Platforms for Charging for your Challenge Groups

If you're running challenge groups, it’s time to recognize your worth! You've put in countless hours, energy, and passion to create a supportive space where your community can thrive. With the recent changes in the BODi landscape, now more than ever, it's essential to value the time and effort you invest in these groups.

Charging for your challenge groups isn't just about making money; it’s about creating a sustainable business model that allows you to continue providing value to your community. By implementing a fair pricing structure, you can ensure that your group remains a place where everyone feels supported while also allowing you to earn what you deserve. Below, we’ll explore some of the various platforms that can help you manage the process effortlessly. 

Our Recommendation: ✨Stan Store

We absolutely love Stan Store because it’s the perfect all-in-one platform. It allows you to effortlessly sell digital products, host your community, offer one-on-one coaching, provide freebies, and more… all in one place. With its user-friendly interface, you can easily engage with your members while focusing on what you do best: helping them achieve their goals.

Stan Store

Stan Store is an incredibly versatile platform designed for creators, coaches, and entrepreneurs of all stripes. Whether you're looking to host a community, provide coaching sessions, sell digital products, or launch courses, Stan offers all the tools you need to engage with your audience and monetize your offerings—all in one convenient location.

Pros:

• All-in-One Monetization Options: Stan makes it super easy to set up and charge for various offerings, whether that’s memberships, courses, or coaching calls, all directly through the platform.
• Community Features: Create a vibrant space where your members can interact, access valuable content, and share their progress. It’s like having a Facebook group, but with more control over the experience and focus on your niche.
• Scalable for Growth: Whether you're just starting or already have a larger audience, Stan’s platform is built to grow with you. This means you can easily expand your offerings and membership base without any hassle.

Cons:

• Growing Feature Set: Being a newer platform, some of Stan’s features are still in development. This means that while you have great options, you might notice some tools don’t yet have the full functionality of more established platforms.
• Limited Design Customization: You can brand your space to reflect your style, but there may be fewer design options compared to other platforms that focus more on deep customization.

Pricing:

Kajabi

Kajabi is a powerful all-in-one platform designed for entrepreneurs looking to create, market, and sell digital products. With Kajabi, you can not only offer courses, memberships, and challenges, but you can also build a vibrant community space where members connect, engage, and support each other—all from one platform.

Pros:

• Community Features: Host a dedicated community where members can interact, access exclusive content, and stay engaged.
• Comprehensive Features: Kajabi provides tools for creating landing pages, courses, email marketing, and payment processing, making it easy to manage all aspects of your challenge group.
• Exclusive Discount: Through our link, you can get 50% off your first year on Kajabi, making it an affordable choice to kickstart or grow your community.

Cons:

• Pricing Structure: Kajabi is packed with features, which may come at a higher monthly cost. However, the exclusive discount makes it more accessible for new users.

Pricing: $99/month (regularly $199/month)

Get the 50% off discount here.

Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is all about building a dedicated community hub for your audience. It allows you to create an engaging space for memberships, events, and courses, offering a variety of monetization options to fit your needs.

Pros:

• Customizable Community Space: You can tailor the design and layout of your network, making it uniquely yours and a true reflection of your brand identity.
• Flexible Monetization: This platform lets you charge for a range of offerings, including courses, memberships, and events, without needing third-party payment processors, which simplifies the financial side of things.
• Mobile App Access: With a dedicated mobile app, your members can easily engage with the community from their devices, making it more convenient for them to stay connected.

Cons:

• Monthly Fees: Some of the premium features come at a cost, and the fees can vary based on how many members you have and the level of functionality you choose.
• Learning Curve: While Mighty Networks offers a lot, it can be a bit overwhelming to set up and manage, especially if you're just getting started with building an online community.
• Dependent on Engagement: Since it's a separate platform from social media, you’ll need to actively encourage your members to engage regularly to keep the community thriving.

Pricing: $119/mo

Core Features

• Courses and Resource Libraries
• Quizzes and Assessments
• Unlimited Course Videos
• ConvertKit Integration
• Additional Sales Landing Pages
• Member Tags & Badges
• Zapier APIs & Workflows
• Native Livestreaming
• Premium Analytics
• Activity Feed and Featured Content
• Chat & Messaging
• Events & Zoom Integration

Circle
 

Circle is designed to provide a sleek and modern space for community building and engagement. You can create distinct areas or channels within your group, allowing for focused discussions, content sharing, or program management.

Pros:

• User-Friendly Design: Circle’s clean and intuitive layout makes it easy for you and your community members to navigate the platform without confusion.
• Integrated Payments: You can seamlessly charge for memberships or access to specific content, streamlining the financial side of running your community.
• Multiple Engagement Tools: From threaded discussions to video hosting and private messaging, Circle offers a variety of ways to keep your members engaged and connected.

Cons:

• Higher Cost for Less Robust Features: While Circle provides a modern design, it may be pricier compared to other platforms that offer more comprehensive features for community management.
• Limited to General Content: While it’s excellent for broad topics, Circle may not have specialized tools that some niche communities might require.

Pricing: $99/month

Core Features

• Rich member profiles
• Searchable member directory
• Discussions
• Events
• Paid memberships
• Custom domain
• Weekly community digest
• Gamification

• Courses
• Live streams
• Live rooms
• Unlimited members
• Custom branding
• Reporting & analytics
• Custom code snippets
• Conversion tracking
• Migration services for payments

Heartbeat
 

Heartbeat is a straightforward, all-in-one platform that simplifies community management. It combines event scheduling, direct messaging, and payment options, making it easy to manage your audience without feeling overwhelmed by too many features.

Pros:

• All-in-One Simplicity: Heartbeat includes essential tools like payment processing, event scheduling, and communication features, all wrapped up in one user-friendly platform.
• Engaging Member Directory: Each member has a profile, which encourages connections and helps foster a deeper sense of community.
• Simple to Set Up & Manage: With an intuitive interface, it’s a breeze to start a community, making it perfect if you want to launch quickly without the hassle.

Cons:

• Limited Customization Options: While user-friendly, Heartbeat doesn’t offer as many branding options, which means you may not be able to completely customize your community’s look and feel to your liking.
• Fewer Integrations: If you use external software to support your community or content delivery, Heartbeat might not have as many integration options compared to other platforms.

Pricing: $49/month

Core Features

• Up to 1000 Members ($129/month for unlimited members)
• Discussions
• Courses (Evergreen & Cohort-Based)
• Events
• Payments
• Run Paid Affiliate Programs
• Automated Workflows
• Documents
• Match-Ups
• Voice & Video Rooms
• Reporting & Analytics
• Searchable Member Directory
• Custom Domain & Brand Colors
• Weekly Digest
• Zapier, Zoom, & GCal Integrations

Trainerize
 

Trainerize is primarily geared towards fitness coaches, but it can also be adapted for various types of group programs. This platform focuses on delivering structured content and offers a custom app experience for your members to access your content seamlessly.

Pros:

• Great for Structured Content Delivery: Even if you’re not in fitness, Trainerize provides tools for creating step-by-step programs and coaching support, which can be beneficial for various niches.
• Custom Branded App: You can create a branded app for your community, giving your program an exclusive feel and making engagement easy and intuitive.
• Built-In Client Messaging: Communicate directly with your members through in-app messaging, so you can offer support without needing extra tools.

Cons:

• Primarily for Fitness Coaching: While it’s adaptable, Trainerize is best suited for structured programs like fitness challenges or meal planning, which might not align with every niche.
• Pricing Based on Client Numbers: The cost increases as your client base grows, so it’s important to consider how that might impact your budget as you scale.

Subscription Invoice via PayPal or Stripe + Facebook Group
 

This is a familiar and straightforward way to charge for your group. You can use PayPal or Stripe for payment processing and run your community on Facebook, making it easy to build relationships and share content.

Pros:

• Easy Setup: Setting up a Facebook group is simple, and most people already know how to use the platform, so there's little to no learning curve for your audience.
• Low Cost: You’ll incur minimal fees with PayPal or Stripe, and you won’t have to pay a platform fee for hosting your group on Facebook.

Cons:

• Limited Control: Since your community is hosted on Facebook, you’re bound by their rules, and any changes to their platform can affect how you run your group.
• Challenges with Growth: As your community expands, managing discussions, files, and content can become increasingly difficult.

Separate Payment Processing: Payments and group access are handled separately, which may complicate the user experience compared to integrated platforms.