Joining a paid community (particularly a relatively new one) can be a big decision. So today I want to share with you the reasoning behind Fractional’s membership model — and its benefits.

Are You the Customer -- or the Product?

Free lunches are anything but free, especially here on the internet.

Our behavior online is closely monitored, measured, and analyzed. Selling information about what we do, say, watch, and read, either directly to data companies or indirectly through ad placement, is how popular free platforms usually make their revenue.

But that’s not all bad.

That revenue secures the resources needed to develop the platforms’ software, improve existing features and develop new ones, and support the users themselves. And users do, in fact, get value from their engagement with these platforms — value is being exchanged, not just extracted. Users gain access to the platform and the services and experiences it provides in exchange for their consent to being observed and recorded.

An Impactful Decision

It’s an exchange I’m sometimes, but not always, willing to make. (Or sometimes even able to make — the Observer Effect is very much a thing.)

When deciding to create this community forum, I knew from the outset that this “free or paid” decision would have long-ranging implications. The monetization model of our community has an enormous influence on the quality of conversations, interactions, and experiences that members are able to have here.

If memberships are free, the funds to run and grow the community must come from elsewhere. The obvious choices for externally monetizing a community of fractional professionals are either companies looking to find and hire them, or coaches, trainers, and other service providers looking to sell to them. Neither of these would allow for the kind of meaty, insightful discussions I envisioned.

My primary goal is to create an environment that fosters open, authentic, high-value conversations. This requires saying no to some sources of revenue.

What’s Next?

Because of this, the forum will grow through three distinct phases:

• First, approved members receive a free lifetime membership
• Then, approved members can purchase a paid lifetime membership
• Finally, members can purchase a membership subscription

Phase 1: Free, but Gated (current phase)

The value of a great community forum, unlike a software product or platform, is created by its first users — the founding members. It takes work, generosity, and courage to strike up those first meaningful conversations and create a culture of insightful discussion. For that reason, our founding members’ contribution earns them lifetime access to the forum.

Phase 2: Paid & Gated (begins Feb 1)

As the community grows, the time and resources needed to maintain it also grow. Managing this community is my full-time focus, and charging a membership fee will allow me to keep it that way.

Importantly, the membership fee is also a lever that I can use to slow or pause signups, if needed, to help keep the ratio of “existing members” to “new members” balanced. This will help us avoid an Eternal September, and it’s a critically important part of setting the community up for long-term health and success.

Phase 3: Paid Subscription (onset TBD)

Once we reach that tipping point of existing value, we’ll phase out lifetime memberships and transition to an ongoing subscription model. This will provide all-important recurring revenue to develop resources, events, tools, and assets for the community’s benefit.

Conclusion

And there you have it, the reasoning behind Fractional.io’s membership model, and the benefits it provides.

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