How To Build An Online Community - Jay Clouse

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If you’re active in the creator space you’ll probably be familiar with the name Jay Clouse. Jay is the founder of Creator Science, a media company specialising in helping creators build businesses around their brands. In this episode, we delve into his membership community "The Lab," discussing everything from its inception to its revenue generation. Jay also shares some tips to make Productivity Lab a success! Enjoy the conversation.
00:00 Intro
1:01 How Jay started
7:15 The history of “The Lab”
9:55 Community vs content
15:35 About Productivity Lab
25:45 The challenges
33:40 Jay’s approach to sales pages
36:30 Price: to cap or not to cap
46:30 Higher ticket, lower volume?
52:40 How many people to bring into the community
1:02:40 Spaces within the community
1:07:05 Mistakes we can learn from
1:10:00 Giving recurring value
1:21:00 The importance of a good first experience
🔗 CONNECT WITH JAY
🎥 KZbin Channel - / @creatorscienceyt
🐦 X ( Twitter ) - / jayclouse
📸 Instagram - / jayclouse
💻 Website - creatorscience.com/
👥 Linkedin - / jayclouse
🔗 CONNECT WITH ALI
🎥 KZbin Channel - / @aliabdaal
🐦 X ( Twitter ) - / aliabdaal
📸 Instagram - / aliabdaal
💻 Website - aliabdaal.com
👥 Linkedin - / ali-abdaal
📚 RESOURCES MENTIONED
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📄SHOW NOTES & TRANSCRIPT
Visit the website for the transcript and highlights from the conversation - aliabdaal.com/podcast/
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
Deep Dive is the podcast that delves into the minds of entrepreneurs, creators and other inspiring people to uncover the philosophies, strategies and tools that help us live happier, healthier and more productive lives.
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[@DeepDivewithAliAbdaal]

I hope you enjoyed this episode! And thank you to YNAB ( www.ynab.com/abdaal ) and Trading 212 ( trading212.com/promocodes/ALI ) for sponsoring!

[@chinyereUgwuoke-tp2lh]

I'm favoured financially, Thank you Jesus $32,000 weekly profit regardless of how bad it gets on the economy.

[@tamilarasi-bn6fj]

Sure I am a born again Christian I recommend and share what is good and profitable, (Sandrina Edmondson). That's her name

[@tamilarasi-bn6fj]

How ..? Am a newbie in crypto investment, please can you guide me through on how you made profit?

[@tamilarasi-bn6fj]

she's active on What's app

[@tamilarasi-bn6fj]

+1864

[@CreatorScienceYT]

Thanks for having me on the show! Excited to see you guys crush it with Productivity Lab 🙏

[@CreatorWizard]

Two legends choppin it up!!!!!!!! Absolutely stellar gents

[@CreatorScienceYT]

thanks man!

[@AlexJ1]

Did you know that the podcast was going to be a free consultation call? 😅

[@CreatorScienceYT]

@@AlexJ1 I did - and I was happy to do it. Now that same conversation can help thousands of others - that's leverage!

[@AlexJ1]

@@CreatorScienceYT Okay good to know! It wasn't set up that it was going to be so specific to Ali's business, so I thought you were maybe just being a good sport. But I'm glad it was all kosher. And super valuable! It always helps to have a live example to use for these types of conversations anyway. Allows you to get way more specific than just "Here are the benefits of building a community". In fact, this conversation has convinced me that I absolutely do not want to have a community. So I consider that a big win ☺️

[@leadgenjay]

The conversation about community versus content is spot on. Remember that engagement is key for entrepreneurs looking to build a membership community.

[@Tragicomique]

It's best whem the split screen is on even if guest/host is not talking. Seeing expressions of the second person is really important to feel the flow of the conversation. But regardless of it, great talk!

[@SteveBubel]

🤯 That might be the most valuable video I've ever watched on KZbin. Thank you Ali and Jay!

[@SarahMcAshan]

Great point about gamification creating busy work--I hate gamification for that reason. Please don't waste my time with all that; I want to focus on people and their ideas! Thanks for the interesting conversation. It's fascinating watching Ali learn in real time--I like this new format! As long as there are clear chapter titles as you've done here, the longer, freeform conversation format is great and makes the most of KZbin longform.

[@Filhodanuvem]

The conversation on this video is gold… actually, it’s diamond 💎.

[@jansenkp1]

Wow Jay fully delivers on his promise of being THE EXPERT on paid communities. Such a helpful episode!

[@CreatorScienceYT]

Glad it was helpful!

[@InspiringBusiness-MarkBullock]

I just wanted to say thank you both Ali & Jay! This is truly invaluable content for community founders and leaders such as myself. The authenticity, generosity and willingness to share your wisdom Jay, and the vulnerability and openness into how you are thinking about community Ali was priceless!

[@TheProfessionalCleaner]

2 of my favs, and I love how part of it felt like a coaching call for Ali... great convo! (EDIT: it was a coaching call LOL... even better!)

[@paulaCvenecia]

17:33 😊❤ Excellent idea. You know, I work in a call centre and have been thinking about how to improve it. Big biz and big accounts are all fine and dandy but products like the one described here, could have a mini pelotón of reps calling people to check up on them and helping them troubleshoot. And there's a model here in Colombia 🇨🇴 for that, with an Online University they call you 2 times per week and check how are you doing. I bet this model could even decrease ADHD adverse impact on people's life 😉.

[@DrSamreenAshraf]

Building community is a basic human instinct yet we are just waking up to this. Very interesting discussion :)

[@KameTrick]

28:52 I had the **exact** same thought at the exact same time as you did here, Ali. 100% would have fallen into that trap. THANK YOU for having this conversation with Jay and posting it for us all to learn from. 1/3 of the way through and already such massive value.

[@lapalma1928]

Jay did such a great job on this coaching session with Ali that now I’m really interested in learning more about the services his organization offers. Great sales job without selling! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@emaeved]

I was literally looking for a Jay Clouse membership interview yesterday and this is the most perfect timing - I can’t even. I can’t wait till my day-job meetings are over so I can watch thiiiis! Thank you Ali and Jay!

[@CreatorScienceYT]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@DariaLucchesi]

I don't think anyone really knows how technical this advice is. Jay is a wizard and his perspective into community is taking the route of more build a software and EVERY little thing that goes into it. The whole "how do I make this recurring" is literally the key to any great product (and biz) is building defensibility within it. You don't hear all the technical one liners cause he makes them so easy to understand. He's richard feynman'ing the shit out of this call. And I'm only half way in.

[@CreatorScienceYT]

🥹🙏 very kind of you!!

[@lauriexwang]

Jay is the gold standard on building community and loved his point of saturation of memberships and I think designing the community built with engagement and connection is the key. 🙌Love this with two of my favourite creators.

[@CreatorScienceYT]

thanks for watching!

[@AlexJ1]

I like how he uses "participation" instead of "engagement". Way more human-focused, less metric-focused.

[@OldManAndBible]

Thank you Ali for exhibiting a great level of humility and vulnerability in this interview amen. James

[@mattng4707]

Yes having a group or people to keep you accountable

[@MeetKevon]

28:00 that insight is so good!

[@sam-browne]

"Lower ticket customers have higher expectations than high ticket customers". Correct. Strange but true.

[@sidthewanderlustchefc6127]

Perfect timing, I was just speaking to my coach about my plans for building a community.

[@gwcpas]

This was great to see you both just think and iterate on camera. Has me thinking through this for my own firm now

[@elliejeanroyden]

This was such a helpful podcast for me as someone building a Substack community. Focusing on the RESULT rather than content when marketing was such an important message; I’m in the early stages and keep going back on forth on what I want to actually provide- if I focus on the promise i won’t have to worry so much when a change needs to be made! 🤯

[@CreatorScienceYT]

Yes!

[@Lewis502]

This content was GOLD. Jay reminds me of a that person in corporate I can connect with and share valuable nuggets back and forth that’s intentional and thoughtful. Thanks for sharing the great insights. 🔥

[@quotedvisually]

A value-packed episode! Thank you, Jay & Ali 🔥

[@RobertRodriguezMusic]

This is such a great conversation! 🎉

[@thehealthhustle]

Pure gold, thanks fellas.

[@OldManAndBible]

Very interesting... Skool & Sam in mind and your guest etc it seems like businesses ie communities are a bit of a reflection of the founders themselves concerning onboarding, features etc. Very interesting.

[@orbitforcreators]

🍀 Great conversation at just the right time!

[@nnaenae]

Amazing show. So much value.

[@CreatorWizard]

Such a fascinating listen, thanks guys!!

[@tararathmoeut47]

I love this video! So much I have learned ❤❤❤❤

[@aubreyquinney5157]

I agree on the deliverables not being set in stone part my reaction was “ohhhhh” and then wished Jay had a book where everything was centralized lol

[@hnnhml]

Uuh this sounds like an interesting conversation 👏🏻👏🏻

[@dominikliss]

This is exactly what I needed to hear right now 😊 And I'm very happy to learn that Jay has been working behind the scenes on spi pro 👍 I was one of the very first members in this community back in the days ...

[@CreatorScienceYT]

Full circle moment!

[@AlexJ1]

And this, folks, is how you wrangle a free consultation call from Jay Clouse 😂

[@jacobmorres9817]

just an fyi since u didn't realize, theres always a win win when creators collab lol

[@LaurenAngela_aufDeutsch]

I literally just started a community and have 4 members lol this video is FOR👏ME👏 can’t wait to watch it after I get my YT video all good to go for tomorrowwwwww

[@CreatorScienceYT]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@LarsTiger]

Holy cheeseballs. That was a great episode. Thank you.

[@Mathsaurus]

Thanks - two of my inspirations here - pleased to have made it to the Lab a month before it filled up and also grateful for Ali's videos which were quite influential on my approach as I started making online courses. P.S. I think in the chapter titles you've written 'Joe' instead of 'Jay'!

[@CreatorScienceYT]

hey hey good to see you here Kevin!

[@bahram_t]

i’m glad Jay is finally getting a chance to share his story. He’s more often on the other side of the table, hearing other folks backgrounds and ideas. Great to see that flip. Keep it up Mr. Clouse 🫡

[@CreatorScienceYT]

thanks for the love!

[@threecatsdancing]

People want to see the emotional benefits on the sales page, not the technical list of features. You get a lot of flexibility in how your product evolves if you didn't promise weekly this and monthly that, as long as you're providing the benefit to the customer that you promised. At least, that's what I've learned from all the marketing gurus I follow. LOL I So have to figure out how to implement it and get my own community started. 😬

[@GatewayGarden267]

Ali taking notes the whole time - he was totally trying to figure out how to build his community the whole time - you can see his wheels turning in his head - some of the pauses - you could tell he was thinking more about himself rather than moving the interview forward.

[@lucasppopaj]

Thanks

[@myadvisor]

Nice production quality! How did you record the interview?

[@EmanualCriativo]

The minute 28:00 is mind blowing O:

[@Dr.M185]

Perfect

[@uzplaylists]

Hey Ali what are you using to record the podcast?

[@OldManAndBible]

Perfect example Ali... You are here seeking people to connect with through interviews... community.

[@jeremiahmaryland]

Algorithm gods do your thing

[@JiaFit]

Commenter number 10 🙌

[@CreatorScienceYT]

I see you 👏

[@TheProductPup]

This was incredibly insightful - wondering if there is still a space for paid slack communities? What do people think?

[@JonMorrow]

There are many. In general though, everyone reports preferring skool or circle.

[@neil_shap]

The wave towards community is because most people have realized courses aren't enough to get you results.

[@tiernanking6596]

Ali should interview Kapil Gupta but, in the style of Lex Friedman....

[@OreApampa]

Viewer number 3 😊

[@SimGunther]

Something about the phrase "Profitable Community" sounds dystopian...

[@otonielh.f.7048]

Ali seemed annoyed with whatever was going on outside of the frame. Too much glacing over.

[@geeadventures]

Courses courses courses courses…

[@BenjaminEwt]

iron your shirtsss

[@TonyOrtizPNW]

This was a whole lot of nothing..

[@ShondaD_]

@aliabdaal and @CreatorScienceYT what are your thoughts for people who would like to build an online community from scratch, I mean an absolute beginner?

[@JonMorrow]

The first step is to question whether your topic is something where people like communities or actually dislike them. Harley-Davidson people love communities. But communities around a standing desk? Screwdrivers? Obviously not. The point is, Ask yourself, would I be willing to pay for a community around this? If the answer is yes, step two is look at all of the existing communities and figure out if they are growing and if they are doing everything they should be. If they are big but not run very well, then it's a great opportunity