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After a successful two-season run as a co-host on Netflix’s travel show The World’s Most Amazing Vacation Rentals, Jo Franco created <a href="https://joclub.world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JoClub</a>, a journaling membership business.
But it wasn’t the first time she was going out on her own as a creator. Before Netflix, Jo co-ran a travel YouTube channel with 1.2 million subscribers.
But with JoClub, she wanted to do things differently.
When she ran the YouTube channel full-time, she made her income from sponsorships, ad money, and brand deals. She was good at it but was burnt out on that business model. She wanted to create a new one that allowed her to create from her heart, create on her own time, and have more time to spend with her family.
<h2>The challenge: relying only on brand deals for income can lead to constant uncertainty and burnout</h2>
Jo was grateful for her first creator career as a successful YouTuber, but that lifestyle no longer aligned with her values or the way she wanted to live her life.
<blockquote class="blockquote-sm">Living a creator life where you’re dependent on brand deals is mentally unhealthy. Your money is directly tied to your number of views and followers. But algorithms change, and you have no control over it. It’s so fickle, and you can’t plan your life with that level of instability.
It’s so much pressure.</blockquote>
Jo wanted to alleviate that pressure. Being a creator is never easy, but she thought there had to be a better way, one that better suited the creator she was now and the values she’d always had but had been ignoring for quite some time.
<h2>The solution: Jo focused on her email list and selling her own paid product</h2>
Instead of turning JoClub into a YouTube channel, Jo focused on email and switched to ConvertKit at the beginning of 2022.
<blockquote class="blockquote-sm">I switched to ConvertKit because <a href="https://convertkit.com/features" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I wanted to build an empire</a> with intricate systems and processes, and I knew it was top quality. When you invest in a tool you know is premium, that’s what takes you to the next level. This isn’t a tool for now. This is a tool to build something for years to come.</blockquote>
JoClub runs on emails, sending several newsletters, challenges, and workshops. But what she loves most is how she can use ConvertKit’s <a href="https://convertkit.com/features/automations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">email sequences, tagging, and segmentation</a> to provide a personalized experience for every club member based on their interests.
And what surprised her most was that when she focused more on the individuals instead of acquiring a mass following, she learned that she didn’t need a big following to make a big impact or create a sustainable and successful business.
<blockquote class="blockquote-sm">I make more money now than when I had a YouTube channel with a million subscribers.</blockquote>
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49508 lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-02.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1052" srcset="https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-02.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=421&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-02.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=718&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-02.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=539&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-02.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1077&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-02.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1436&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-02.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=414&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-02.jpg?fm=pjpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" />
<h2>The strategy: Free journaling lead magnets</h2>
Jo uses several lead magnets to grow her business, all run through ConvertKit.
<blockquote class="blockquote-sm">We have three different lead magnets, including a seven-day journaling course that funnels people right into JoClub membership. I use ConvertKit not only to get the word out to our general newsletter list but to offer discounts on the challenge and on the full membership.</blockquote>
<div id="attachment_49509" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-49509" class="wp-image-49509 size-full lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-03.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1126" srcset="https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-03.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=450&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-03.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=769&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-03.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=577&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-03.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1153&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-03.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1537&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-03.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=443&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-03.jpg?fm=pjpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><a href="https://joclub.world/life-reboot/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Example of one of Jo’s lead magnets</a></div>
These challenges give subscribers a taste of what membership could look like. New subscribers receive a curated sequence of journal prompts, access to live journaling sessions, and an invitation to become a member.
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49510 lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-04.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="" width="1500" height="881" srcset="https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=352&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=601&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=451&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=902&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1203&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=347&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=229&amp;w=390 390w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-04.jpg?fm=pjpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" />
Because Jo focuses on providing value for her community and creates that value from her years of experience journaling and deep passion for the topic, when she sends an email, her subscribers listen. She has an open rate of 60%—<a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/email-marketing-stats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">well above the 43% average.</a>
And once they open her emails, she uses tags to segment them based on their interest to send them to dedicated funnels.
<blockquote class="blockquote-sm">Someone who bought our Money challenge might also like the Career and Calling challenge. We can look at the subscriber tags of the people in our Money challenge and isolate those who have already bought the Career and Calling challenge from those who haven’t. And then, we create sequences for those people to pitch the Career and Calling challenge.</blockquote>
<h2>The result: Having her own brand at the center of her business instead of relying on other brands</h2>
Jo still <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/jofranco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has her own YouTube channel</a>, but now it’s a place she uses to create when she wants to, not because she has to. And now, there is less pressure on views.
With her new business model, it’s about quality over quantity, and it’s given her the freedom to build a business around content she loves instead of content that feeds an algorithm.
<blockquote class="blockquote-sm">When you switch to a service like ConvertKit, and you make email marketing and building funnels a priority, you realize that getting someone on your newsletter list is so much more valuable because they care about you, and you have weekly opportunities to communicate your vision, your values, and your products directly in their inbox.</blockquote>
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49511 lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-05.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1039" srcset="https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=416&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=709&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=532&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1064&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1419&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=409&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/jo-franco-05.jpg?fm=pjpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" />
<a class="btn btn-xl btn-primary" role="button" href="https://newsletter.joclub.world/profile" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Connect with Jo in the Creator Network</a>
<a class="btn btn-xl btn-primary" role="button" href="https://convertkit.com/resources/creator-stories/jo-franco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read Jo&#8217;s full Creator Story</a>
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