Stephen turned a personal challenge into an opportunity to help others
Stephen is a licensed speech-language pathologist helping people who stutter speak more easily.
10k
Customers
250+
Therapy activities
>$100k
in Sales
38k+
Instagram followers
Stephen’s Fluency School Stuttering Toolbox provides speech-language pathologists with therapy materials and videos so they can treat stuttering with confidence.
Highlights
A few takeaways from Stephen’s success:
- Providing free introductory content adds value and builds trust with potential customers, increasing the likelihood of them purchasing your premium offerings.
- Consistently share valuable content with your audience to grow a social media following. Bonus points if you share information or perspectives that other accounts are not!
- Pull from your own life experience as business inspiration. How can you turn your unique knowledge into a digital product, membership, or service?
Meet the owner
Stephen Groner is a licensed speech-language pathologist helping individuals who stutter enhance their fluency.
Before launching his online business, Stephen was busy working a 9-5 job as a speech-language pathologist for a large healthcare system. Now, he not only aids people who stutter, but he also helps other professionals provide effective speech therapy with his provider resources.
Interview
Stephen shared his membership journey with us. Find out what he had to say in our Q&A.
Which digital products do you sell?
What is the pain point you solve for your customers?
I help people who stutter and those who love them to speak more easily.
What were you doing before your membership business?
I was working a 9-5 job as a speech-language pathologist for a large healthcare system.
What challenges did you have in the early stages of your business? How did you solve those challenges?
I needed a way to “store” my stuttering help content and “get” it to customers. I chose Squarespace for my website, but, at the time, they didn’t offer memberships. I tried a Google Drive folder and then a DropBox folder, but they couldn’t scale with my content. That’s when I scoured Google and found MemberSpace, the perfect Squarespace plugin for memberships.
Were there any keys to success, or big "a-ha!" moments that really elevated the growth of your business?
If I gave extreme value at first for free and then at an extremely fair price (if you were wanting more), people would line up out the door.
Did you have a social media following or large email list before you started your membership? How did you initially grow your audience there?
Yes; I had 2,000 Instagram followers when I launched the first iteration of my stuttering help membership using Squarespace and Google Drive. When I switched over to MemberSpace, I had at least 10,000 followers. Every day, I posted extremely practical advice and tips that no one else was sharing.
How do you market your membership and find new members?
Instagram, word of mouth, and Google search.
Do you spend any money on paid advertisements?
No
Have you done anything to focus on retention and reduce canceled members?
Thankfully, I charge only a one-time fee, so I don’t get canceled members.
What are some of your favorite online tools for running your business?
Squarespace and Canva
Do you have a team helping with your membership business?
Nope, just me!
What's your source of inspiration?
My own lived life experience as a person who stutters.
If you could give your younger self any advice, what would it be?
There will be a lot you’ll need to say to help others, so don’t give up talking.
What's next for your business?
Live events and conferences!