Today we’d like to introduce you to Carol Tice.
Hi Carol, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been in Seattle over 25 years now — we moved here in ’95 when our first (of three) kids was a toddler. I started out in my career wanting to be a songwriter in L.A. – then entered an essay contest and won $200. I dove into journalism and never looked back. I freelanced, then wrote for 2 publications as a staffer, including the Puget Sound Business Journal. Then I got laid off in ’05 and started freelancing again. It was the ’08-’09 downtown but I was focused on driving my income to $100K — and I did.
I started the Make a Living Writing blog in ’08 to help other writers earn well, and things took off from there. It grew to nearly 1 million annual views. We adopted 2 more kids… and then my husband developed a seizure disorder and I wanted to replace his income. I launched a paid community to my audience. Freelance Writers Den grew to 1500 paying members before I sold it in ’21.
After the sale, I got into ghostwriting books. We bought an RV. Spent a month in Europe. Our kids were graduating high school and we were thinking about downsizing. In summer ’24, we sold the big family house in Matthews Beach and went full-time in the RV. We’re based in my cousin’s driveway in Lake Forest Park when we’re in town and not dog-sitting through TrustedHousesitters.
But there was one thing, as the years went along: I missed community online and the opportunity to impact many people while creating reliable income. I completely flunked retirement when a mentor of mine lured me back into the world of online community by pointing out that after 12 years running the Den, I knew a lot about community! Maybe I could help others.
Now, I’m helping other coaches, consultants and passionate hobbyists follow in my footsteps at Community Growth Academy on Skool. From wherever we are.
As I write this, we’re on a lake in Arizona and it’s 70 degrees out… we are ‘chasing the 70s’… 70-degree weather. But we wouldn’t miss Seattle in the spring and summer.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Growing Freelance Writers Den was a challenge because I was NOT a marketer. I came out of journalism, had never sold anything. I had to learn all that on the fly, how to write marketing emails, do a sales webinar.
Our membership plateaued twice and I had to learn how to take it to the next level. The first time we got stuck, a mentor advised me to close the doors and not be open all the time. Creating scarcity both got people to join now, in the few days we’d be open, and kept people in because they didn’t know when they could rejoin. Membership took off.
The second time, I hired a business consultant who pointed out we’d gotten scattered over the years with too many offers. We slimmed back to one message: Join the Den. And that took us to 1500, the level I’d need for a sale to make sense. I’d been approached by brokers, seen their term sheets, and gotten a sense of the numbers I’d need for a buyer to be interested.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I have two business going, because I’m still ghostwriting books for thought leaders. One, Retirement Money Secrets, was self-published and has sold 10,000 copies–and he’s 80! So I get a lot of inbound leads for that.
On the Community Growth Academy side, I created a course that unpacks everything I learned building audience, doing market research and launching Freelance Writers Den, how to grow a community, and how to prep an online business for a successful exit.
Then, I wrapped in the Community Growth Academy community on Skool – because to learn community, you need to be IN a community, so you see how it works.
I’m proud to be one of the more experienced community coaches out there — I’ve been at it 15 years, where many people have only recently discovered the online community business model.
The community space keeps evolving, especially now that there are platforms built just FOR communities like Circle and Skool. Recently, I noticed a lot of big communities earning well by having a free level and then upselling members from there. So I took the plunge — and membership tripled in a few weeks. You always have to keep learning.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Family, serving my synagogue community, and living life on my own terms. I’ve been married 43 years now.
That and fighting for our democracy.
Pricing:
- Free case study
- Free membership tier
- $97 Premium membership
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.skool.com/community-growth-academy/about
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.tice
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/business-book-ghostwriter-community-entrepreneur-carol-tice/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CarolTice
- Other: https://www.caroltice.com/ (for book ghostwriting)
