Why Should I Bother Joining  A Paid Membership Site? This was my first thought when I first became interested in using the internet for developing my business. I couldn’t understand why I would need to pay someone to have access to a community , especially since there was a free community that I can access all the time on sites like Facebook. After joining several paid membership sites I soon realised there were very good reasons for being part of an exclusive club. Who Do You Spend  Your Time With? Who you spend your time with can greatly determine your level of success .  You are influenced by other peoples beliefs and ideas. If you have no money and you spend  everyday in the company of millionaires it won’t be long before their financial success start to rub off on you. Equally if you spend most of  you time with happy positive people you will tend to develop the same positive outlook on life. Putting People In Boxes While I generally don’t like to put people into boxes, from my observations  I have noticed distinct categories of people emerging .  I have been forced to generalise and exaggerate in order to define these categories more clearly. In reality the boundaries are quite permeable and  you might identify with several at the same time or observe your own transitions through a number of  phases. Different People Join Different Types Of Membership Sites Different people   tend to join different types of membership sites and I wanted to examine the reasons behind this and understand the key factors to consider before joining a membership website. Who owns and runs the membership site is equally as important as who  the other members are and it pays to do a bit of research before parting with your money. 1. The Well Established These people are already successful and have an established online presence. They tend to own multiple  websites, usually in targeted niches and have a solid sales funnel in place that attracts people to become their customers . They have back end products and services to offer and  they tend to be quite visible and promote themselves and their business in an active way. These are the types of people who set up membership sites, coaching programs and other types of continuity programs.  They are highly networked and work together with other successful people leveraging each others talents to grow  each others  businesses. They look at their customers and clients from a lifetime perspective and therefore place a high value on their reputation. 2. Just Arrived And Learning Fast These people are successful offline and want to  realise their full potential on the Internet They want to learn how to expand their business and leverage their time more effectively. They don’t have much time to learn the best strategies through trial and error so they pay experts  to help them achieve their intended results much faster. They have a lot of existing commitments to their offline business and feel that there is a lot  they need to learn. Because they already have many of the necessary business skills and available capital to invest in their online business they will rise quickly to join those already established. These people will join paid membership sites because they want to mix with other serious people who are moving in the same direction. They have valuable talents and experience to offer and an established network of offline contacts, the  benefits travel in both directions. These people always have a competitive advantage because of the people they have access to. Their reputations give them instant credibility and they would survive and flourish whatever environment you throw them into. 3. In Transition These people are facing major changes in their lives, its like they are riding two horses at the same time and haven’t decided which one the prefer You often find people who want to change careers or who are  retired in this group,  they want to create a supplemental income. These people tend to  view their business as a hobby, they like to dabble and experiment,  to get their toes wet and feel the temperature of the water.  They  place  their own security as  a high priority and are cautious about investing their hard earned money in training and coaching and  although they feel this would benefit them they tend to be procrastinators and conservative by nature. The lucky ones will  be attracted to join the right membership sites that will nurture and develop their talents, by associating with people who are successful they are pulled up to the same level, a good membership site will push them out of their comfort zone and challenge their limited thinking with new Ideas and potential opportunities The unlucky ones will join membership  sites that often start out well and then fade into nothing. Because these people tend not to be leaders themselves they often join membership sites that are run by a sole charismatic individual , they want someone to tell them what to do  but they don’t always follow the advice. These types of membership sites often fizzle out because they are fuelled by the members enthusiasm which soon fades after the initial excitement. 4. Strugglers Strugglers are people who have already  taken the plunge, they have put their lives on the line and often take serious financial  risks. Many have lost money, investing in products that don’t work or in teachers who don’t come up with the goods. Their online business is doing poorly, they tend to be unorganised and suffer from self doubt and limiting beliefs. They aspire to be rich and live the Internet life but seem to be putting hours into their business and  never getting anywhere.  They spend more time working in their business than on their business. They tend to join the wrong types of membership  programs, They are either out of their depth or their  poor working habits are  unconsciously sabotaging  themselves. 70% of internet marketers fall into this category and unfortunately many unscrupulous  “Guru’s”   prey on these types as they have money and  are willing to spend. These types of people will fall prey to the scarcity tactics and high pressure selling. They want to belong to the elite but deep down don’t feel they are not worthy and don’t deserve to be rich. They are often jaded and  negatively  criticise others who are more successful. These types of people often have debt problems from poorly managing their finances. They can seem  like a desperate person drowing,  because they will grab onto you and might pull you under if you let them. Expect Unreliability If you are serious about growing your business these can be  the worst types to associate  with. They  will suggest  JV partnerships and expect  you to do all the work or they will promise to do something and then let you down and  will waste your time and energy because they want you to solve their problems. Unless you are a life coach and your actual  job is too help these people I would suggest avoiding  them  for businesses purposes. Don’t Let Them Drag You Down Its  O.K.  to be this way and I am sure many of us can recognise it as a phase we might have gone through at some point in our lives . We either sink or we learn to swim. I am  not making any judgements here only to suggest that associating with people like this can bring you down especially if you are not firmly established in either of the first two categories. 5. Hopefuls These people are total newbie’s and who have  never run a business before, they are bright eyed and exited about all the possibilities available to them, They don’t have the experience to tell the real from the fake and often become targets for unscrupulous marketers who promise to fulfil all their dreams and then don’t deliver the goods. They will tend to join all the free membership sites and won’t understand the true value of a paid service.  This is good for you if you are a member of a paid membership site you know that everyone there is probably past this stage in their development. One of the reasons a paid club is so useful is that it creates an entry barrier. The higher the price  ypu pay the more serious you can expect the members to be. Can You Spot A Rising Star? Many membership sites have tiered entry levels so the newbie is not excluded. They might  have  bronze, silver, gold and platinum membership levels. It acts as a filtering process, not all hopefuls and newbie’s are  a problem, many of them will become the next generation of leaders and its good to have a way to spot who these people are.  If you help a rising star you can be sure that they will repay that loyalty in the future. 6. Pyramid People MLM type people focus on recruiting  people into their down lines  or promote viral traffic schemes and get rich quick offers. The ones that succeed and do well are energetic, charismatic and brag about the lifestyle and success  that they have achieved. They neglect to tell you about the people under them who spent money on training and buying leads only to discover  that they don’t have the right personality for network marketing and have burned out all their friends and contacts. This industry uses the 99-1 principle. For every 1 person who succeed there are 99 who fail. Religious Fanatics? They act in the same way religious fanatics do, they want to convert everyone  to join their church.  They will often have paid membership schemes that look identical on the outside to other membership sites. How can you tell the difference, you might not even  suspect that your membership site might be a front for an unscrupulous pyramid scheme. Do Your Research One thing I always do is  Google the company name and  the directors names  along with the word scam, you can be sure if they have a history there will be others who have voiced their complaints and concerns. If they have a solid reputation you can expect to find evidence to back this up. Not all MLM businesses  are out to scam you but its your own personal responsibiliy  to discover if you are dealing with a legitimate organisation. 7. Bottom Feeders Those are people who jump from one opportunity to another,  wanting to succeed but never implementing any of the strategies and consuming internet products like McDonalds Hamburgers – they tend to be  habitual failures and spend all their money on products  and courses that they never even finish. If You Dig A Well You Should  Keep Digging In The Same Place Like a person digging a well they keep starting one hole and then moving to begin another, never digging deep enough in one place to reach water. They tend to be more desperate and often console themselves with excuses and poor me stories. Much like the third category these people often don’t have a business . They might have registered a few domains and have a free blog account somewhere, but their online presence is a  trail of disaster, They will be trying to sell you products from  2004 on websites that they were duped into buying and   they have the master resale right to 100 other outdated products.  They are running their internet empire form under their duvet,   never waking up and getting out of bed   or  taking the step away from their couch to put any of their ideas into practice. They want a business that they can set and forget, they want to press a button and get paid. Internet Parasites? These types of people spend too much time in online forums,  you will  find them in all the free membership websites pontificating and hiding behind false names and profiles, they are often likened to parasites that sweep from one fad to the next. Following 6 months or more  behind the cutting edge, coming to feed after all the low hanging fruit is taken, always hungry. They will be the ones who are desperately spamming  your inbox begging for crumbs of  your attention. They are the sort of people who you  definitely don’t want to partner up with. Freebie Hunters You won’t normally find them in the Paid membership sites because the know where they can get everything for free. They view paid sites as a waste of money because they don’t understand the value of forming  real relationships and creating business partnerships. They tend to be  selfish and self centred and that is why they stay stuck where they are. Sites like Facebook protect you from the worst offenders in this category but some still slip through the net. Read Part Two – How To Choose The Membership Site That Is Right For You If you have enjoyed this article be sure to read part two where I examine the questions you need to ask to  find the membership site that suits you best. Check out my blog http://www.iandavidchapman.com or watch your news feed on Facebook. Be Informed Those of you who know me won’t be surprised by what comes next. There is a reason behind me writing this article, I want you to be as informed as possible and also to point you towards a  membership website that is different in many ways. Master Buisiness Builders Club It’s a membership website that has cutting edge Web3.0 Video  tools and has an impressive team of experts filling it with valuable content each and every month. It was created by Travis Greenlee and Mitch Meyerson,   and its called  the Master Business Builders Club. Click this link if you want a quick guided tour, its my affiliate link so I get a commission  if you decide to join. The first month is totally free so it’s a no brainer really.  You will  have  access to tons of training material to help you grow your business  and can partcipate  weekly teleseminars and mastermind groups, check out the notice board  for who is coming up this week.