Blogging Monthly Review: How I Prepared to Launch a Membership 

I’m happy to say that theese blogging monthly review posts are finally back after 2 years. My last one was in July 2019 when I launched my first digital product on this blog. It’s been too long. 

While I have been writing about my blogging goals every now and then, a blogging monthly review keeps me accountable. And it’s a way to also document what I’ve learned as a content creator. 

At the beginning of the year I shared my 2022 goals and mentioned that my big goal for the year is to launch The Content Chest membership. 

What is it about? 

The Content Chest membership helps content creators grow, build their dream blogs and share their bliss through exclusive content such as in-depth blogging guides as well as fun content that covers KDrama reviews and monthly playlists.

It’s both informative and fun because growing as a creative and content creator doesn’t have to be frustrating or boring.

Majority of my month was spent preparing for the launch of The Content Chest (coming this quarter!), namely the following tasks: 

Batch write posts both for my blog and the membership 

I’ve found that I have so many ideas for blog posts that my biggest challenge is deciding which to write first.

This is why my community members inside the membership have the choice to vote which posts they would find the most valuable and would like to read first.

I was able to batch write the majority of my January blog posts except for the Our Beloved Summer review.

Our Beloved Summer’s last episode aired on January 25, so I only finished writing my post after that.

As for my membership, I’ve written some posts. Not all the posts are complete because as I am writing one, I get another idea for another one so I start writing that at least an outline so I don’t forget important points.

I love that my creative juices are overflowing lately.

Set up my membership payment platform 

One of the things that delayed launching my membership even if I wanted to launch one back in 2020 was that Stripe isn’t available in the Philippines.

That’s the only payment gateway that Podia uses for recurring payments.

So I put the plan to launch a membership in the backend for the longest time; however, in December a local subscription payment gateway contacted me!

It was perfect timing. Or maybe I should say divine timing? Thankful to God for this!

The Universe supports me to make my dream into a reality! I was able to set everything up already in terms of the payment gateway for my membership platform and can now collect recurring payments.

Finish admin tasks for the membership 

I want my membership platform to be as seamless as possible so I really thought about the customer journey and how community members will access my membership content easily.

I fixed systems and processes to put everything in place. 

I’m also going to officially close my Facebook group and move the community group inside my membership so I can really ensure that the community is active.

I also finished all the graphics for my membership plans and graphics inside the community group.

Aside from tasks for The Content Chest, I had a few other goals and my progress for each:  

Hit 1000 email subscribers 

At the end of December, I had 570 email subscribers (this was a massive jump from the month before because I joined a Christmas party giveaway).

The freebie I offered inside the goodie bag could be redeemed until mid-January so my list continued to grow and it’s now at 754. I am hopeful in reaching this goal this year! 

Hit 10,000 followers on Instagram & Tiktok 

There wasn’t much progress on this goal despite getting back to posting almost daily on Tiktok and increasing the number of times I posted Reels on Instagram this month. I was a little disappointed, but I know I just have to keep being consistent to see the growth I want. 

Show up excited to create content 

This one is a mixed bag. There were days I had a looot on my plate, and felt tired. However, I also had days that I was excited to show up and create content. This is a big improvement for me compared to the months I struggled with creating content a couple of months last year. I think this mainly has to do with a shift in my blog direction after I rebranded.

Reach my January blog income goal 

I didn’t reach my January income goal meaning the income I get from my digital products and services, ads or affiliate income. However, I was able to land a freelance project outside of the blog. Since the income is not blog-related; rather it’s more on writing itself, then I don’t count it as blog income. Though I don’t know if I should? Hahaha!

So that’s it! A run-down of my January blogging monthly review where I was able to slowly live out my theme of the year: “financially successful blogger excited to create content and show up”

My February Goals

1. Do a test run for my membership as if I’m a customer to check that everything works seamlessly and works right! 
2. Soft launch the membership
3. Integrate existing posts from my blog into membership platform
4. Apply to 1 sponsored opportunity 

February is a BIG month for me. And I’m excited to soft launch The Content Chest. But part of me is also terrified in terms of the sustainability of pumping out lots of content for the membership while juggling my freelance jobs. I know the key is to plan & batch my content ahead, so that’s what I’ll continue to focus on. 

I hope you enjoyed this January blogging monthly review – the first of 2022 – and a series I plan to continue in-depth and monthly inside The Content Chest membership.