From laid off to $1M+: How Pat Flynn bet on community — and scaled it with Circle
Overview
In 2008, Pat Flynn lost his dream job as an architect. No backup plan. No audience. Just a blog, a PDF, and a willingness to help.
Today, he runs Smart Passive Income (SPI) — a thriving, community-based business that helps creators turn knowledge into income through honest, audience-first entrepreneurship.
"SPI is the premier place to not just get the right information, but also surround yourself with the right people."
The shift? Pat stopped selling one-off courses—and bet on community.
He moved everything into Circle: courses, conversations, coaching, and connection—all under one roof. That single decision transformed SPI from a content business into a community-powered engine for growth.
Before
A fragmented "Frankenstein" business model hitting its breaking point
By 2020, Pat Flynn had built Smart Passive Income into a household name in entrepreneurship education, generating over $1M annually from individual course sales. But despite the financial success, the business was hitting critical breaking points.
The operational nightmare
Pat's business had evolved into what he calls a "Frankenstein" system of disconnected tools:
"My old business, like many starting out, was a bunch of tools pieced together. One here, another there: APIs, integrations, Zapier – like this Frankenstein creation. But when one piece fails, the whole thing falls apart."
Courses lived on Teachable. Community discussions happened in Facebook groups. Live events ran through Zoom. Members constantly got lost navigating between platforms, and the team spent more time managing integrations than serving students.
The feast-or-famine revenue cycle
Even worse was the unsustainable launch-dependent business model:
"With our courses, every month we had to launch something. It felt heavy and it felt like we were drowning our email list with just sales pitch after sales pitch, even though we knew our courses worked. It just felt like it was too much."
Every month required a new launch to maintain revenue, creating constant pressure and email fatigue for both the team and their audience.
The missing community connection
The epiphany came after FlynnCon 2019, Pat's first live event. When he surveyed attendees about their favorite parts, the results were eye-opening:
"The number one most favorite thing that people did at FlynnCon was not the amazing speakers, the activities that we did, or getting to meet me. It was the fact that they could meet each other in the hallways, and connect."
When COVID hit and course sales dropped. Pat realized something fundamental had shifted:
"People didn't want more DIY. They wanted guidance. They wanted to learn together."
Solution
Circle as the foundation for community-powered growth
Pat made a strategic bet: move from fragmented course sales to unified community experience. After evaluating multiple platforms, he chose Circle to consolidate his entire business ecosystem — and it changed everything.
Why Circle became the foundation
Circle offered something no other platform could: the ability to house courses, community discussions, live events, and member management (for 3 tiers of members!) all in one seamless experience.
This shift—and the tech behind it—was powered by Circle. For the first time, SPI could deliver courses, conversations, and community under one roof, and it helped grow community revenue 39% from 2021 to 2022.
"One login, you're in there, you find your people. And a person who's advanced, who has a business, may still be a beginner YouTuber. Right? So there's a lot more opportunity for cross-pollination across businesses."
Community-powered learning methodology
Circle enabled Pat to transform from individual courses to "accelerators"—cohort-based programs where students learn together with built-in accountability and support:
With cohort-based programs, students are 3x more likely to not only complete the course but actually take action and succeed. That's when I realized community-powered learning was the future of online education.
Circle allowed Pat to:
Consolidate his scattered tech stack into one platform
Create cohort-based "accelerators" with built-in community support
Track complete member journeys from enrollment to transformation
Eliminate technical complexity and focus on serving people
Strategic consolidation
Pat launched SPI Pro in 2020, followed by the All-Access Pass in 2022. But the real breakthrough came in 2024 when he consolidated everything into a single, tiered SPI Community entirely built on Circle.
The transformation
Circle unlocked SPI's best year yet
The shift to a Circle-powered community didn't just help SPI grow—it fundamentally changed how the business operates. What started as a mission to serve more people became a scalable, predictable, and purpose-driven model for transformation.
From launch fatigue to predictable growth
Instead of chasing short-term spikes through monthly course launches, SPI now runs on reliable monthly recurring revenue. With everything centralized inside Circle, the team eliminated launch fatigue, stabilized cash flow, and focused on long-term growth.
The impact speaks for itself:
of 2024 revenue now comes from the Circle-powered community
year-over-year growth after transitioning to subscription model
industry-leading monthly churn thanks to community engagement
Members stay longer—and actually succeed
The community-powered approach didn't just improve retention—it revolutionized learning outcomes:
course completion rates in cohort-based accelerators vs. just 5-15% for self-paced courses
higher likelihood of student success through community support and accountability
Plus, the SPI community generates real member transformation stories that fuel organic growth and referrals. Success stories include Andrea Davis (Better Screen Time), who went from no niche clarity to becoming a recognized author and speaker, and WIC (Fire Science Show), whose niche podcast now generates more revenue than his day job.
No more duct tape. One complete platform.
Before Circle, SPI's tech stack was a tangle of tools, integrations, and manual workarounds. Now, everything lives in one platform—saving time, reducing support load, and delivering a better member experience.
"This is why I love Circle because it's all in one spot. It's all you need and it just makes life so much easier. So now I don't have to worry about the tech as much. I can just focus on my people."
Circle consolidated:
Courses, community, events, and resources all in one place
Simplified onboarding and member progression
Complete visibility into member activity and success
Built-in live streaming, payments, and member management
Betting on community—now and into the future
For Pat, this isn't just a platform shift. It's a business philosophy.
He's seen firsthand how bringing people together around shared goals and experiences creates deeper engagement—and longer-term value—than any static course or one-time event ever could.
Now, he's doubling down. Community isn't just a piece of his business—it is the business. And he believes more creators and business owners will come to the same conclusion.
"If you're building anything today—whether it's courses, coaching, content, or products—community needs to be part of your strategy. Not later. Now. Otherwise, you'll wake up in a year and realize your audience has found that connection somewhere else."
