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The Reach/Revenue Matrix™ shows where you're stuck — and how to shift
Published 5 days ago • 6 min read
Transform your mission into a movement
Understanding your community through the Reach/Revenue Matrix™
Hi Reader,
It happens more often than I can ignore.
A community builder reaches out after creating something truly thoughtful — a membership, a coaching program, a gathering space for growth and connection.
They've done the work.
They've shown up consistently.
They've created something real and valuable.
And it's not growing.
Not the way they hoped.
They're exhausted. Quietly wondering:
Is something wrong with my offer? Is it my messaging? My content?
Sometimes the answer is in the content or clarity. But more often than not, it’s something simpler.
It’s math.
We're in a new era of community building. The industry got a huge bump during the pandemic, and many of us embraced the idea that a simple subscription model with a monthly fee would create scalable recurring revenue.
But as our industry has matured, things have become more nuanced. And if you've been following a "one-size-fits-all" playbook but not seeing the growth you expected, you're not alone.
Think about it — how many stores have you visited where everything costs exactly the same amount? How many restaurants only offer an all-you-can-eat buffet with no other options?
Yet that's the rigid model many of us were taught to build.
There's a pattern I kept seeing again and again: a small or stagnant audience, a low-priced offer, and a brilliant founder on the verge of burnout.
This combination is what I now call the Danger Zone — not because the business is broken, but because the model can't sustain the energy required to keep it alive.
It's not your fault. And it doesn't mean you should give up.
But when you're working too hard for too little return, something needs to shift.
So I built a tool to help.
The Reach/Revenue Matrix™
To help you see what's really happening, I've created a simple framework called the Reach/Revenue Matrix™.
This 2×2 matrix helps you see where your business sits — and where you may be stuck. At its core, it maps your reach (your email list size, audience, marketing channels) against revenue per member (your offer's price point).
The relationship between these two tells you a lot about why something is or isn't working — and helps untangle what might be causing your growth to stall.
Take a look before scrolling on.
The Reach/Revenue Matrix™ is a 2x2 framework that maps where your pricing and audience size intersect — and what that means for the sustainability of your business.
Let's walk through the four zones:
Danger Zone: When you combine low reach with low pricing, you create a recipe for burnout. This isn't sustainable if you're relying on this income alone — you're working incredibly hard for minimal return. If you're charging $49/month but only have a small audience, the math simply won't work, no matter how brilliant your content is.
Premium Zone: Here, you have higher pricing but still low reach. Think one-on-one consulting or high-touch services. This can be financially rewarding short-term and feels intimate, but it's capped by your time and energy. There's only one of you, and you're not building residual value — you're starting over with each client.
Growth Zone: With lower pricing but higher reach, this zone works beautifully when your marketing engine is humming. The model feels effortless when you have the audience to support it. This is where that "membership magic" actually happens.
Stretch Zone: This combines high pricing with high reach — where the internet-famous often live. But this zone typically requires a large audience, strong name recognition, and serious business infrastructure behind the scenes — not where most solo founders start.
Finding Your Sweet Spot
The good news is that once you understand where you stand on the matrix, you have a strategic lens for moving forward.
Instead of letting each offer exist in isolation, you can begin structuring your community ecosystem to have different pieces working together. In my recent workshop, I walked through an "equalizer" concept that helps you dial various elements up or down to create the right balance for your specific situation.
The Community Model Soundboard helps you find the right mix for your offer.
You don't want to build everything at once.
Instead, you need to know where you are — and what's within your control.
Looking back at the Reach/Revenue Matrix™ gives you three levers:
Grow your audience (shifting horizontally on the matrix)
Adjust your pricing (moving vertically)
Layer your offers across multiple zones to create a sustainable ecosystem
It's not about racing to the "perfect" quadrant. It's about building a business that's sustainable, rewarding, and honors the season you're in.
What makes this framework so useful is that you can lean on different quadrants in different seasons to match your energy level and align with what else is happening in your life and overall business. Last fall, for example, I doubled-down on my community, The Hive, and only offered the evergreen version of my course. This spring, I'm intentionally opening doors to the live Community Foundations cohort—an experience I carefully design and deliver just once each year.
It's not sustainable to keep pouring time and heart into a model that requires more reach (or more energy) than you realistically have. When you plot your offers and calculate your minimum viable revenue, things begin to fall into place.
A real-world example
This framework isn't just theoretical - it's supported by industry research and proven in practice.
In Gareth Wilson's 2024 research on 135 paid communities, only 19% had truly differentiated value tiers — where the experience changed meaningfully by price point.
My client Amber Dancy created exactly this kind of differentiated approach.
She recently launched the Calibrate Collective, a soulful, Human Design-informed community that helps people align their life and business in a way that honors who they really are.
After years of consulting, teaching, and showing up in-person, she wanted to build something more sustainable to manage and grow.
So she designed a single offer with distinct tiers based on access and depth of experience. Each tier provides a thoughtfully designed level of support, ensuring members receive precisely the experience they need at a price point that works for them.
We didn't formally map her model on the Reach/Revenue Matrix™, but we explored these questions together in our consulting sessions. I helped her surface the deeper patterns in her business model and reflect on where her pricing, access, and energy felt most aligned.
"I love that I only have one offer," she told me. "So I can just go do my thing."
She got there by instinct. This framework helps you get there by design.
What zone are you in?
If you're in the Danger Zone (or hovering near it), don't panic.
It doesn't mean your community is doomed.
It just means you're being invited to rethink the design.
That’s what we explore together in Community Foundations — my 8-week course and coaching cohort for leaders who are building or recalibrating their online communities.
True to the Reach/Revenue Matrix™ philosophy, I've designed access options that meet you where you are:
🌱 Join the Spring Cohort — Our live experience kicks off Tuesday, April 15. It’s open to just 15 founders max — I keep it intentionally small so I can offer personalized guidance and feedback to each member throughout our journey together.
☀️ Prefer to go at your own pace? You can enroll in the On-Demand Course anytime— with lifetime access to every lesson and resource, so you can move through the material on your own schedule.
Whichever path you choose, you'll walk away with a full community blueprint, clarity on your model, pricing, and member journey, and confidence that your ideas can grow without burning you out.
And yes — we'll map your Reach/Revenue Matrix™ together.
Ready to explore more now?
Curious to see the Reach/Revenue Matrix™ in action? In this 60-minute workshop, I walk through all four zones — and show you how to map your own model for clarity, sustainability, and growth.
I hope this gives you a little clarity. And maybe a bit of relief, too.
Here's to creating the impact you set out to make — without the burnout that too often comes with it.
Cheering you on,
Laura 🐝 P.S. Just a heads up — the Spring Community Foundations cohort begins tomorrow at 1pm ET. If you've been trying to piece things together solo — or wondering if you're missing something — this is your chance to join us for 8 weeks of live guidance, a private strategy session, and a small circle of fellow builders who get it.
Tips to help you build a community your members love
From heartfelt stories to valuable resources, you'll get actionable insights delivered with empathy and experience—because no community builder should have to figure it all out alone.
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