To Be, Or Not To Be, Premium Plus? That Is The Question
It is finally here!
The long-awaited, highly-anticipated Wealthy Affiliate (WA) platform update was rolled out yesterday. It is awesome, to say the least!
There was no warning or notification. I was communicating with 3 Referrals and guiding them into the platform when, all of a sudden, things went crazy.
It felt like I was in a boat that overturned and left me totally disoriented. Even today, as I write, we are having issues and I predict that this will be our experience for a few days.
Our platform upgrade is a big one, impacting over 2.1M WA Members across the globe. How could that not be major?!
This is the question being thrown around town though:
Is Premium Plus to be, or not to be?
It's All About ROI At This Point
Many WA Members have reached out to me and we had an interesting debate in Live Chat this morning.
Here's my perspective. But first, let me say very clearly that I have approached building my online businesses the very same way that I would an offline business.
From a financial perspective, it means that I am not into "nice-to-haves" at this point. I am fiercely focused on building, scaling and returns on my investment (ROI).
Although I am not earning any personal income at the moment, it is deferred and everything I expend financially goes on the books.
In addition, I started my foundation with what I know, consulting. It was an effective way to transition and start earning income to reinvest and build to scale. Any additional expenses would impact the fees that I charge my Clients.
Year 2 Needs Are Being Met
This is my 2nd year and I am continuing to horizontally align my businesses' income streams - 8 so far. 2 more to roll out before the end of 2020.
Each stream is already earning revenue and I am leveraging that to grow vertically. I have everything I need to do that right here, and then some.
With thousands of training yet to cover, I cannot see myself investing in anything further that I will not use during the coming year.
50 websites are also more than adequate to fill my needs for the next 2 years, unless my businesses experience a terrific windfall.
Jaaxy Lite serves me well, together with some other keyword support tools that I pay minimally for or access for free on the internet.
The Best Return On A USD 500 Investment
That is what the difference is for me. I currently enjoy the yearly USD 299 and the current offer to upgrade to Premium Plus means putting out an additional USD 500.
At this juncture, this will not be the most beneficial way for me to invest USD 500. It may give me more knowledge but, will it bring more traffic, visitors and sales to my websites that are already growing well organically?
What, for example, could I achieve if I used that to advertise on Facebook, Pinterest or LinkedIn?
Or, hire writers for my blog posts
See the thinking here?
At the end of the day, the decision is yours. You know how you are building your business and you know what your drivers are.
Would you feel better knowing that you are among our WA Premium Plus Members?
And, would you use that confidence boost to learn more, write more and grow your business more?
Is you business at a stage where you are big and profitable enough to expand and leverage your success?
We have not yet experienced the full benefits as Carson and his team are working out the kinks.
Although my business is not yet at the stage where it will benefit, I am so happy to know that when that time comes, Premium Plus will be just a click away.
Cassi
Recent Comments
88
Great gauging!
I decided to upgrade because of the very specific and technical trainings on expert subjects. Also because of the jaaxy enterprise and the fact that you can host 50 sites with a supercalifragilix site support... and going to host all sites here.
It meets my needs for now.
Which is what made me decide
For the switch
🚀
That is excellent, Fleeky and I will get there - sooner rather than later. 😉
Still so much for me to do this year though, most of which is already in the works and invested in.
I am very happy that I can see my next step here at WA.
A good decision.
Cassi
For over a year they talked about the great changes coming to this platform and when it finally got here it did as an expensive upsell. They can claim it isn't but it is. (more training and help only for + members for more money = upsale)
I already have the same yearly $299 pricing and 50 websites grandfathered in. They never said if we try it and then go back if we lose that grandfather status. It would be nice to get some clarity on that. mine says it is $795 to upgrade for a year. Then they hit you with a 1-week count down to get you to hurry up and get it.
That is a large hit to try to undertake right in the middle of a pandemic and right before the holidays. Think they could have added more time than that for the new offer. Unless the 2nd job kicks in I am most likely going to pass on it. Probably skip it still because, as you said, is that $795 really going to expand my business, or would the money help more elsewhere?
I am one of the people who are unhappy about waiting well over a year for promised upgrades that in reality never came for anyone not really wanting to spend more money. I am sure they don't care.
Jason, thank you for sharing your concerns and experience.
I do understand.
A good way to look at it is that it is available, if and when you need it for your business.
Cassi
Thanks for your analytical sharing. Content is the power to draw traffic. The server with a higher version of PHP can help page speed a lot. This is offered in the premium plus. With the present server hosting, our page speed is excellent for our new website. In my opinion, the premium plus is more beneficial for the website already have higher traffic. I am new here. Just my sharing. If I am wrong let me know.
I agree with you, Stephen.
It is good to have the step-up available when we need it.
Thank you for sharing.
Cassi
I totally agree with you Cassi. My reason for upgrading is that as long as I can explore Premium Plus until the end of January and go back to the $299 plan for Premium, it is well worth the investment for the 3 months. I don’t lose any money as I see it. The added benefits for the full version of Jaaxy pays for the difference between the original renewal date for the Premium plan and the end of the 87 days with Premium Plus. Further, if the security bundle is what I expect it to be, that is also a risk reduction in relation to keeping your websites up and running.
You make some good points, Roy, and they are well worth it to consider.
My current Premium fee bank will give me 180 days (6 months), on Premium Plus.
That means, if I revert to premium, I will be renewing 5 months ahead of my current schedule.
It is something to consider but, I am 90% sure I will stay with Premium for now.
You never know though . . . that windfall could happen at any time. 😉
Thank you for sharing.
Cassi
As you point out, Cassi, every WA member that is considering upgrading should definitively take into account when their renewal is due. For me, the renewal fell in my favour 😊
Roy
Hey Roy, this is interesting - can you explain the cost of this for the next 3 months and exactly how it works?
My $299PA Grandfathered renewal is due in Feb 2021. So I want to understand and probably implement as you describe - "I can explore Premium Plus until the end of January and go back to the $299 plan for Premium, it is well worth the investment for the 3 months. I don’t lose any money as I see it."
Exactly how much will this cost you and how do you do it?
For me - When I go to the home page, then upgrade now, I can choose for Premium Plus
"$0/month for 47 d
then $99/month after"
OR $795" if I choose annual
So how exactly do I take premium plus for Free 47 days (then optionally $99/month). WITH A MUST of reverting/continuing my $299PA grandfathered.
I would be interested in the extra training but nothing else at this stage - too many other things going on for me.
Thanks in advance, John
It sure did, Roy!
I have asked Kyle if we can benefit from a pro-rated reduction on the $795 Yearly if Members like me upgrade at this juncture.
If the answer is yes, I may very well upgrade and work even harder to move my businesses forward faster. 🤦♀️
Chrystopher is in the same position.
Let's see.
Cassi
Hi, Stanley. I am at work at the moment and will answer your question later this afternoon. But the short answer is my renewal is not until end of March ( the original $299.) That is 5 months of Jaaxy Enterprise alione at $99 with a total of $495.
But I will elaborate a bit more on my considerations later today :-)
Roy
Hi Stanley, good question.
Regarding your question, the following is the way I look at going Premium Plus until end of January.
What is my price tag? What is my hourly fee if I were to search up and find similar training? In other words, what is my time worth in monetary value?
A normal consultant fee is about $120 pr hour in Norway. If I were to search for available resources to acquire the same education and access to resources that is offered at WA it would cost me time. Time equals money which I could use on outsourcing tasks.
With Premium Plus I have all of it at my hands for $299 pr year until the end of January 2021. I have all the resources I need in one place. If I have to use 5 hours to search for equivalent training, and keywords tools on the Internet, I am already at 120*5 = $600. That is money I instead could put into leveraging my business by outsourcing several tasks
The extra training I have access to with Premium Plus, I will have to pay for elsewhere, if not having access to it here at WA. That equals increased cost on my part and adds to $600 sum.
For the three months of Premium Plus, this equals 3x$99=$297
Renewal at the end of January instead of the end of May for Premium equals: 4x25= $100
The bottom line is I loose $100 in real money if I want to revert to the Yearly Premium price plan.
Looking at it from a time/cost/productivity point of view, I will reduce my costs by (600+297)-100= $797.
I little bit of playing with numbers, but this is the considerations I have made.
The bottom line is I have I access to an incredible keyword tool, I have access to very good training and education which I know is of high quality, and I have access to excellent hosting service.
All I lose is $100 dollars, but considering the access to Jaaxy Enterprise and Premium Plus for free for 3 months, I don´t lose anything as I can downgrade again to Premium.
How to do it is to go to the membership page, select the monthly Premium Plus option and check out. You will get a confirmation on the upgrade. If you want to downgrade you go to the membership page again and do the downgrade to the $299 again.
I have faith in WA that my grandfathered price will never be changed for the Premium membership no matter what I do.
I hope this sheds some more light on my considerations around going Premium Plus, and is strictly my own opinion based on the available information on WA.
All the best,
Roy
Roy, a Client has just asked me to host and manage 2 of their websites.
Working on the proposal now.
Once accepted, that will more than cover the cost of moving to Premium Plus. 🙂
Off I go!
Cassi
Thanks so much Roy,
It's great they make it easy for us - to switch upwards and downwards - as you say
"How to do it is to go to the membership page, select the monthly Premium Plus option and check out. You will get a confirmation on the upgrade. If you want to downgrade you go to the membership page again and do the downgrade to the $299 again."
Thanks so much, John
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Hi, Cassi.
Nice post.
I agree that things should all be taken 'in stride.'
I recently moved over the weekend and changed Internet providers from Rogers to Bell.
For the first few days, I could not access my WA home from my emails.
The login's also failed.
I contacted Kyle & Carson through the WA homepage.
Did not hear back from either directly, but here I am.
Proof that their system is working.
I am behind and need to learn more about 'Premium Plus.'
I am always sceptical when company's with a proven track record start changing the pricing structure.
I joined for $359.00
I then took advantage of the $299.00 Black Friday special.
Now membership is $495.00.
I do not know yet about the 'PLUS.'
Thank you for posting, and I will update myself now that I have access.
Peace, love and goodwill always to you.
Paul.
You are very welcome, Paul and, it is good to have you back.
I look forward to receiving your feedback after you settle in.
Cassi
Thank you, Cassie.
I'm really interested in the feedback regarding the changes.
I have seen such an increase in price.
I Will stay in touch with you with my thoughts after I hear back from Robert (Boomer) and Leo. I am also looking forward to thoughts from Nathaniell.
Remain awesome as you are.
Paul.