LEARN THEN APPLY

Hi there!

Thank you all for your feedback on what kind of content you want to see from this newsletter.

My ambition with Learn Then Apply was to document everything I'm learning as a young adult and creator. That includes how I'm setting up my finances, making big purchases, and yes building businesses.

I'm figuring out how to explore the creator/entrepreneur side without hiding all the other aspects of my life where I'm trying to learn out loud. I think that might mean reincarnating monitormonkey.com and dividing content between there and learnthenapply.com

Changes are coming! I hope to make this newsletter something that helps you consistently learn and grow.

If you have any feedback on the content of this newsletter shoot me a reply!

Plus I need some feedback on this next step of my marketplace. 👇

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        The Challenge

I have built out most of the functionality for the MVP of the marketplace at vendors.manthrakodi.com.

I made this version using softr.io. I might have jumped a little too quick to buy the paid version, but that's because I thought I had a monetization method in mind.

But now I'm rethinking it...

I've been hearing more and more from creators I speak with that I should get paying customers before I put too much work into the site.

The problem is I don't know what to charge for.

        Resources

📄 10 Marketplace Monetisation Strategies

This article does a great job of laying out strategies you can use to monetize a marketplace.

It is recommended that you start with a commission structure and only use other methods if that doesn't work.

Commission won't work for this marketplace because people are unlikely to make transactions on my platform. It's possible I could do this if I make a robust booking and payment method, but that's going to be costly and probably only applicable to lower revenue vendors.

The other one that was recommended to me was a cost-per-lead structure.

The good thing about that method is vendors wouldn't have to pay anything unless they get results.

The downside is I don't want to "hold leads hostage" from vendors.

        Insights

Someone pointed out that I need to align the incentives for the supply (vendors) and demand (brides).

With that in mind, here are the options I've thought of:

1. Putting the name and website of the vendor on the site for free. Then charging people $48/year if they want to add their logo, images, and a bio. Plus their profiles would show above default profiles in searches.
2. Charging $5 per lead that comes through the website. Again, I don't know how I would charge someone besides saying "Hey, someone from the website wants to work with you. Pay to find out who." This doesn't sit right with me. Plus that doesn't align with the incentive of the bride who is trying to get in contact with that vendor.
3. Only charging venues (who probably have a marketing budget) to be on the platform.
4. Getting everyone on the site for free and then charging for premium placement above other vendors.

In reality, I'm going to have to get on the phone with vendors and ask them what pricing structure they would be willing to pay for.

What do you think I should do?

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✌ See y'all next week

I'm putting a pause on the venmo payments because I'm trying to figure out the structure and cadence of the newsletter.

Have a great week!

<3 Aswin