From Audience to Income: How Paid Communities Create Real Freedom

EP325 Profit With A Plan Podcast

Released November 4, 2025

Guest:  Carol Tice, Journalist and Founder of the Community Growth Academy 

Host: Marcia Riner, Business Growth Strategist | Infinite Profit

 

🎯 Episode Summary

Most business owners focus on growing an audience—but an audience listens, while a community buys, stays, and grows with you. In this episode, Marcia sits down with Carol Tice, the journalist-turned-entrepreneur who transformed her blog readers into a thriving paid community that generated over $6 million before she sold it. Carol shares how to turn your expertise into recurring revenue, why your gut beats the gurus, and how building a community can fund the life you actually want.

🎥 What You’ll Learn

• The difference between an audience and a true community that drives profit

• How Carol turned her blog readers into a $6M paid membership model

• Simple ways to validate and launch your own community in 2025

• Why low-ticket memberships can outperform high-ticket offers

• How to design a flexible, freedom-based business model you love

⏱️ Timestamp Highlights

[00:00 ] The real difference between audience and community

[05:00 ] From journalism to building a six-figure freelance business

[08:00 ] The launch of Freelance Writers Den and early community growth

[11:00 ] The power of closing the doors to increase demand

[16:00 ] How modern tools like Skool make paid communities easy

[20:00 ] Why engagement beats content for lasting member retention

[27:00 ] Building in public: how to let your members shape your offer

[33:00 ] Creating scalable, sellable, and lifestyle-friendly businesses

🔗 Resources & Links

Carol Tice – Community Growth Academy

https://www.skool.com/community-growth-academy

Free Case Study: How I Built and Sold Freelance Writers Den

https://www.skool.com/community-growth-academy/about

💼 About Marcia Riner & Profit With A Plan

Marcia Riner is a business growth strategist, creator of the Profit Booster® strategies, and CEO of Infinite Profit®. She helps entrepreneurs scale smarter, increase profitability, and build businesses that are worth more—whether they plan to keep them or sell them.

As host of Profit With A Plan, Marcia shares expert interviews and actionable strategies to help business owners increase revenue, improve systems, and prepare for high-value exits. With decades of experience in finance, operations, and marketing, she delivers clear, profit-driving insights you can use right away.

📞 Questions? Call (949) 229-2112 or visit InfiniteProfitConsulting.com

🚀 Profit-Driven Resources (CTAs)

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