Member-only story
Running a paid communities does not mean putting profitability first
It’s still a community, and community is a people business.
Community can come in so many shapes and forms and every year they are evolving too—for the better, I hope. Yet, I feel we still have much work to do as I still see push back on the idea of paid communities.
This is not a dig at any type of community, it’s more about creating an awareness that communities exist in different ways. And that is totally ok.
There is the need to recognise that a paid community is not the same as a free one. It doesn’t mean that a paid community is better, they are just different.
In a healthy ecosystem there are probably a mixture of free, paid and freemium communities. And the reality is that many free communities often evolve towards an exchange of money in some form as they grow and realise that sustainability is a must.
Our community industry suffers from people expecting community for free and equating every community to be the same experience and value. I think we also suffer from hustle culture of over priced and not very valuable experiences.
Many a sour taste have been left in people’s mouths. I have high hopes for the future of sustainable and regenerative communities.
Today, I’m here in support of paid communities.
