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Breaking Down a 2,000-Member Mail Club for New Moms · Build With Becky: Smart Strategies To Grow Your Community-Driven Business

• 0:00
  Hello, my friend, I am back.
• 0:02
  And maybe you actually had no idea I was gone because you've just been binging the show and you've been listening to the episodes as they come out.
• 0:09
  But I actually scheduled the last couple months of episodes because I have been on maternity leave.
• 0:16
  I just had my first baby, she is 10 weeks old.
• 0:19
  I'm in this crazy identity shifting bubble currently and I'm coming back to this podcast recording.
• 0:27
  I'm a little bit rusty because I recorded all the episodes you've been listen to in June and July.
• 0:34
  And so, yeah, I'm getting back into it.
• 0:36
  Honestly, I am feeling a little bit like what do I want to create right now?
• 0:42
  What kind of content do I want to record?
• 0:43
  What kind of episodes do I want to make?
• 0:45
  And I'm just sort of stepping my toes back into the waters of what we're building at Affinity.
• 0:51
  My team has been running things while I've been gone and I want to do something a little bit different with this episode.
• 0:58
  So while I was out, one of my amazing friends sent me a gift which is a mail club.
• 1:06
  It's called the Postpartum Post.
• 1:07
  It's created by Cameron Moss and she sent me, she bought me a subscription to this.
• 1:13
  So this is a physical mail club.
• 1:16
  So I'm getting this beautiful package, this letter in the mail every month.
• 1:20
  I'm going to tell you all the details about it.
• 1:22
  I've been getting this in the mail every month and it's just really blown me away with how just so much love and craftsmanship and creativity has gone into this subscription and how it's so, so different.
• 1:37
  One of the things I've just been really thinking about over the last weeks is that community is so, is becoming so cut and paste, cookie cutter, repeat, you know, the same circle communities that we're seeing over and over,
• 1:53
  the same kind of structures that we're seeing over and over.
• 1:57
  And I think that the people that are going to win or get ahead or really be successful in community building or building incredible memberships are going to do things their way.
• 2:07
  It's going to be very different.
• 2:09
  And when we craft community experiences, I always want to think about who is this for?
• 2:14
  What do they need?
• 2:15
  What should the experience look like and really make something that's different?
• 2:18
  A lot of people want to work with us because they're like, oh, you've seen behind all of these communities, so what's the magic sauce like?
• 2:24
  How are we gonna actually do this and make it amazing?
• 2:26
  And my answer is actually, well, hopefully yours is completely different than what we've already done.
• 2:31
  Right?
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  Because that's what is going to break through all of the noise and actually get people really excited.
• 2:38
  So all of that to say, I received this incredible mail club subscription in the mail, and I was like, this is amazing.
• 2:45
  And then I started deep diving into Cameron and what she was doing, and she's absolutely not a client, never been a client.
• 2:52
  And I.
• 2:54
  So I'm like, well, I don't really know.
• 2:55
  Behind the scenes, I can see some of this stuff from her social media, but I really wanted some of the answers because we have never built a mail club, which is like a subscription where you get something in
• 3:05
  the mail.
• 3:05
  Right?
• 3:05
  So we have not done that.
• 3:06
  Of course.
• 3:07
  We have communities that send, like, random mail, like a welcome package or gifts at certain points, and that's different.
• 3:15
  So I was like, wow, I wonder how mail clubs really work.
• 3:17
  What is the economics of that?
• 3:19
  How does it actually work if you get a lot of subscribers?
• 3:23
  And how much money can you really make from something like that?
• 3:25
  Right?
• 3:26
  So I reached out to Cameron.
• 3:28
  I sent her a dm, and I was like, hey, can I talk about your.
• 3:31
  Your membership, your subscription on my podcast?
• 3:35
  And if yes, like, can.
• 3:37
  Will you answer a few questions for me?
• 3:39
  So I wrote to Cameron.
• 3:40
  I sent her.
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  We did an asynchronous interview because we're both moms.
• 3:44
  And so I sent her a list of questions, and she sent me back this very long Google Doc, which is incredible.
• 3:49
  So.
• 3:50
  So I have a lot of details here that I want to share with you, but first of all, I just want to say thanks to Cameron for creating this incredible membership.
• 3:58
  It's called the Postpartum Post.
• 4:00
  I highly, highly recommend it as a gift to any new mom in your life or for yourself, if you are a new mom, or maybe you're not a new mom, but you want to just, you know, read this
• 4:11
  and resonate with it.
• 4:12
  I.
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  I feel so seen in her work, and it is really touching and just, like, nice to know that I think one of my biggest takeaways from becoming a mom is, like, there's so much sisterhood in.
• 4:24
  In motherhood, and there's like, I feel like I got to join this cool club, this community that I didn't even know existed, and now I'm a part of it, and being part of her community feels really special.
• 4:36
  So shout out, Cameron.
• 4:38
  All right, you guys, so I'm gonna tell you all about this subscription product, and we're gonna get into the nitty gritty details.
• 4:44
  As you know, I Love to do so.
• 4:45
  So the.
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  It's called the postpartum post.
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  So what she does is she sends and she creates poetry and art.
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  So in each piece of mail, which you get monthly, she gets a monthly theme.
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  A monthly theme letter.
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  So a letter from Cameron introducing what the monthly theme is.
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  And they're very, they're very creative.
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  Like the first one is called Mother morphosis and it's about, you know, spreading your wings like a butterfly and it's like metaphorical.
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  So this beautiful theme letter and then one to three original poems and art prints.
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  So the po.
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  The poetry itself is on the print.
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  Like you could hang these up.
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  I'm thinking about, I'm definitely saving all of mine.
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  And I'm like, wow, where do I want to put these?
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  And I think I'm like manifesting this office in the city somewhere that I'm going to rent out and I want to like put them on the wall.
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  They're beautiful.
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  So you get one to three original poem and art prints.
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  There's journal prompts in there.
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  And then a surprise paper.
• 5:42
  Good.
• 5:42
  Now, of course, you know, this was coming.
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  She has access to the Village, which is what she calls her online, like digital community.
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  So essentially there is a QR code in my first package.
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  I scanned it and then I was able to join her community platform and really engage with other moms that are also receiving it.
• 6:02
  So logistically it costs $12 a month.
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  She also has some like six month and 12 month options.
• 6:10
  Um, she ships on the first and third Monday of each month.
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  So I think that this is interesting because it's like, how do you actually facilitate sending mail when people are joining anytime?
• 6:18
  Right.
• 6:19
  So she says she ships on the first and third Monday of each month.
• 6:23
  And you receive your mail either at the beginning or end of each month, depending on when you have subscribed.
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  So there's basically two waves of shipments every month.
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  And the way she's done it is you start with chapter one and so there's like chapters that she's sending each month that she creates this.
• 6:41
  When she started her mail club, she had around 27 members and she grew it to 100 members.
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  And then a video that her husband made actually went viral about the club and that grew to over 1,000 members in one day.
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  And now currently she has over 2,000 members, which is absolutely incredible for something that she just started this year.
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  It is really amazing and just a testament to like create an incredible product and it will grow.
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  Word of mouth.
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  I mean, that's what we see from the 27 to 100 even.
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  And then the virality of it is, because it was so unique and different, is bringing in so many people.
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  And I think that there's a lot of inspiration to be had here.
• 7:21
  If you are a creative or an artist and you're looking for a way people connect with your work, and you're looking for a way to reach them and make money from.
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  From your art, I think this is an incredible route to do it.
• 7:33
  So I asked Cameron how she tested this initial concept, like, how she came up with it and how did she put it out there?
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  And she said she didn't do any, like, traditional testing, really.
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  She.
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  The postpartum post came out of her own postpartum experience, and she wanted to write poetry about all the complex emotions that she was feeling.
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  She was sharing her poetry online, and she realized how many women were responding with some version of, oh, I thought I was the only one who felt like this.
• 8:01
  And then that made her want to create something tangible for new mothers, something that would help them reflect on their personal journey into motherhood during such a fleeting, overwhelming season.
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  And she loved the idea of snail mail because postpartum can feel so isolating.
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  And there's something really intimate about receiving something in your actual mailbox that was handmade specifically for you.
• 8:20
  So I love this.
• 8:21
  Like, that was her answer to my question.
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  You know, she didn't do any kind of crazy testing, but what I love is that she just put so something out there and then created something based on the response of how, you know, people reacted to it.
• 8:36
  And I think this is where we get really hung up in what kind of product to build is we think about, well, what's going to solve my problem?
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  Or what would I want?
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  Or, you know, you have an idea, but you haven't really, like, put it out there to see what resonates.
• 8:51
  And even though Cameron's answer was, well, I didn't actually test it, I.
• 8:55
  I think she did in a sense.
• 8:57
  Like, she put her art out there, and the postpartum post is.
• 9:01
  Is a solution to what was resonating online.
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  She's like, okay, my poetry is resonating.
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  People feel isolated.
• 9:07
  She's looking for all of these signals.
• 9:09
  And then she developed something that really solves for that and makes people feel connection and community and less isolated and, like, they're part of something, which is really beautiful.
• 9:18
  Okay.
• 9:19
  So I asked her about her fulfillment process, because I know that some of you might be interested in developing some kind of mail club.
• 9:27
  And.
• 9:27
  And how does she actually Fulfill this thing.
• 9:29
  Because over 2,000 letters every month, that seems like a lot, right?
• 9:34
  And she was like, yeah, it is a lot.
• 9:36
  Like, the fulfillment process is quite chaotic, especially she has a 7 month old in her house and everything is created by Cameron.
• 9:44
  So she writes the letters, the poetry, she creates the artwork, the journal prompts, everything is her.
• 9:49
  And she said that she prints about half of the assets herself with which is very time consuming, and then outsources the other half.
• 9:57
  And then they actually are packing the envelopes themselves right now too.
• 10:00
  So her and her husband are doing all of the fulfillment themselves.
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  So they're organizing thousands of individual papers, they're stuffing every single envelope, they're printing every label stamp, they're sealing everything, and they're taking it to usps.
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  So it's obviously a ton, ton of work, I think, you know, and this is just me.
• 10:19
  My thoughts on this, like, this is something that would scare away most people, but what I love about it is she's like, I really, I really want to have every piece of mail that arrives at somebody's house, like,
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  was literally passed through her hands.
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  She thinks there's something really special about how hands on it is.
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  And I think that's really beautiful.
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  And we need to look at, like, what is the point of scale here?
• 10:43
  I think for those of us interested in potentially creating some kind of mail club, we need to recognize, like, is there a number that we're capping this at?
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  What are the economics of it?
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  Is there a certain revenue number I want to hit?
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  And then we're capping it.
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  Is there a fulfillment strategy that allows, like, some support going into this?
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  So I don't know.
• 11:01
  I think that it's an interesting problem, but also, like, quick back of the napkin math.
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  2,000 people at $12 a month is $24,000 a month, which is an incredible amount of revenue.
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  And if you're making that kind of money from your art and you're happy with it, like, great.
• 11:17
  I think we're always just looking for, oh, I want to have 50k months, I want to make a million dollars.
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  I want to be super wealthy.
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  I want to have this giant business.
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  And, well, maybe $24,000 a month is actually incredible, right?
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  Like, what do you actually need for your family to be happy?
• 11:34
  This is another thing that I've been spiraling on during postpartum that I might talk more about.
• 11:40
  All right.
• 11:40
  So of course, I asked Cameron about the digital side.
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  Like, how's the digital side going with the community and the messaging and bringing your moms together.
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  So she said this has been one of her favorite parts to watch grow, that members of the male club get access to a private online community called the Village.
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  Moms introduce themselves, talk about each month's mail, ask for advice, vent, or just connect with each other that are in the same season.
• 12:01
  Cameron said that one of the core ideas behind the postpartum post is that motherhood can feel incredibly lonely even while other women are mothering all around them.
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  So.
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  So I never wanted the product to just be something beautiful that arrives in the mail.
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  She wanted to remind moms that there are thousands of other women awake at 3am struggling with the same feelings, wondering if they're doing this right too.
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  So that physical mail gives them a moment to reflect inward and the village gives them somewhere to reach outward.
• 12:27
  I love this.
• 12:28
  She said she's still figuring out exactly how she wants the digital side to evolve, but there's a lot of potential there when we think about product strategy and where this could go.
• 12:39
  I asked her what her vision was for where she want take this and she said she has a million ideas.
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  Not surprised, right?
• 12:45
  She's a creative person running a business, but right now her biggest goal is to keep growing the postpartum post without losing what makes it special.
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  She doesn't want it to feel mass produced or impersonal, like the mother opening her envelope should feel like she sat down and somebody made this especially for her because Cameron did do that.
• 13:01
  And so I love that and I'll be interested to see how she scales things long term.
• 13:07
  She wants to expand a world around it, which I think is really interesting.
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  Again with the mail club concept is what other products can we add to that?
• 13:13
  If this is like a one, you know, one offering.
• 13:16
  So she talks about other male clubs for different stages of motherhood and she is working on her first poetry book, which is beautiful.
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  So I'm so excited for her.
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  I think this is a really incredible business and I'm just excited for this new wave of community.
• 13:31
  Like, what kind of really unique experiences can people create to build connection and community that really makes people feel seen and that they're not alone and we're really connecting people in times that are honestly hard.
• 13:46
  Okay.
• 13:46
  I am obviously putting a link to the postpartum post in the show notes, so definitely check it out.
• 13:52
  Buy it for a friend.
• 13:53
  Buy it for yourself.
• 13:53
  I highly recommend it as somebody that reads it every month and cries in a good way.
• 13:58
  I hope you liked this episode.
• 14:00
  If you know of other mail clubs or you're building a mail club.
• 14:04
  I'd love to hear from you.
• 14:05
  I would love to build something like this.
• 14:06
  If this is something you're thinking about, I'd love to help you figure it out.
• 14:09
  So, as usual, I'll book a call, or I'll put the link to book a call in the show notes.
• 14:14
  And until next time, keep building.