The Membership Mistake That's Costing You Recurring Revenue with Stu McLaren

We're in the happiness business.

As long as people are experiencing progress, they're gonna be happy.

As long as they're happy, they're gonna stay.

The internet has taught us that growth is about attention.

It's about more traffic and more customers.

But what if we've been measuring the wrong thing all along? What if the businesses that survive aren't the ones that attract the most people, but the ones that give people a reason to stay? Today's guest is Stu McLaren.

For nearly two decades, Stu has quietly become one of the most influential minds in the world of recurring revenue, memberships, and online communities.

He co-founded Wishlist Member, a platform used by more than 70,000 businesses around the world.

But what makes Stu fascinating isn't his expertise in memberships, it's what he believes memberships are really about: a sense of belonging, and the psychology behind why people commit to something and why they leave.

Because according to Stu, the greatest threat to a business isn't competition, it's indifference.

It's the moment someone says, "Ooh, this looks good.

I'll save this for later," and never returns.

But how do you go from celebrating your first sale, and it was a whopping, whopping $7.95-

Nice [laughs]

... and then I was ecstatic, to building an eight-figure business? And why does one of the world's leading membership experts believe the first seven days determine whether a customer stays for months or for years? That's where this conversation begins.

[upbeat music] Would you like more recurring revenue in your business? Would you like to lower your churn? Would you like more people coming in the front door, being onboarded properly, staying longer, and referring more people into your business? That is what we're gonna talk about on today's episode of The Wealthy and Well-Known Podcast.

I'm joined by someone who is a pretty good friend of mine, but a really great friend of many of my good friends, Stu McLaren.

And Stu is one of our industry's most recognizable experts in the space of memberships, recurring revenue, reducing churn, and all of those things that I talked about.

He wrote a book called Predictable Profits on this subject, and he's had a few different exits, uh, for different programs that he created.

So in 2008, he co-founded Wishlist Member, which was the most popular membership platform by WordPress.

Uh, when he sold his stake, over 70,000 people worldwide were using that.

I met Stu because after that, he went to work with Michael Hyatt, and Michael had a membership program that was high six figures, and they partnered together, and Stu helped Michael grow that to a multi-seven-figure, low-stress business.

So I've just heard so much about this man and his integrity, and he raises money for his nonprofit that he runs, and we have so many mutual friends.

And so I invited him today.

We're in the happiness business.

As long as people are experiencing progress, they're gonna be happy.

As long as they're happy, they're gonna stay.

The internet has taught us that growth is about attention.

It's about more traffic and more customers.

But what if we've been measuring the wrong thing all along? What if the businesses that survive aren't the ones that attract the most people, but the ones that give people a reason to stay? Today's guest is Stu McLaren.

For nearly two decades, Stu has quietly become one of the most influential minds in the world of recurring revenue, memberships, and online communities.

He co-founded Wishlist Member, a platform used by more than 70,000 businesses around the world.

But what makes Stu fascinating isn't his expertise in memberships, it's what he believes memberships are really about: a sense of belonging, and the psychology behind why people commit to something and why they leave.

Because according to Stu, the greatest threat to a business isn't competition, it's indifference.

It's the moment someone says, "Ooh, this looks good.

I'll save this for later," and never returns.

But how do you go from celebrating your first sale, and it was a whopping, whopping $7.95-

Nice [laughs]

... and then I was ecstatic, to building an eight-figure business? And why does one of the world's leading membership experts believe the first seven days determine whether a customer stays for months or for years? That's where this conversation begins.

[upbeat music] Would you like more recurring revenue in your business? Would you like to lower your churn? Would you like more people coming in the front door, being onboarded properly, staying longer, and referring more people into your business? That is what we're gonna talk about on today's episode of The Wealthy and Well-Known Podcast.

I'm joined by someone who is a pretty good friend of mine, but a really great friend of many of my good friends, Stu McLaren.

And Stu is one of our industry's most recognizable experts in the space of memberships, recurring revenue, reducing churn, and all of those things that I talked about.

He wrote a book called Predictable Profits on this subject, and he's had a few different exits, uh, for different programs that he created.

So in 2008, he co-founded Wishlist Member, which was the most popular membership platform by WordPress.

Uh, when he sold his stake, over 70,000 people worldwide were using that.

I met Stu because after that, he went to work with Michael Hyatt, and Michael had a membership program that was high six figures, and they partnered together, and Stu helped Michael grow that to a multi-seven-figure, low-stress business.

So I've just heard so much about this man and his integrity, and he raises money for his nonprofit that he runs, and we have so many mutual friends.

And so I invited him today.