In this episode of the Work at Home Rockstar Podcast, Tim Melanson sits down with Carol Tice, founder of Community Growth Academy. Carol shares how she built a paid online community for freelance writers that grew to 1,500 members and generated over $6 million in revenue before selling it for life-changing money.
They talk openly about the realities of scaling a community, hard lessons around team management, selling a digital business, and why Carol believes paid communities offer one of the most sustainable business models for coaches and experts today.
Carol Tice is the founder of Community Growth Academy, where she helps coaches, experts, and passionate hobbyists launch and grow paid online communities. She previously built and sold a highly successful membership community for freelance writers and now teaches others how to create ethical, sustainable, and scalable community-based businesses while working from anywhere.
Website: https://www.skool.com/community-growth-academy/about
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/business-book-ghostwriter-community-entrepreneur-carol-tice/
Website: https://workathomerockstar.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/workathomerockstar
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/workathomerockstar
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timmelanson
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WorkAtHomeRockStarPodcast
X / Twitter: https://twitter.com/workathomestar
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:27 Success Story: Building a Paid Community
01:32 Challenges and Lessons Learned
03:40 The Importance of Team Dynamics
08:51 Transitioning and Selling the Business
19:32 Life After Selling the Business
21:21 Planning for the Future: Selling the House
22:42 Mentorship and Blogging Beginnings
24:21 Community Growth Academy: A New Venture
28:09 The Power of Free Communities
33:57 Ethical Business Practices and AI Concerns
41:27 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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