Memberships - Claire Mitchell

Q: Do I need a big audience to start a membership?

No. You can start a membership with 200 people on your list and a clear offer.

The basics

What is a recurring-income membership?

A recurring-income membership is a paid space your customers pay for every month (or every year) in exchange for ongoing value. That value can be almost anything: a community, a library of trainings, live calls, weekly emails, a podcast feed, a real-world subscription box, even just access to your time and your brain.

The shape varies. The economics don't. A membership turns one-off buyers into monthly subscribers, and one-off sales into predictable revenue. Forty members at £25 a month is a thousand pounds. Every month. On top of everything else you do.

That's the whole game. You build something once. People pay for it on a loop. Your business stops starting at zero every month.

Why it matters

Why recurring income changes a business.

Most businesses live in feast-or-famine. A launch lands, the money comes in, the calendar empties, the panic starts again. Memberships solve that. Here's what changes when one sits at the heart of your business.

Predictable monthly income, so you can plan, invest, and breathe
Money keeps arriving in the months you can't show up (illness, holidays, school runs)
You stop selling to strangers every month and start serving the same people for years
Small numbers stack up: 40 members at £25/m is £12,000/year of stable income
One offer, instead of a different launch every six weeks
A community of customers who promote you, refer you, and stick around

Pick your shape

The 12 membership models.

There isn't one right shape for a recurring-income membership. There are at least 12, and you can mix them. Each one fits a different kind of life, audience and energy. Read through and notice which one feels like you.

Build-As-You-Go

Flexible & intuitive

A calendar and a Zoom link. Each month you add whatever fits: a workshop, a mini-class, a template, a custom GPT. Members come along for the ride.

Perfect for energy workers, intuitive teachers, all-rounders.

Calls-Only

No portal, just access

No lessons, no library. Just live calls with you: Q&As, hot-seats, drop-ins. Members pay for access to your brain on a regular schedule.

Perfect for coaches, consultants, niche experts.

Email Only

Just words to inbox

A members-only weekly newsletter. No portal, no video, no faff. High-value words delivered. Substack works for this. So does any email platform.

Perfect for writers, marketers, strategists, analysts.

Community-Only

The people are the value

No lessons, no curriculum. A paid space for support, accountability, real conversation. Members come for each other, you keep the room warm.

Perfect for community builders, niche experts, network connectors.

Paid Podcast

Private audio feed

A members-only podcast feed. Hit record, upload, deliver. No video to edit, no portal to maintain. Members listen on their walk or in the car.

Perfect for storytellers, thought leaders, motivational voices.

Do-Along

Live alongside

You do your thing (yoga, writing, painting, building) live, on a schedule. Members do it with you in real time. Zero extra prep, full presence.

Perfect for yoga teachers, artists, makers, creative coaches.

Library Learning Hub

Evergreen library

An on-demand library of trainings, lessons and templates. Members search and pick what they need. You add to it when it makes sense.

Perfect for course creators, educators, consultants with a back catalogue.

Critique Club

Bring your work

No curriculum, no prep. Members bring their work, you give feedback live. Regular review sessions where the value is your eye and your honesty.

Perfect for editors, designers, mentors, art directors.

Monthly Deep-Dive

One sharp lesson

One small bite-sized training a month on one specific topic. Easy for you to make. Easy for them to consume and use.

Perfect for niche educators, service-based experts.

Accountability Club

Get things done together

Co-working sessions, weekly check-ins, gentle nudges. Members stay because they get things done in your company that they wouldn't have done alone.

Perfect for productivity coaches, makers, builders, writers.

Exclusive Access

VIP loyalty

Insider access to a brand, a product line or a circle. From premium Golf Club VIPs to £10/year fierce-loyalty farm-feed deals: both ends work.

Perfect for product brands, retailers, niche cult brands.

Snail Mail

Something in the post

A real-world subscription. Cake boxes, monthly writing prompts, prints, samples, even toilet paper. Subscription boxes are everywhere. Pick yours.

Perfect for makers, writers, foodies, anyone with a real-world product.

Not sure which one fits?

Take the 2-minute quiz.

A few quick questions about your business, your audience and your life. The quiz tells you which of the 12 membership models is the right shape for you, and exactly what to do next.

Start The Quiz

Takes about two minutes. Your result lands on screen.

About the author

Claire Mitchell, The Membership Queen.

Marketing and business coach for 25+ years. Running memberships since 2013. Author of Never Start a Month at Zero. Host of The Membership Podcast. Founder of The Girls Mean Business™ (2011), the Recurring Income Academy (2013) and the Fabulous Marketing Club (2026).

I'm allergic to hustle. I drink too much tea. I run my businesses from an old mill with a millstream in rural North Yorkshire, with a barn, a cottage for my mum, six acres, and some very opinionated rescue chickens.

My method is called Light-Touch™. Simple, sustainable, fits-around-your-life. The recurring income is real. The business is built to last. The life is yours.

25+years coaching
12+years running memberships
£2M+in recurring income
1000sof women coached

Want to build one?

Every model above is taught in detail inside the Recurring Income Academy. You get the framework, the Membership Wizard AI tool, the Membership Models Library, monthly coaching with me, twice-monthly co-working, and a community of women already building theirs. £25 a month, or £200 a year.

Join the Recurring Income Academy

No minimum term · Cancel any time · Instant access

Membership FAQs

Common questions about memberships and recurring income.

The bits people ask me the most. If yours isn't here, the answer is probably inside the Academy.

What's the easiest membership model to start with?

The easiest is whichever one fits the work you're already doing. If you already write, an Email Only or Paid Podcast is fast. If you already coach, Calls-Only or Build-As-You-Go works without extra prep. The goal is to use what you have, not invent new content from scratch.

How much can I charge for a membership?

Memberships work at every price point. £15 to £25 a month is a sensible starter range for accessible memberships. Niche, specialist or high-touch memberships can charge £50 to £200+ a month. Forty members at £25 a month gets you to a thousand pounds in recurring income. Twenty members at £50 a month gets you to the same number.

How many members do I need to make a living?

Fewer than you think. The maths is the same every time: monthly price × number of members = monthly income. At £25 a month, you only need 167 members to reach £50,000 a year. At £50 a month, you need 84.

What platform should I use for my membership?

For most small memberships, Systeme.io or Payhip are excellent. Both have memberships, course hosting, payments and email built in, with generous free or low-cost plans. Pick the one that feels simplest. You can move later.

Do I need a big audience to start a membership?

No. The single most quoted myth in the membership world. You can start a membership with 200 people on your list and a clear offer. Founding-member launches, free challenges and slow-build strategies all work with small audiences.

How is a membership different from a course?

A course is a one-off sale. A membership is a relationship. Members pay you every month for ongoing value, not for a fixed-length curriculum. Courses can sit inside a membership, but the membership itself is the recurring product.

How long does it take to build a membership?

A small membership can be built and launched in 8 to 12 weeks with the right method. The first 8 days, with the right preparation, can bring in the first 20 to 250 members. A bigger, scaled membership takes years to compound, but the income starts immediately.

In the wild

Real members. Real memberships.

These models aren't theory, they're already running. Read the stories of real businesses building real memberships, in their own niches, in their own lives.

12 Membership Models for Recurring Income.