207: From Flourish to Pattern+: What I Learned by Listening

See the show notes for this Episode here.

This transcript has been automatically generated.

Bonnie Christine:
Some people left and I noticed, but they didn't make a big fuss or send a dramatic email. They didn't post about it in the community or leave a trail of frustration behind them. They just quietly stepped away. And if I'm being really honest, it would have been easy to chalk it up to their life being busy or people having changing seasons. Like people come and go, right? That's just part of running a membership. But something about that didn't quite sit with me. I couldn't shake the feeling that we needed to really listen and look a little closer. Flourish.

Bonnie Christine:
My membership that I've had since 2012 had been such a meaningful space for so many years. It had served thousands of people of surface designers at all different stages of their journey. And yet something was really shifting, I could feel it. Wasn't super dramatic, it wasn't really loud, but it was consistent. A few familiar names were no longer showing up on calls, and engagement felt a little lower and fewer messages were coming in. And it just felt quieter. Not in a peaceful, rested kind of way, but in a way that said maybe, maybe there's something here that we really need to listen to. And so instead of kind of brushing it off like it's so easy to do, I chose to really lean in.

Bonnie Christine:
I chose to listen. So I started by reading all of our exit surveys in depth. I asked follow up questions. I reached out to a few past members to hear more about their experience. I wanted to know the truth, even if that was uncomfortable. And what I heard was honestly humbling and also really beautiful. It opened my eyes and it stretched me and it sparked something completely new. So today I want to take you behind the scenes of how we turned that quiet shift into something really powerful and how we transformed the existing Flourish membership into Pattern plus.

Bonnie Christine:
And why listening really became the most important thing that we could have done. Because it's how we truly serve the people that we're building things for.

Bonnie Christine:
I'm Bonnie Christine and this is where all things creativity, design, business and marketing work night. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most creative and impactful work of my life.

Bonnie Christine:
But when I first set out to.

Bonnie Christine:
Become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer.

Bonnie Christine:
Fast forward to today.

Bonnie Christine:
I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and.

Bonnie Christine:
Experience the same success. I'm here to help you spend your.

Bonnie Christine:
Life doing something that lights you up. I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable. Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast.

Bonnie Christine:
So if you've ever run a program or hosted a membership or even just created content on a regular basis, then you know how quickly you can get caught up in the cycle of doing. There's always something to plan, something to produce, something to publish, something to edit, something to tweak. And that momentum, while it can be exciting and a little addicting, it can sometimes keep us from pausing to ask the really important questions, like what's working, what's not working, and what do the people that I'm trying to serve actually need right now? And that changes year over year. When we forget to ask these questions, we run the risk of continuing to build something that's beautiful but potentially no longer aligned. And that's exactly what we began to sense inside Flourish. Now, really, though, Flourish was full of incredible content, and we had created a really rich library of resources and trainings. But something was off. The signs were a slow decline in participation, fewer kind of community threads, emails from members saying, I love it, but I can't keep up, or there's so much I don't know where to begin.

Bonnie Christine:
Because this natural thing happens. The longer you have a program like a membership, it tends to just kind of pile up. And. And then we received some feedback that really stopped us in our tracks. Things like, I'm so overwhelmed, I don't know where to begin. It's really all wonderful, but I don't have time to use any of it. And I'm learning, but I'm not seeing actual progress in my career. So that one especially got to me because that's never what we intend.

Bonnie Christine:
We don't want to give people more things to do. We want to give them ways to progress in their biggest goals and in their career. So we realized that while we were offering a lot, so much actually, we weren't really offering exactly what people needed most. And what they were craving wasn't information or more content or more learning. What they were craving was clarity. They wanted support that fit into their already very busy lives. They wanted momentum in their journey as a creative and an artist and in their pursuit of licensing. They wanted guidance that they could trust, a rhythm that felt easy to tap into and connection that actually moved the them forward.

Bonnie Christine:
And so once we heard that and really heard it, it became really clear that, like a few small tweaks wasn't going to cut it. So this was so much more than updating, you know, the library or updating the weekly content. This was our invitation to rebuild, to let go of what had served us for so long and begin again with a brand new vision and with all new intention. So that's where Pattern plus was born. Not as a rebrand or a marketing ref refresh, but as a direct response, as a redesign built directly from the voices right inside our community. So if you're listening to this and thinking, I feel like something in my business is off, but I'm not sure what, I want to encourage you to do exactly what we did, and that is to ask, I have put together this free resource to help you get started. It is a list of really powerful and very specific survey questions that you can use to gather meaningful feedback from your audience. It's the same questions that helped guide this entire transformation.

Bonnie Christine:
So you can find that download over in today's show notes at ProfessionalCreative.com and I'll share a little bit more about it at the end of this episode, too. Because listening isn't just something that we should do. It's one of the most generous and strategic things that we can do. Once we realized that something wasn't clicking, the first thing that we did was pause. We stopped creating. We stopped launching. We took a breath. And instead of guessing what was wrong or trying to fix things from behind the scenes, we did something maybe a little radical.

Bonnie Christine:
We asked the people who had already left. We sent a survey to past members, not just the ones who were vocal or active, but to everyone who had stepped away quietly. And we asked just a few simple questions, like what made you decide to leave? And what felt overwhelming or unclear? What is one resource, tool, or shortcut that would actually make your creative business easier right now? That last question in particular opened the floodgates. The responses came pouring in and y', all, they were generous, honest, and incredibly revealing. We started to see patterns almost immediately. The most consistent theme that we heard was overwhelm, which, by the way, if you have a membership, is typically in the top three reasons that people will leave. For us, it was not just the, like, I'm busy, kind of overwhelmed, but in a deeper, more emotional sense. There's too much content I feel behind every time I log in.

Bonnie Christine:
I'm not sure what to focus on. So I end up doing nothing. You know, I feel that I felt it myself with different programs, and it's not a fun feeling to have. Then there were a couple of comments that really stayed with me. Things like, I feel ready to take action, but I need to be getting more traction. Things like, I'm spending more time consuming than actually creating. I want to move forward in licensing, but I'm not sure where to begin. Those responses were important and they were clues to where people were getting stuck, Clues to what really mattered in the sea of information, and clues to what we really needed to change.

Bonnie Christine:
So we took all of that feedback and we started to group it into clear categories. And here's what rose to the top for us. Number one was simplicity. Members wanted a clear cadence, not more, just better. Number two was licensing momentum. For us, this is very different from learning about licensing, but actually having opportunities given to them. Number three was more connection. So not more like Q&As, but more in depth coaching and feedback.

Bonnie Christine:
And then four tools that really save them time. So things like templates or prompts or ready to use assets that will actually just kind of slipstream into someone's workflow rather than give them more save them more time. So right around that time, I had a conversation with my friend and my mentor, Stu McLaren, and he is the expert when it comes to building really powerful, thriving memberships. So I ended up booking an entire day with Stu and I flew my executive team in to meet with him in person. So Lisa, Jody, Tessie and I spent the day together fully focused on reimagining Flourish from the ground up. We had done a whole bunch of pre work and we sat around in this Airbnb in Southern Florida with coffee in hand and whiteboard markers flying and sticky notes everywhere. And it was one of the most clarifying days where we all just kind of got to slow down. And then clarity began to show up.

Bonnie Christine:
We started by answering some really hard questions, like, if Flourish didn't exist already, what would we build today? What did we want to offer? Not just what's easiest to deliver, but what did we truly want to provide for our members? And what would make our ideal members say, this is exactly what I've been waiting for. What would make us run towards paying for this membership? What would make us run towards opening the email every single week? So Stu helped us zoom all the way out and then all the way back in. He reminded us that a membership should be a place for people to move forward. It should make their life easier. It should create results. That one sentence changed everything for us. A great membership helps people get results. So that was it.

Bonnie Christine:
That was the heartbeat of what we were missing. Flourish had plenty of access and knowledge and lessons and workshops. But it wasn't always creating the results our members were really looking for. So we made the decision to pause and we were going to rebuild from the ground up. Over the following months, we met with our executive team and we mapped out this plan to reimagine the entire membership, not just the course library, but as a engine that would help people get results. We asked things like how can we build something that guides members from I'm learning to I'm licensing or I'm creating revenue with my artwork? How can we support both alumni and newcomers so non alumni of the Surface Design Immersion course without overwhelming either group? This was a really big question that we had to answer and we what we ended up doing was kind of making two versions of the same exact membership. One is for alumni only. Those are called our insiders and they have access to the community, our love squad for support and live interaction on coaching calls.

Bonnie Christine:
And then the other version that's open to the public, has all of the resources and tools, but they get replays of the coaching calls instead of the live interaction. That way we can really go deep with our alumni where we all know that they have this base level of foundation and information and then the members who are not alumni yet can kind of come in and listen and learn as we go. I can't believe I get to say this out loud. Pattern Magazine is here. Years ago, I scribbled down this dream to create a magazine for surface designers. I tucked it away for some day, but that little dream kept whispering louder until it became impossible to ignore. So we brought it to life, introducing Pattern Magazine, a brand new quarterly print publication dedicated to the art and business of surface pattern design. It is a love letter to tactile beauty and to the creative humans who make it.

Bonnie Christine:
In a world full of screens and scrolls, Pattern Magazine is a breath of fresh air, a return to paper and ink and inspiration that you can hold and take with you in your hands. Inside, you'll find 120 full color pages filled with artist features and mood boards, color forecasts, licensing tips, business strategies, and even tear out pages to spark your creativity and put on your mood board or even frame. It's everything I crave as a designer. An invitation to slow down and reconnect with our work and remember why you started creating in the first place. My hope is that Pattern Magazine becomes a beloved part of your creative living. Something that you flip through with coffee in hand, dog eared for later and treasure. Like a well loved sketchbook, the world of surface Design is bursting at the seams with creative expression, beautiful stories, and meaningful work. And it deserves to be held in your hands.

Bonnie Christine:
To get your copy, head to bonniecristine.com/PatternMagazine Pattern Magazine was made for you, and I cannot wait to see it on your table. The next question was, how can we design a membership that actually saves someone time instead of creating another to do list for someone? So my biggest goal was to say, how can we make a membership that saves people 20 plus hours a month? And that was our kind of guiding reference the whole time. So what we did was create something that's super clean, highly focused, and designed to help members really build their licensing business. We built a predictable cadence. We added things like mockups and design briefs and the coaching calls and all of the ready to use industry tools that would help people save hours and hours of time every month. Most importantly, we let go of anything that didn't directly serve our mission. I'll tell you a little bit more about exactly what we created in the next section, but I just want to pause here and say this process was really hard. It required a ton of courage, a bunch of clarity, a lot of humility.

Bonnie Christine:
But it was also really freeing because we stopped trying to be everything to everyone, and we got really clear about building something that actually worked. So once we understood what was really no longer working and why, our next question became, what does better look like? How can we create a space that simplifies and clarifies and energizes, one that supports real forward momentum? So we began redesigning. We structured everything for simplicity. One of the most consistent pieces of feedback we heard was, there's too much. I don't know where to start. So we knew we needed to create a cadence that felt really predictable and spacious. So we literally stripped away the overwhelm and restructured Pattern plus with a super simple monthly rhythm that involves four deliverables, always sent out on a Thursday. And that's really it for the core structure.

Bonnie Christine:
And because licensing was a key area members wanted more clarity in, we have layered in a licensing opportunity every single month. This is probably the most exciting thing. We are working with partners and brands all over the world to bring an actual living licensing opportunity to the members of PatternPlus every single month. So, for instance, our first one this month is with a company called PNB Textiles. They serve the quilting fabric industry, and members have a deadline to submit work in order to be reviewed. And someone is going to earn that licensing deal as a direct result of being a member of Pattern plus, which I think is just so incredible. So those are coming month after month. What we really tried to do was flip the script.

Bonnie Christine:
We moved from a content first strategy to a results first strategy. And that meant creating licensing success for our members. Not kind of how to do it, but literally trying to close the loop and get people working as professional surface designers. Members are improving their portfolio collection by collection. They're refining their personal brand, they're practicing their pitches, and they're working to real life licensing briefs. The goal here was really simple, just to help designers transition from learners to licensors. So if you're thinking, well, my goodness, that sounds like a lot, you're right. We did not just kind of update our membership.

Bonnie Christine:
We let it go entirely. We honored it, we thanked it, and then we created something entirely new. Every single decision we made was grounded in what we heard. We asked for more clarity, and then we built a monthly rhythm that gave members exactly what they wanted. They asked for licensing traction, so we gave them a roadmap, ready to use tools and real life opportunities every single month. They asked for more connections, so we designed coaching and community with the insiders in mind. We really just stopped assuming and we started listening and aligning. So next up, I want to walk you through, really, what I had to move through in order to make this change with clarity instead of fear.

Bonnie Christine:
Because when people start to leave something that you've poured your heart into, it's easy to feel like you failed or you're losing traction. But the truth is that sometimes the best thing people can do is point you towards a better way. And if you're willing to listen and really listen, what feels like a loss can be some of the most valuable guidance. So there's a thought that I really wrestled with throughout this process, and it would kind of creep up in the middle of the night, or just as I was about to press send on a new idea and it sounded like people are leaving, and that must mean that I failed in one way of saying it or another. And I just wonder if maybe you felt that way too. Maybe you've launched something and it didn't go the way that you hoped, or maybe you've built a course or a community or even just made an Instagram post. And the silence that followed felt like rejection. And I just want to say that if that's where you are, I see you.

Bonnie Christine:
It is a special thing that every professional creative gets to experience. And you're not alone. We all get it, we all understand. But what I've Learned is that when people walk away or they get quiet, it doesn't always mean that you did something wrong. Sometimes it just means that you're invited to do something different or better. Sometimes people are pointing you quietly towards a better version of what you're here to create. And that is not failure. That is feedback.

Bonnie Christine:
And you can let it become the fuel for your next best version. Every spring, I head out into the garden with my gloves and my tools and big old basket full of seeds and hope. But before I plant anything new, I have to do something important. I have to clear all the beds. I have to pull out the weeds and the old roots that are no longer serving. I have to add fresh soil to the beds. And sometimes that means pulling out plants that did grow but are now crowding the space or choking out the potential for what's next. And it's not easy.

Bonnie Christine:
I don't love removing something that once really brought me so much happiness. But I've learned that if I want new life to bloom, have to make room for it. And I think that's the same in business. There comes a time when we have to prune back the version of what we built to create space for the next version to grow. And so while it can feel like a loss, it's actually an act of taking care of it. You're tending to what matters most. You're listening to the feedback of the season and to the people who are still growing right alongside of you. So Pattern plus is my garden.

Bonnie Christine:
After good tending, we didn't abandon anything. We. We really cultivated it. We cleared space and we listened and we replanted. And now new life is beginning to take root. So if you're listening to this and you've been holding on to something that's not quite working anymore, maybe it's a product or a workflow or a community. Maybe it's a way of showing up that used to serve you, but now feels different or too heavy. I just want to invite you to pause, not to quit, not to panic.

Bonnie Christine:
Just pause and ask yourself what your audience needs most right now. Ask what you need most right now, and listen to what comes up. Because sometimes the bravest thing that you can do isn't just to keep going as planned. It is to begin again with more clarity and more care and more intention than ever before. So here's what we walked through today. We notice that something inside our membership flourish. It's no longer clicking. Instead of ignoring it, we really listened.

Bonnie Christine:
We gathered feedback. We paid attention. That feedback gave us a total roadmap. Not just for how to fix things, but for how to create something brand new. We redesigned our entire membership around clarity and traction and connection. And along the way, we let go of the myth that change equals failure. Because real failure isn't evolving. It's staying stuck in something that no longer serves us.

Bonnie Christine:
Pattern plus was born from that shift. It is so much more than a new name. It is an entire new way forward for our team, our community, and our mission. It is to leave lasting impact. My friends and I have to tell you, this feels like the most aligned version of a membership that we've ever created. It is to support, to help people progress, it is to give them clarity, and it is to save them time. And we're just getting started. The results have been insane.

Bonnie Christine:
Our members are absolutely loving it. And by the way, if you want to experience it too, you can at bonniecristine.com/patternplus so if you're wondering how to begin listening to your audience, take a few minutes, go grab our free download, which is a really concise and clear list of the questions that we began to ask our audience. My favorite was what's one tool, template or resource you wish you had access to? That one question alone could open the door to so much clarity for you. And what you learn might just help you kind of move forward. So go grab that download at ProfessionalCreative.com today on today's show notes and then get to asking your people and get really curious. Next week. Oh my goodness, I cannot wait. I'm going to give you a peek at what's actually inside Pattern Plus.

Bonnie Christine:
Today, we kind of just covered the transition, how we got there and why we did it. But next week, I'll be diving into our industry kits, our licensing briefs, the social studio, and even the AI tools that we're offering members to accelerate their workflow. It's going to be jam packed with goodness. So, my friend, until then, create the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world. And remember, there's room for you.