When you search for online community examples, you’ll mostly find massive corporate groups and social media forums. While those communities can be interesting, they’re often very different from the personal, intentional space you want to create as a solopreneur.
Building a community is one of the most powerful ways to grow your audience, earn recurring income, and connect with people who truly care about what you do. Whether it’s a free space, a paid membership, or a community built around a course or product, the right community can become the heartbeat of your business.
But it can be hard to picture what that looks like for your small business without some real, relatable examples.
That’s why we’ve put together 13 examples of online communities from creators and entrepreneurs just like you who are using their spaces to share knowledge, host events, support their work, and bring people together.
Use these mini case studies to spark ideas for your own community, and get ready to start building a space you and your members love.
(If you’re looking for a home for your community, Podia has full community features as well as digital products, courses, events, email, and your website. Start a 30-day free trial today.)
The Marketing Club — paid community with weekly and monthly live sessions
Jennifer Kolbuc runs The Marketing Club, a paid membership community designed to help business owners and online entrepreneurs plan, learn, and collaborate on their marketing.
Inside the community, members get access to a monthly content planning workshop, guest training webinars, and weekly co-working sessions, all hosted live on Zoom. Alongside the live programming, the community offers a space where members can share wins, ask questions, and support each other as they grow their businesses.
To grow the membership, Jen hosted a free live webinar where they shared the behind-the-scenes story of how they built their business to $100K over three years. At the end of the session, they introduced The Marketing Club and gave attendees a clear picture of what they’d get by joining.
This free webinar helped them attract new leads, grow their email list, and convert attendees into paying members. Even if someone didn’t join right away, they were still added to the email list, giving Brittany and Jen the chance to nurture those leads and encourage sign-ups later.
Takeaway you can use for your business: Host a free session with lots of value that ends with a promotion for your community. Gather email addresses so you can follow up with attendees in the future.
Tiny Shiny Home — YouTube channel support community
Jonathan and Ashley Longnecker run Tiny Shiny Home, a YouTube channel documenting their journey building an off-grid homestead in the desert. They use their community as a way for fans to support their work directly, so they can keep creating great content.
Memberships start at just $5/month, and supporters get perks like early access to videos, stickers, behind-the-scenes updates, and video shoutouts. All members receive a digital recipe book, and higher-tier plans come with access to several of the Longneckers’ digital products.
That said, the main purpose of the community is to let fans support the channel so Jonathan and Ashley can create more content, similar to how many creators use Patreon.
The family promotes the community in the caption of every YouTube video, making it easy for new viewers to learn more. And as their channel has grown, their community has too.
Read their full creator story here.
Takeaway you can use for your business: Add a simple, visible call to action to your free content to grow your paid community.
Folyo — paid client leads subscription community and newsletter
Robert Williams runs Folyo, a paid subscription for U.S.-based website design agencies looking for client leads. Each week, he curates high-quality website design projects that are actively accepting proposals and sends them directly to members’ inboxes. This means members can spend less time hunting for gigs and land more work with less effort.
In addition to the weekly leads, members get access to a private community area and exclusive resources to help them grow their businesses.
While many creators think they need to build their community for everyone and grow as large as possible, Robert took a different approach. He focuses on serving one specific niche, which allows him to offer a premium membership that delivers real value by solving their biggest pain point: finding quality client leads.
Read Rob’s full creator story here.
Takeaway you can use for your business: Build a community around something your audience would normally have to do for themselves, but that you can make easier, faster, or more effective.
Inner Wisdom Academy — mindset community with 7-day free trial
Moira Hutchison, founder of Inner Wisdom Academy, runs a membership community that helps people connect with their intuition and find balance. The community has a free plan that includes weekly mindset sessions and journaling prompts, making it easy for people to start engaging with the content right away.
For those ready to go deeper, Moira also offers a monthly paid plan with additional resources like moon cycle guides, guided meditations, and video trainings. All members, free and paid, can talk in the community to reflect, share, and support one another.
In addition to a free plan, Moira also offers a 7-day free trial for new members. This gives people a low-pressure way to explore the full community before committing, so they can be sure it’s the right fit for them.
Takeaway you can use for your business: Offer a low-barrier entry point like a free plan or trial to let people experience the value of your community before they buy.
Bee’s Hooping Studio — hula hoop fitness community with fast-action discounts
Bee Varga uses her membership community to teach hula hoop fitness and give her audience everything they need to train and stay motivated in this fun sport. Members get access to a library of over 700 hula hoop training videos they can watch anytime, making it easy to practice at their own pace.
Alongside the on-demand content, Bee offers a private community space where members can ask questions, share progress, and get direct support. She regularly joins the conversation, offering tips, encouragement, and new techniques to help members stay engaged and improve their skills.
One cool strategy Bee uses to encourage community signups is offering three discounted spots each month. There’s a button on her site that links to a coupon, and if the discount is still available, new members can claim it automatically. It’s a simple but effective way to create urgency and reward people for jumping in quickly.
Takeaway you can use for your business: If you’re offering a discount for your community, set up a time limit or limited number of coupons to encourage people to take advantage fast.
Art Makers Clubhouse — art hub with live events and procreate brushes
If you love creating digital artwork, you’ll love Lisa Bardot’s Art Maker’s Club community. This membership community is designed to help digital artists improve their skills together. Inside the Clubhouse, members can share their artwork, get feedback, ask questions, and even suggest topics they’d love to learn about next.
In addition to community access, members get exclusive Procreate brush sets and are able to attend live events taught by Lisa. The Clubhouse is available as both a monthly and an annual membership, with the annual plan offering a discount for long-term members.
To promote her community, Lisa has a beautiful sales page with customer testimonials and a video that shows people exactly what they’ll get inside.
Takeaway you can use for your business: Give members a say in what they learn next to keep them engaged, invested, and more likely to stick around.
Just Feel It Fitness — virtual fitness classes with 1- and 3- month packages
Meryl Marciante from Just Feel It Fitness teaches both in-person and virtual fitness classes, and her online community helps people stay active no matter where they are. Members get access to five live workout sessions each week, held Monday through Friday, plus replays they can watch anytime that fits their schedule.
To make joining flexible and approachable, Meryl offers one-month and three-month membership packs. Both options include access to all workouts and the community space, so members work on their fitness from the comfort of home.
Takeaway you can use for your business: Offering different membership durations is a great way to get people in the door and excited about your program. They can start with a shorter plan like one month, and when they see how great it is, upgrade to a longer plan.
Whole Food Plant-Based Cooking Show — YouTube support community
Jill and Jeffrey Dalton, the creators behind The Whole Food Plant-Based Cooking Show, run a support community so their YouTube fans can help financially sustain the channel.
For a small monthly fee, members get access to monthly product giveaways, free ebooks, and the ability to vote on which recipes the Daltons should make next.
What makes their community stand out is the tiered access. They offer a free plan alongside paid ones, allowing fans to stay in the loop even if they aren’t in a position to support financially. It’s a smart way to build connections off social platforms and keep communication open with their full audience, away from the whims of the algorithm.
Takeaway you can use for your business: A free community tier lets you stay connected with fans who aren’t ready to pay. This can be helpful for communicating with your audience since social media posts often get buried, whereas messages shared in your community go straight to members’ inboxes.
Virtual Miss Friday — online coworking community
Michelle Dale, founder of Virtual Miss Friday, runs a virtual coworking community designed for VAs, stay-at-home parents, freelancers, digital nomads, and online business owners who are looking for more structure in their workday.
The community offers live coworking and professional development sessions almost every day, giving members daily opportunities to stay accountable, learn new skills, and connect with others who understand their work-from-anywhere lifestyle.
There’s a strong emphasis on both productivity and community — on a given day, members can go to a live social event, get feedback on a new business idea, or ask questions to the group just like they would at an in-person coworking space.
To help new members get excited about joining, Michelle includes a live calendar of events on her sales page. This makes it easy for prospective members to see exactly what’s coming up and how the community fits into their routine.
Takeaway you can use for your business: A consistent schedule and public event calendar shared on your sales page can help potential members see the value of your community before they join.
LMNTL Club Community — three tiers with group sessions, coaching, and VIP perks
Matt and Leslie are the creators behind LMNTL, and they run a community designed to help people slow down, reflect, and reconnect with themselves and others. The community has three tiers that have more features as you go up.
The basic free plan comes with reflection prompts and self-care tips, as well as access to community spaces for meeting new people. The next tier comes with yoga classes and monthly self-care group calls, and the highest tier includes a monthly 1:1 coaching session and other VIP perks.
The way they’ve structured their plans works well for taking people through a natural progression through their offers. Their free community option serves as a first step for people who might be interested in their coaching programs one day, and it’s easy to upgrade to the second or third plan as their needs change.
Takeaway you can use for your business: A free community tier can be a powerful way to build relationships and give potential customers a low-risk way to experience your work before they buy.
Mr. Henry’s Music World — resource library membership for elementary music teachers
Bill Henry is an elementary music teacher with 20 years of classroom experience. He runs Mr. Henry's Music World, where he creates curriculum and resources for other elementary music teachers, and he grew his entire following through free YouTube content.
For years, teachers could buy Bill's curriculum piece by piece, with lifetime access to each individual resource. But as his library grew, he noticed a better model taking shape.
Once he had enough content built up, he launched the Complete Collection, a single monthly or annual subscription that gives teachers access to everything he's made, including recorder curriculum, ukulele curriculum, and seasonal content, all inside one community area.
Consolidating years of individual products into one membership community made the value obvious so it was an easy yes for his followers.
Read Bill Henry’s full creator story here.
Takeaway you can use for your business: If you've built up a lot of individual products over time, consider rolling them into a single membership community once your library is substantial enough. Customers get access to lots of great content, as well as a place to discuss what they’re learning and how they’re implementing the material.
Namaste and Coco Latte yoga studio — wellness membership with social-media-inspired community
Namaste and Coco Latte by Marie-France Pellerin is a yoga and wellness studio that offers a private community space as an alternative to social media. Instead of relying on algorithms or scattered Facebook groups, members get a dedicated home where they can share stories and support each other’s wellness journeys in a distraction-free place.
The studio offers two membership plans — monthly and annual — and all plans come with community access as well as pilates sessions, yoga classes, mindfulness practices, healthy recipes, and virtual events.
Takeaway you can use for your business: If your audience wants less noise, your community can be a peaceful alternative that you control.
Hello Homeschool Art — homeschool art membership with self-paced and live tiers
Jes Sudbrink runs Hello Homeschool Art, an on-demand art membership community built for homeschooling families. She started the membership after struggling to find good art resources for her own homeschooled kids and realized other homeschool parents were running into the same problem.
Jes has a few different plan options. There’s a base membership that gives members on-demand access to her full lesson library, and there’s also a "Plus Live" tier adds a monthly live class. During the live, members can work together on camera, share their art, and connect face to face.
To help members navigate her growing lesson library, she also built a "Pick a Project" page, a visual, browsable grid of project images that links straight into the corresponding lesson.
Read Jes’s full creator story here.
Takeaway you can use for your business: Offering both a self-paced tier and a live tier lets members choose their own level of involvement. Some people want live elements and more connection, while others just want to move at their own pace, and giving both options as part of the same membership community means both types of customers will be happy.
Build your own online community today
There’s no one “right” way to build an online community. Some creators offer free spaces to connect and explore. Others build high-value paid memberships with exclusive content, live sessions, and hands-on support. Many do both.
The most important thing is that you make a place where you and your audience enjoy spending time. Because once you’ve got that, there are so many different ways you can grow moving forward.
With Podia, you can build an online community with discussion spaces, unlimited members, and unlimited community plans. Your community can have 1:1 chats and group chats, your members can create profiles, and you can bundle community access with events, products, and courses.
Podia also comes with your website, online store, email marketing, and digital products built in, so you have everything you need to promote your space, bundle it with other offers, and grow for the long haul.
Use these examples as inspiration and start building your version of community today with a 30-day free trial of Podia. I can’t wait to see what you make.
