Why I'm going all-in on a membership business model

You might have noticed that my email design looks different. If not, it is 😄. But that's not the only change I made this week. I moved my entire website from WordPress to Ghost.org after falling in love with the CMS while building a website just for fun. Why I liked it so much, you can read here:

I’ve been haunted by a Ghost

Took a break. Read Houellebecq. Wrote a novel. Built a new website. Accidentally rediscovered why I do all this in the first place.

Build quietly. Sell smart | Stefan ZangerleStefan Zangerle

Initially, I planned to use my new Ghost page only as a content hub for my newsletters and blog posts, and maybe even for lead generation. I needed to simplify my tech stack because, honestly, it was starting to get messy.

Why I moved my website

There are a gazillion tools that are helpful for selling digital products, and I had many of them.

• Email newsletter = ActiveCampaign
• Website / Blog = WordPress
• Ad Landing Pages = Perspective.co
• Course Sales Pages = Onepage.io
• Checkout = ThriveCart
• Online Course Delivery = ThriveCart

Each of these is very specialized and probably the best for the specific task. But using so many also caused some frustrating friction. Copying content from A to B. Setting up automations with Zapier. Fixing broken things. Constantly doing stuff that is fucking annoying. Not so much fun.

And in terms of design, or what some might call branding, I also wasn't very excited about my setup. It just looked a bit off, and as a perfectionist, I couldn't only notice it but also found it annoying.

So with Ghost, I planned to combine at least the website, blog, and newsletter into a single tool and overhaul the design to give it a more modern and premium feel. So I did just that, and it turned out fucking awesome.

And when I was done, I had this little "what if" thought. An idea that seemed stupid at first, but turned out to get better and better the more I thought about it.

The initial thought of a membership model

Ghost is not only great for blogging, but also awesome for gating content. Meaning you have to sign up to continue reading a gated post or page. So I thought:

"What if I made my lead magnet a gated post on my blog instead of using a landing page, an email automation to confirm double opt-in, or a PDF that I constantly need to change and re-upload?"

People tell me all the time that they love reading my newsletters because I'm different. They say they feel seen through my content and can tell I'm authentic, not just another online guru.

So, why would I even use the same marketing methods as the gurus my followers and I despise so much? Why not just send them via ads to my blog, where the lead magnet is a gated post? The first 20-30% of the content is a free preview. If you like what you're reading, you can continue by signing up as a free member.

Sure, sure... I can hear all marketers screaming, "Oh my god, you can't do that. It will kill your conversion!" And I get it... I'm a marketer myself. But do I really want people on my list who can't commit to signing up to keep reading a post they really liked? Or people who don't even read until the sign-up is required?

I fucking don't. Because I know my audience well. People who stay on my list and eventually buy from me will do so. They probably even prefer to read a big chunk of a lead magnet first and only then decide if it's worth giving me their email address or not.

So I published the "Introverted Entrepreneur's Guide to Thrive" as a gated blog post:

The Introverted Entrepreneur’s Guide to Thrive

An extensive guide made for introverted entrepreneurs who want to sell digital products.

Build quietly. Sell smart | Stefan ZangerleStefan Zangerle

And from that point onward, it sort of snowballed.

Putting everything in a membership

I just loved how smooth you could set up a lead magnet like that, and what a refreshing honest approach it is.

"Did you like this ad? Read the first 30% of the post here. Still like it? Keep reading by signing up here."

Boom, simple as that. No funnel, no email sequence, no marketing mumbo jumbo. No fake promises, no "look how great I am", no pretending that it's a fucking life-changing masterpiece that will make you $1,000,000 in just a month. Just valuable content, with a twist: The reader decides whether the content is valuable, not the creator.

Once I had completed the lead gen flow for the guide, it suddenly hit me.
What if I took it one step further? Why do I do this just for one lead magnet? Why do I even sell courses individually in the first place? It's all for the same audience anyway: introverted solopreneurs. Why not build a whole library of content, both free and paid, specifically for my audience?

A library of deep dives, tools, tips, strategies, and online courses for introverted creators, paired with my personal experience in the form of essays, thoughts, experiments, recaps, and whatever I find interesting to share. All in one place.

But not some fake ass Skool community, or anyhting group-related where interaction is needed and forced to get anyhting out of it. No discord channel, no live calls, no need to actively show up anywhere at any time to get. That's all for our friends, the hustling marketing bros and boss babes. If you're just a little like me, you don't want any of that. You just want access to everything and to enjoy it whenever you feel like it or need something.

So that’s exactly what I built:
A quiet corner of the internet for creators like me.

There is no upsell, no funnel, no automation, no launch, and no marketing hack whatsoever. Only content in three tiers: free for the public, free for members, and free for paid members.

How it works

The basic "information only" stuff you find anywhere on the internet (or nowadays, just ask your favorite AI) is publicly available. No sign-up required.

Content that is more in-depth, more practical, or more personal in terms of "how I see things" is gated and accessible for free members only. The first 20% of the post is accessible as a preview for the public.

And then there's the premium membership. That’s where I share the real behind-the-scenes: business breakdowns, online course material, strategic deep dives, and the things I usually only talk about with close friends. I let you in on my exact thinking, what I’m building, what’s working, what’s flopping, and why it is. This is where most of my knowledge lives. The intro to courses and about 20% of the posts are accessible to the public; the rest is gated.

Right now, I have moved all content to my new website and assigned it a tier. To make it easier to understand, I've categorized using colors, too. I plan on adding new content every few days. When there is a new post online, you'll get an email. Go premium now, if you like to support me and this project, or wait until whenever you're ready!