When you’re the best-selling author of 48 Days to the Work You Love with a wildly successful podcast and weekly email newsletter that reaches tens of thousands of people, what in the heck would inspire you to spend the past year investing your time and energy in over 600 people on a brand new platform?

For Dan Miller, it was the power of a connected network of entrepreneurs that gets more valuable to everyone with each new member who joins:

While Dan knew he wanted to focus on the most engaged entrepreneurs in his community, he still had to figure out how he would structure this new chapter in his business for maximum impact and ensure it was worth his time.

First, he had to find the platform

Dan’s first step in bringing together his most motivated entrepreneurs to connect with each other was choosing a software platform that enabled him to:

• Build his own culture and norms around the kinds of connections he wanted to create, outside the noise and distractions of Facebook groups


• Offer opportunities for people to take on more leadership roles, learn faster, and achieve results quickly


• Create and organize different paid membership tiers in one place (without having to push people from platform to platform)


• Connect the people in these different membership groups and programs to each other naturally and easily

A member of his own mastermind group suggested that he check out Mighty Networks, where he had just launched his own paid membership site with much success.

As an early fan of Ning, Dan recognized Mighty Networks CEO & Founder Gina Bianchini as being behind both platforms and eagerly dove in.

Next came the structure: Choosing quality over quantity

Dan’s 48 Days Eagles members include writers, coaches, speakers, brick-and-mortar business owners, service business owners, musicians, artists, physicians, dentists, veterinarians, chiropractors, and more.

After building his audience for years, the clarity of his vision for the 48 Days Eagles community was razor-sharp. He focused on quality over quantity:

Dan structured 48 Days Eagles with the following levels:

48 Days Eagles Community – Base Membership $48/month

Dan’s base membership of $48/month includes Topics like Speaking, Coaching, Podcasting, Entrepreneurial Business, Monday Mentor Trainings, Creative Opportunities, Getting Started, Resources, as well as monthly themes that go deep into the full set of skills and strategies the modern entrepreneur needs to be successful.

In addition to these Topics and monthly themes, members can pinpoint their exact spot on their entrepreneurial journey and have a clear path for how to progress:

Then, Dan uses a Weekly Calendar to build a habit among his members with:

• Monday Mentor Calls–one hour at 2pm CT with a member or an outside guest (recordings are archived in the community)


• Tuesday Office Hours–in the live chat or Zoom

48 Days Eaglepreneurs Mastermind Group – $500/month limited to 30 members

This is an invite-only mastermind group for Dan’s inner circle, most of whom he has known for two years or more. By keeping it small and priced at a premium, he can ensure that members achieve the results and transformation they’re yearning for.

Coaching Mastery Insiders Group – $4,800 one-time payment for six-month program

Being able to offer programs–or online courses–alongside the 48 Days Eagles Community makes it easy to convert members to these programs and streamlines the management for Dan and his team.

Ready for commitment: People who pay, pay attention

With regard to his membership site, Dan makes a clear distinction between the value of free and paid:

Indeed the numbers reflect this. Among 48 Days Eagles members, 75% are full-time entrepreneurs already, and the rest are moving in that direction.

As for the value they’re getting? More than 90% of members who have ever joined are still members today.

How do Dan and his team deliver this value in his membership site daily? While he continues to experiment, there are a few core principles Dan brings to his community today.

Watching the community run with it: The right mindset, right idea, right network

Dan’s passionate belief is that surrounding yourself with the right supportive, motivating people can make all the difference in your career as an entrepreneur:

In keeping with this philosophy, Dan gives members opportunities to step up as leaders in the community:

But lest you think Dan’s community is just about members promoting themselves, he’s clear that’s not how things work:

Not surprisingly, members of 48 Days Eagles drive much of the engagement inside the community–asking questions and sharing detailed responses that include ideas, resources, and encouragement based on their own experiences.

Members cheering each other on (with a few surprises from Dan)

Celebrating and showing members appreciation is core to the culture of 48 Days Eagles.

When a new member joins, not only do other members welcome the new folks as they introduce themselves, but Dan himself has a surprise in store. He sends each person a physical package with an autographed, hardcover copy of 48 Days to the Work You Love, and Rudder of the Day, a daily devotional, along with a handwritten note from him.

The package is unannounced (unless a future member is reading this now!) and sets the tone of surprise, delight, and service that permeates the culture of 48 Days Eagles:

Dan and team also host meetups around the country, often around conferences. Last March, at Social Media Marketing World in San Diego, they invited other members who were in town to join them for lunch, and 48 people showed up. And it’s not just Dan driving these gatherings either:

Always experimenting and leveling up

Dan isn’t shy about sharing his goal to grow 48 Days Eagles to 2,500 members. He highlights questions and wins from the community in his podcast and newsletter. By continuing to generously share his knowledge for free, while showcasing the amazing growth happening inside his community, he’s confident they’ll achieve their goal and bring in the right 2,500 people:

3 key takeaways from 48 Day's Story of Awesome

1. Make a clear distinction between free and paid. “People who pay, pay attention. If people pay, they implement what you say, they take action and change their lives.”


2. Use your community to elevate your members. “I want our people to be in positions of leadership and serve as the voice and the face of the community.”


3. Give members a structured path to success. “Members don’t come here to just get warm fuzzies and hang out. So we identify and celebrate points of progress and wins.”