Pip Todman asked her Card Making Know How Academy members a simple question during their monthly chat session.
"What's the bit you like most about the Academy?"
She expected to hear about the lessons. The techniques. The step-by-step guidance that takes beginners to confident card makers. After all, she'd spent years building a comprehensive learning system with four clear stages.
Instead, they said something that changed everything.
"It's the community that you've built."
Here's what makes that surprising: Pip's not running a social club. She's teaching card making. Real skills. Proper techniques. The kind of education that turns complete beginners into designers who confidently create their own cards.
But her members (including card makers well into their 90s) stay for each other.
Pip built a craft membership that grew from 11 founding members to 60+ card makers worldwide. Along the way, she discovered that community matters more than content, and that switching from a clunky WordPress setup to the right platform changed everything for both her and her members.
Here's what she learned.
Before the membership, Pip was stuck on what she calls "the big wheel."
Teaching in-person classes. Planning retreats. Selling supplies. Advertising the next event. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
"That whole thing is very draining," Pip explains. "You feel like you're on this big wheel all the time, just repeat, repeat, repeat. And you never get a day off."
She wanted to reach more people beyond her local community. She wanted to give card makers a clear path from beginner to confident designer, not just teach them to copy specific cards each month.
Most importantly, she wanted to teach as an independent instructor with no supplier affiliation. No bias toward particular brands. Just honest guidance on using whatever supplies card makers already owned or wanted to buy.
That's when she discovered Stu McLaren and his methodology.
Pip's independence gives her something many craft teachers don't have: credibility. In the card making world, many teachers are affiliated with specific suppliers. That creates bias.
Pip can recommend any technique, any brand, any approach that truly serves her members' learning journey. Her voice became her competitive advantage because card makers trust her guidance is unbiased.
About four and a half years ago, Pip launched with 11 founding members in a Facebook group. She had no website, no platform, nothing except a vision and people who believed in it.
"I launched with nothing," Pip recalls. "No website, no hub, no nothing."
She worked with a developer to cobble together something on WordPress with MemberPress. It worked. Sort of.
"It became very clunky and people were struggling to find things, it was hard for me to maintain," Pip explains.
Her members couldn't easily search for specific techniques. Navigation was confusing. Managing content felt like fighting the system instead of serving her community.
But the membership was growing. From 11 to 60, eventually reaching 80+ at one point. Members were learning. They were engaging. Something was clearly working.
She just knew the platform itself wasn't helping.
When Pip heard about Membership.io through Stu's community, she decided it was time to make the switch. About a year and a half ago, she took the plunge.
Migrating from Facebook Groups to a dedicated platform can feel risky. Pip had a 47,000-member Facebook group she'd built over years.
Would members make the transition?
Some struggled initially, particularly since her age range goes into the 90s. But the ones who made the transition loved it.
"The ones who did make the transition and jumped in have loved it, especially when community got added," Pip says.
The difference was immediate. Search functionality meant members could type "how to set boundaries" and instantly find every relevant lesson. Mobile access meant card makers could reference techniques while shopping for supplies or working at their craft tables. The integrated community meant everything lived in one safe, private space.
"If Facebook decided to kick me out tomorrow, I know that I can still connect with all my members," Pip explains. "They're all safe in my hub."
That peace of mind? Priceless for a business owner who'd built everything on someone else's platform.
Here's something remarkable: In May this year, Pip wanted to create a lower-priced foundation course as a stepping stone to the full Academy.
Using content she already had in her library, she built the entire standalone course in three hours.
"I just pulled it over into new playlists and in the particular hub and I built that as a standalone course," Pip explains. "That's only happened because Membership.io has that structure that enables me to do that for no extra cost."
Three hours. From idea to complete course ready to sell.
That's what teaching crafts online with the right membership platform looks like when your tools work with you instead of against you.
"It is so easy to build things and add content really quickly," Pip says.
Back to that moment when Pip's members told her what they actually valued most.
She'd built a comprehensive four-stage learning path: BEGIN, CONSTRUCT, EXPLORE, CONFIDENT. She'd created lessons covering every technique and supply. She ran live Zoom sessions twice monthly for Q&A and connection.
And her members loved it. But not for the reasons she expected.
"They said it's the coming together and having. Making friends and being able to be in that community and know that everybody understands what I'm talking about," Pip reflects.
When you say "stamp and chat," everyone knows exactly what you mean. When you mention a master class, everyone's on the same page. That shared language, that mutual understanding, that sense of belonging? You can't manufacture that.
You can only create the conditions for it to grow.
Let's talk about something most membership owners worry about: "Will my audience be able to use a digital platform?"
Pip's members range from middle-aged card makers to crafters in their 90s. If anyone would struggle with technology, it would be this demographic.
Here's what actually happened.
The members who made the transition to Membership.io navigated it successfully. Even those in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. The mobile app meant they could access content easily. The search functionality meant they didn't need to remember complex navigation.
"I can see all of that," Pip says about member activity and engagement. "And obviously I can see their activity, I can see what they're going through."
The lesson? Don't underestimate your members. With an intuitive platform and proper support, age is not the barrier we assume it is.
According to member feedback, 94% feel more confident in their card making after joining the Academy.
But that confidence doesn't just come from watching videos. It comes from seeing others try techniques, getting encouragement when they share their own work, and borrowing courage from the community.
"I have people from all over the world coming together and chatting, and they'd never know those people if it wasn't for that," Pip says.
A card maker in Australia connects with someone in Canada. A beginner in the UK gets encouragement from an experienced maker in the U.S. Geographic isolation disappears when you've found your people.
This is what member engagement in craft communities actually looks like: members supporting members, not just consuming content.
Pip started with 11 founding members in a Facebook group. No website, no platform, just belief in the vision.
Four and a half years later, she's served 80+ members at peak, currently maintaining around 60 active members. She's honest about the journey, including the reality that some members join and leave for personal reasons.
The membership offers monthly, quarterly, and annual options at £19/month (roughly $24 USD). That pricing makes quality card making education accessible to more people.
But the real transformation isn't the numbers. It's the freedom.
"It's definitely given me more freedom," Pip reflects. "It's much more of a closer bond with the people who I relate to in my membership."
No more exhausting in-person class cycle. No more being on the wheel. Just the space to create content, engage with her community, and build the business she actually wants.
When Pip talks to other craft teachers considering memberships, her advice is simple.
"Definitely worth doing. I think everybody has a specific message or niche that they can be in. And I think it's important that if you feel like you have a voice and you have something to say, you should put yourself out there and say it."
Not everyone will join. And that's okay.
"Don't expect it to be everybody. It'll be the people who connect with you," Pip says. "There's only one of you and there's lots of people out there who do want to hear from you."
For those struggling with a platform that's not quite working? Her message is even more direct.
"Do it. Because unless you're very, very happy with what you have, if it is at all glitchy or not quite doing what you want, or if you just want the ability to move things around fast and add content really quickly, do it."
Finding your membership pricing strategy and building the right structure matters. But if your platform is fighting you instead of supporting you, all that strategy won't matter.
Pip's story shows what's possible when you combine the right foundation with the right tools.
You don't need thousands of members to build something meaningful. Pip's 60 members represent a thriving, engaged community that supports itself.
You don't need to be young and tech-savvy. Pip's members in their 90s prove that good design and intuitive platforms work for everyone.
You don't need to stay stuck with tools that don't serve you. Comparing Facebook Groups vs membership sites shows why dedicated platforms give you control, security, and capabilities that Facebook never will.
What you do need: a clear path for your members, genuine value in your teaching, and the courage to listen when your community tells you what they actually need.
Community matters more than you think. Content gets them in the door. Community keeps them there.
Pip didn't know her members would value community over content when she started. She discovered that by building, launching, listening, and adapting.
The platform switch that felt scary turned out to be one of the best decisions she made. Her members love the private, safe space. She loves the ease of adding content and managing everything in one place. And everyone loves the search functionality that makes finding exactly what you need instant.
Membership.io is the dedicated membership platform built by membership owners for membership owners. We understand what craft teachers need: intuitive navigation that works for all ages, search that actually finds the right content, community features that bring members together, and the flexibility to quickly add new offers.
Start your free trial today or email us at help@membership.io to learn how we can support your craft or hobby membership vision.
Your members are waiting to find their people. Give them the space to connect.