What do the AIDS epidemic and civil rights activist, Rosa Park, have in common?

December 2, 2021 | ChangingCourse.com

This week, we commemorated World AIDS Day, a day so designated by the United Nations to bring awareness to HIV and AIDS and the people affected. This week also included Rosa Parks Day in the United States; the observance honors the late civil rights activist and commemorates her sacrifice.

Being aware of the hundreds of annual holidays and observances around the globe can provide inspiration for this week’s money making idea – starting a Membership Group. It can also provide information on when you might start a program or membership group to coincide with a related observance.

Membership Groups can can be paid or unpaid. You might be thinking, “how can an unpaid group be a money making idea?”

While paid membership groups can be money makers in and of themselves, starting a group and engaging people with common interests provides a built in audience when you are ready to sell a program or service that the group really needs or fits within the group’s interest areas.

Along with this week’s money making idea, we are sharing our recommendation that you check out our colleague, Christina Jandali’s free workshops later this month on creating successful and profitable online communities on Facebook. We are affiliates of Christina’s and we are also her customers. We’ve purchased and use her program. That’s why we feel comfortable in telling you that few people know how to turn a standard membership group into what she calls a “Kick-Ass Facebook Group,” the way that Christina can.

Learn more about this week’s money making idea below and about Christina, our expert resource, for turning that idea into a thriving business.

Happy Hannukah!

To Your Dreams,

Money-Making Idea: Create a Membership Group

Four pairs of people around a chalkboard table; each pair has a matching chalk-drawn can and string that connects them

We all have some kind of membership whether it’s to a gym, library, professional association, school alumni association, sorority/fraternity, or vacation club.

Somewhere in your life, you are probably paying membership dues, so why not start your own membership group.

The more that we spend time online, the more we are looking for ways to create authentic connections with people of similar interests through online communities.

While the pandemic caused the trend in online communities to skyrocket, they were already a well established and growing phenomenon.

In fact, earlier this year Facebook began certifying people to be online community managers.

There are membership groups that operate like professional associations. For example, there are groups of nonprofit Executive Directors sharing ideas and challenges, forums for attorneys, and membership groups of entrepreneurs and solopreneurs to have a community of colleagues.

There are sports-related membership groups run by people who have expert knowledge in soccer, basketball, tennis, golf, and so much more. In these groups, you can discuss your favorite sport 24-7 with people around the globe who love the sport as much as you do.

There are membership groups for the parents of LGBTQ youth to educate and support the parents so that they can support their children. A parent, who started one of these groups, is the mother of a gender-fluid child.

She had no expertise when she started. She simply knew that there were other mothers out there, who were uninformed, but wanted to support their children. She wanted to help them navigate the waters she was still navigating herself.

At Changing Course, we know that business ideas often come from challenges that we are experiencing or that we see others experiencing.

Another way to generate ideas for possible membership groups is to look at worldwide holidays and observances calendars. Here are two popular ones:

  • Time and Date – You can view official holidays as well as observances from now through 2030.
  • Holidays and Observances – Use the left side navigation bar to find holidays or observances by month, topic, or country.

There are holiday and observances for every interest – from fun to silly to serious.

This week’s observances included Eat a Red Apple Day, which would be a great time to start a membership group around healthy eating, vegan diets, or nutrition.

We are also celebrating Hanukah, commemorating the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development this week.

What holiday or observance inspires you?

How to Lead a Kick-Ass Facebook Group

When you want to cook something you’ve never made before, do you:

  • Pick up 5 or 6 ingredients that might be in it, toss them all in a pan and hope for the best? OR
  • Find a recipe online or from a friend who makes the dish well and follow that?

For most people, #2 is the obvious choice.

Growing an engaged and profitable Facebook group is the same idea.

Why would you try to guess how to do it or try what seems right and hope for the best, when there are experts and resources available to show you step-by-step how to do it?

So we want to introduce you to your own personal “Easy Button” in our friend and colleague, Christina Jandali.

Christina knows how to turn an average membership group into a profitable business and she is willing to share the steps with you.

She recently told us a story about a student of hers, who was just about to launch a new program.

When her computer crashed, she lost everything including access to her website. #WorstNightmare

All she had access to was her phone and her Facebook group.

With just those two things, she sold out 17 spots in her brand new program!

That is the power of having an online community on Facebook.

No matter where you are in your journey, you can benefit from Christina’s workshops. You might:

  • not have a group yet and don’t know the right way to start one;
  • be brand new to business and didn’t know you needed a group;
  • already have a group but it’s a little ho-hum with less than stellar engagement and profits; or
  • be rocking an engaged and profitable group, and you’re ready to step it up a notch.

Join Christina and us in her three-part Engage your Group training series.

Inside this free Facebook Group training series, you’re going to learn:

  • Exactly what it takes to build a wildly engaged and profitable Facebook group
  • The three major mistakes to avoid if you want your Facebook group to make a profit
  • PLUS you’ll get an immediately downloadable checklist on how to rapidly grow your members.

If you want to start or grow a recession proof business, one of the most important things you can do is to build community and genuine connections with your ideal clients. Learn what you need to know to create a “kick-ass” Facebook group and how do it the right way.

Is this what’s holding you back?

LIMITING THOUGHT

Past failure means future failure or My past will always negatively influence my future

If you’ve ever tried and failed at something in the past, it’s easy to assume that your past failure means that you’ll fail again in the future; that past outcomes guarantee future outcomes.

Your limiting belief is that your past failure means future failure. You assume that the past governs the future. That if something didn’t work in previous attempts, it won’t work in the future.

A similar but slightly different limiting belief is that your past holds sway over your future.

This belief may be because you’ve made mistakes in the past and you’re convinced that they’re going to keep you from achieving the success you desire. Maybe you’ve tried things in the past that simply haven’t worked. Maybe you don’t have a good track record in a particular area.

You believe that your past actions restrict your future options, or that your past efforts will hamper your future efforts. So, you don’t feel like you can try anything new.

NEW THOUGHT

The lessons I learned from my past failures brings me closer to future success.

The simple truth is that your past failures do not have any bearing on your current endeavors. Just because you’ve failed in the past doesn’t mean that you’ll fail in the future. In fact, failure in the past is actually an advantage! You’ve discovered one way that doesn’t work, which means you can avoid that way moving forward.

You need to adopt a similar belief. You haven’t failed in the past. You’ve simply discovered one particular way that doesn’t work. This has gotten you one step closer to your success.

In order to rewrite these limiting belief, it’s important to understand that your past actions have no bearing on your future. Failure in the past doesn’t mean failure in the future. Struggle in the past doesn’t mean struggle in the future.

In fact, your past is one of your greatest assets. As you learn lessons from the past, it makes you that much wiser. You have more knowledge, skills, and experience to share with others.

Repeat this phrase: The lessons I learned from my past failures bring me closer to my future success.

What We’re Reading

Fail To Succeed: 5 Mindset Secrets to Turn Failure into Success & Fulfillment is a great book if your limiting belief is about past failures meaning future failure. This book provides practical advice for turning your failures into strengths. “Fail to Succeed takes you on a brief, yet thought-provoking ride in the importance of failure and how to develop it to be your greatest asset.”

Book Cover