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Jul 26, 2016 · 19m · top-founders

How To Build a $30k/mo Membership Site with Kim Garst of Social Boom E2

Kim Garst · 11m spoken Nathan Latka · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The Top podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews social media strategist Kim Garst to break down the step-by-step funnel architecture, paid acquisition tactics, and retention metrics behind her $27,000+ per month membership site.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 39.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.8 Guest teaching 1.5 Guest disagreement 0.3 Nathan pushing back 1.0
05100:0010:000:32–6:11 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Introducing Kim Garst and Her Core Business Nathan warmly introduces Kim and asks targeted questions to break down her business model and front-end lead magnet creation. Kim explains her transition from a popular blog post into a lead magnet ebook and mini-course in a completely collaborative tone.6:19–10:26 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 The $9 Mini-Course and Membership Platform Setup Nathan synthesizes the funnel mechanics and prompts Kim for technical details regarding her software stack and pricing tiers. Kim willingly shares her use of LearnDash and iMember along with the logic behind her $9 tripwire product.10:26–14:54 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Customer Acquisition Metrics and Membership Retention Nathan actively showcases his SaaS and metrics expertise by calculating customer lifetime value, monthly recurring revenue, and churn from Kim's retention data. Kim shares tactical insights on why Facebook offers outperform standard boosted posts.14:54–18:44 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Show Promo and Listener Contest Announcement After an ad break and listener promo, Nathan conducts the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions. Kim shares insights on hiring community members and scaling teams early.0:32–6:11 · Guest teaching 2/10 Introducing Kim Garst and Her Core Business Nathan warmly introduces Kim and asks targeted questions to break down her business model and front-end lead magnet creation. Kim explains her transition from a popular blog post into a lead magnet ebook and mini-course in a completely collaborative tone.6:19–10:26 · Guest teaching 2/10 The $9 Mini-Course and Membership Platform Setup Nathan synthesizes the funnel mechanics and prompts Kim for technical details regarding her software stack and pricing tiers. Kim willingly shares her use of LearnDash and iMember along with the logic behind her $9 tripwire product.10:26–14:54 · Guest teaching 1/10 Customer Acquisition Metrics and Membership Retention Nathan actively showcases his SaaS and metrics expertise by calculating customer lifetime value, monthly recurring revenue, and churn from Kim's retention data. Kim shares tactical insights on why Facebook offers outperform standard boosted posts.14:54–18:44 · Guest teaching 1/10 Show Promo and Listener Contest Announcement After an ad break and listener promo, Nathan conducts the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions. Kim shares insights on hiring community members and scaling teams early.0:32–6:11 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Introducing Kim Garst and Her Core Business Nathan warmly introduces Kim and asks targeted questions to break down her business model and front-end lead magnet creation. Kim explains her transition from a popular blog post into a lead magnet ebook and mini-course in a completely collaborative tone.6:19–10:26 · Guest disagreement 0/10 The $9 Mini-Course and Membership Platform Setup Nathan synthesizes the funnel mechanics and prompts Kim for technical details regarding her software stack and pricing tiers. Kim willingly shares her use of LearnDash and iMember along with the logic behind her $9 tripwire product.10:26–14:54 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Customer Acquisition Metrics and Membership Retention Nathan actively showcases his SaaS and metrics expertise by calculating customer lifetime value, monthly recurring revenue, and churn from Kim's retention data. Kim shares tactical insights on why Facebook offers outperform standard boosted posts.14:54–18:44 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Show Promo and Listener Contest Announcement After an ad break and listener promo, Nathan conducts the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions. Kim shares insights on hiring community members and scaling teams early.0:32–6:11 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Introducing Kim Garst and Her Core Business Nathan warmly introduces Kim and asks targeted questions to break down her business model and front-end lead magnet creation. Kim explains her transition from a popular blog post into a lead magnet ebook and mini-course in a completely collaborative tone.6:19–10:26 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The $9 Mini-Course and Membership Platform Setup Nathan synthesizes the funnel mechanics and prompts Kim for technical details regarding her software stack and pricing tiers. Kim willingly shares her use of LearnDash and iMember along with the logic behind her $9 tripwire product.10:26–14:54 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Customer Acquisition Metrics and Membership Retention Nathan actively showcases his SaaS and metrics expertise by calculating customer lifetime value, monthly recurring revenue, and churn from Kim's retention data. Kim shares tactical insights on why Facebook offers outperform standard boosted posts.14:54–18:44 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Show Promo and Listener Contest Announcement After an ad break and listener promo, Nathan conducts the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions. Kim shares insights on hiring community members and scaling teams early.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 60.6% · guest 39.4%0:00 · Nathan 60.6% · guest 39.4%3:00 · Nathan 27.6% · guest 72.4%3:00 · Nathan 27.6% · guest 72.4%6:00 · Nathan 30.4% · guest 69.6%6:00 · Nathan 30.4% · guest 69.6%9:00 · Nathan 17.5% · guest 82.5%9:00 · Nathan 17.5% · guest 82.5%12:00 · Nathan 44.2% · guest 55.8%12:00 · Nathan 44.2% · guest 55.8%15:00 · Nathan 47.1% · guest 52.9%15:00 · Nathan 47.1% · guest 52.9%18:00 · Nathan 57.3% · guest 42.7%18:00 · Nathan 57.3% · guest 42.7%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 12:27 Kim bypassing exact intermediate conversion figures

In a thoroughly cordial interview, Kim's mildest pushback is gracefully dodging Nathan's question about exact intermediate mini-course conversion numbers to cut straight to the final 400-member acquisition figure.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 13:08 Nathan pressing on monthly versus annual retention

Nathan immediately interrupts to clarify whether Kim's quoted 85-87% retention rate is measured on an annual or monthly basis to properly calculate lifetime value.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 11:07 Facebook offers outperforming standard ads in reach

Kim educates the audience and Nathan on the specific tactical advantage of running Facebook offers over standard ads or boosted posts for organic reach efficiency.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 13:15 Nathan calculating LTV and churn metrics in real time

Nathan translates Kim's retention rate into a SaaS churn calculation, demonstrating his own deep analytical grasp of subscription economics.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Kim Garst and Her Core Business 4201 Nathan warmly introduces Kim and asks targeted questions to break down her business model and front-end lead magnet creation. Kim explains her transition from a popular blog post into a lead magnet ebook and mini-course in a completely collaborative tone.
The $9 Mini-Course and Membership Platform Setup 5201 Nathan synthesizes the funnel mechanics and prompts Kim for technical details regarding her software stack and pricing tiers. Kim willingly shares her use of LearnDash and iMember along with the logic behind her $9 tripwire product.
Customer Acquisition Metrics and Membership Retention 7112 Nathan actively showcases his SaaS and metrics expertise by calculating customer lifetime value, monthly recurring revenue, and churn from Kim's retention data. Kim shares tactical insights on why Facebook offers outperform standard boosted posts.
Show Promo and Listener Contest Announcement 3100 After an ad break and listener promo, Nathan conducts the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions. Kim shares insights on hiring community members and scaling teams early.

Statements from this episode (8)

Insight
Garst: Community support, not just content, drives her paid membership's true value
“And the value proposition to that is, of course, lots of training, but I think it's bigger than that. I think it's the community and the support that is inside of that, you know, group. We basically support those who become members of our inner circle inside o…”
Kim Garst Jul 26, 2016 ▶ 2:40
Disclosure
Garst: Her successful lead magnet ebook originated by expanding a blog post
“So in this particular example, just to kind of give you the back end of how this started, this originally started as a blog post, and it was 17 post ideas at the time. And it was so hugely popular that we're like, wow, obviously this is a pain point for people…”
Kim Garst Jul 26, 2016 ▶ 5:31
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Garst: A free e-book drove 12,000 new email subscribers in one month
“Oh, I think we're at almost 12,000 new subscribers in, in the last month. We just did a meeting on that actually this morning.”
Kim Garst Jul 26, 2016 ▶ 10:36
Insight
Garst: Facebook Offers beat standard ads and boosted posts in organic reach
“When you do a Facebook offer versus a Facebook ad, or just, you know, put it up and boost it, Facebook offers, for some reason, outperform in reach versus, for the same dollar amount, essentially, as some other methods of, that Facebook has for you to spend mo…”
Kim Garst Jul 26, 2016 ▶ 11:08
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Garst: Her membership site added over 400 paying subscribers in one month
“We added over 400 new people to our inner circle in the past month.”
Kim Garst Jul 26, 2016 ▶ 12:41
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Garst's paid membership site maintains an 85% to 87% monthly retention rate
“And, you know, just the lifetime, we have a, an, about an 87, anywhere from 85 to 87 retention percent retention rate.”
Kim Garst Jul 26, 2016 ▶ 12:56
Opinion
Garst: Recurring income streams should be the backbone of any creator company
“So having that reoccurring income stream, in my opinion, is should be the backbone of any company.”
Kim Garst Jul 26, 2016 ▶ 14:17
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Garst: Her paid membership reached 560 active members after a marketing push
“We have about 560 as of this morning, and most of that, incidentally, like I said, has come in in the last 30 days because we have really been concentrating on marketing”
Kim Garst Jul 26, 2016 ▶ 14:33
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