Creating Community Is The Future of Online Courses – Here's Why

Depending on how long you've been following my work, you may or may not know that I actually spent last year working semi-full-time with Pat Flynn and the Smart Passive Income team!

In 2020, my community business Unreal Collective was acquired  by SPI which brought me into the company to lead the community team.

While I was at SPI, we launched several community initiatives:

• Their membership community, SPI Pro
• A course student community
• Several cohort-based courses
• A virtual event called Audience Driven

...so, yeah, we were busy. 😅

With the growth of my own business, it wasn't sustainable for me to lead a 4-person team at SPI and build my own business as a creator – so I went back out onto my own at the beginning of this year.

This week on the show, I'm catching up with Pat and his business partner, Matt Gartland, to hear about some of their new community initiatives and how they tie in with their plans as course creators. Since the beginning of SPI in 2008, the business has generated more than $5 million in sales from courses alone!

We also spend some time at the beginning of the episode talking about the team behind SPI and how to make your first hire.

It's fun, it's valuable, and you can watch it now on YouTube :

I hope you enjoy the full episode! Send me a note or comment on YouTube to let me know what you think.

And if you'd rather check out the audio-only podcast, listen on Spotify below or choose your favorite player here .

Featured Essay: September Income Report – how I make and spend my money

Financial literacy is one of the most important aspects of being a professional creator. But, unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of information out there helping creators make, manage, and invest their money.

I've never felt more comfortable and confident in my finances. This year, I'm on track to generate ~$300,000 in top-line revenue. That's about double last year's revenue and more than double the Net Income total.

Having a good handle on my own finances has been super empowering as a creator and allowed me to make really savvy decisions about where, when, and how I spend my money. And I want to help other creators build a similar system – at least inspire you to prioritize this.

In 2008, Pat Flynn pioneered the public Income Report for creators. He decided to openly share how much he was earning, how he was doing it, and what he was learning from the process.

However, I don't see many creators today sharing their income reports in a very open, instructive way. So I wanted to give you a full look at my September financials and some major takeaways.

Keep reading (14 mins) ↗

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About Jay Clouse

Hey, I'm Jay! I'm the founder of Creator Science  and the host of Creative Elements , a narrative-interview podcast going behind the scenes of today’s top creators.

I previously led the Community Experience team for Pat Flynn and Smart Passive Income, designing their paid membership community and cohort-based course programs.

You can connect with me on Twitter  or Instagram .