How to Expand Your Monthly Revenue with Memberships – In Just 7 Minutes with Jonathan Callinan

Resources/Links:

• Wanting to Learn More on How You Can Build and Deliver World-Class Courses, Programs, and Memberships? Learn More About Giving Only the Best for Your Members and Clients: coursecommander.com

Summary

Have you been frustrated when it comes to handling memberships?

Do you always feel the need to up your game through new shiny software?

Are you still struggling with finding the right strategy for membership problems in order to maximize your revenue?

Jonathan Callinan helps service professionals and educators expand their revenue with membership solutions.

In this episode, Jonathan shares his tips on how you can up your game in your memberships for your clients in order to share more value and get more revenue.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:39 – Jonathan’s ideal client: “Our ideal client is a knowledge or service-based professional that is looking to educate and empower their audience for the purpose of impacting and improving the world around us.”
• 02:12 – Problem Jonathan helps solve: “And just to quickly preface my answer here, we’ve personally endured years of chasing magic bullets, white rabbits down holes, and shiny software. And we know how exhausting this is on our time, energy, and cash flow.”
• 03:14 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Jonathan: “We like to refer to one of the main symptoms as “shiny software syndrome”. And I’m sure you’ve heard of it before. It’s a work in progress, always. But I mean, a lot of businesses, you know, there’s a saying about the white rabbits.”
• 04:40 – Common mistakes that people make before they find Jonathan’s solution: “Businesses are chasing a quick fix. They’re constantly in this reactive state of finding, using, and then dumping the next shiny software tool on the block, right? So, one of the most common and actual biggest mistakes is that people start off with little-to-no strategic variables in place.”
• 06:19 – Jonathan’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): “Always the most effective answers in business are the simplest ones, buddy. So, I’d advise businesses, you know, to create a simple strategy around their goals and specific software that they need to support the outcome they’re looking for.”
• 07:05 – Jonathan’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Check out Jonathan’s Website: coursecommander.com
• 07:56 – Q: What motivates me on a daily basis? A: It’s helping, supporting heart-centric business souls to sprinkle their magic and impact the world in a positive fashion, but without having to stress the tech stuff along the way.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Create a simple strategy around their goals and specific software that they need to support the outcome they're looking for.” -Jonathan Callinan Share on X

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:10
Greetings, everyone! A warm welcome to another edition of Marketing The Invisible. My name is Tom Poland beaming out to you from on the little white sands at a little Castaways Beach next to the Big Blue Pacific Ocean, joined today by Jonathan Callinan. Jonathan, good day. Sir, a very warm welcome. Where are you hanging out?

Jonathan Callinan 00:26
Hi, Tom. Thanks for the opportunity to be on here today, buddy. I’m hanging out in not-so-sunny Auckland, North Shore, New Zealand at the bottom of the globe there. And yeah, it’s a bit dull and rainy today. So-

Tom Poland 00:38
Well being-

Jonathan Callinan 00:39
A little bit of a personality to compensate.

Tom Poland 00:41
I lived in Auckland for about 30 years. I remember it’s a, you know, it’s a city of four seasons in one day. So, the sun’s probably going to come out soon, and then-

Jonathan Callinan 00:48
Yes. Yeah!

Tom Poland 00:50
You’ll be off again in the winter. So enough of the climate lesson. Sorry, folks! For those of you who don’t know Jonathan, he helps service professionals and educators- now this is very interesting, so please listen up, expand the revenue, add to the revenue, another revenue stream, if you like, with membership solutions. So, this is more like a software as a service model where people are going to be paying in money month after month after month after month after month, as opposed to the old model, which is we sold them something and now they’ve disappeared forever. So, I really like the value proposition behind this. Can’t wait to hear all the gems that are going to flow out of Jonathan’s mouth! We’ve got- the title, therefore, is how- I should have announced that- “How to Expand Your Monthly Revenue with Memberships”. Jonathan’s going to tell us how to do that in just seven minutes. Jonathan, our time starts now. Question number one, seven minutes left, who is your ideal client?

Jonathan Callinan 01:39
Well, they say you can’t run from your DNA. And I’m not able to run from the educator part of myself, Tom. So, our ideal client is a knowledge or service-based professional that is looking to educate and empower their audience for the purpose of impacting and improving the world around us.

Tom Poland 02:00
Trainers, coaches, online educators.

Jonathan Callinan 02:03
Yes.

Tom Poland 02:04
Perfect. Thank you, sir!

Jonathan Callinan 02:05
All those types.

Tom Poland 02:07
And question number two is- and we’ve got six and a half minutes left. Question number two is what’s the problem you solve for them?

Jonathan Callinan 02:12
Great question. And just to quickly preface my answer here, we’ve personally endured years of chasing magic bullets, white rabbits down holes, and shiny software. And we know how exhausting this is on our time, energy, and cash flow. So, we help businesses avoid the usual techniques and what we call “paralysis by procrastination”, specifically around getting a course program or membership out into the ether. And we also make it easy for small businesses to get a lead generation funnel up running and working for their marketplace.

Tom Poland 02:54
So, you help them build the front end, the lead generation, as well as the back end, the value delivery part?

Jonathan Callinan 03:00
Correct. Yep.

Tom Poland 03:00
Perfect! One-stop-shop. So, tell us about- five and a half minutes left. Question three is, what are some of the typical symptoms that people are going to be experiencing that would kind of give them a heads up that they need to find out more about Course Commander?

Jonathan Callinan 03:14
Yes, indeed. And we like to refer to one of the main symptoms as “shiny software syndrome”. And I’m sure you’ve heard of it before. It’s a work in progress, always. But I mean, a lot of businesses, you know, there’s a saying about the white rabbits. They tend to chase those or the magic bullet, you know, in order to find a quicker fix to their frustration with cool techniques and procrastination. But this, of course, then creates a vicious cycle of using and abusing their most precious resources, which we need. And so, we’re there to educate and guide people to save time, save energy and do things a bit smarter and efficiently, you know when it comes to online tech,

Tom Poland 04:04
Right. So, you take that magic bullet and shoot the white rabbit that’s chasing the shiny things, right?

Jonathan Callinan 04:11
As a vegan- maybe that’s a slap around the head.

Tom Poland 04:15
Alright. So, I want to explore more of the symptoms. So, we’ve got this person who’s buying software, and it’s not quite the right thing. What are some of the other common mistakes they’re going to make? And we’ve got four minutes left. This is question four. So, because they’re smart people, they want to grow the business. They want to develop more recurring revenue, probably. What are they going to try that’s probably not going to work so well?

Jonathan Callinan 04:40
Well, we find- because businesses are chasing a quick fix. They’re constantly in this reactive state of finding, using, and then dumping the next shiny software tool on the block, right? So, one of the most common and actual biggest mistakes is that people start off with little-to-no strategic variables in place. So, for example, you know, what the actual software is going to cost them? How much time is it, realistically, going to take to implement the tasks required to achieve their goal? And this often then creates more shiny software seeking, and even worse duct-taping tools together in the hope that the next marketing tool they buy will hit the jackpot.

Tom Poland 05:26
Because that is one of the big challenges is you’ve got all these tools, but they’re very often siloed, not speaking to each other well.

Jonathan Callinan 05:32
Right.

Tom Poland 05:32
So, we try to fix that with another piece of software, which probably actually makes the problem even worse. So, the vision, therefore, is we’ve got this platform, course commander, in this case, that’s bringing in prospects, nurturing those prospects, converting those prospects, and then satisfying them with full value through some form of online education, training, or coaching.

Jonathan Callinan 05:58
Yeah.

Tom Poland 05:58
That’s quite a lot. And it’s something that, as you probably know, we do ourselves. And I know, sir, therefore, how profitable it can be, but it’s a big job. So, what I want to do is, I want to ask you about one step that someone could take that may not fulfill the whole vision- well, it won’t, but it might take them a step in the right direction. That’s question five. Two minutes left.

Jonathan Callinan 06:19
Okay, well I- always the most effective answers in business are the simplest ones, buddy. So, I’d advise businesses, you know, to create a simple strategy around their goals and specific software that they need to support the outcome they’re looking for. Obviously, using the smart principle, there needs to be a sense of realism, the capacity to measure their actions along the way, and a specific timeframe, of course, that then holds them accountable for achieving that goal. And it’s this plan, then that they’ve got- it allows them to reverse engineer, I guess, the desired outcome they’re looking for. So, then they know the exact letter, which tools are a minimum requirement for their daily tasks.

Tom Poland 07:03
So, figure out what you want in your life, in the business context, and work back from there to figure out what might be the most relevant platform. Good advice. We’ve got- question six is a valuable free resource where people can go and find out more. Folks, if your idea of having this holistic or complete lead generation, value delivery model in your business, in places- a good one, you should go to coursecommander.com. And that’s just for the sake of time answering the question I just asked. Coursecommander.com because there’s a 14-day free trial. You can have a look at it there. You could dip your toe in the water. And I think you get pretty excited about the potential. So, let’s just leave it at that. We’ll publish the link under the interview for those of you watching the video. Question seven is what’s the one question I should have asked you, but didn’t and we’ve got 30 seconds, please, and the answer?

Jonathan Callinan 07:56
Will be super quick. I probably say what motivates me on a daily basis, actually. Been in business for over 15 years. And I guess for me, it’s helping, supporting heart-centric business souls to sprinkle their magic and impact the world in a positive fashion, but without having to stress the tech stuff along the way. And I love making it easier for them to shine their light.

Tom Poland 08:19
Great mission. Your camera will be great. Thanks so much, Jonathan.

Jonathan Callinan 08:22
Thanks, Tom.

Tom Poland 08:26
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.