I did something this week that I still can't really believe. But before I tell you what that was, I need to share some backstory.
About 8 weeks ago, my team and I started a new internal sprint called Build The Lab That Members Never Want To Leave. Our sprints are typically 6 weeks long, centered on a main goal, and each team member has different roles and responsibilities in helping us achieve it.
We chose this theme because we noticed a couple of trends:
We had an increase in member churn—especially on the Basic tier
More educational creators (like most of our members) were starting to feel the effects of AI on their business
To understand the first trend, we hired Kat Vellos to conduct member interviews—both with long-time, happy members, as well as with some who had recently become less engaged. She compiled her findings into an anonymized, aggregate report, and we found a few problems we needed to solve:
Our mastermind program was great when it worked, but that was inconsistent. And when it failed, it actually drove members away.
Members on our Basic tier wanted more support than we were providing.
Overall member experience was too variable—some members felt intimidated, while others felt too advanced. Our selection process had gotten a little too lax.
Along with these challenges, our team had a fourth, internal challenge: my personal capacity. Too much of the experience was still built around me, my calendar, and my ability to deliver—something we're trying to solve at a company level (especially with paternity leave coming up at the end of October).
This brings me to the seemingly crazy decision that I hope I don't regret:
We eliminated two of our membership tiers (Basic and VIP). And with that, we voluntarily eliminated $113,094 in ARR.
That's 106 canceled Basic subscriptions and 24 VIPs that we downgraded to our Standard tier.
It was scary (and painful) to personally cancel more than 100 subscriptions and say goodbye to a total greater than the salary of any job I've ever held. But after weeks of conversations and whiteboarding, we felt it was the right move.
Our Standard tier was (mostly) working well. It has a vibrant, active forum, but the Basic tier forum was pretty quiet. Members told us they wanted more educational material (which we didn't have), and the community never quite came together like the Standard tier. As a result, the Basic tier didn't provide enough support to help members become eligible for Standard, and it also gave a false-negative view of what the Standard tier might look like. After all, if you weren't having an excellent experience on the Basic plan, why should you expect the Standard to be any better?
VIPs, on the other hand, had nothing but positive things to say. But in order to prioritize making content, I need to spend less time coaching.
So, we're simplifying. Grape growers intentionally prune the weaker branches on grapevines to help the stronger branches bear even better fruit, and this decision is a lot like that.
The Lab is once again a single-tier product while we rebuild both a new higher- and lower-tier experience. Those experiences will all be designed to:
Properly sort members into the best level for them
Make it easier to participate (both actively and passively)
Move ME out of the bottleneck position
We're supporting existing Basic members through July 2027, and each VIP retains their coaching time through the end of their current year. That means we'll support these tiers we're retiring for almost a full year, but I want the transition to be slow, seamless, and without any changes to what members have already paid for and expect.
We've also designed improvements to the Standard experience—like staffing facilitators on the mastermind groups we form, creating a monthly rhythm for setting goals and experimenting, and hosting a monthly new-member welcome call. Soon, we'll pilot our own custom software to reintroduce 1:1 member introductions.
The transition has been tedious. Lots of checklists, flipping of switches, updating settings, and troubleshooting integrations. But we're finally set to welcome new members—for the first time since June!
We're moving to a model where we welcome new members once per month. That way, we can provide an excellent onboarding experience and help people integrate more comfortably. If you want to join us, there's more info below.
And if you have any questions about how we're handling the transition, hit reply! It's gone much more smoothly than anticipated, and I'll answer those questions in an upcoming edition of the newsletter.
INVITES GO OUT SEPT. 1
Find your people in The Lab
I've always felt like a bit of an outsider.
It's not that I'm never invited into rooms with the creators I aspire to; it's that I always felt like a guest, not an insider. Welcomed, but not quite like I belonged.
I find myself in a weird stage—more experienced and with a more functional business than most, but not at the level of multi-million-dollar creators. So the rooms I was in typically felt too junior, and occasionally felt out of reach.
We built The Lab to serve creators like me—folks with real business traction (earning $100,000+/year) but without a peer group to learn from.
Think of The Lab like the creator group chat you wish you had.
We're sending out new invitations on Sept. 1 to members on the Waitlist.
If you're not eligible yet, that's OK! Get on the Waitlist, and we'll let you know when our new part-time creator tier is available in the coming months.
Dan Bennett runs Hot Sauce Video, and his team is behind a lot of the videos you may have watched from large creators you already know and follow.
He is opening the founding group for his new program, Grow With Video, and it's worth considering
Here it is in his words:
Here is the truth. Most videos do not fail only because of the camera or the editing. They fail because they were not clear, the packaging was off, and nobody had a real reason to click, stay, or let alone buy anything.
That is the part we fix, and here is how it works.
Grow With Video is a 6-month program. A 30-day intensive to build your custom video strategy and packaging system, then 5 Months of aftercare, weekly consulting, and community support.
What's Inside:
The Hot Sauce Packaging System
The same framework my team uses to package content that people actually watch. Hook, title, thumbnail direction, and strategy.
Hot Sauce Strategy - Software Platform
Our proprietary software that builds a custom video strategy for your business, then hands you a dashboard to run it. Map your strategy, plan every video, and see what is working, all in one place. You get full access for as long as you are in the community.
Weekly Hot Seat Calls
Submit your video before the call. I come in prepared. We review it live, then open the floor for open Q&A. You leave every call with something to implement.
Async Community Support
Between calls, the community is where the real work happens. Questions, video feedback, wins, accountability. You are not doing this alone.
You will learn this system inside and out. It will change how you approach every video you make.
It is a founding group of just 12 10, and it is an application-based program.
Applications close Friday, September 4, and Grow With Video kicks off September 8.
You already know your videos should be doing more. This is where you finally make that happen.
PS: My assistant, IzzyRodriguez, plays for the Kansas City Current and is nominated for one of the biggest awards in the NWSL. Will you vote for her? She's option "H" in the Typeform. No sign-up required!
