Annie [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to the whole Assistant podcast. Today I'm going to be talking all about how to maximize your membership, how to think about memberships. And this conversation was really brought on by a conversation that happened inside the society where I had a member who was bemoaning the fact that she couldn't take full advantage of the membership and was kind of hard on herself. And I have been there, but I have discovered a way to think about memberships that has really served me. So I'm going to share my process for that. And I just thought I would right the ship when it comes to memberships and also when it comes to my membership in particular and how I formed it and why I decided to form it, and the intent of Empowered Seat. So the whole point of Empowered Seat is to give you a cost effective, flexible way to improve your business acumen. And I bring an outside trainers for a lot of the training sessions.
Annie [00:00:56]:
I host one training in the portal per month to be able to do that so that you guys can have access to multiple vantage points and it's not just me talking the whole time. And the idea is that you can float in and out of this membership, you can float in and out of engaging with the content, coaching and community based on what is going on for you and your availability at that moment. So the point of the membership is flexibility. And so I don't want anybody in my membership being hard on themselves. And I've actually created tools around the flexibility piece. There's a private podcast that you can listen to trainings on the go. The training is prerecorded so there isn't even a live session for most of the training. Sometimes I'll hold a special live session, but as a one off thing just to support you guys even more.
Annie [00:01:48]:
But you can always listen to the replay of that as well. Then also in the private podcast you're also going to get access to the coaching call replays, the discussion call replay, so that you can really maximize the learning and maximize everything. And you also get to listen on the go. And I got the idea for the private podcast from a membership that I was a part of that offered the same thing. I also have a special Ask Annie Anything section in the online community to get coaching and get your questions answered. And I do try and respond to anything posted in that section within 24 business hours so that it can be timely for you. So the whole point of this membership is not to self flagellate, it's not to beat yourself up if you can't participate. It is literally to be seamless and to help you get the support that you need whenever you need, and also to lend itself to flexibility because I understand that we are all crazy busy.
Annie [00:02:45]:
And if you're anything like me, not only do you have a work life, you also have a robust home life. I'm a single mom. I've got two young boys, 4 and 6 years old. And so this conversation in my community really got me thinking about how I have chosen to approach memberships over the years. And so I just want to share a few tips and strategies with you to help alleviate stress and anxiety. And I think that we often think that participation has to look one way and if we don't participate live or if we don't engage a lot, that we're somehow doing it wrong or we aren't getting our money's worth. But for me, that has never been an issue. And I literally have been a member of many group coaching programs.
Annie [00:03:27]:
I've been a member of many memberships for like three or four years. I was paying $300 a month to be a part of a membership that I rarely engaged with, with the exception of the private podcast where I would go back and listen to people being coached and. And I got so much value out of it. It was worth every single penny. My mind transformed over those three years. It was worth the money that I put into it because I would go and listen to those replays, listen to the private podcast, take in the training, and then apply it. So here is one powerful commitment that I have. Anytime I join any program, whether it's one on one coaching, whether it is a group program, whether it is a membership is I always get what I came for.
Annie [00:04:12]:
That is my commitment to myself. I always get what I came for. And I think I also release myself from thinking that getting what I came for has to look any one way, because it doesn't. So I seldom if ever show up to live calls, with the exception of a current membership that, that are of a current mastermind group that I am in, that actually a requirement to participate is that you show up for the live calls on Thursday. But prior to that I was a part of another program by the same coach and I was never on the calls. I think I maybe showed up twice over six months and she had weekly live calls. But I would go listen to the content, I listen to the replays, I'd listen to the content over and over, especially if something really resonated with me, especially specific training, I would listen to that over and over again. I would apply what I was learning and I got so much value out of that.
Annie [00:05:06]:
So really, that is my number one tip for you guys today, is to release yourself from thinking that getting what you came for has to look a specific way. And look, I understand why we do this. Growing up, we were in school, there was a certain level of participation. You got graded, but this is real life. There is no grade. At the end of the day, you can totally get what you came for and engage, rarely live and still get tremendous, tremendous value from any membership that you were a part of or any program that you participate in any course that you buy. I recently switched my leveled up assistant group program to an Evergreen course and I am really excited about that because, because prior, when it was a 16 week program, they lost access to the content after a month of the completion of the program. And now if you purchase a course, you have access to it indefinitely.
Annie [00:06:05]:
You can go back and listen to certain modules, you can go back and listen to certain lessons and get the most value. And there is something really beautiful about that, about having access to all the things which you also have. Inside my membership there is a vault of past training sessions that you can go and binge listen to. If, if you're struggling with a specific issue, you can go in and pick and choose what you want to listen to, use it like Netflix. But I think we also need to release this idea that it has to look like it looked in school, that we have to show up live, that we have to do all this work in order to maximize our value, because we absolutely do not. And there is a community online waiting for you, waiting to engage with you, waiting to encourage you. At any point in time, you can pop on, on midnight, ask a question, pop in the community, ask a larger question, pop in there, ask a question under the ask Annie and I'll reply to you like. It doesn't have to be this thing that is stressful and weighty.
Annie [00:07:00]:
In fact, the point of the Empowered Seat membership is that it's not weighty. And I have literally formed that after my experience in memberships and what has been helpful for me in memberships, I also have a commitment to being extremely coachable. I am the most coachable person. That is always my goal whenever I join a program. Because the only way that I know I'm going to maximize everything that the program has to offer is if I actually take in lessons from the person leading the group and I actually apply it and I treat everything, even when I'm listening to someone else. Be Coached on a coaching call. I treat everything as though it is meant for me. I treat the coaching as though it is meant for me.
Annie [00:07:46]:
I treat this person's situation as something that is meant for me too. I look at their situation and I'm like, there is something in here that I can apply. There is something in here that I can take away from this person being coached. It is not other. I do not other it. I don't make it someone else's issue, someone else's problem. I look at everything that is presented and in a program as meant for me. And that there is something to take away that I can take away and apply, if not only to feel that solidarity, to not feel alone.
Annie [00:08:17]:
Because I noticed in my memberships and in my group programs that I've run and even in coaching one on one clients that the same topics, the same themes come up time and again. And even if for me anyway, when I'm in a group program, it can help just to hear someone be coached. Because I don't feel so alone. So if even that's what I'm taking away is that I don't feel so alone, it is totally worth it to me. So I really have you consider how you can be coachable, how you can really listen and take in things even if you don't agree with something. And over the last few months in the membership, there have been some trainings that have not really landed with the community. And I'm still feeling out how to source the trainings and the standards for the trainings and how to coach the people who are training to give us the highest amount of value possible. And even in that I remember reflecting on a discussion call one time, I'm like, you know what, I don't agree with this either.
Annie [00:09:14]:
But I'm really thankful for this person's perspective because this means that we aren't living in an echo chamber. And now we are having a discussion about this topic. And that can be powerful. Even discussing what you don't agree with and why you don't agree with it can be a powerful tool for change for you. So the next step that I would have you take is to just do a gut check. Is this a now idea or should this be put into the bank for later? Do I want to circle on this training again later, once I'm at a higher level, once I move past this current roadblock and come back to this later? And I also listen to books on audible. I am now listening to We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rogers for Like, man, maybe the fifth or sixth time. I love rounding on certain books and I am picking up so much this time that I have not in previous times of listening to it because I am in a different place in my life.
Annie [00:10:11]:
I have grown so much, my business has grown so much. So looking at what I can apply now from this book is completely transformational and I am not even remembering that I heard some of the content I'm hearing this time around. So this is what I mean when I say that we want to view things as for us and we want to get what we came for every single time, even if we aren't sure what we're coming for. We are coming for growth, we're coming for community, we're coming for connection and committing to that. But releasing how we get there can be super, super powerful. And then doing that gut check around what is going to be applicable now for you versus what can maybe be put in the parking lot for later. I had a client once tell me that she keeps a parking lot document and I love this idea. I always kept a list for my executive of things that weren't relevant then, but they would be down the road.
Annie [00:11:07]:
But my client called it a parking lot document and I love that. And I think that we can create that for us too, instead of having to apply everything all at once. And that is another kind of pitfall that I notice inside of memberships, is that people want to get the most value now, and especially if you've got access to the content long term. My key takeaway is to take one to two things to implement from every training, every lesson. One to two things, that's all. One to two things from every coaching call. And you guys, if we did that, that's three or four things a month over the course of time, over the course of one year that can completely transform our lives, that can completely transform how we work. So I just wanted to level set with you with regards to memberships and regards to resetting your expectations for yourself within memberships.
Annie [00:11:58]:
It shouldn't be this heavy lift, it shouldn't be so much pressure all the time. Especially my membership Empowered C. I really want you to view the resources inside empowered seat like Netflix. Take what is useful now, take the nuggets that it will be, help move you forward now and leave the rest. You can return to it at any time. You can return to the content at any time. You can return to the community at any time. Even inside the portal, inside the vault.
Annie [00:12:24]:
I have a whole section in there of resources that that participants and past clients of mine have contributed. There's like an onboarding checklist for executives that I'm constantly pointing people towards who are transitioning jobs or transitioning leaders. There is a business case study example in that portal as well in that section. So all of these resources are meant to be there for you whenever you are ready for them. So I just wanted to release that pressure when it comes to membership, especially my membership and my programs because the last thing I would want for you to do is to beat yourself up because you aren't taking I'm using air quotes here full advantage of the program because you so are. And like me, I always get what I came for. I always walk away with nuggets that I can implement. I always walk away a different person than when I signed up.
Annie [00:13:20]:
That is always my commitment to myself but I always always release the how. Okay guys, that's what I have for you today. Be intentional. Be whole. That is all for now.
