Cecilia and Jason Hilkey knew first-hand that modern parenting wasn’t exactly easy.

The wife and husband team had realized, as preschool educators and parents themselves, that for some people traditional parenting methods of punishment and rewards just weren’t cutting it anymore. And they knew there was a different way to parent, a way that relied on communication, connection, and tending to the emotional needs of children:

They also knew that people who approached parenting this way needed the support of other parents:

While there were plenty of parenting coaches and experts out there, Cecilia and Jason wanted to offer a more personal experience, one that prioritized transparency and building authentic connections:

They started off by creating standalone online courses through their WordPress-powered site. Soon after, they began offering two digital conferences a year, under their business’ new name: Happily Family. Although the conferences themselves were free, Cecilia and Jason monetized them by offering people the option to buy recordings of the interviews afterwards.

With the Happily Family conferences, Cecilia and Jason delivered much-needed resources, by bringing together 25 speakers—from psychologists and psychiatrists to parent coaches and educators—to talk about parenting without punishments and rewards. But the community component still wasn’t there:

Not knowing where else to turn, the couple settled on the first platform that came to mind.

Cecilia and Jason started by trying to create a community space with Facebook Groups. They created two separate groups: one for their parenting classes and another for their free conferences. And people showed up: the Facebook Group for their parenting courses reached thousands, while the group they ran alongside their conferences reached about 20,000.

Despite those big numbers, it turned out that a Facebook Group wasn’t conducive to building a real sense of community. Because of Facebook’s lack of privacy, members still weren’t making connections or building authentic relationships with each other:

Cecilia and Jason were also slowly, but surely, getting burned out. Adding more and more third-party solutions to their ongoing setup was getting overwhelming. And because they couldn’t directly monetize their Facebook Group with a membership subscription, they were facing the possibility of adding yet another third-party app as a means to even out their revenue stream. It was getting to be too much:

They decided to start with a clean slate. Instead of taking their free Facebook Group and trying to convert it to a paid membership, they would focus on creating an entirely new community, hosted on an entirely different platform:

As the couple tried to figure out their next step, they stumbled onto a solution: Mighty Networks. With a Mighty Network, they could create a community where members were able to build authentic relationships with each other. And it would be private enough that Cecilia and Jason could lead with transparency, too.

With a Mighty Network of their own, they could go beyond the limitations of their Facebook Group. They could:

• Create their own dedicated space for nontraditional parenting, away from the clutter and built-in distractions of social media

• Host their community and online courses in one place and offer their members a streamlined experience

• Monetize their community with a paid membership subscription, an option that just wasn’t possible on Facebook

• Offer their members the ability to access their community from any place, with availability on the web, iOS, and Android devices

And with that, Cecilia and Jason’s community had a home: The Village by Happily Family.

When it came to structuring The Village, Cecilia and Jason emphasized experimentation, from offering introductory pricing to varying the amount of content included in their courses.

They started out by offering a brand new topic every month featuring a Q&A session, a “Love Mission” concept and exercise, an interview, and a few other pieces of content. But that quickly became overwhelming and hard to keep up with, both for Cecilia and Jason and their members:

With their members’ feedback in mind, Cecilia and Jason shifted to a new structure. Now, their membership model is centered around a monthly Parenting Toolbox, where every month, parents get a new tool that helps them progress towards a specific goal over the course of a year. Priced at $39.99 a month, with a 30-day free trial, a membership subscription for The Village offers member-only access to:

• The Parenting Toolbox, a monthly themed resource with lessons and activities that helps members work towards increasing connection and cooperation with their children

• A live video Q&A session with Cecilia and Jason, once a month

• A twice-monthly presentation from the Happily Family conference archives, with interviews and Q&As with parenting experts

• A behind-the-scenes preview of a future conference interview, once a month

So far, their members are responding positively to the change:

To add to that high-value experience, new members are guided to an onboarding process called Getting Started in The Village, where they are encouraged to introduce themselves, take a tour, read the posting guidelines and more:

As their members get more and more comfortable with sharing their experiences in The Village, Cecilia and Jason are working towards streamlining their offerings. While some of their content, including courses and group coaching calls, is still offered through their WordPress site, the couple’s long-term goal is to transition everything over to their Mighty Network.

They’ve also been experimenting with weaving their membership in with their conferences and offering discounts during launches to encourage people to join and experience The Village’s growing community.

Currently, The Village hosts about 200 members, and Cecilia and John are hopeful that they can get that number to 400 by the end of the year. To do so, Cecilia and Jason plan to continue to expand their email list, so they can build relationships with potential members while directing them to their various content.

All in all, Cecilia and Jason are excited about what’s possible for their community with Mighty Networks. And they’re thinking not just about what their community can grow into, but about what powers their community in the first place: connection.

1. Be willing to experiment. Cecilia and Jason are big proponents of staying curious and experimenting to find what works, and with good reason. As you try new things and implement feedback, you open up new ways to connect with your members and to spark growth within your community.

2. Be clear about what you’re offering, and how it’s different. If like The Village, you have an existing audience but you’re starting a new community, your email list needs to know how this is different from what you already have. Think about what features make your membership stand out.

3. Authentic connections are your community’s super power. Cecilia and Jason prioritize building relationships: the relationships they have with their members, and the relationships their members have with each other. Those relationships give their members added value, which in turn gives them the incentive to keep coming back to The Village.