#186: How to Grow a Successful Membership by Loving Your Members

Want to learn how to grow a successful membership by loving your members? This is exactly what Amy Sadler, from Amy Sadler Designs, has done.

She started her business painting kitchen cabinets, but after having another child, took her interior design business online.

Then, with an expertise in color mixing, and an understanding of resin, she began a membership teaching people painting tumblers, how to mix different colors with resin to create different looks.

Who would have thought you could create a successful membership with over 500 members, teaching such a specific skill?

Well, Amy proves that you can. And the secret to her success is the way she shows up for her members, serves their needs and loves them.

If you are hoping to start a membership , you will find Amy’s story both enlightening and inspiring. Don’t miss it!

Show Notes:

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Intro 0:04
Welcome to the Blogger Genius Podcast brought to you by MiloTree. Here’s your host, Jillian Leslie.

Amy Sadler 0:11
Hello, my friends. Welcome back to the Blogger Genius Podcast. I am your host, Jillian Leslie, and I build online businesses with my husband. Gosh, I’ve been doing this podcast now for about three years and I absolutely love it.

Jillian Leslie 0:29
So, thank you for spending this little bit of time with me. I’ve got a very cool episode, I’m interviewing Amy Sadler from Amy Sadler Designs, and she has built a really cool membership on the internet. It’s hugely successful.

Start Your Membership with MiloTree Easy Payments

And this is a great way for me to talk about the new thing David and I are building and it is called MiloTree Easy Payments. And if you are thinking of starting a subscription, or a membership, this is the easiest way to get paid.

We give you a money button. And you can install it on your blog. You can share it on social media, and you can use it to get customers to sign up for your program. And then the best part is you can host your membership wherever you want.

In a Facebook group, on Zoom, as a paid newsletter, say a paid podcast, on a Discord server, in a private Instagram account really where ever. I’m looking for beta testers because we’ve started rolling it out. Very exciting.

Please go to milotree.com/betatester and I’ll email you right away. So, that we can get on a call and I can hear about the membership you’re building and talk about how I can help you get paid. Again milotree.com/betatester.

For today’s episode, I’m interviewing Amy Sadler. She is a true creative and she has built an enormous membership, teaching people how to paint with resin.

I really enjoyed hearing her story, how she built her business, how she thinks about serving her members, and especially how she thinks about failing forward. Without further delay, here is my interview with Amy Sadler.

How to Grow a Successful Membership by Loving Your Members

Amy, welcome to the show. It’s great having you.

Amy Sadler 2:28
Thank you for inviting me, Jillian, I’m very excited to be here. And I appreciate the invitation.

Oh, well. That’s great. Amy, I know you. I know kind of what you do. But I don’t know your story. And how you ended up being a blogger? Could you share it?

I can and I would be happy to. Actually I love telling my story, in hopes that it would inspire other women who maybe have gone through hard times thinking, oh, my gosh, this is the end of the world.

I can assure you, whatever you’re going through is not the end of the world. I actually started out in banking. And my bank was acquisition by another bank. And I could have switched but my pay would have been less my benefits would have been less.

So, I took that time once I was laid off to decide. I had worked for over 10 years for this bank, and I would have been there forever. I never would have left. It was very comfortable status quo.

When I lost my job, I had to rethink pretty much everything. And so, I thought what would I do if I just wanted to. I have a few weeks of severance pay. And what would I do if I just wanted to and I love painting.

I live in a small town but in Kansas City is about two hours away. I took a class for cabinet finishes. And I came home. I had about six samples of different types of paint finishes. And I got a job.

Starting a Business Painting Kitchen Cabinets

I went to this 4th of July party. And I was just showing some of my samples that I love. Like, “Look at this class I took I had so much fun.” And one of my friends said, “Hey, if I fly you out to my house in Baltimore, will you paint my kitchen cabinets?”

And I’m like, “Yes, absolutely.” Well, when I figured up her invoice, it was more than I made in three months at the bank.

Jillian Leslie 4:45
Wow.

Amy Sadler 4:45
She was happy to pay it. And before that something like that had never occurred to me. You know that people would pay for that, that it would be a lucrative business that I could start. So, yeah, that’s how it started.

Jillian Leslie 5:05
How long ago?

Amy Sadler 5:06
That was in 2013. So, I named my business, I started a Facebook page. I went and painted her kitchen, posted the pictures. And I was not without a job from that day, until the day that I decided it was time to stop painting in other people’s houses.

So, I was never without work.

Wow. How long did it take you to paint a kitchen? Like how many projects would you have going?

I did all by myself. Everything from start to finish took me about three weeks because I’m tearing down. I’m cleaning, sanding, priming, painting, glazing, top coating doors in my studio, which I rented a studio and bases at the house.

Then I would put it all back together, and then get my after shot.

Wow. And then talk to me about how you said, “Alright, I don’t want to be painting people’s kitchens.” I want to be what?

Well, I actually had a baby. So, another part of my story is that I have had, like, how you have defining moments in your life? Well, I’ve had a couple of lives, I like to say because I had a 23-year-old. And I had a 17-year-old when I had my baby who is three now.

Jillian Leslie 6:41
Wow.

Amy Sadler 6:41
So, my sons are in their 20s married and in their jobs. And I have a three-year-old at home. So, I kind of started over a new life. And, so it’s been super fun. When I had her, to answer your question, I took a few jobs after but it was just so hard.

There’s so much physical labor and I work such long hours when I’m doing a kitchen. And I also developed from just painting their cabinets to also realizing that women especially that were hiring me, struggle with putting colors together.

They wanted something special in their home, they wanted it to be different, but they had no idea where to start. So, when they called me about painting their cabinets, I would go in and they would say I don’t have a plan, I don’t know what to do.

Jillian Leslie 7:40
I started realizing that I can also help them with that. So, it went from just painting cabinets into really interior design. So, it evolved on its own just naturally by listening to what my clients were telling me and what their needs were.

Amy Sadler 7:58
And I always remember that lesson. Always listen to what your clients are telling you what your followers are telling you, they can lead you into the greatest chance of your life.

So, you started painting cabinets, became kind of an interior designer consultant for just kitchens or their whole house or what?

Usually when they’re remodeling their kitchen, also it leads into their other living spaces. So, what we would do is just make a plan where you would go pick countertops, and then pick flooring and wall color, cabinet color backsplash.

And then they were on their own for furniture, they usually asked me for my opinion, and I would give them color options for furniture based on what they like.

Okay. So, you start this whole business and it’s just you and you have a baby. And you say okay, this is too much. So, what do you think now?

Well, for about a year, I was kind of flailing like if I’m not physically with people in their homes, how can I help? I don’t know what to do. I am friends with a business owner and I realized that there were people in the world of resin, making resin.

Which I had also dealt with resin countertops in my business as well. So, I kind of knew how that worked a little bit.

Jillian Leslie 9:38
Wait, can we stop for a second? What is resin? And what is a resin countertop? By the way if you can look behind me. We are in the process. You could see some like plastic. We are in process of redoing our kitchen. And we have no design skills.

We’re just kind of flailing but I’m learning about things like resin sinks and stuff. So, what is resin and how did you get into this and then what do you do with it?

Amy Sadler 10:10
So, resin and epoxy are the same thing. Some people call it resin and some people call it epoxy, it’s a two-part liquid, chemical, for lack of a better word. The two liquids you combine together and they will cure and become super hard like glass. So, that is resin.

But within resin, you can add colorants to tint it to any color you want. So, it doesn’t just have to be clear. And going over a painted surface, you can actually add color to the resin.

There were women that were starting to make tumblers and resin are in geode coasters and things like that. And I was seeing that they were trying to paint the tumbler and then put clear resin over the top.

Teaching People How to Mix Colors

So, I found that there was a need for them to understand that you can put color into resin, but they didn’t know how to do it. They also didn’t realize colors can be mixed. So, I know I’m making a long story longer, but quickly.

So, when you go to buy paint or colorants there are only so many colors, but you might need a vibrant burgundy, for a project that you’re doing to match something. And you can’t buy that.

Well I can teach you how to mix that together to get the custom color that you need for your project. So, that’s how my group started. So, I decided I’m going to just put this out into the world and say, “Hey, I know how to mix these colors, and I can teach you.”

And I thought I might get, I was hoping for 50. I was like, I think if I really word this right that I can help 50 women and so I put it out into the world. And I had 500 women sign up for my membership group.

Okay, wow, stop, we have to dissect that. First of all, you are teaching people how to mix colors?

Yes.

Jillian Leslie 12:35
In resin or any kind of mixing of colors?

Amy Sadler 12:39
So, any kind of mixing of colors, I mix pigments with micas, which are metallic powders to make custom colors. You can put them into paint to make a custom color of paint.

You can mix paint colors together. I teach all the things about color mixing and how those colors go together.

Jillian Leslie 13:06
Oh my gosh! We talk about a niche, okay. You’re not just a painter. You’re a color mixer painter.

Amy Sadler 13:17
Yeah, I know. It’s super niche. It’s super weird. And I think that’s why it worked.

Where is your community? Who are these people? How did they find you? And how were you able to get 500 of them to sign up for your membership?

Using Facebook Groups to Grow Her Membership

So, there are just groups on Facebook.

Jillian Leslie 13:40
Color mixers for painters?

Amy Sadler 13:41
No, for resin. For like tumbler artists and resin. But mostly the tumbler artists joined because they were just really trying to figure out how do I make my cup stand out? And I said I can totally help you with that. And it’s been awesome, well amazing.

So, there are Facebook groups for tumblers like cups. Show me a tumbler.

Here’s one.

Jillian Leslie 14:11
Okay, you’re holding up. It looks like a, I don’t know.

Amy Sadler 14:17
This one is resin. Underneath is a stainless steel, double walled tumbler. You can drink cold and hot kind of like a YETI.

Jillian Leslie 14:30
Okay.

Amy Sadler 14:31
But there is a whole world a whole business world of women, mainly women making these into beautiful things.

Jillian Leslie 14:43
Like selling them on Etsy?

Amy Sadler 14:44
And then I sell them.

Okay, got it. So, a tumbler for your drinks. And you help them with colors.

Yes. When they came in as tumbler artists. I also wanted to show them a world of resin and epoxy and paint finishes and products that they could also add to their businesses to make even more money.

So, that is something that I incorporated when I realized there was a need for that as well.

So, you were helping women who have say, Etsy shops, or who are selling these tumblers for the most part, or are going to be like phone cases, like that kind of thing.

Yes.

Jillian Leslie 15:34
Okay. So, you go into these Facebook groups of people who are selling tumblers. Want to personalize them. Want to paint them that kind of thing.

And you’re saying, “Hey, I’m Amy, and I’m starting the group, come join my group. And I’m going to show you how to do this.”

Amy Sadler 15:54
Yes, they had kind of known who I was because of some projects I had done.

Okay, this is not your own group or your own Facebook page.

No.

Jillian Leslie 16:06
Okay.

Amy Sadler 16:06
I’ve never advertised my group on my Facebook page, not once.

So, you post this, you say, “I’m going live, I’m starting a group on this day join.” How did you do this?

Yes, I was afraid to do it. And I thought, no one’s going to do this. And if I have like, 10 people join, is that going to be okay with me, I had to go through all of that, because I really was not sure.

Setting Up a Membership

And so, I created my little website with a payment plan, membership option, and I just put that link out there and said, “Hey, I can help you set your business apart, I can help you set your work apart from others, if you want to learn to make custom colors, join.”

And that was it. And I did not overthink it. That’s the one thing, I put thought into it but I didn’t overthink it. And I just said, okay, if it works, it works. And if it doesn’t, and that’s part of my story too.

Jillian, I used to be terrified, the person I was 10, 15 years ago would not be on your podcast, you wouldn’t know who I am, I would be sitting in a corner, just trying to get through life and survive.

But today’s Amy is not afraid to try and fail. I’m not afraid to fail. Because some of my biggest failures have led me into my biggest successes. And when you have big successes, it’s like a stair step.

The failure is just tripping up the stairs, I’m going up the stairs, so I just really leaned into, hey, I’m going to try it. And I hope it succeeds. And if it doesn’t, you know what, I learned something and I’ll move on and do something different.

I’m not afraid to fail. Because some of my biggest failures have led me into my biggest successes. And when you have big successes, it’s like a stair step.

The failure is just tripping up the stairs, I’m going up the stairs, so I just really leaned into, hey, I’m going to try it. And I hope it succeeds. And if it doesn’t, you know what, I learned something and I’ll move on and do something different.

Amy Sadler

Jillian Leslie 18:23

I love this advice. I love what you just said, I talked about this, if you listen to my podcast, you know this is my thing. It’s messy. You want to be trying different things because most of them will fail.

Jillian Leslie 18:26
But you get information to go, oh, wait a second. That didn’t work. But if I tweaked it, or I tried it or whoa, I’m in the wrong direction, or my people are telling me this. I think they want that. But I’m wrong.

And then every so often you get this like nibble and you go whoa, this, I talked about it in terms of going up into the hills and mining for gold and you’re looking in the beginning for little gold specks.

And when you find some start digging deeper start going further. And if there are no gold specks, go in a different direction. It is all about learning and somehow I think especially as women we take it so personally.

Oh my God, not just I failed it, that failed, but I failed. And then being able to split those two concepts is so important.

Amy Sadler 19:18
Yes, I’m a super honest straight up person too, which I say everything in love. And I really feel like that comes across, but I have to tell people sometimes just get over yourself. You cannot take that personally, everybody is different.

I try to look at everyone. Especially, when they’re just nine years old. How would I treat that if she was standing in front of me and she was nine years old? How would I treat her?

Because guess what, we’ve all gone through stuff, and we just need to treat everyone with kindness. But your stuff that is makes you upset with me, is not necessarily me.

That boundary of knowing yourself and why. It also helps to know why you’re doing what you’re doing.

Jillian Leslie 20:14
What do you mean?

Amy Sadler 20:14
What is my why? I can’t stop, won’t stop, because there are women that need my help.

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Jillian Leslie 21:36
You’re empowering women to grow businesses to sell tumblers.

Amy Sadler 21:42
Yes.

Jillian Leslie 21:43
So, these women rely on you because you’re helping them make money.

Amy Sadler 21:49
Yes.

Helping Her Members Sell Products and Make Money

Jillian Leslie 21:49
How many people in your group would you say are hobbyists and how many are actually selling products?

Amy Sadler 21:56
A lot are hobbyists. But even the hobbyists sell a little bit and give away and they want their products to be great. So, maybe half. Maybe I just have 1/3 that have a but I still need to speak into them.

And then the ones who are hobbyists. And they’re saying, “I’m just a hobbyist.” See and hear the things I’m saying and think, “Oh, maybe I can do this, maybe I can add income for my family and help and do something different.” It just gives them a little courage too.

Jillian Leslie 22:40
I just want to give a little plug to what we’re building, which is MiloTree Easy Payments. For people like you, Amy, when you were just starting. If you’re listening to this podcast, and you’re like, if Amy could do this, If I can get over myself.

How MiloTree Easy Payments Is the Easiest Way to Start a Membership

And I’ve got something where I want to have members where I can teach something, but I don’t even know how to start that, MiloTree Easy Payments is exactly that.

You have a sales page on your blog, you got a link where people can sign up for your membership, and you get revenue. And then you can host this membership or subscription wherever you want. You don’t have to use platforms you know.

So, let’s talk about then, you build this, no. You say I’m going to try maybe get a couple people and how many people 500 people show up?

Amy Sadler 23:34
Yes.

How to Run a Membership in a Private Facebook Group

Jillian Leslie 23:35
So, you say okay, where am I hosting this? How often am I showing up? How am I teaching my people? What does it look like inside your membership?

Amy Sadler 23:47
I go live every Thursday on Facebook in a private Facebook group. And I’m on there answering questions all the time.

Whenever they post and have questions or want to share a win or something like that, but every Thursday, I go live at 7:00 Central and I teach some type of, mix color whatever it is. So, my platform is a Facebook group.

Literally, you’ve built this on a Facebook group. And that’s again, I’m going to say for MiloTree Easy Payments, get paid, and then go start a private Facebook group. In fact, that’s what we recommend.

Jillian Leslie 24:30
You don’t need some sort of platform that you have to learn, that your customers have to learn. Just make it easy. And people my hunches show up because you’re there and you’re cheering them on and you’re teaching them and they have this relationship with you.

Amy Sadler 24:46
Yes.

Jillian Leslie 24:47
You care about them.

The Importance of Providing Value to Your Members

Amy Sadler 24:49
I love my members and they know. I want every one of them to succeed. I’ll help them in any way that I can they know they can come to me and ask questions. I’m going to give them the best.

I don’t know all the answers, but they know my strengths by now especially, and can ask me anything, and I’ll help in any way that I can. I love them care about them.

I know if they engage with me, and this is something I’ll say, too, if you’re in a group, and you’re feeling, like a wallflower, and you want someone to notice you, I can’t notice you until you engage with me.

Whether it’s even in private messages, or in the comments in the group. I love it when my members engage with me, I love knowing their husbands are in the room, we do fun things.

I love knowing that they babysit their grandkids on Thursday night, and their grandkids are watching me with them. And their grandkids have pink colors that they’re mixing at the table with grandma.

And, for me, that’s what it’s all about. I love knowing someone starting something new, I love helping them figure out, why are they doing what they’re doing. So, that lights me up, just like when I work with my clients, and I’m painting their kitchen.

I don’t just walk in and tell them what I like, I walk into their home, because they’ve called me, I already care about them. I walk in, and I get to know them, I try to understand what they’re struggling with.

And that’s where if it’s my strength, I’ll come in, and I’ll help with that.

I love that, we have a membership as well. It’s small. It’s a bunch of bloggers, online entrepreneurs. And it is so satisfying to me, because I know them individually. And I watch their growth. And I watch those aha moments.

Jillian Leslie 27:03
I’m there when they’re struggling. And I will say you want to get on a call because I can tell you’re struggling and maybe I can help get you out of that rut, give you some new ideas.

There is something because the internet can be anonymous, or it can be weirdly personal. And it is that personal relate. If you are somebody who is genuine, and you care, and you want those relationships. Personally, I find it so satisfying to have a membership.

Now here’s a question. Can people go like, can they give you ideas like hey, will you teach x something you maybe have never thought to teach? How do you get your ideas?

Amy Sadler 27:47
Absolutely. I am a creative person. I’m never out of ideas, literally. I have ideas. Every moment my eyes are open, I have ideas. But I want them to tell me. “Hey, I have to make an Alabama cup for a college student. Can you help me make that burgundy?”

I know I keep picking on burgundy. But it’s hard. And yes, on our Thursday live if one person asked me for a color that they’ve been struggling with, I’m going to make that color on Thursday.

Even if I have something else planned. The first thing we’re going to do is that color and then we’ll do what I have planned. Because that’s what I’m there for.

How to Go on Vacation When You Have a Membership

Do you ever get burnt out? You have to show up every Thursday. What happens if you’re on vacation? What happens if you had a bad day? I don’t know. What do you do?

I’m never not going to show up because I had a bad day. Because when I have bad days, I find that my Thursday night lives make it all better. I do get burned out though on like, “Are you bored with me?”

Are my ideas interesting to the members still, how can I always get in that feeling like, am I doing enough? And then I have that issue. If I go on vacation, I just communicate with them and tell them hey, I’m going to be like I was out of town last Thursday.

I went live Thursday at 7:00, but I just told them, “Hey, I’m at this conference, and I’m going to do our tonight’s live on Tuesday. So, next week, we’ll have Tuesday and Thursday.” So, I always make up for it another day.

If I’m going to miss it, but burnout is real. Yes. And sometimes. No one has ever made me feel this way. But I feel a lot of weight. Because I want them to succeed so much and I feel this weight of am I doing enough for the wallflowers that aren’t engaging with me?

For them to see that I care about them too. I want to know what they want to know. But if you don’t engage with me, I go through that, too.

And how much does it cost to join this group?

It’s $27 a month.

Jillian Leslie 30:12
Wow. Okay. And now, we talked about this on the phone, you are building something. So, do you monetize through this group? Are there other ways in which you are monetizing?

Amy Sadler 30:34
Not through this group. So, the only money I make from my group is their monthly payments. So, I give them coupon codes and things like that, but I don’t want to bombard them, with links and things like that.

I do have discount codes for two companies that I do make affiliate money from when they order, those are more high end items too that I just wanted to get them a discount for. Does that make sense?

Pivoting into Teaching Paint Mixing and Color Combinations

But what I’m doing now is shifting and pivoting a little bit into. So, I’m a painter and then I started teaching color with resin. And now I’m being drawn back to painting. And like I said, I know my story is super weird.

But I don’t really talk about this stuff on my business social media. This is just in my group. I don’t talk about it anywhere else. And I only reopen one other time to a few members since I started it.

So, it’s still for our founding members and a few new members. I don’t talk about that on my business pages because my business pages are paint related. And I feel like it’s totally different. I don’t want to confuse my business followers.

So, on my Instagram and my Facebook. I do monetize through affiliate links and through affiliate links on my blog. And I’ve been approached by brands recently for paid partnerships. So, that’s how I monetize there.

And then also, I found a need through what I’ve been doing for more color combinations and color palettes on my business page. I know I’m being confusing, but anything on my business page spills into my way group.

Your business page meaning your blog, your Facebook page, your Instagram.

Yes.

Jillian Leslie 33:13
So, Pinterest that is all related to painting. And then you’ve got this membership sitting off with all these members and by the way, you’ve never opened this again.

This is just like one off people can join but otherwise it’s those founding members where you show up every Thursday and teach resin. So, in addition to doing that, then you’ve got a blog and you’re blogging.

Amy Sadler 33:38
I’m a baby blogger.

Jillian Leslie 33:40
Okay. Yep, I know that because we helped you. You’ve got a blog and brands are reaching out to you to work with you as a painter with paints and things like that. And you are using affiliate links to sell paints that are different than this whole resin thing.

Amy Sadler 34:00
Yes, well and a lot of my affiliate links too are for like interiors, and design and colors. And on my business pages I do color palettes and I talk about how to do paint finishes and things like that.

Jillian Leslie 34:16
So, now what are you building?

Amy Sadler 34:19
Now, I found that there is a need for people like when I started my business and it morphed into the interior design. People struggle with colors.

Color combinations, what things go together, how to pick a countertop that’s going to match your style, and your wall color that you want.

Jillian Leslie 34:41
I just have to say, Amy, when we finish this call, can I just show you some of the samples we’re thinking about because I feel really insecure about it.

Amy Sadler 34:49
Yes, and that’s what I’m here for, for anyone. That makes my heart so happy to hear you ask me because it’s a real thing. It’s a real struggle that you have that I can help you with. So, that’s my why. You’re my why.

Jillian Leslie 35:07
I wish you could have heard David and me yesterday talking about it. We have these samples of quartz countertop, and they’re this big. And we go, “Oh my god.” We literally looked at each other. And we’re like, we’re not designers.

We hold it up. And we’re like, who knows? Could this work? And it’s such a big question and an expensive question. So, we’re like, we could totally make the wrong choice here. We have no idea. So, thank you, Amy. But yes, know it is a real fear. It is a real anxiety.

Amy Sadler 35:43
Yes. And like you said, it’s a big expense to remodel a kitchen. Even if you’re not replacing the countertops. It’s still something that maybe it’s a life savings for some and even if it’s a couple thousands of dollars.

And it’s humbling, it’s humbling, because we honestly don’t know, we don’t know. And you know, so I’m like, oh, my God, you would know, and I don’t know,

And I have proven ways of making it easier, So, that’s what I’m gearing towards in my business, is helping women who want to remodel because it’s just time, time to refresh and upgrade and do some new things without breaking the bank.

There’s still cost involved anytime you’re going to refresh things, but it can be done reasonably. And that’s what I want to help people with.

Jillian Leslie 36:44
So, what does that looks like?

Amy Sadler 36:47
It looks like, first off helping people choose color palettes.

So, is this a group? Is this a consulting service? What is this?

These are going to be blog posts, and posts on my social media that helped with some colors like that you might identify with one and see that, oh, I can add this and this and this, do it.

And then also, a lot of people are DIYing right now, because you can’t get furniture, you’ve got to repurpose the things that you have. People are holding on to their money they’re holding on to their houses.

The best way to DIY furniture is with chalk paint. Well, the chalk type paint, you can’t say chalk paint, because it’s copyrighted. So, chalk type paint. But chalk type paints come in limited colors, so you may not find the color that you need.

Selling Custom Paint Kits

So, what I’ve done is I’ve always made my own, I have a formula, and I’m going to bottle my powder formula. And I’m going to put it in a subscription box. And I’m going to put color palettes inside that subscription box for each month, multiple color palettes.

So, if you want to DIY some furniture and paint some things around your house or your front door or whatever it would be. I will give you my formula of powder that you can mix in any color of paint from any place any store any brand that you want.

And make your own chalk paint that sticks to anything. And it’ll make the choices so much easier.

Are you literally bottling this yourself or do you have just like a company that is helping you? How are you starting this?

Right now I’m bottling it myself. And then as I grow, I will expand and have that produced for me somewhere else. But right now I’m doing it in my she shed.

I love this. Oh, okay. Now you’ve got this whole other business that you’re launching, when are you launching it? What is your plan for launching it?

So, my plan for launch is I’m going to start talking about it on my business pages and in the blog in August, mid-August. And I will open up sales in September and then hopefully the first boxes will go out in October.

Wow. Amy, that is so impressive. And are you going to promote this to your current group?

Yeah, I’ve asked them of course, they’re my guinea pigs. I always ask them first like, “Hey, would you guys be interested in this?” If they weren’t interested? I wouldn’t do it.

But when I talked to them about painting and paint finishes and how to accomplish a DIY paint project. I got a resounding yes, please help us. So, that’s how this started. So, yeah.

Jillian Leslie 40:18
Oh, wow. Amy, once you’ve launched this, would you come on for a part two to talk about it? And how it went and what you’ve learnt?

Amy Sadler 40:26
Oh, absolutely. Because I’m learning a lot. And I’m sure I’ll learn a lot more. And you know what, it’s one of those things, let me just say this right now. I think it’s going to succeed wildly. But if it doesn’t, that’s okay. It’s something I have to try.

I have to get this out of me and into the world, and then see what happens. I think it’s going to be wildly successful, and I have every hope. But if it’s not, I am not going to crawl in a hole and hide and die.

I am going to do the next thing that I feel like would help people.

Jillian Leslie 41:04
Wow. Are you at all like just hearing you? And I don’t know what I think about this. But I feel like you’ve got these separate businesses and is there a way like, one plus one is two businesses equals three?

Like somehow cross promoting the painting style with the resin stuff, because they seem very separate right now, but they’re so related.

Starting a Subscription Box Business

Amy Sadler 41:32
Also, with the subscription box, you can just get the subscription box and get the products that I put in there, which will be extremely helpful in a DIY project and with choosing the colors.

However, if you would like to join my group, and let me teach you paint finishes and colors, then you can also separately join the group. So, you can just get the box, you can just join the group or you can do both.

Jillian Leslie 41:59
But here’s the thing, if one is painting furniture, let’s say and one is resin stuff, will you be including furniture painting in this resin group?

Amy Sadler 42:08
Yes, we already do furniture painting in the group and talk about paint finishes and things like that.

So, they’re already kind of coming together?

They’re coming together over the last few months I’ve started, there was a desire for them to learn painting, and how to use that.

And so, I started and then I thought, okay, let’s see, what are the things I’ve always done that are hard for other people that I can help with. And this just came alive.

Okay, first of all, are you going to be opening your resin group anytime in the near future?

If someone is listening to this podcast and they would like to join, they can just send me a DM or an email at asadlercreative@gmail.com and I will give them the link to join if they would like to join.

And also, in the future by the time this podcast airs, I will have a link for the group to join.

If people want to reach out to you, let’s say they just have a question about hey, how do you start this group? Or, hey, I want to be painting, what is the best way for people to reach out to you to follow you to see what you’re up to?

You can follow me at @amysadlerdesigns on Instagram. And my blog is the same name amysadlerdesigns.com. You can reach out to me my email is asadlercreative@gmail.com.

And just send me a message, follow me. I will be talking about it on my social media. And I’ll gladly email you a link if you’d like to join or know more about what’s going on.

I find you to be so inspiring. And I think it is your fearlessness, which is really admirable. I will say I was emailing with somebody yesterday who was wanting to start a blog reached out to me had been sitting on this idea for so long and said I’m paralyzed by perfection.

Jillian Leslie 44:35
And I was giving her action steps like, “Hey, sign up for our Blog Start program to get your blog set up.” And then she’s like, “Should I sign up for your WordPress course?”

And I said, “Wait, let us get your blog set up and in the meantime, please do some stream of consciousness writing on perfection and how it’s holding you back and what does it mean to you? Where did it come from in your own life? How does it weirdly keep you safe?”

Because then you don’t have to do stuff if you’re paralyzed by perfection. What your life would look like if you didn’t, if you weren’t ruled by this perfection, and what does it mean to go be embarrassed? Put something out there that’s not perfect.

Like, how would that be? I said, “Then, once you’ve done that, we’ve got your blog set up, get my WordPress course.” But until you’ve really examined perfection, I think that’s a step that we all need to think about in our own lives.

And this is why I teach this concept of B-minus work. B-minus, it’s above average, but it’s not perfect. And remember, perfection is not profitable. So, I feel that in everything you’re doing.

Amy Sadler 45:55
I have a couple of things to add to that, perfection keeps you from helping people. And the goal is helping people my goal every day is to help someone, I wake up and I say, Lord, send me someone to help today.

Perfection keeps you from helping people. And the goal is helping people my goal every day is to help someone, I wake up and I say, Lord, send me someone to help today.

Amy Sadler

Whether it’s getting something off of a high shelf, at Walmart, or whether it is someone on the side of the road, or whether it’s my neighbor who just, need someone to talk to. Just send me someone to help.

When you look at life that way, perfection does not have any part of that equation. There’s no such thing as perfection. I feel like perfection is just a person keeping themselves from greatness.

And from a business perspective, perfection is not profitable. So, keep that in mind as well. I just want to say to everybody, if Amy is inspiring to you, and you’re ready to set up a membership.

Jillian Leslie 46:53
Please reach out to me at jillian@milotree.com because I want to help you with our new payment platform, get paid and start something just go do it. And if you fail, well, we’ve talked about it, it’s okay, you’re going to survive, and you’re going to learn.

And so, get that business going. If you have an audience of people with a need and you can serve them what is better, what’s better?

Amy Sadler 47:21
And you say you feel like I’m fearless. And that kind of intimidates me a little bit because I am not fearless. I’m not without fear. I just have courage and courage is getting through fear.

Everything I do afraid I was afraid to open a group. And it went well. I’ve been afraid to do the things I failed at and they failed. And that is okay. Like I said, I am falling up the stairs like I’m tripping up.

I’m only going up because I cannot let myself get lost in fear. I have fear but I’m not lost in it. I’m overcoming it. I’m courageous and you have to be. And I’m not ashamed to say that, I am courageous, I’m brave. I get through those hard things.

You know what I’ve been through hard things in my life, I had no control over. I recently beat cancer. I had part of my kidney removed, I had no choice in that. But I could not be afraid and just stop, I had to keep going. And I had to recover.

And now I even have more of a drive to help more women because it really showed me that I don’t have forever. And I have a skill and I can help people with the struggle of just putting colors together and making your home your own.

And if I can help someone, it may seem small to some people, but I know what it’s like to live in a house that doesn’t feel right. And I don’t want other women to go through that.

When you feel at home, in your house. You can get more things done, you can relax a little bit you can entertain people, it just makes you feel like you can conquer the world a little bit more. I don’t know. I know that’s silly.

It’s funny inviting you on the podcast and I wanted to talk about your membership and pink colors because I didn’t quite understand exactly what you did. And I feel like the conversation has just gotten so deep and meaningful.

Jillian Leslie 49:52
Like seriously, you’ve just made my day. So Amy, I want to say thank you so much for coming on the show and I want to do a part two with you after you have launched your paint business just to see how it’s going.

Amy Sadler 50:07
Okay, and you know what I promise you whether it’s wildly successful, or whether I fail a little bit up the stairs, I’ll still come back for part two and talk about it.

Jillian Leslie 50:18
I love that. Well, thank you so much for being on the show.

Amy Sadler 50:21
Thank you for having me. I have enjoyed it.

Jillian Leslie 50:24
I hope you found this episode inspiring. And you could tell by the end of it that I did too. I really respond to the way that Amy thinks about her members, the way she thinks about trying new things and the way she perseveres even when fearful.

So, I challenge you, if you have something to inspire others with, to start a membership like Amy has, and to use our simple way to get paid call MiloTree Easy Payments.

If this is something you are thinking about, I want to push you to do it. You could do it with MiloTree Easy Payments and a private Facebook group. So, head to milotree.com/betatester, and we can talk about your business.

I am now all about finding new ways for entrepreneurs to make money. And if they could do it by serving others, I can’t think of a better way. Again, milotree.com/betatester.

I just want to hear what you’re building and I really want to help. And then I will see you here again next week.

Other Blogger Genius Podcast episodes to listen to:

• How to Set Up a Paid Membership Program with Ease with Melissa Lanz
• Why It’s Worth Growing an Engaged Facebook Audience Right Now with Melanie Ferguson
• How To Easily Profit From Your Niche with Tamara Bennett

Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy…

If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you.

Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we’d love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week.

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