Do you remember that feeling? That feeling of anticipation, waiting for the mail to arrive, to see a new magazine or a letter from a penpal? What surprise would show up when you were waiting?

One of my favorite things is getting mail. When I was a little girl, growing up next door to my Grandma, my Uncle picked up the mail for everyone in the family. And I mean everyone – my Aunt’s and Uncle’s, my Grandma, my Mom.There was a spot for everyone’s mail around where Grandma sat – Mom’s mail behind the napkins on the table, my Aunt’s mail by the microwave. I loved getting the mail for my Mom, I don’t know why!

I still love getting mail. I have signed up for various subscription boxes over the years. I was a loyal member of an early craft/creative box until they stopped shipping boxes, I signed up for the birch box for a short while, and I can’t even tell you how many fabric clubs I’ve signed up for over the years. And really, a Block of the Month (BOM) is another form of a subscription, granted it is one that has an end date.

Are you thinking about creating that same feeling for your customers? That is fantastic and it can be a great addition to your business. But you can run into some big mistakes if you don’t plan and prepare and you can potentially lose your loyal customers.

Be sure you avoid these five mistakes when you are starting your subscription service:

Mistake #1: Promising More Value than You Can Deliver

The whole point of starting a subscription site is to charge buyers a small amount each month and give them something valuable in return. But don’t offer more than you can possibly give.

For example, maybe you’re an embroidery designer and you want to provide new designs each month to your subscribers. Don’t throw in a extra designs that you charge for separately. Adding in extra value can actually have the opposite effect. Buyers may suspect that you’re compensating for a poor subscription service by adding something so valuable to the mix.

Instead, keep it simple and only offer what you can reasonably deliver each month.

Mistake #2: Not Having a Clear Plan for Regular Content

You don’t have to have all of your embroidery designs for the year in advance, but you do need a plan for how and when you’re going to ship your monthly resources. If you don’t have a plan in place, you’re more likely to become disorganized and miss your own deadlines.

Your plan doesn’t have to be complex but do write down the steps you need to take each month. For example, maybe you will want to have each month have a specific theme. You should write down every step you take each month from brainstorming the themes you are interested in to drafting designs. If you have someone helping you put the patterns into the PDF, using Illustrator or another program, you’ll want to make a note of their name and contact information.

Mistake #3: Failing to Provide a ‘Start Here’ Page

When it comes to paying for a subscription, most buyers make the purchase then attempt to log into their account. If they can’t find the resources they bought, they may panic or worry they’ve been taken advantage of. This is why having a start page in place can be helpful. On this start page, tell new buyers exactly how they can access this month’s resources.

Mistake #4: Not Preparing for Technical Issues

Regardless of how well an online business is managed, there are always technical glitches. Maybe half of your subscribers can’t login to their accounts. Maybe your download link doesn’t work in a certain browser. These are technical issues that might be small, but when you have a large number of subscribers, you may find yourself spending more time on technical support than on promoting your subscription site.

This is why you should have a dedicated support team in place. Hiring a virtual assistant can help you streamline your technical support so you can focus on other tasks that boost your income.

Mistake #5: Failing to Offer an Affiliate Program

The best advertising method is still word of mouth. Most popular affiliate programs offer a percentage of the sale, usually around fifty percent of the purchase price. That seems like a huge percentage I know. But despite the profit cut, it’s still a good deal for subscription site owners. This is because you only pay your affiliates for visitors that actually converted into buyers.

Affiliate programs are not common in the craft and creative world. Let’s change that. Let’s support each other in building our businesses and recognize the power of affiliate programs. I will be sharing more about affiliate programs and affiliate marketing! I am so excited to talk about this with you!

Creating a subscription service is fun and exciting, but it also takes a lot of work and preparation. Remember to keep the five points above in mind as you work to launch your own subscription site successfully. For the month of February, you can save $30 on the course by using the code SAVE30BUCKS! Let me know what your idea is, I’d love to support you!

This course is one that Kelly of SoloMasterminds created, click here to read my story and how I met Kelly.

A solopreneur is someone who is running their own business. It does not mean they don’t have a virtual assistant or two, but it does mean they are in charge of their business entirely. Today, I invite you to download the Solopreneur Take Aways PDF for some inspiration, smart things people said, and other business wisdom.

When I started working online, my oldest child was a tiny baby and I discovered yahoo groups. That tiny baby is now over 13 years old. I very quickly moved from a couple of yahoo groups to Mom Masterminds (now SoloMasterminds) which was a group of women helping each other figure out how to work online. The women that created MM (SM) had previously created work at home websites to help other Mom’s figure out how to work at home. One of the women even had her own internet radio show.

Back then I sold Tupperware bought Tupperware. I have been told many times that I am a great salesman because I am a good judge of what works and what doesn’t with various items, but 13+ years ago, I wasn’t a great salesman, I wasn’t confident enough in front of a large crowd. I held a couple of parties and an open house, but I very quickly realized that direct sales was not something I was interested in. I did try a couple of other direct sales companies, but neither went anywhere. But it was those other companies that I tried led to my venture into having an online business.

I knew I wanted to figure out how to work online, how to stay at home with my daughter and still make money. At that point it was so strange to not have a job – I went from working from the time I was 14 years old to staying home. I worked every summer in high school, I worked my senior year of high school, I worked in college. And then I got married and moved a couple of times and didn’t have a job to go to because daycare was just too expensive.

SoloMasterminds is amazing. It is full of people asking questions and people generously stepping up to help. It is no fluff, no “if you wish for it, your business will magically happen,” no let’s all hold hands and smile because that will make money fall from the sky. It was what works, what really works to help you earn an income from home. Kelly McCausey always said if she doesn’t feel comfortable recommending a product to her sister, she wasn’t going to recommend it because she loved her sister. Kelly didn’t want her sister to get scammed by something online, and that in turn had her looking out for us in MM because she didn’t want us to get scammed either.

Kelly (click ‘about’ at the top of that page to read her story!), one of the women that founded SoloMasterminds, quit her day job after a few years of having an online business, and she created a podcasting product (now retired) which I used to launch my first podcast back in 2007. Without her, I would not have had my first podcast. Without SM, I am sure I wouldn’t have my current podcast. I joined the Stretch Yourself Challenge last October that gave me that push to get my podcast up and running and published.

I love podcasting. I love talking to creative people about what they are doing and the business that they run from their homes. I find it a little funny that podcasting is all of a sudden a ‘new’ thing when I did it years ago and Kelly did it years before I did.

Solopreneur Take Aways is full of inspiration, smart things people said, and more nuggets of business wisdom from the awesome members of SoloMasterminds. It was scary to make myself submit something to be included, but I did. I stopped producing that first podcast after a year and 18 episodes. I stopped working online when things in my life piled on top of me. During my time away from working online, I finished my B.A., I had a baby, I raised the three kids alone for a few years while my husband did back to back to back deployments, I worked outside the home, I lived with and then near my Mom and stepdad. I regret nothing from taking that break online, it is what needed to happen.

And when I was ready to come back, SoloMasterminds was still there. Last fall the ten year anniversary was celebrated. Kelly is still providing amazing resources and the forum is still a busy place. In this age of facebook groups and social media, I love that forum because it is the place to go to find fantastic advice and assistance as I work online.

Take a look at the Solopreneur Take Aways. Page seven has ten tips to improve your focus and the quote on page 23 is three words that pack a punch.

If you need images for blog posts or newsletters, check out Image Monthly – and right now, there is a free gift for you (no strings attached!).

Image Monthly

There is also a coupon available for a free past issue of Image Monthly. I love having images available for when I don’t have one of my own ready. Stop by for your free mini issue today, no strings attached!

Both of those images? From Image Monthly. 🙂