If you already have trust and distribution, the fastest path to revenue is asking your audience what would genuinely make their lives easier. That is exactly what Alison Lumbatis, founder and CEO of Outfit Formulas, did when she decided it was time to turn her blog into a business.
On a recent episode of The Big Idea podcast from Yahoo Finance, I sat down with Lumbatis to unpack how she converted a blog into a $19-a-month subscription platform. Here are three lessons from Lumbatis on turning followers into paying members.
1. Let your audience define the product.
When Lumbatis decided to monetize her blog, she did not default to affiliate links or brand partnerships. She paused and reconsidered the obvious model. Lumbatis felt a disconnect because she did not want to post haul videos and encourage people to buy piles of clothes when that was not what she was doing herself.
“That was really the traditional style of monetization back then, and I had to kind of think outside the box of what this could look like,” she explained.
Instead of monetizing transactions, she surveyed her audience. She asked what would genuinely make their lives easier. The response was clear. They wanted structure, and they wanted to know what belonged in their closet and how to use it. Lumbatis now considers surveys core to the company’s strategy, especially as the business has evolved.
The insights gathered became Outfit Formulas, a membership built around a curated shopping list paired with monthly outfit guidance. She launched expecting modest traction. Hundreds joined immediately.