Kim Duke - Scribbly Membership Interview

This week on The Membership Podcast, Claire chats with Kim Duke about one of the most unique memberships we've featured on the show.

Kim is a writer, book coach and former sales trainer who created Scribbly, a snail-mail membership designed to help women rediscover the joy of writing. Every month, members receive a beautifully designed writing package through the post, complete with prompts, inspiration, stories and creative encouragement. 

In this episode, we discuss:

•  Why Kim completely reinvented her business after recovering from breast cancer 
•  The journey from international sales trainer to writing coach 
•  Creating a physical membership in an increasingly digital world 
•  Why she chose a snail-mail membership model 
•  What members actually receive inside a Scribbly package 
•  Designing an evergreen membership that can run for years 
•  How she recovered from a disappointing initial launch 
•  The surprising power of print advertising 
•  Using magazines to reach the perfect audience 
•  The importance of email marketing and building your list 
•  Managing production, fulfilment and postage costs 
•  Structuring membership levels to encourage commitment 
•  Creating a membership that naturally leads into higher-value offers 
•  Building a business that supports freedom, flexibility and long-term income 

What Is Scribbly?

Scribbly is a monthly snail-mail writing membership for women who want to write more, journal more, tell their stories, explore their creativity and build confidence in their writing.

Each issue includes:

•  Writing prompts 
•  Essays and stories 
•  Inspiration and creative exercises 
•  Beautiful illustrations 
•  Postcards and keepsakes 
•  Thought-provoking themes 
•  Opportunities to submit writing for publication 
•  Optional progression into more advanced writing support 

Everything is designed to make writing feel joyful, accessible and pressure-free. 

Key Takeaways

•  Memberships don't have to be digital. 
•  Sometimes the most successful ideas are the most unexpected ones. 
•  Evergreen content can create long-term recurring income. 
•  A disappointing launch doesn't mean the idea is wrong. 
•  Understanding your audience is more important than having a huge audience. 
•  Print advertising can still work incredibly well when placed in front of the right people. 
•  Email newsletters remain one of the most valuable marketing assets you can build. 
•  Reward commitment rather than one-off buyers. 

About Kim

Kim Duke is a writer, book coach and founder of Scribbly. She helps women reconnect with their creativity through writing and supports aspiring authors in writing and publishing their books.

After spending years as a sales trainer and coach, Kim rebuilt her business around her lifelong love of writing and storytelling, creating a business that combines creativity, flexibility and recurring income. 

Member Success Stories

Inside Scribbly, members range from teenagers discovering a love of writing through to women in their nineties finally telling stories they have carried for decades.

Many members describe Scribbly as giving them permission to write again, helping them overcome self-doubt and build confidence in their creative voice. Some have gone on to publish blog posts, articles and even begin writing books of their own. 

What You'll Learn

By listening to this episode you'll discover:

•  How to create a membership around a passion or hobby 
•  Ways to build recurring income with a physical product 
•  The pros and cons of snail-mail memberships 
•  How to structure membership levels and progression 
•  Why evergreen content can be a powerful business model 
•  How memberships can lead naturally into premium offers and services 

Links Mentioned

• Kim Duke Writes/Scribbly
• Instagram - Kim Duke Writes
• Facebook - Kim Duke Writes

Connect with Claire

For more membership and recurring income strategies, visit:

• Recurring Income Academy
• Claire Mitchell Coach

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who has expertise, knowledge or creativity they could turn into a membership of their own.

Transcript

Speaker 0:12

Welcome, Kim. Welcome. So happy to be here. Well, all the way over from Canada. It is so lovely to speak to you again.

Speaker 2 0:20

Oh, I just, I just love it. I was absolutely thrilled to be on this call today.

Speaker 0:24

Well, we've known each other for a long time, but that's what we don't tell how long. A long time. Um in fact, you were my first sales coach back in the day, and it's we've we're still in touch, which I love. Um, and so when you started your membership, I was like, right, I need to get Kim on a call. So for the benefit of everybody who doesn't have the pleasure of your acquaintance yet, could you tell us who you are and what your business does, please?

Speaker 2 0:53

Well, my name is Kim Duke, and my website is called Kimdukewrites.com. So it's that's pretty self-explanatory with that. And what I do is I teach women how to joyfully write, to really dive into some creative writing, but to write for themselves. And also I do book coaching. So I help women write their books that they've had inside their heart for years and have been too scared to do anything with it. So I have two components of my business and they really work well together. They really feed each other perfectly. But but it's such a joyful thing. Honest to goodness, I just feel like I don't even work. That's the best kind of business. It's it's oh my god, so fun.

unknown 1:36

So fun.

Speaker 1:37

So I can't wait to tell people about your membership because I've just I've got my little envelopes here, which are just beautiful with the fox on. Um, I've fastened them all up again. I'll be through all of them. Um, because these are what you get with your membership. And you are probably my first snail mail in the nicest possible way, um, membership owner. So, what's the name of your membership and who is it for? And how would you describe it?

Speaker 2 2:05

So my membership program is called Scribbly, which, oh my God, it took me forever to come up with that, with Scribbly. And and it's designed for women. I designed, I I I absolutely wanted to create a snail mail monthly program that gets mailed to you because sometimes we can all get a little overwhelmed with some of the digital stuff that we're getting. I I use digital too, but sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. And I had a I knew that women, um, a certain percentage of women love getting things in the mail. I do. For years I've wanted to actually for years I've wanted to do this because with even with sales divas, but the timing wasn't right. And then when I switched businesses and really went into what I love, which is writing, and I've done all sorts of cool things. Um, I thought, you know, I'm gonna be absolutely radical by doing something unexpected, which was creating a snail-mail program where women receive this cool scribbly every single month in the mail. Beautiful.

Speaker 3:06

And I remember even when you were Sales Divas, when you were a sales coach, you used to send me little snippets and little goodies in the mail all the way from Canada, all the time. And I actually have one for you, which is going to blend its way. Let me just start.

Speaker 2 3:21

Yay, yay, love it. Well, well, certainly what hasn't, I think all of us certainly appreciate what I love. Oh my god, are you Kingdom? It's coming to Canada.

Speaker 1 3:31

Oh, I love it.

Speaker 2 3:32

Okay, I'll I'll make sure I take a picture of that for my number. That's great. Uh something that I think that is is I think everyone can relate to this. We get bills in the mail, we get we get a lot of boring stuff and flyers and whatever else, but we don't get much fun mail. And that's really what Scribbly is. It's something fun just for yourself. And because there's no pressure with it, it's a really whimsically designed program where it has a theme and that you don't have to. We have postcards, there's some other physical elements, writing prompts all the way throughout. The work has been done for you, and you don't have to think about what you need to write about. That's all been done because each each scribbly has its own theme, everything matches that theme, and uh everything from research and and I love art. I always incorporate art, and I've got an amazing illustrator who does things and quotes and stories and tons of writing prompts. But it each scribbly builds on the next one. So each one is everybody starts at the same place with Scribbly number one. And actually, right now I'm working on Scribbly 23. Wow. So it it's uh it's it's truly uh probably one of the most joyful things I've ever created in all these years of being in business. I love it. It has had its ups and downs, which we'll talk about. I've made mistakes for sure. But it doesn't matter because the concept and the reception of it has been so powerful. I don't care, you know. And I think that's really what I want to get across to everyone today is that you just don't have to be perfect to do something. You you just gotta get out there and you try it, and then you you fix on the fly. You too, totally fix on the fly.

Speaker 5:27

Absolutely. So why did you start your membership in the first place?

Speaker 2 5:34

You know, that's sort of a uh, and you know this about me, but the people who are watching this don't. So I'm just gonna uh tell everyone. I had a business for many years. I worked, I came from the world of media, and then I had a business for many years, which that's how Claire met me. I was a sales coach, sales presenter, spoke on stages all over the world, worked for some of the largest companies in the world. And then in 2016, I got breast cancer. And wow, that was a so all the speaking engagements I had to cut, or I still did other coaching and things like that, but I spent a year in treatment. And when you go through something like that, and I know there will be people that will relate to this, any sort of major life event that happens that catches you off guard, you really, for me anyway, I was like, Well, one thing I do know for sure, I'm not going to keep doing things the way that I've been doing them. I obviously need to, I really need to reassess. And certainly what floated to the surface through all those months of lying in bed and being ill, I just was wanted to go back to what I've always loved, had always done, which was writing. I was trained in writing. I have written three books, I've always helped my clients do books, launch books. Uh, was always writing. In my spare time, that's what it was always doing that. And I thought, well, I'm gonna go all in. And taking classes for over well over a decade and a college degree in it. And so I just decided that's what I was going to do. And it became um something, and I'm sure all of you can relate to this is that you actually can't sleep. You keep waking up, and you because you know something just won't leave your head. And that's what happened with me. And so it took a few, it took because of course I spent a year in treatment and probably a year after that getting better. But I was working on it behind the scenes and uh was finally ready to launch during a pandemic.

Speaker 7:34

Which actually, you know, of all the times when people were at home, probably able to spend time that they wouldn't usually have, actually, it might be the blessing, you know, for your business.

Speaker 2 7:45

You're right. You know, like I think possibly that that is something that that helped. Although we'll get into it. I did my launch wrong. I'm gonna ask you about that in a moment, actually. I didn't I yeah, I did the launch wrong, but um and uh but that's okay. It was okay. I learned so much about that.

Speaker 8:05

Let's talk about when you launched your membership and what did that launch look like? How did you get your first members?

Speaker 2 8:13

Well, what I did, uh behind the scenes, so I had uh I worked with a web designer and created a really fabulous website. I felt, and because of my marketing background all these years, I knew that was solid. I also knew I needed a blog, and I know I needed I needed that to feed it. And so um what I ended up doing was I because I had an existing list from SalesDivas, which was my previous thing. I had many, many, many thousands of women who were on that list for the Sales Divas part. And because I was starting over with something completely new, I did a bit of a slow launch or slow warming those people up before I actually did do the live launch. But I uh act, but I still overestimated my list. So that was probably my biggest mistake, and I knew better. But you know, you just think, oh, they're just gonna go for it. No, no, they didn't. It what happened because it was such a it was so different. Oh, Kim Duke, who we love, we sign up for sales training to now like, oh, Kim Duke, who who's writing and who or who's doing this. They didn't know enough about that part of me for the for the masses to come over to that. So that definitely was my biggest mistake. Because what was the response? I had a trickle versus the tsunami that I had what how I was honest to I have to say, I was crushed. I was crushed the first month uh that we did the launch and everything. And I and then I was like, Are you kidding me? What did I just do to myself? Because of course I had invested a lot of money on the back end first to do something like this. The design, designers, ill illustrators, like, oh my god, so much. But I knew I just but the reception for the people who did buy it, who came in and who went for it because they just trusted me, they went for it. The reception of Scribbly was so positive and immediate. As soon as they got it, they were like, Oh my god, and they're taking pictures of it, it's just sitting in the car holding the envelope and there, because everything is whimsical. And then uh, and then I just had to I realized I needed to do a redirect and just change things up a bit. And so for about three months, still so I still kept it out there and realized that the good chunk of my list was dead, that there I had to just clean it out and start from scratch, and that was really the best thing that I did was just release the past, release, like, oh, you know, who you were before, and just really just dive into what I was doing now. And that was the smartest thing, truly. And I also implemented something um that a lot of people may not think about doing. And I took a chance on something called print advertising. So I was still doing Facebook ads, still doing my own newsletter, which by the way, everybody, uh having an email newsletter is critical. You have you have to have it uh on so many levels. And so, of course, social media started doing a bit more of that, but definitely was staying in front of my list, writing more blog posts. And then I purchased um an ad in a national magazine in the US called Mary Jane's Farm, because it was she had writing in it, it was about you and your chickens, like she's all about that. It was all about, and it was all, and because it's a magazine that gets mailed to your home, I go, why wouldn't I advertise in something that actually gets mailed to people? Because they're my people.

Speaker 11:49

I remember you talking about Mary Jane's Farm years ago because you loved it even then. I did. Um, is she the one who had little badges that you could earn?

Speaker 2 11:58

Yeah, I did talk about that. Oh my god. She's got like 30,000 members on her sisterhood in the back end. Like this woman has done a brilliant job with also having uh a physical product that gets mailed out, but then so many other layers to the business that tie into that and that create a real sense of community and love. Well, let me tell you. Um, and they were so wonderful. They gave they because this is a national magazine. It looks like a fancy, like a magazine that Oprah would produce. It's not some rinky dink thing. It's two countries that they send it out to. They gave me an unbelievable small business owner rate. And I ran that first ad, I tell you, and my heart was in my throat because I thought, oh, if I just wasted a what have I done? And then the ad ran. And within days, the doors blew off.

Speaker 12:54

Wow. But it just shows that the old-fashioned for the right people, you know, print, snail mill, there is there are massive audiences out there who are really ready for this.

Speaker 2 13:05

There are it. It's so much of it, and I know I taught you this too, is that so much of this, it's not about trying to be something for everyone. Yeah, you are really, you really have to understand your your audience, your your niche audience. And you do not have to have a million people to have a successful business. You just don't. But and also how how my business has two layers had it has the book coaching. I wanted it to be, I have two components that feed each other. And so it it just became it's it's very, very natural and peace. So people have over now, it's been four years now, just to celebrate our four-year anniversary.

Speaker 13:47

Happy business anniversary. Thank you.

Speaker 2 13:49

Thanks so much, thanks so much. And and it has been uh even with the lumps and bumps and the potholes and you know the crap that happens along the way, this has been truly such a joyful experience.

Speaker 14:00

So, Kim, what did your very first scribbly look like? And is it the same today? Have you changed very much?

Speaker 2 14:08

It had uh it had it has changed because of course you learn. So issue one just had a different, it had a different cover and a very simplistic cover, something that was really important to me because I'm an environmentalist kind of a girl. I wanted, I I actually pay more for my scribblies to be produced. I wanted it to be a Canadian product, I wanted it to be completely made on recycled paper and recycled everything and everything down at the ink. I I just didn't want this to be something that impacted the earth in a negative way. I know that's nerdy, but that's what I wanted. Nerdy but beautiful. Nerdy but beautiful. And so the paper, it's sort of a rustic craft brownish paper that has a beautiful texture. And so just had a very simple picture of Scribbly on the front with issue one, and it was all about let your words come out to play. And then the and so that for probably about the first year was testing the copy within that, the content, to see how it was received. It was quite well received, but then of course you grow. And so I went in uh after the first year, and then have and I well, it's kind of an ongoing thing. I'm always changing it, going back and and saying, okay, what do I want to review here or change here? And I did go back and uh change almost the first half of Scribbly, number one, just because I'd learned more from the members about what what their fears were, what the response was, what they were sending to me as testimonials, because people email me all the time. I just had one sent to me this morning. And it was, I really revamped it and showed and identified with their fear of writing and re-and really just talked to people about how I just really want them to write something badly. Give them I give them permission. It's like, hey, look, the and addressing expectations about how somebody told us we weren't creative, someone told us, oh, you can't write, or you're not gonna make any money doing that, or how can you do that? You know, we've all heard that with creative things or with our businesses, and I really just dove into that initially and just encouraged people, and I am gonna swear, I didn't swear, but Ernest Hemingway did. He said, Listen, the first draft of anything is shit. And so I encourage people to just really embrace that, and it takes all the pressure off, and that's really what Scribbly is this very whimsical, no pressure thing, but yet that they have the opportunity to send their writing into me, and that it has an opportunity to be published online on my blog and also in a few in a future Scribbly. So that has to talk about that, yeah. People really, really love that, like so much. Because that's what I, as a writer, a young writer all those years ago, that's what I just wanted to see my words somewhere. Yeah, and so I really wanted that to be part of the platform as well. That you can't force, I don't force people to do it, but in terms of they want to send something into me, and I feel like, but again, if somebody I can always tell if someone hasn't put any effort in. If it's something they've slapped together, no, you know, I get them a little bit of not so much feedback, but just say, okay, keep at it. But then when I can tell that they have they've put some work into something, yeah, I we put it online and we put it into into future scribblys as well.

Speaker 17:35

That's a really good kind of segue into the next thing that I wanted to ask you, which is what is in your membership? You've mentioned there that people can get feedback if they want, they can get published online. And I'm just gonna and I've worked this around a little bit, but I mean, when you see these, this is what we get. Get the beautiful is the fox called Scribbly? Yes, Scribbly's me.

Speaker 2 17:59

That's Scribbly's basically uh that's me, that's my animal. I'm an animal, whatever, but turned out as a scribbly.

Speaker 18:07

So within everyone, I've just put it down somewhere, but there's a lovely postcard in here. Everything's just so beautifully illustrated, and there's Kim with her little foxy hat on. I could have picked any one of these because they're all just as beautiful as a puff of fish. And all of these are just little snippets and sections and prompts. There's a postcard and ideas, and so I mean, this in itself is just a work of art and is very beautiful and you know to be treasured. How does the rest of it work and how scalable is it, Kim?

Speaker 2 18:45

The beautiful thing is it's quite scalable. So something that was important to me when I did this, when I made such a huge shift from being a sales trainer to now I'm going, okay, I'm diving all into that. Thankfully, all that experience came with me in terms of the marketing and under and understanding things. And so the scalability also had to come back to initially that it was evergreen. So for those who don't understand don't know that term, an evergreen product is something that I didn't want to have to be um recreating and a new scribbly every single month of the same type. I'm always making new ones in the future, but I did I wanted to be able to produce something once, which of course our costs are higher when we first produce something. But then I wanted to be able to sell that same thing over and over and over and over and over again, with very minor changes, like photo, maybe some photo changes, uh, some copy changes. But that basically the once the work was done and paid for, the work was done and paid for. And so uh an evergreen meaning, because you're going to laugh at this, but I think a lot of people uh I'm 58 and uh it's all about okay. So is that I've been in uh it's for me coming up, oh my God, it's gonna be 24 years that I've been an entrepreneur in October. And so part of that is having your own pension. And so I designed Scribbly as well to be an ongoing retirement pension plan for me. Perfect. I did because I thought, and I knew how to do that, was it has to be evergreen, aside from those changes. And so Scribbly takes over us, my me and my team, over a hundred hours to produce one. Wow. Just because of the research, the writing, the design, the the it's like there's a lot. When people receive this, you know, it's roughly 40-page um periodical, booklet, whatever, it's jam, it's jam-packed with writing problems and essays and samples so that you get to you get to experience through my writing and my voice, that's how they learn. It's slow. We wal I walk through people through through this very slowly, but I wanted it to be evergreen, which means that I wouldn't have to spend a lot of money ever updating it down the road. And that also I never mentioned movies or politics or anything that's happening in today's world right now. It's really just about ordinary life and about writing.

Speaker 21:11

So nothing that would date it at any time.

Speaker 2 21:13

Never never, absolutely never. That that's why, aside from the photos, that you have to keep like my any photos or pictures of me, obviously, have to change. But um that was a really important part of the scalability as controlling the cost. And also just with the and also in terms of the different levels that I have. I have my program is two levels, actually, three, just created a third one. So there's a level one, which is has three levels. People can just try one. You can like you, okay, you want to put your toe in the water and try one. And the, or there's a three month and then there's a six month, and then after that, they go to level two, which is where there's more the first three levels, there's no uh feedback from me directly. You know, like there, I there's no way I could keep. I could keep keep doing that every single month for everybody. But in terms of uh level two, now there's opportunities where if they submit, they have a chance for me to have a look at their work. And um, and of course, always for all groups, anyone that wants to send their writing in can be published either in a future scribbly and or uh also on my blog and my website. So that has been people love the women have really responded to that. And there's it's not like there's a high percentage of women that go for it. I would say 10 to 15 percent, because of course it's scary to submit your writing. But sometimes I'll have women who have been a member for a year once they've gone through 12 issues, and then after that, they're joined the Scribbly Writers Society, which is another level that I have, which then has Zoom classes and other things that are part of that. Um it's like they just have to get those first six issues under their belt. Although today, when I got this email from a woman who just subscribed, and she was like telling me how thrilled she is and how excited she is, and how much she loves her very first issue. Like, I love what a way to wake up, hey? You go to your computer and there's this amazing. Um, and actually talking about how much she loved writing as a kid and then got away from it because of life of life, or it's either life or it's from criticism from somebody else. That's I hear that a lot. That people somebody said something that deflated a dream, and then they they it really affected their confidence and they stepped away from it. So I get those people are subscribers, and also women who've always wanted to write, but just like, where do you start? What of where do I start? And they didn't know. And so this is a really simple entryway for that.

Speaker 23:50

So how does your pricing work then, Kim? Do people are people on a certain level and then they kind of graduate to another level? And how does all of that work from a really practical pricing perspective?

Speaker 2 24:00

I I wanted initially, I wanted in the very first level of Scribbly, I wanted people to be able to just buy one if they wanted. Because I are we all like that. Sometimes you just want to buy one. But with that, uh, I and also, you know, I'm not about being the cheapest. Uh or we're so it's $57 US, or if they're in Canada, they're paying $57 Canadian for that very first one. And it doesn't include shipping, they're paying their own shipping for that. Because I also believe that with one hit wonders, uh, I don't, I as and I, you know, and you know I talk about this when it's for sales all those years, you reward commitment. And so the discounts and things, and people will talk to me, oh, can I have a discount for the very first one? I'm like, I gladly will give you a discount if you buy the three or six month program. But for the first one, no. And you have to be willing to say no in your you have to remember, you don't want everybody your it, this is such an important rule to remember that your brand should repel as many as it attracts. And so that's part of it. So if somebody gets ticked off because I'm not going to give them some smoke and discount, and I also tell them, and look, this is not Amazon. Snail mail is called that for a reason. It's going to take two weeks to get you. I'm so upright about it. I'm like, look, oh, it hasn't arrived in two days. I get an email sometimes, it's not here yet. I go, because it's still crawling across the ocean on a boat. Don't worry about it. You know, it'll land anyway. Um for most people, it lands much earlier than that, but it is two weeks. I give discounts of both the three month and six month levels. So the more you the more you commit to me, the more I commit to you in terms of discounts. Yeah. Then the next level, once people have gone through the first six, first six issues, then they go to level two, which is from six to twelve. And that is a different price point because they have some start having access to me personally. And so again, the more, and for those of you who are doing your your membership site, you don't give it's called skin in the game. And so you don't uh you don't give all that personal interaction to people that are at the smaller levels because they're quite frankly don't have enough skin in the game. And so as the levels increase, there's more contact with me. And so the top level that I have is the Scribbly Writings Writer Society, and that is where we have monthly Zooms. I teach one tonight, actually. I'm doing one tonight and it's recorded. And we actually write together. I give a prompt, I have a theme for the call, we do, we do all of that. I will assess some of their writing if they have questions. Totally, but that that's for people who have gone to they don't get to even, they're not even invited into the Scribbly Writer Society until you've done 12 issues. Because I just end up having uh uh someone who a member who is far they're committed. They also have because everybody is at that level, they understand my the scribbly language, they understand how I feel about things, they they're not asking those questions that aren't relevant. And someone that's just only done one or three issues, they're not in the groove yet. They need to be in the groove of Scribbly. And it's it's really transformative what happens to women when they do this on a they love the accountability that they're getting at their scribbly every single month. Even the fact something is coming to you, even if you don't do it right away, and I but but the newsletters encourage people to spend even just 15 minutes to write every day, just a little bit, you know, and then all of a sudden, then all of a sudden I can sometimes most people dive in. There's always a certain percentage that don't do it right away, but then they do, and then they're hooked. Yeah. So you I feel uh having things at different levels has been truly a good thing. It has because there's options for people, they are being rewarded financially, and I include the shipping, and they get a discount on top of that on the levels that are the three and six months. And so that has been really good. And once truly, once people have gone through the six months, um they're pretty much, you know, they're they're they're ready to go all the way to 12. And then there's always a certain elite, that top 20% of those people, that will then go the next the next step, which for me is roughly around $500 US uh for the year for them to get into the scriptly writer society. So you don't get everybody, yeah, and that's okay, and that's all right, you know, the uh it's that's okay. There's still lots of people, and also I had uh I had a a client talk to me a little while ago. She was at that level, and she was like, Oh, are you gonna be bringing in like right other writers and talking about social media and doing all that? And I said, Nope. And she was like, What do you mean? No. I go, nope. What you've just said to me, I feel you're ready to go out, get out of the scribbly nest, away you go. You're you're ready now to go do that. And I think she was a little shocked because she didn't want to leave the scribbly nest. But sometimes it's time, they're ready. But that's why I designed this. Yeah, it's I designed it for you to learn, grow their confidence. Though they just get to be, it's very scribbly is so well, you can tell by the name, and I use a fox as my mascot. That they get to just do this very whimsical, loving experience, and then and then they get to put all the way throughout everything. I'm also always encouraging people to submit, to do blog posts, to talk to uh work with other people, do strategic alliances, send a little something into your local newspaper if they have that. Like to try to even Mary Jane's Farm has it, and people have done it, and that they spread their wings, and then once they're ready to do all that other stuff, it's like, well, now you're ready to go. Off you go. And for me, that's where the it's it is always that constant getting new members in because there were there is a lifespan over that. Yeah, I've uh the longest peep members that I have would be. Well, I have one member who's been with me for four years, like she's been with me the whole time. So she's she just there's there's people that have that then they get into the Scribbly Writer Society and that they're in. But again, that's an elite group of people. And then those people, that fee sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. No, that's fine. Come on. Those people as well. Why I have that top level where people can come through, most at the very, very top level. Um, again, they've been through at least 12 issues before they are even invited to come into that. It's not even on my website. That they're they're then now ready to do other things, which leads into people writing books, which is the other component of my business, is that I'm a developmental editor and a book coach. And so there have been a certain percentage of my top, top level that have then transferred into big-time clients, big time revenue generation. Because I help people become Amazon bestsellers. Every single one of my authors has become an Amazon bestseller. It has. It's just like a nice egg. It's it's just it's just worked wonderfully. So I and it's just such a joyful thing. This is because writing and falling in love with writing, a lot of people have hang-ups about it, but yet they secretly want to do it, but they don't know where to start, or can, and I teach people you can write about, like really, I have very whimsical issues. I there's a food issue, there's an issue that's about courage, or there's a wish about tap travel. Everything ties into that. But I do include whimsical little things. Some of the time, sometimes I'm like, I want you to go into your fridge, and I want you to pull something out that's in there, and I want you to write about it. And people are like, What do you mean? Go to my fridge and write about like they're like, What? Like what? And I go, You can write it. I said, I I wrote a story, an essay about ketchup. And this story about why I had this ketchup bottle from Texas. Or I will tell people, guess what? You're gonna write about a vegetable and I'll just throw it at them. You're gonna write about carrots. I want you to write a story that includes carrots. And so at first the brain goes blank, but then they laugh. Next thing you know, people are writing the most brilliant things a memory from being a child, or doing making a carrot pie, or with their grandma, like they're like all sorts of weird, or their dog. It it's I love teaching women how to write about ordinary life and to find the meaning in that, to find the meaning that a reader is looking that would be looking at that essay or that blog post, and that they get to see what happened to their the writer through that process. And so that it that it speaks to people, that you can write about an egg, and that at the end of it, the reader is like, Oh my god, that was and then they're thinking about something, or someone they cooked with, or when they first learned how to cook, or that midnight fried egg that they made with a lover, you know, it could be whatever, I don't care, but it it's it's I I really scribbly wanted to simplify writing, just make it fun, and it's so much fun.

Speaker 33:59

It's really I love this so much. So, as a as a fantastic snail mill membership owner, I would love to find out how you manage the logistics, how did you find everybody? How did you work out postage? You know, how do you have to kind of keep within a certain weight limit? How does it all work? And where was the big kind of learning for you in that? That's such a great question. Thank you for that.

Speaker 2 34:25

There was uh there was a lot of back end stuff. So I produced, and again, I would encourage this to everybody don't go out and make a whole bunch of the thing of whatever you're selling. So do control your costs. So what I did, I didn't even produce, I produced two at the beginning because I knew, okay, I've got a 60-day spread from the time I sell something to then I can then I can just as long as I was at least two months ahead of my members, I was good. I was golden. And so what I did is because again, I everything about Scribbly is environmental because it's really important to me, that it was produced in Canada, recycled paper, blah, blah, blah. Found a fabulous printer. And I um first went to Canada Post and I had I talked to a consultant there about different weights of envelopes. And so I actually started with that. I went to the end and went, I because I could not produce something that was going to cost 15 bucks to mail. I couldn't produce something that was going to cost $10 or even $8. It had to really be in that five to seven range tops. Um, because also at the second, once they get into a three-month or six month, I'm absorbing the cost for the like that. It's built into the price. So we start, I started at the end of like what were the different weight levels, what were the different the size levels? And so, and that was what determined everything. So I took that end result of what I knew were my max because I wasn't going to put myself at risk with shipping. Like you can blow your profit margins with shipping. And I also uh, and I'm I've had people mad at me about this somewhat, what's maybe down the road? I may do digital in some form for sure. But there are some countries I just can't deliver to because it's just too expensive. Yeah. So I deliver to Canada, the United States, um, all throughout Europe and the UK. And I also we we actually were able to figure out Australia and New Zealand as well because we had such a huge uh response from that. But there are other places like Latin America and Mexico, and it just doesn't work. It just it just the cost is too prohibitive for us to ship there. And so that is a thing, but I had to like let that go. Not not get they can fall, they can go, they can follow me on my blog or they can do other things to get the, but they won't be able to produce to buy scribbly from that. So again, I started at the end and also didn't produce too many. That was important because there's a lot of physical elements to a scribbly. There's little cards that we produce where there's like writing prompt cards that go in, there's postcards that are in. I have I hired um designers that I worked with a woman, uh wonderful woman from Argentina, young woman from Argentina, who helped me with a book that I did about five years ago. And that's so she's been with me ever since, and then she's connected me with some other people. So I've got my whole Argentinian team. They're marvelous. And using the Canadian printer because I didn't want to be at a uh like vulnerable if I had to be dealing with stuff coming in from China or from the US. I didn't want that. So I made sure that I could control the elements of Scribbly as much as I possibly could. But you cannot go in and make too much stuff at the beginning. You really have to just be a few steps ahead of your client. And that really uh, and with you know, developing this with the end in mind, going, okay, what's this going to cost if X number of people buy? And uh, you know, maybe a whole bunch of people are buying the first one. That's fine because they're paying for the shipping. The second one, some of the the shipping is but it's now built in. So now it's built into my profit margin. So you have to. So that's really how we did it, and worked our worked my way backward with the printer. So then I knew that each scribbly could never be more than 40 pages. So it's always the same size. It's a five by seven, it's got a particular size envelope, it has a certain weight, and that never changes.

Speaker 38:40

And who sends them out, Kim? Do they get sent out from the printer, fulfillment house, your house? My house.

Speaker 2 38:47

You send them out yourself. Yeah, we do. I have now initially I did everything by myself because don't we all do that at the beginning, which you almost have to because you don't know. You're like you're it's pretty hands-on. But now, once a month, I have I have because it's only about a day of like assembly or whatever, but I have two fabulous ladies that come in and it's all we have a system, and they just they but they come here, come here in my house. And uh, and because I now you know four years in that I have because it's rope members are rotating, of course, all the time, going from either one month or like which of those, and we'll talk about that too, in terms of the sticky factor in terms of people as well, like one month, three months, six months, etc. Um, so that was a huge I had to do that. I had to like get some help to put put the stuff together. But I do get things just to keep my costs lower now. I do have because of course we have 22 issues, but there's uh there's not everybody's at those higher levels. So it's always we have to keep in our inventory um from basically issues one to 12. There's got to be a pretty consistent inventory. So they're like just a couple days ago, uh you know, I dropped $3,000 ordering all these issues, just making sure that I'm never stuck and that we've always got on hand that minimum order for each for each group of things. Yeah. But the costs, uh, you can't wing it with stuff. That this is something you can't really wing it. You will learn on the fly, just as I said before, you can fix on the fly there's things, but I but the actual size of it, dimension of it, the envelopes, the the full color. I'm making I could not like to do this. Thankfully, I was able to do full color with this particular printer all the way throughout Scribbly. And of course the cover. But there's you know, there we you just have to watch. I didn't want to do gloss, gloss drove the price up. Uh adding, I have to be careful. Everything inside that gets tucked inside at the beginning. I wanted to put like magnets and do other stuff. Well, now you're eating into your profit margin too much.

Speaker 40:59

So just with the little inserts and things, um, because again, you know, this is stuck on. Do you do that? You get the raw ingredients effectively. You get your booklet and you put the inserts in and stick things down, and yeah. So your your hands or your team's hands are in every scribbly. Uh there are someone's hands touching every single scribbly all the way through. With the I'm glad it's not glossy because it's just gone, it's so rustic and lovely and touchy-feely, and that craft paper's just beautiful.

Speaker 2 41:28

It is. And it made me happen, so I didn't go gloss because it was too much. But it but the end result, these the cover still has a sheen. It's lovely. Yeah. And for me, it was always important on the back of the cover of each scribbly. Is I never I'm just saying it, it's only women writers that I put in my scribbleys on the back. I talk about men writers, of course, on the inside, but the back cover is always a woman writer. Often it's a writer who's dead because I feel like women didn't have never received enough recognition and accolades for the work that they've done. So I have both writers from who are alive today, but many of them who are dead that maybe you didn't even hear about. But what uh and the quote that they have is always relative to the theme within each scribbly. So nothing is by accident.

Speaker 42:17

But and that falls across, it just feels so like designed but looked after. It just thought, you know, everything's thoughtful and meaningful and yeah, as it's it feels very deliberate, is what I'm trying to say.

Speaker 2 42:32

Thanks in a really lovely way. It's meant to be because that's one of the biggest worries that we found very quickly in terms of uh because of set asking people for feedback and whatever. The first thing that they really talked about was their fear. Their fear of looking stupid, their fear of actually just going blank and not being able to write anything, the fear of not knowing what to write about. And that really hung people up. They were really hung up, and so they just didn't stop, they didn't even start because they didn't know where to start. So we just, I thought, well, to hell with that. Let's just take, let's just strip away all of that, and then it just becomes you open it up and away you go, and that it you're being guided every step of the way, the theme is there, it's all it's just I wanted it to be just a really simple, lovely experience that you can pick up and put down, pick up, put down with your kappa, whatever.

Speaker 43:30

And you have a whole month before the next one's due. So you've got all the time in the world to savor it and and you know, cogitate over it.

Speaker 2 43:37

And yeah. And people have their scribbly library, that's what they all refer to it now. Because you can't throw them away. No, no one throws it away. Oh, fuck no. No, that people are like they're like they go, Are you kidding me? I don't let anybody touch it. You know, people will say, like, oh, they want to borrow it, and I tell them, just go buy it. You don't get to borrow much. So they have their scribbly library, and uh it's yeah, honor. I I don't think Claire I've ever done anything that I've loved so much in a business.

Speaker 44:04

I can tell. I can tell.

Speaker 2 44:06

Just because it's uh and and the response, and like people can make me cry at my computer.

Speaker 44:13

Well, tell me about that because one of my questions for you is um, what member stories can you share with us? I'm sure you've got loads.

Speaker 2 44:22

Oh wow. Um there, you know, there's always the ones that really stick in your head. I so I've had as members, I've had uh a woman as young a young woman as young as 14, that her her mother, she's she's so she's homeschooled in the United States, and her mom, oh my god, so dedicated to her love of writing. Like she's one of my top members. She's been her mother just has committed thousands to her being part of this, and just how and how it's changed her and with her school and like her confidence, and it's crazy. Right up to a lady who was 90 and who same thing. Kim, I've always wanted to write stories about my childhood, I've always wanted to, and just didn't, you know, I felt stupid about it and about my and she called it her little stories. But she said that, and this is I hear this a lot, where people say scribble gave them the confidence to do stuff. And I think what you said permission, it feels like it definitely gives people permission. It does. And it's it's funny because I had a one of my members wrote in, she goes, you know, at first I didn't kind of get it, like in issue for issue one or issue two, I didn't get it. The click, the click hadn't quite happened. And then she said, and all of a sudden by issue three, I got it. She goes, I just I it just all clicked. How how things are built together and even just within herself about it. So much of it is I'm just telling people, like, let's just push your worries about writing over here and let's just focus on having some fun. And let's have some whimsy. And also they get to learn by reading my writing. I write the entire scribbling. Every scribbly has been written by me. Yeah. And the research has been done by me. And I have weirdness and QR codes. And so there's elements of I wanted it to be more than just a periodical. I wanted it to have those physical elements tucked inside. So there are everything from uh we have when you get to a certain level, also the thing, some of the things change on the inside as well. So through the levels, the inserts, some elements stay the same. Like we have always have a postcard, and each one that is the cut from the back cover of the scribbly. There's always a writing prompt and a little card, but there's writing prompts built in throughout the entire book, yeah, but not as separate little cards. But there's uh temporary tattoos, we do bookmarks, we do all sorts of cool things that are light.

Speaker 1 47:05

Light to post.

Speaker 2 47:07

They've all got to, and honest to God, the ladies at Canada Post where I go to, they've been so marvelous because I I bring in stuff, I get them to weigh it. I'm like, okay, when I first went, I said, I want you to weigh this. What would it cost me for it to go to England? What is it going to cost me for me to send this to Germany? What would it cost uh for it just to go like down the street? Or how is what how about Texas? Like how far, yeah, like so I really developed a range of of cost, and then that's where the tipping point was no my god, no, no, I'm not spending a hundred bucks to send a scribbly. Yeah, now this whole mail thing, uh last year I was hit with a bit of a whack and unexpected because of a strike, a mail strike. Gosh, okay. But you know, what do you do? So the Canadians, all the Canadian subscribers, they they they understood there was no way because the cost to courier here from so you probably forget it, like it wasn't gonna happen. Courier costs are just so prohibitive. There was just no way, but I did find a way, and uh, a really good friend of mine who we've been friends, best friends for years, she lives in Plano, Texas, and we I spoke to her. I said, Okay, if I send you a box, I'm gonna courier you a box of scribbly's. Can you mail them from the U.S.? She's like, girl, fire them over. So couriered, big freaking box, some of my costs during that strike, that sucked because I was having to pay that additional because I was paying not only the the cost um for the courier in it to the states, but then also there was the mailing costs that were on top of that that were in US dollars versus Canadian. So it wasn't fun, but you know what? It was still okay because of how I had monitored and been so strict about my my my costs that I knew the margin that I had within each thing. So it worked out okay. You know, it wasn't great, it wasn't fun, but it worked out okay. And then you got through it. I got through it. There was no Canadian subscribers during that period of time because they know there's a strike, so they're not gonna sign up for anything. So that you know, I wasn't great, but I still kept up with my UK advertising and still did my newsletter, still did my thing in the States with the ad there. And you know what? They they still kept buying.

Speaker 49:43

And then do you still use those now then, Kim? Are you still using those um um you know in magazine um adverts, the print adverts? Absolutely.

Speaker 2 49:53

Yeah. I've also experimented because this is a big part of having a membership, is that you you are always you don't want to get flat on your feet. It's it's good to be always experimenting with things, other things that have worked for me, because it really has uh been a compilation of things. The anchors, the ang, the main the two anchors would be the print ads that I do, which because they feed my newsletter list. Then once I've got them on my newsletter list, like I got them. And so, but then I use other things to feed that list constantly. So it's not about just the sale. I don't care about this. Of course, I care about this getting revenue, but I want their email because now people can get my my newsletter, and then I don't all of us, and then I see that as soon as I send out an email, all of a sudden, of course, there's a flood of people that buy because they can't do it.

Speaker 50:49

You're the person who taught me that way back. You know, the one of the first things you ever taught me. Well, one was you know, know your numbers, and I still have that same spreadsheet to this day that I look at the sales forecast, and I do, I still use it. I just don't send it to you these days. Yeah. Um, but the other thing was you know, build a list of email subscribers, build your database, and send newsletters. And every time I send an email, I get sales, and I now teach that to all my ladies. So your your kind of teaching is going far and wide, far beyond me.

Speaker 2 51:23

I love that. I can't, I cannot uh tell people, like everyone who's watching this, you must, even though you might resist having a newsletter. I know there's a lot of fear about that. I get it, but there's there's so many like when I first started setting a newsletter list out to my new list over 20 years, like 24 years ago. Oh my god, it would take a day because I had to do it in code. I have and me, I can barely put together a vacuum cleaner. And here I am having to go backslash colon, semi-colon, number two. Oh my god, it was absolute torture, but I did it because it's so inexpensive. It's it there's nothing more powerful than an email newsletter list. Yes, you have a blog, but how the hell are they supposed to find your blog unless they randomly find it? This way you can drive them to the blog. You drive them, and then on average, it takes roughly, I call it touches, which I remember teaching you about, takes about 26 touches before someone decides to buy.

Speaker 52:26

And the other thing that you taught me, just on that um same subject, was that your newsletter keeps you top of mind. Yes. So when people are ready to buy, they'll buy from you. You taught me that way back when.

Speaker 2 52:39

Yeah, absolutely. And the tipping point can happen at any time. Like I had somebody just say, Oh my god, I've been, I saw your ad, like in the in the Mary Jane's farm, over and over. Like they clip it out, they stick it on the fridge. You know how it is. We go, like, I'm gonna do it. Yeah, one day I'm gonna do it, one day I'm gonna do it. But they got on my list pretty quick. And she said it finally, she goes, kid, that's it. Today today's the day, Kim. I'm buying. But that's but that's how it is. Like we we have to, you do have to plan ahead. You're planting the newsletter, it helps you plant seeds, and you're going to be able to harvest that at different times. But it's been and it's so affordable. My gosh, like the you know, one that I use is like $25 a month. It costs nothing to stay in touch with people, and so I use that, but then back to sorry, here I am, blah, blah, blah. The other thing is experimenting with new things. So I buy, I have tried ads on other people's blogs, which I've tried a few, didn't work, didn't you know? I didn't get the response that I'm looking for. But then, you know, if you try, I tried about uh I think about seven, and then there were two winners. And so they cost me barely anything, and they're just they just are fabulous. So then that's where you like buying sometimes little classified ads. I've tried that too, depending on the market. That how that also has worked really well. Um, doing interviews like this, I've had I've done other interviews for other people or written, sometimes just like just written about writing. I did a a ton of stuff when I first was making the shift from sales divas to Kim Duke Wrights. Uh, there's a website called medium.com, which is a wonderful place for someone to first experiment with like again with writing. For me, it was an excellent platform to get my to just build my following that also then they followed me over to my newsletter. And uh I ended up getting interviewed by NBC Television out of New York based upon my writing on medium.com. Fantastic. So every little, you know, we we have to be strategic, but you also have to be willing to try the occasional new thing, as long as it's not going to blow your budget and where you where you think if I do this one thing, it's gonna make me a million dollars. No, no, it won't. It's it's consistency that is going to make you the revenue that you're looking for, and that also to have reasonable expectations of what you're going to make. My first year, I broke even and I was thrilled with that because my heart up, my first my car, I had a I had a really great website, design designers did how to do a lot of stuff on the back end before I made a cent. But then after that, like going into year two, very quickly, it's like became profitable because of how I designed the pricing and my expenses, understanding my hardcore expenses. That's look at me waving my finger. Nothing changes, nothing changes. So, Claire, I'm sure people are wondering, okay, Kim, like how much money do you make with this with Scribbly? Uh, I get asked that a lot because of course everybody's like, oh my god, we what do you do? And I'll say, Well, it depends. So, in the summer right now, so on average, because remember, I have rotating members all the time that are that are rolling through. So, during the summer, it's a little softer. So, it would be anywhere uh like I'd say 40 to 57 people it can sink down to in the summer, which is okay, you know, like that's that's good. But then once, but then I saw because I'm totally happy with that, and uh they also tend to be there's there'll be people who'll be finishing their three month or their six months. So they're they those people have paid before because they pay me up front. I'm not paid monthly for the program. I'm they womp, they pay me the whole thing, and so as you can see, so then you're always wanting that new influx of people giving you that lump of cash. Yeah, so the summer gets a little softer, but that's okay because I'm really focusing on planting those seeds with people and just being like the turtle, just be consistent. And then in the fall, fall and winter are definitely my best. And uh you know, like one of my top months was when I had a hundred members. That was really amazing. Because when I say that month, those people have bought one month, three months, six-month plans. Yeah. So it can be, you know, 12 to 15,000 in one month down to in the summer, it could be five grand.

Speaker 57:30

Which for something that you absolutely love doing and doesn't feel like a job is an amazing business.

Speaker 2 57:36

It is. And so it's so that's a thing. It and also but uh for membership to understand, depending how you structure it. There's people, I'm sure you have people all sorts of members, they have all sorts of stuff going on, that it's an annual membership, it's a monthly, it's every other month. Like you can really design things how you want, but you do have to watch your cash flow, like that's such an important thing, and your expenses. You must not sink. There's been a lot of people, I I know people who have membership programs did not fly because they did not watch that bottom line. Yeah, they fell. What happens if you fall too much in love with your product and you're not uh you really like it's like I know you want to be nice, I know you want to be good to people, I know you want to be fair, but you're not doing this just for other people. You are also doing this for yourself, and this and also you have to be rewarded for the hard work that you put into it, and also for the years of work, like you're making something beautiful for someone else, or they are learning from you that that may have taken you 10 years to learn.

Speaker 1 58:45

Absolutely.

Speaker 58:46

I'm not on sale, and this doesn't matter whether you're sending out physical items or you know, running a running a kind of more teaching membership, it's the same principle. You still need to watch your costs and how much of your time and energy and effort is being you know taken up by the membership, you still need to have a life and make a profit.

Speaker 2 59:06

You do, and and I know this some people may disagree with me, not all customers are created are created equal. True. Because based upon uh somebody who's just a one-hit wonder coming in for one month and then demanding that they want this, that, or whatever, but they're only willing to commit to one month isn't does not have the same value to me as a customer who is like a three-month, six months, a 12, uh, 12 month. Like, you know, I'll I'll do I do a lot for those people. So you have to reward commitment. Yeah. So don't reward the one-hit wonders. Reward commitment. When people really commit to you, that and you see like on the scribbly levels, the I commit, I'm committing more with discounts, with throwing in shipping, with uh just more access to me. Like I am meeting them. I am meeting them. And when they get to like be on a call with me, they're not paying for that Zoom call because it's part of the over the period of a year. But people uh pay thousands to be coached by me over an hour with my other writing program for books. So like they they realize, oh my God, I get to speak with Kim for an hour and have like other people on the call, and we do some writing and I do prom like they they understand that what they paid for one what they paid for a year of scribbly with me at that level, um, in one call, they have they have basically paid for the whole thing. Yeah, the volume is just huge. Because the other people don't have c don't have me. So that's I think I think it'd be really easy if you designed your membership program wrong to burn out fast. I see this happen all the time. Yeah, you can you can really kill yourself financially, go into debt, and also burn out because you're actually giving way too much content too fast.

Speaker 1 1:01:03

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:01:04

And then and then you've set this, then you've set this um this bar. You give away too much too quick. Now you got and you don't you haven't thought far enough ahead. Now you've got now what have you got yourself into that you have to so uh and of course as being in sales for such a long time, I knew I knew what I was willing to do and what I wasn't willing to do.

Speaker 1:01:26

Yeah. And I think it that comes with experience, doesn't it? When you first start out, the inclination is to try and please everybody and just do more than they expect and just you know be so nice to everybody, as you've said, um, but it doesn't have it's not sustainable. It's it's very easy to just over over-egit and end up burning out, like you said.

Speaker 2 1:01:47

Well, you can't where you're yeah, you and what it does is it sets up expectation. Absolutely. You certainly have expectations of delivering some a fine product or a fine service. You know, that we're not talking about that. We're talking about where you are starting to overpromise and then you're under-delivering. Yeah. Because you can't keep it up. You cannot keep it up. And we you don't, I want I I really encourage people to do it the opposite way. Just start smaller, manageable, and then grow it. Just grow it. But and also don't have unrealistic expectations right out of the gate. Like, wow, I'm gonna be rich.

Speaker 1:02:26

Well, I always say, you know, most of my ladies, their memberships, they start off with two, three, four members. Um, they might only ever have 20 members, but those 20 members might bring in a couple of grand a month, and that's life-changing, you know, every month, money coming in where you don't have to start from zero every month. It's just amazing. You know, it doesn't have to be about huge memberships.

Speaker 2 1:02:49

I that that is such a great point, Claire, because I think when you see that that the membership can either be by itself, its own revenue stream, that that's all you want or need, or that it can feed into something else, like in my situation. But I did design, I really did design Scribbly to be uh a long-term revenue, like almost a pension for myself. I love it. I knew it would be evergreen because of how I designed it, but I I there's there's there's no reason for me to stop doing Scribbly. Like everything's been done, it's easy to update, and people love it, and we like, and it's you know, as long as mail exists.

Speaker 1:03:38

Well, I want to ask you about that. Actually, what are your plans for it? I mean, you've said it's it's your pension plan, you can basically bring people through. Have you got a maximum number of scribbleys that you want to kind of cap at? Are you gonna say like after 50 that's it? Or have you got any idea about that?

Speaker 2 1:03:55

You know, I um I would love to have it for it to be a couple of hundred. Because that is is because it's absolutely manageable cost-wise. Also, it actually becomes cheaper for me to order, then you're ordering larger volume, which then the printers really start giving you some serious discounts. Same thing. Now they're, you know, I'm a long-term customer, I do get some discounts from them, but because I'm not ordering thousands of things, like thousands of each issue, same situation. They're going to give bigger discounts for them the more that you're actually putting into the game, too. So, oh yeah, I I absolutely want that growth, but also I understand that I have to uh also grow the staff that I have to be able to manage that growth. Yeah. And I don't want it to be where it would be a daily thing. Uh we ship once a week. So I don't want it to be a daily thing. That I'm really clear about because I don't want to have people, I you know, I'm an introvert, I'm an extroverted introvert. I don't want a bunch of people around me all the time. So, in terms of we know that it, I don't want it done. I also really super clear, I don't want it done by a fulfillment house because I it's super important. All of these other little touches that we add to Scribbly, they mean a lot to me. And I know that they mean a lot to our members. So it'd be more about uh, you know, if I had to have some the my team working like five days a week for one week a month, that would be that'd be lovely. And the other thing, and potentially down the road, um I've certainly thought about can putting somehow putting some elements as a digital delivery program. I've thought about that, but I'm not in any hurry to do that. But ever but we are prepared if we had to do it. Yeah. We've got because everything is already produced, so there are ways we've got ways to do it. Yeah, and also we've got everything. Like we've got we've got everything. And the other thing, so it could actually become a digital online magazine if we need to. And then the other thing would be um. I want to, because I'm a writer, I also and I love to write too. So I will, I do see that there's going to be scribbly books that'll be on Amazon down the road. But again, making sure that I don't bastardize my own product. So it would be about the love of right, pleasure of writing for one or like other other types of things. But and then we're again using Amazon and it and it's what it does to drag more people to that program. So that is something I will have uh I'm launching a book for Scribbling next uh next fall in 2026.

Speaker 1:06:34

Exciting. I mean, you are the embodiment of somebody who's designed the membership to suit them, which is what you know that's my philosophy through and through. So I'd love that you've done this. Thank you. Can I ask you? So, what difference is this membership making to your life then? What does it let you do that maybe you wouldn't or couldn't have done with a different business model or your old business model?

Speaker 2 1:06:56

You know, I think the because I was being I'm a 24-year entrepreneur, and that has changed uh a lot since I first started and where I was going out traveling around the world, speaking on stages, doing that stuff. I don't do that anymore because I made such a big shift. So, what Scribbly has allowed me to do, that even though it's a physical product, I still have people, my staff, even if I'm not here, it can still be mailed out because everything else is online. The are like the the orders and the information that comes in and the you know ordering stuff, and it's all here, but I don't have to be here to do it. And so it has allowed me freedom to work remotely, um, whether it's just up at our we had we had a cottage or we're looking into a motorhome now and doing more travel, I can still be promoting Scribbly and doing my newsletters and stuff anywhere in the world. So that to me is so huge. And then also, you know, I don't plan on getting sick. I certainly don't after uh going through breast cancer and all that crap, but it does make you think about oh, okay, what happens if you can't physically be in front of somebody? How do you create revenue if you can't physically be in front of somebody?

Speaker 1 1:08:08

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:08:09

And uh what how what do you do if life hits you with a hammer? Which all of us in some case, whether it's divorce or whatever, have been hit by a hammer of something. And so the membership has allowed me a lot of freedom and flexibility to maneuver within what I need and the hours that I have and and what I want. And I think that is fabulous. Like it, it's I wish I had done it sooner. Even with the glitches, even with my crappy launch that I did at the beginning. That's just because that that was a screw up on my part of uh overestimating the strength of my list. But hello, it was a totally different topic. I look back and I'm like, what was I thinking? But it doesn't matter. It's those mistakes I've learned from everything. I've learned uh from absolutely everything. And so and I'll keep making mistakes because I keep trying new things. But that flexibility uh being able to work remotely on your own time, oh my god, I can't touch it. It's the best, it's the best.

Speaker 1:09:18

It's fabulous. So, Kim, what would you do differently if you started over with your membership and your business?

Speaker 2 1:09:27

It was it was funny. There's something it's it's a big thing, and it's something that I was right in front of me, and I I didn't see it because I was so jacked on creating Scribbly and just so involved in the process and was so excited that I did not tap into the resources that I had. Not my, not necessarily my my email newsletter list, which as I've talked about, um, had ended up having low conversion because I was switching gears into a new field. But it was all the resources I had of strategic alliances, of friends in business, of other people that I knew who would absolutely have happily have helped me by just doing a little blurb or but doing a little ad in their newsletter, or that they would have done something like what we're doing right now. But I just, I don't know. I just got too, I didn't, I made my own mistake when I talk about, but I got too much into my own thing that I felt I had to do everything by myself. And in fact, if I had asked people on my Facebook people who are following, if I'd asked people to just share, they would have shared it. They would have. But if we don't ask, we don't get it. Because how do they know they can't mind read? You know, and so if I could go back in time, I would do that. I would before I would do any type of a soft launch, I would I would ask for a favor from the people that I've have helped or people that are just and also who have the same target audience. That would be really important. Yeah, they're of the same people. Can't be so out of out of reach. But um, a little bit more of that would have really helped for sure. But it's okay. But anyway, don't make my mistake, everybody.

Speaker 1:11:12

Kim, this has been an absolute joy. I love these chats. I've really missed having these chats, actually. And it's so lovely that I can share them with my listeners. So can you tell us how you've mentioned your website before, but just tell us again how can people find you, connect with you, join Scribbly, get your help as a writing coach. Where can we find you?

Speaker 2 1:11:32

You can find me at Kim Duke. It's Kim, and then D-U-K-E writes, W-R-I-T-E-S.com, Kim DukeRights.com. You can also find me on Instagram, same thing, Kim DukeRights at Kim DukeRights, and also at Facebook as well. So I have Kim Duke, you can look for me there, and then I also have uh my business page as well. But I, you know, come in on I really encourage people to make sure you come in on my personal side too. Come in and pop in, have a look. And you can email me too. And so, or just contact me through my website and I'm gladly get back to you. I I really do love that about the members that I have. They're very I get emails every day. I love it. I I do. It's even if you know what, even if somebody is like, Where's my scribbly? Where you know, I'm like, I have no problem with answering that. It's like it's on its way, it's whatever. And then of course they find out that they gave us the wrong address or something, but that doesn't happen very often. But I like the I like that give that back and forth with people. I think it's great. So thank and thank you for having me for interviewing me and having me on. Like you're doing such amazing things for women by teaching them this. I and and all like you're doing what so many people get frustrated with is where do you where do you start? Well, thank you so much for offering that. That's fantastic. Thank you.