, but somehow you understand the tech side of it, but you also understand how to speak to people.
Rebranding and Business Advice Focus
00:06:57
Speaker
And so because of that happy medium, I renamed my YouTube channel Bootstrap Biz Advice because we had spent years bootstrapping our business.
00:07:06
Speaker
and I wanted to teach people how to grow their biz without breaking the bank.
00:07:10
Speaker
And you really do have this great technical background, I mean, just off the top of my head, and I'm sure there's more tools out there than this, but Flowdesk, something that you're super familiar with, MemberSpace, which we're talking about today as well, Squarespace, another one of the platforms that you're proficient in, and Canva is another one that comes to mind. So there is a lot, I mean, you definitely have this very technical background, so I can totally see why these companies would be like, yes, continue making content around this that people actually understand.
00:07:40
Speaker
Well, and the funniest part, and I was just telling our intern this, was when you create a tutorial and you monetize that video on YouTube, especially when your niche is small business, you randomly have a really high CPM. And for people who aren't in the YouTube world, that basically boils down to how much money you make per thousand views. So I would be watching all of these full-time YouTubers talk about,
00:08:09
Speaker
You know, my CPM is so high, it's $15, it's $20. And I happen to log into mine and it's $44, which is insane. And the reason why is because when you're doing a Squarespace tutorial and there is a Squarespace commercial on the front end of that video, the conversion rate is so high. And so I randomly have really found a really cool niche on YouTube
00:08:36
Speaker
specifically going in depth on just a few websites. You don't have to talk about everything business. I really want to stick with Canva, Squarespace, and Flowdesk. When I found out about memberspace, it fit in so well with what I was doing on Squarespace and what I was doing on Flowdesk that I added it to the family. I think when you find yourself in that
00:09:01
Speaker
arena where you're really focusing on certain types of apps or certain types of content, it makes it easier for you to find subscribers and easier for you to find sponsors.
00:09:11
Speaker
Yeah. And so as we dive into that a little bit, some of those tools in particular, and I think we'll be spending time at least talking about member space and float flow desk in particular, right?
Advantages of Email Lists Over Social Media
00:09:21
Speaker
As we get there for people who maybe don't have an email list or maybe for years, they're like, I'm not starting the email list. Why is it advantageous for a business to have an email list? So I think the universal answer is you don't own social media. You know, you're going to hear that over and over and over.
00:09:40
Speaker
I really want to give people a different perspective on the purpose behind it. When you choose to give your name and email address to a brand, you're telling that brand, I don't just want to consume content for you. I want a relationship with you. So when you try to sell to an email list versus trying to sell to social media followers, your conversion rate is automatically higher.
00:10:08
Speaker
because that person has given you a little bit more access to them. And so that's the power of email lists because you can do a lot less work just sending an email than you can posting 20 things on Facebook because Facebook is restricting who gets to see your content. So I really love email lists because it really allows me to cultivate a relationship with people when I don't need anything from them.
00:10:38
Speaker
And so when I do have something to sell, these people go, oh my gosh, LaShawn is my tech friend. Like if she says this is good, let me check it out. They're way more likely to take action than if I just say hashtag link in bio. So sure, you don't own Facebook, you don't own Instagram. These platforms could go away tomorrow. But if you're a business owner with not a lot of time and you're looking for a way to sell to your audience in the most efficient way possible,
00:11:06
Speaker
Hands down, if you can't talk to them face to face, an email is going to convert higher.
00:11:12
Speaker
I really appreciate that perspective because I think that there are some similarities between social media and email that, you know, so for instance, like, well, there's no algorithm with email. Well, there kind of is, you know, there's still one of your YouTube videos talks about this as well, just email deliverability. And it's not as if you have somebody's email that you're definitely going to land in their inbox. There's all sorts of things that email does themselves to make sure that, you know, spam, for instance, lands in the spam folder. Unfortunately, I think sometimes
00:11:38
Speaker
marketing emails sent with the best of intentions end up in the spam box for all sorts of reasons. But I really appreciate the relational context that you're putting in because email, unlike social media too, or I guess like social media, but maybe one step further than social media takes them up that value ladder. They're saying they want a relationship because they're giving you their email address and there's this vulnerability there.
00:12:01
Speaker
I appreciate that. I think, too, it's just a very balanced perspective, too, when it comes to these different platforms. And it's not necessarily like sometimes when people talk about email lists, it's like a sounds like a get rich, quick scheme, like just build an email list and you're going to be a millionaire, you know? And it's like, well, not quite, but it is a great way. It is a great channel which to to nurture a relationship and eventually, you know, sell a product or service. One providing value is always the way to go.
00:12:31
Speaker
I think so often people get caught up in the numbers. They forget the numbers are real people. And so if we can demystify social media and say there are thousands of real people looking at you on a daily basis wondering what you're doing, what are you showing them? Well, maybe not a generic post that looks like it's a canned post. Maybe it's something that looks like it's in the moment, even if it's not. You know, so
Content Creation and Audience Connection
00:12:59
Speaker
I think
00:12:59
Speaker
I don't know, I kind of sit on the fringes of internet marketing where I appreciate the strategies for what they are, but I'm not run by them and I'm not consumed by them. Oftentimes, I will intentionally not do something because everyone else is doing it. Sure, sure. And I think when you cut through the noise and you give people raw, real, practical stuff, you're able to just do so much more with so much less.
00:13:29
Speaker
So it's just funny, because very rarely will you see me doing a webinar to build my list. Because if I need to teach something, I'm going to go on YouTube and give it for free. It's just interesting how things work, I think, sometimes. But it fits my personality, and it's worked for me.
00:13:45
Speaker
Sure. Well, with that said, I'd love to dive into how you're using memberspace in particular to build your list and sort of what that looks like. Maybe you could give us sort of a high level overview of kind of what that setup looks like.
Integrating Business Efficiency Tools
00:14:00
Speaker
Yeah. So I think with any application, you always have to take a bird's eye view and go, how does this additional subscription fit in with what I'm doing?
00:14:10
Speaker
I'm a firm believer of not subscribing to everything because I think we can get subscriber happy and we can opt in for this and opt in for that. And before you know it, our overhead so high, we've got to sell so much to make money. So for me, you know, I thought, okay, well, memberspace costs $25 a month. Hands down, it needs to pay for itself. It cannot cost me money to be paying this 25 a month. And so I thought, you know what? If you opt into an email list,
00:14:39
Speaker
you're taking one step in a relationship. But if you create a user profile with a brand, now you've taken it a step further. Even if you're doing it to consume free content, you're really taking that relationship to the next level beyond, oh, name, email, send me the free guide, send me the free PDF, send me the whatever. So I thought, okay, I already have this resource library.
00:15:08
Speaker
that I have been putting behind a Flowdesk form. What if I took the same mindset and I created a free level of my membership where people had to sign up and create a user profile to get access to the same amount of content and then created some very low priced membership levels. So if they wanted to upgrade for more content, they could. And so essentially what I ended up making was a low pressure
00:15:39
Speaker
proprietary version of Patreon. I took my YouTube subscribers and I said, Hey, get connected with me, become a free member of the booty strap club. So if they want to take the relationship to the next level, they can pay me a dollar a month or they can pay me a dollar a week. And I bill annually. So essentially they either give me no money, $12 or $52. And eventually I'll have enough content to justify
00:16:08
Speaker
$365. And so instead of me having to feel like, oh my gosh, I have to make new content every single month because they're in this membership tier and oh, I got to make this. I got to show up. I got to do live calls. I got to do a Facebook group. I got to, I got to go. I'm like, no, no, I don't. This is essentially a means for my YouTube audience to tip me upgrade your bootstrap club membership. And when you break it down, not to here's the monthly rate,
00:16:36
Speaker
but you make it super easy to digest. A dollar a month, a dollar a week. Okay, yeah, I can give you a dollar. Duh, I've been watching your videos for months. Sure, I'll give you a dollar. And what I'm giving them access to is documents that I've made in Canva for clients or for myself as templates. So I'm giving them speaker proposal, PDFs, PowerPoint presentations,
00:17:05
Speaker
icing guides, resumes, business card templates, really practical stuff. I'm not giving them Instagram quote templates, although plenty of people do that. I'm giving them practical admin resources to save them time so they can make money because people care about three things. Save time, save money, make money. If everything you do can fit into one of those categories,
00:17:32
Speaker
you're gonna have a thriving six-figure, if not seven-figure business. If it doesn't fit in those three, it's self-serving and it doesn't have a place in your business.
00:17:41
Speaker
Yeah, I really like the – I mean, there's just so much to break down here. First, again, going back to the value ladder, I just really appreciate and hope people are noticing this as they listen is you're just taking people up the
Monetizing Content with Membership Models
00:17:53
Speaker
value ladder. People come and they follow along on social media. What's the next step? Hopefully subscribing to maybe an email list or jumping into member space and this membership being free and then within there, finding value and there's just really easy and lower tier price points.
00:18:08
Speaker
We haven't got into if you have higher tier price points or maybe a product with a bigger price point, but it just makes sense. The way in which you're bringing people up the value ladder and how intentional you are about understanding where people are just in terms of the customer journey.
00:18:24
Speaker
I really appreciate all of that. The other thing that came to mind as you were speaking that I think hopefully people pick up, because again, I think a lot of what you're talking about, I mean, a lot of it sounds simple, but there's a lot of technical setup that goes into it. There's years of creating content. So I'd hate to say for people that it is simple, but one thing you said was basically taking advantage of content you've already created. You realized you had this resource library and then you went and you created
00:18:52
Speaker
the bootstrap club around that, right? Again, you're just taking advantage of content that you already have. So it wasn't like you were like, ah, like you said in your own words, I have to show up every week with new content or whatever. You're giving people stuff that you've already created. And then along those lines too, I think it totally makes sense. I mean, looking at a model like Patreon, if you're giving people valuable stuff, especially stuff that's going to help them make money while at the same time saving time,
00:19:20
Speaker
I mean, nailing two of the three categories that you laid out, it totally makes sense why people would want to sign up and subscribe to that and become a member. The best part of all is that it pays for itself. And now after being around for, I think it's only been two or three months, it covers all of my overhead for my business. So now everything I do is profit. Yeah. Because Boost Drop Club,
00:19:49
Speaker
covers all of my subscriptions and all of my costs.
00:19:53
Speaker
And you know, the other thing that's great about it, I think is that it keeps everybody in the funnel is very defined on your end. Like you're using very few tools to make this happen and you're really getting people to the end point where you want them pretty quickly because you know, it's free, right? To create a user and then from there you can subscribe. And so I think for a lot of people, they bring people to their free offer, whatever that is. And then they have to go through the process of getting people to subscribe.
00:20:23
Speaker
elsewhere. Yeah, you know, and so you've already kind of got them to where you want them to be, where all the free content is, they get to see the value right off the bat. And then you can sell to them within that platform. And I just think it probably my guess is, is that it makes the the user experience and the customer journey so much more smooth for the end user. What and what's so funny is spur of the moment,
00:20:47
Speaker
I decided to do a masterclass on IG Reels because I wanted to talk about the business side of what was happening. And so I decided to tell the Boost Drop Club, Hey guys, I want to do this pop-up masterclass, 30 people, 10 bucks, hop on into this Zoom call and in 30 minutes I'm going to break down what is happening on Instagram. I sold that thing out within hours.
00:21:16
Speaker
because these people had already gone in deep in a relationship with me.
Effective Engagement Strategies with IG Reels
00:21:23
Speaker
So if they wanted to learn about IG Reels and specifically learn from me, 10 bucks. And the best part was through member space, I was able to take the replay, add it to member space as another membership level. So when free people come in, they'll see IG Reels masterclass $10
00:21:45
Speaker
and they can just buy access to just that masterclass. So I don't have all these separate websites, all these landing pages, all these things. It's just a membership tier.
00:21:57
Speaker
Yeah, again, so going back to how smooth the funnel is, but then also too, you don't need this super high price point course or membership for that matter in order to run a profitable business. You are giving away a lot of value for free. And so it only makes sense that people would be willing to pay a little bit more for kind of the paid version of all that. And as you said, this is something that already covers all your operating costs essentially.
00:22:24
Speaker
Right. What was happening was on Instagram, I had people complimenting my Instagram reels. And by the fifth person, I was like, you know what? This is something they want me to teach them. And so I'm able to look at what they're asking me to make and respond quickly to that versus going, okay, three months from now, I think I'll do a launch for a course and the course will take them three months to complete. And then I'll have to do,
00:22:54
Speaker
three months of VIP sessions and then, and then, and then people want the content and they want it now. They're used to typing in, LaShonda helped me with X and getting an answer. So the course model does not work for my brand because people are so used to being able to get customer support, not from Squarespace, not from Canva, not from Flowdesk, but from me, they will go to my YouTube channel
00:23:23
Speaker
And they will see, well, did she make a video about that? And then they'll go through the headache of doing a live chat and sitting and waiting. And so I've just now started doing some Squarespace SOS videos of things that people have been complaining about. And I will ask customer support for an answer. And then I'll turn it into a quick video. Those types of, you know, quick responses to real life problems is what I want to be known for.
00:23:53
Speaker
And my audience on YouTube, even though I'm a woman, it's split right down the middle. And I think there's so many men who appreciate that I'm being concise. I'm not going to tell you what I ate. I'm not going to show you all of the different aspects of me as a person. I get right to the point. And I think both men and women appreciate getting clear answers to something that is really complicated to them.
00:24:20
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think brevity is appreciated by all and that's one of the first things I noticed about your videos was you dive straight into the content. I'm curious though that if you did launch a course, my gut says that it would be very successful. And the reason being is because you've already got people to a point where
00:24:38
Speaker
I mean, people have bought lower price point stuff from you. So they already trust you. You've already proven out that people are interested in certain content. And I think that's one of the things that people, seeing a lot of course launches, some of them that don't go particularly well is, and I see all the pain points you're talking about where it takes typically months to create. There's a lot that goes into it from landing pages to what the offer is going to be, fulfilling the offer.
00:25:04
Speaker
all this stuff, right? And so people put a lot of eggs in that basket and then run it and realize, okay, maybe this wasn't going to be as profitable as I thought when maybe there was intermediate steps they could have taken to prove out that people were actually interested in that content at maybe that price point. And so I would just be really curious if one day, you know, you do launch a higher price point. Oh, yeah, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. But here's the thing that I think people have got to understand.
00:25:33
Speaker
My bootstrap audience is the biggest focus group, the most engaged focus group you could ever ask for. By subscribing to that channel, they're telling me, I'm interested in Canva, I'm interested in Squarespace, I'm interested in Flowdesk, or I'm interested in starting a business. If I create content, I think one day I will create content, of course, in all four categories. But the biggest thing is,
00:26:04
Speaker
I make money directly from Google and add revenue. So if I was going to make a course, you'd know about it way ahead of time, because I'd be taking you behind the scenes of making my course, which would be the world's longest launch sequence the world has ever seen. So people would watch, okay, I need to know what course do you guys want to take? How long should it be? How should it be format? I would ask them.
00:26:32
Speaker
And I would say, let me know in the comments, today we're going to design the format. The next day we're going to design the one, you know what I mean? So I would, they would literally build the product. And then I would say the first 25 people to sign up for my beta testing group will get access to the course that we created for free. All you need to do is provide a testimonial. So then I would have them do video testimonials.
00:27:00
Speaker
And so you would see the people who took the course, who got the results. So I think YouTube and the way that I do it is so transparent that I would never under the cover of the night launch a course. You would see that sucker come in way, way, way in advance. And what happens when you include people in on that journey is they don't just buy your stuff. They celebrate it.
00:27:30
Speaker
because they feel like they were a part of it. They cultivated it with you. You created an answer to a problem that they had legitimately because you actually took the time to ask them. You didn't pretend you were a psychic. You just said, What do you want from me? How much you want to pay for it? I'll make it. You know, my gut reaction
00:27:54
Speaker
is I struggle with courses because once you create them, I feel like they're kind of outdated. Sure. So I would totally lean more towards Squarespace. Because of the platforms that I review, that's the most stable of the bunch. Sure. Canva changes every week. Flowdesk changes like every day. Yeah. So fast growing. I would wait. But Squarespace, teaching someone how to build their own website.
00:28:24
Speaker
once I stop charging people for it, then I'll share how I do it. Sure, sure. Yeah, and it would be fascinating to watch and I agree with, you know, I mean, what you're saying just this concept of bringing people along for the ride, but then also, I think that's the part that people skip. You have this audience that you can bring along for the ride, right? Whereas I think people jump from, hey, I have this thing, one or two people have asked me about it, now I'm gonna make a paid product around it, you know, instead of,
00:28:53
Speaker
continuing to generate that content for free, continuing to build that audience, continuing to take them up the value ladder to a point where you could do what you're talking about, which is say, hey, I'm going to create a course around this topic because I'm getting so many questions about it, and what do you want to know, and then take them along for the journey. The biggest thing that I would say is people forget your time is money. And when you create that course that nobody asks for, you are
00:29:22
Speaker
essentially paying or losing, I should say, you're bleeding money as you're creating the course in hopes of recouping your time and then making more money in the long run. And what I noticed is people take so long to make their courses that if they charge, you know, I'm a hundred an hour. If I was like, okay, I'm going to make this course, no one asked for, and it's going to take me a hundred hours to make it.
00:29:52
Speaker
Well, you need to make that money plus your ad spin before you've made a dime. And people forget about the value of their time to create that course. So I think if people valued their time more, they'd be less likely to create products without knowing there was an audience for it.
00:30:11
Speaker
Sure, sure. So diving into maybe some use cases, what kinds of businesses do you think could make use of something like member space in the way that you're making use of member space?
Using Memberspace for Varied Business Types
00:30:23
Speaker
And maybe how are some ways? Have you seen people grow their business kind of using this method before? Yeah, so one of the things that people love about my YouTube channel is I just straight up show them what I'm doing for my clients.
00:30:38
Speaker
So I have multiple clients that use memberspace with their Squarespace website to turn it into a membership site. There are platforms like, you know, Kajabi and what are some of the others that you just, you pay a ton of money and it's a separate platform. Thinkific and all that versus memberspace. You're essentially taking your monthly or annual Squarespace subscription
00:31:05
Speaker
And just adding $25 a month to it to facilitate it being a membership. So I've used it for a coach to do a group coaching program. I've used it for a fitness instructor to do online classes during COVID. I've used it for people to share some of their recipes, if they are a cook and just want to put things behind a paywall.
00:31:33
Speaker
So there are so many things that you can do with this app because essentially all you're saying is I don't want people to be able to view this page on Squarespace without having giving me money first. So anything that you want to put behind a paywall, you just tell memberspace protect this content and you're done. You know, so you've got to install the plugin, but essentially that's really all you're doing. So at any point, if you and your business want to put something behind a paywall,
00:32:03
Speaker
If you want to give value to your clients and you just want them to have access to it, you can put that behind memberspace. If you want to use it like I am and use it as a list growing strategy, you can do that. So it's a very flexible plugin. And one of the biggest questions I get is, can you use memberspace with other platforms than Squarespace? And you can, but all of my examples are going to be based on Squarespace because I believe
00:32:30
Speaker
That platform is the easiest way to build a website if you're bootstrapping your business. The other platforms require a bit more understanding of website development. And so that's why I kind of lean that way.
00:32:44
Speaker
Sure, sure. I didn't know, so that's good to know. Memberspace can be used for other platforms than Squarespace. We'll include that note in the show notes for sure. We have used Kajabi for some Davey and Chris stuff, and I'm not referring to myself in the third person. Some people are like, I'm just like that, that brand. That's the brand. But we've reused Kajabi and you're right. I mean, Kajabi is like a hundred dollars a month or something.
00:33:11
Speaker
And you know what, if it's if you can justify the expense, then it's great. But for me, my audience wants simple. If they're used to going to LaShawn DeBrown.com for other stuff to go to the same place and just hit a button to log in. Oh, they love it. Yeah. So if I did a course, again, it would be a membership tier of memberspace and the whole course would be on LaShawn DeBrown.com.
00:33:39
Speaker
And so I'm also, what's great about that is I'm not getting any of the money taken out beyond the credit card processing from Stripe. So unlike Patreon, when you have the weight for your money and some other platforms that charge transaction fees on top of the monthly membership, you don't have to do that.
00:33:58
Speaker
Sure. And I bring that up just to say that we've been looking at other options. So we recently signed up for LearnDash, which is probably a probably pretty comparable to memberspace in that much lower. I think it's something like the 180 a year or something like that. So probably pretty comparable to memberspace in terms of pricing per month. And it is a plugin. So and LearnDash is going to be WordPress based for people listening.
00:34:24
Speaker
But all the things I mean, there's great some great stuff about Kajabi, especially if you wanted to keep everything on one single site, like Kajabi is going to do email, it's going to do website, it's going to do your course. The problem with platforms like that is I feel like they try to be good at everything and they end up not being really great at any one thing. Yeah, I personally prefer for a company to specialize. I agree. Then for them to have, you know, it's kind of like Facebook.
00:34:52
Speaker
every time that Facebook expands, they're adding a feature to what they're doing and the whole platform itself just kind of keeps going further and further down in value. So, my thing is like if you only do one thing and you do it well, take my money. And that's why, you know, I don't want Flodesk doing my invoices. I really want them to specialize.
00:35:15
Speaker
Yeah, and they do and they do a great job in that as does it sounds like memberspace. We should take a moment to talk about the Bootstrap Club a little bit more specifically. For people listening, lots of people who listen are in the beginning phases of starting businesses, or maybe have started businesses and are looking for ways to grow their business. I think one thing that we talk about on the podcast a decent amount is trying to make the most out of the tools you're using.
00:35:39
Speaker
I know personally that's why Krista, one of the many reasons Krista is so good for me, because I'd be the person that signs up for all the subscriptions. I like playing with different new software out there and different tools and stuff like that. And Krista is like, hey, if we're not using this thing, prove that we're going to use it on almost a daily basis before you pay for it. But all that to say, tell us a little bit about the Bootstrap Club. Who is it for? What can people expect when they join? And how can they sign up?
00:36:08
Speaker
Yeah. So I'm cheating. I literally pulled up my landing page because that's how useful my website is. But I do like to say with the bootstrap club, the struggle doesn't have to be real. Again, I go back to those three things, save time, save money, make money. So all of these resources kind of fit within that. And the one that really holds a special place in my heart is the 27 African-American lifestyle stock photos.
00:36:38
Speaker
way back when I decided to shoot my own stock photos just to see what people like them. And I put them up on Unsplash and unbeknownst to me, people like them a lot. And I think at this point, probably by the time this podcast comes out within about two and a half years, they've been seen by over 100 million people. Oh, wow. And it's to the point where Unsplash has sent me mail to congratulate me for
00:37:08
Speaker
being one of their top contributors. But at the end of the day, these photos are very special to me. And because I make them available on Unsplash, I save you time by putting them in the Boost Drop Club in one spot. So you just click on the button and it takes you right to Dropbox and you download them. Pine Sol has used them, Essence Magazine, Walmart, Jenny Craig, all sorts of people. Wow. So if nothing else, join the Boost Drop Club to get access to those photos and really
00:37:38
Speaker
Do your best to add some diversity to your marketing. But beyond that, you know, I put in things like how to set your prices. I really break down the formula of how you get there to make sure you're charging enough, how to boost your holiday sales, a YouTube channel checklist for people wanting to start on YouTube, how I manage my time. So I've got time blocking spreadsheets and a time blocking printable sheet. I give you a discount sheet for Squarespace and I show you
00:38:08
Speaker
how to get anywhere from 10 to 50% off your first year on Squarespace. I just tell you, cause I'm like, you know what? They haven't made me an affiliate yet. So I'm just going to tell y'all where the coupon codes are and you go forth and be great. So really there's so much in there. And the reason why I did that is because I wanted to make sure, even though I'm sending you to a resource library, I wanted to make sure that every single person found at least one thing of value. And most people find at least two or three.
00:38:36
Speaker
But that's really what's inside the boot sharp club for free. And then beyond that, you can upgrade to get access to my Canva templates. So, you know, if you upgrade to a fan level, then you get access to social media templates. And if you do the supporter level, then you get all that admin stuff. Yeah, it's really simple. And, you know, I just tell people, you know, it's LashawnaBrown.com slash join the club.
00:39:03
Speaker
Very simple. Just join the club. It's very similar to Patreon, except where there is actually a free tier for you to just say, you know what? I've been watching you on social media and I'm okay if you know my name and if you have my email address. And that's really it.
00:39:19
Speaker
Well, we'll make sure that we include a link to all of those resources in the show notes. So if you're driving, if you're working out, whatever you're doing right now, just know, go to the show notes and you can find links to all of those resources. And I'd encourage you to check out LaShonda's YouTube channel because you'll see exactly how practical and actionable her advice is. You know, I think one of your latest videos or at least one of the first ones that I watched was a comparison of different email platforms.
00:39:45
Speaker
So, if you're interested in getting into email marketing, really implementing a lot of the stuff that Lashonda talked about today, that might be a great place to start, you know, and figuring out what tools are right for you. I have a feeling that Lashonda would get straight to the point and tell you that Flowdesk is probably the option to check out. It's the best one. Sure. So, maybe don't watch that video if you've heard it. No, no, no. I think that video is so helpful because I'm honest. I tell you the pros and the cons and a lot of people
00:40:15
Speaker
who will review something on YouTube. They'll only tell you the good stuff. Flowdesk is in beta. So, you know, if you're doing really complicated things in another platform, it may be too soon to move, but keep it locked in your head because they're the only platform I know about that doesn't penalize you for growing your list. And so as your list grows, that monthly rate stays the same and that money savings is hands down worth it.
00:40:44
Speaker
You know, there's so many other things they do, but that is the one that I'm like, run the numbers. I just had a friend the other day go from ConvertKit to Flowdesk and she saved $41 a month using my link. I mean, if you want to save $41 a month just by switching platforms, easy choice. And all she was doing was sending a couple emails a month. And I'm like, why are you paying so much money just to send someone an email?
00:41:12
Speaker
So, you know, you just, you run the numbers for your business, see where you are, but I'm biased. I'm going to be honest with you. I love low desk.
00:41:21
Speaker
And I think people, you know, people who are just getting started, they're like, well, it's $19 a month, you know, with a with a link, you know, like yours. But MailChimp, they have a free option. I think ConvertKit has a free option now, too. But they what they don't see is I think what the bigger picture, what you're talking about is when you get to 1000, 10,000, 100,000 subscribers, you're going to pay significantly more when you when you hit those numbers. Right. So and what none of them will tell you
00:41:50
Speaker
automation is never free. Yeah. Yeah. As soon as you want to automate and MailChimp or ConvertKit, they'll charge you. Absolutely. And there's more. So you'll pay for additional features, but then a big one is you'll pay for more contacts. It is insane that you could sign up, have this massive list for $19 a month, or whatever it might be. Yeah. So their default price
00:42:15
Speaker
is $38. 38, but still, I mean, that's insane. I mean, like, yeah, so and having used systems in the past where pretty much the tier that you have to sign up for is closer to $300 a month, you know, for some of these other tools out there out the gate. So anyways, Leshonda, I really appreciate your time. I really appreciate just the transparency in which you share about things and how willing you are to take us through kind of the entire funnel that you have. Like I said, we'll make sure that people are able to find you through the show notes.
00:42:46
Speaker
Well, I really appreciate it. And, you know, I think at the end of the day, if you guys take nothing out of what I said, there is no shame in bootstrapping. And we really, really, really need to reel things back in, stop spending so much to make our money, see where we can cut costs, see what we can do on our own so that our businesses can thrive. So, you know, I work from home. I'm in my yoga pants right now, you know, but I'm making six figures and I'm feeling great.
00:43:15
Speaker
There's no shame in being a solopreneur. There's no shame in bootstrapping. And as soon as you get over that hump, then you really are going to start to do well online. I think that's a great note to end on. Thanks for tuning into the Brands That Book Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving a review in iTunes. For show notes and other resources, head on over to dvandchrista.com.
00:43:49
Speaker
you