How Tom Ross built a $50K membership community as a side hustle

Tom already had a captive audience, so he decided to pose a question to them: Would you be interested in joining a membership community that will support you in your own community building journey? He instructed anyone interested in joining the community as a founding member to fill out a quick Google form, and he got nearly 400 responses!

With his idea validated, he turned to Circle. There, he created Learn.Community, a membership for community builders looking to launch and scale their own online communities.

Tom built Learn.Community over a weekend, which he spent building the community’s spaces, designing graphics, writing copy, and plotting out the onboarding process. Once everything was set up, he emailed his waitlist and hosted a virtual launch party to demo Learn.Community, answer questions, drum up excitement, and encourage attendees to join the community in real-time.

Now, just over two years later, Learn.Community serves nearly 200 community members, enabling Tom to share his passion for community and support others while also bringing in consistent, reliable revenue.

Learn.Community is priced at $49 per month (or $490 on the annual subscription) and gives members access to:

• Weekly community events, like office hours and community showcase sessions
• Tom’s flagship community course
• A community building knowledge base
• Support with questions and challenges
• Access to like-minded peers

According to one Learn.Community member and superfan, “Learn.Community is more than just a place to learn community. It is a thriving community in itself. From its engaged members to the over-delivering leader, this is the place to be if you’re wanting to build a community that cares.”