Build With Becky: Smart Strategies To Grow Your Community-Driven Business

I'm about to do something I've never done before: step away from my business for my first maternity leave. But I'm not disappearing, the show will continue to drop weekly on Thursday! In this quick personal update I share the free 12-week community growth challenge I built to run inside my newsletter while I'm out. It's based on our 7-Figure Connected Community Model, the exact framework we use at Affinity Collective on every client project, from brand-new memberships to one with 80,000 paying members. I walk through all three phases, Architect, Activate, and Amplify, what each week actually asks you to do, and why doing the homework will grow your community in real time. If you want your membership to keep growing this season, subscribe to the newsletter and start here.

Links:

• Subscribe to the newsletter here to get the 12-week community growth challenge
• Join our challenge accountability group for $97
• Learn more about our 7-figure connected community model framework here
• + If you want more building a business as a new Mom behind-the-scenes content, I post a lot of that on my Instagram!

Here's the question I ask every founder who tells me they want to build a community: how many people can you write down right now, by name, who you know would join? Most people can't answer it and that's the real reason their launch stalls, and no marketing funnel is going to fix it.

In this episode I get into why the very beginning is the hardest part of building a community, and why your first members won't say yes until they know who else is in the room. I share what happened when we ran this exact exercise at Affinity, what an invite-only strategy actually looks like in practice, and how one client is filling her membership before the doors even open.

If you're building something and it feels like you're pushing a boulder up a hill, this one is for you.

Interested in working with my team? Book a free discovery call

Links:

• Learn more about The Collective (our membership at Affinity)
• Follow Annie's membership launch on Instagram

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

I'm seeing a big shift with content subscription products: creators and brands with podcasts, YouTube channels, and Substack newsletters are adding community experiences to make their memberships more sticky. Because content isn't enough anymore, and ad free content isn't enough either. In this episode I break down what my team found when we dug into how paid Substack subscriptions are growing retention beyond bonus content. I walk through real examples (all the Substacks linked below), and I share the trends showing up across all of them: programming, community forums, in person events, resources, and access. I also get honest about the 10% platform fee question, why we're seeing creators move away from Patreon, and how to decide whether Substack is the right home for your paid membership. If you're a creator who wants to grow revenue from your content subscription, this one's for you.

Interested in working with my team? Book a discovery call here

Substacks Mentioned:

• Design Better
• Lenny's Newsletter
• Your Brain on Money
• Behind The Craft
• Laid Off
• Group Life, Priya Parker
• Family Troubles
• Diabolical Lies
• The Audacity by Roxane Gay

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

Most memberships aren't struggling because they offer too little. They're struggling because they offer too much. In this episode, I break down a recent strategy session with my client Matt, whose membership had four tiers, an overwhelming content library, and way too much decision friction in the buying process. We simplified everything: two tiers instead of four, one central hub for connection, and a searchable workshops library. Less than a month after implementing, he had 21 new signups and $2,600 in new monthly recurring revenue. I also share why personalization belongs inside the membership, not before someone buys, and how Matt uses an onboarding quiz plus AI and the Circle MCP to build personalized 3 month roadmaps for new members. If your membership feels complicated or convoluted, this one is for you.

Interested in our strategy process? Book a free discovery call here

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

Checkout Circle App with a free trial here (using this link supports my business, thank you!)

I just wrapped up day three of Jessi Jean's YAP Challenge training and I have thoughts. Her launch numbers are wild (over $6 million and 22,000+ customers), & so far I have loved how much of her content advice translates directly to community building. In this episode I'm breaking down what nervous system regulation, attracting the right people, leading with service, and making things fun have to do with growing a thriving membership. If you've ever felt burned out on your own community or wondered why some groups just have a better vibe than others, this one's for you.

Check out my previous episode – Breaking Down Jessi Jean's 1.2M Product Launch

Interested in working with my team? Book a free discovery call here

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

Something unexpected happened recently that reconnected me to a version of myself I had almost forgotten. In this episode, I share how a conversation with Aarron and Eli from the Design Better podcast led me back to my creative roots. I share my favorite insights from their interview with CreativeMornings founder Tina Roth Eisenberg, and her philosophy on community growth. I break down a principle I keep coming back to with clients right now: community is not a community until it self-organizes. I talk about why every client I work with needs an in-person strategy, why hyperlocal is the future of community, and how you can design your member experience to create serendipity, ownership, and the conditions for people to genuinely co-create alongside you.

Links to all the things:

• Tina Roth Eisenberg on the Design Better podcast
• Find your local CreativeMornings chapter
• Check out Ellen's recap of her Flowermore Philly meetup

Interested in working with my team? Book a discovery call here

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

Circle just dropped their biggest product launch of the year, and I have thoughts. In this episode, I'm breaking down Circle's Eclipse launch, what the new features actually mean for community builders and admins, and where I think you should pump the brakes. I'm genuinely excited about what Circle AI could do to speed up execution and free up creative bandwidth — but I also want to be real with you about the risk of outsourcing your strategy to AI. The value in your community comes from understanding your people, and no tool changes that. I'm also sharing my takes on Circle Discover, Circle Studios, updated Courses, and the new Inbox feature.

• Checkout the keynote & join the waitlist here for Circle Eclipse features!
• Past episode: Should you add AI Agents to your community?

P.S. we build membership strategies & build them on Circle for you. If you're interested (even a little bit!) book a discovery call here

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

I'm starting a new series highlighting membership features I see working out in the wild, and this first one comes from my client Molly Balint of the Soft Business Club. She experimented with something called a "member week," a dedicated week of events tied to a new member launch, and the results were impressive. In this episode I break down how she structured it, why it works as both an onboarding tool and a re-engagement strategy for existing members, and how you can adapt the concept for your own membership. If you've been looking for a way to build culture, celebrate your members, and create a meaningful pattern break from your regular programming, this one is worth a listen.

Follow Molly on Instagram

Interested in working with my team? Book a discovery call here

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

Everybody is talking about Jessi Jean’s $1.2 million launch, but most people are talking about the marketing. I want to talk about the $297 product that 3k people bought in ONE week. In this episode, I break down why her 40-Day Yap Challenge resonated so deeply, what her launch reveals about product-market fit in 2026, and why community-driven experiences are outperforming traditional online courses. We’ll explore what happens when you build trust with an audience, create experiences people want to participate in together, and stop relying on complicated funnels to drive results. If you're building a membership, course, community, or digital product, there are some important signals worth paying attention to right now.

Interested in working with my team? Book a free discovery call here

Links:

• Jessie Jean's Instagram: Jessie Jean Home
• Jess Shira's marketing carousel and launch analysis

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

Most alumni communities fail because they remove all structure after the program ends. In this episode, I break down why engagement drops off after a cohort experience, how we’ve been designing a highly engaged alumni community for Beyond Connections, and why more content is not the answer. I share the lightweight programming, connection rituals, and community experiences we’ve tested to maintain over 60% monthly active users in a free alumni community and how this approach creates a huge opportunity for retention, referrals, and increasing customer lifetime value.

Interested in working with my team? Book a discovery call here

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective