Reimagining recurring revenue with dignity and choice
Let’s get real: most subscription models aren’t about loyalty—they’re about control.
Yeah, I said it. Somewhere along the winding road of online business, what started as “sustainable income” turned into digital handcuffs. Founders, coaches, service providers—hell, even your favorite newsletter writer—jumped on the subscription bandwagon without asking if the damn thing had brakes. Or a destination. And now? We’re stuck in a loop of auto-renewals, ghosted members, and fake intimacy wrapped in a glossy “community” bow.
You didn’t start a business to become a modern-day feudal lord. But that’s what a lot of these models look like. So let’s burn the blueprints and start over.
Here’s how we reimagine recurring revenue with dignity, consent, and a touch of actual humanity.
The Trap of Modern Subscriptions
Let’s not mince words: most subscription models are built on apathy.
They count on your client forgetting to cancel. On not noticing the renewal. On inertia.
And what’s worse? They gaslight your buyers into thinking they’re part of something “special”—a club, a tribe, a movement—while quietly draining their bank accounts and delivering… meh.
You know what that sounds like? A trap. A system that benefits the business, not the buyer.
It’s the Amazon Prime-ification of everything. Pay for access. Forget about it. Get increasingly less for your money. But it’s convenient, right? RIGHT?
Wrong.
Convenience is not a substitute for connection. And if you’re in the business of creative transformation, meaningful education, or sacred service, building models that bet on your people’s passivity is a betrayal.
Founders, listen: If your recurring revenue model requires your clients to forget they signed up, you’re not running a business. You’re running a casino.
And eventually, they’ll wise up. Because people are tired. Tired of being milked monthly. Tired of endless logins, dead Slack channels, and community forums that feel like digital tumbleweeds.
It’s time to build better.
Consent-Based Retention
Let’s make this sexy again: what if retention was a choice?
Not a checkbox they forgot to uncheck. Not a surprise PayPal charge. Not a “we’re sorry to see you go” guilt-trip email that secretly hides the cancel button like it’s a game of digital Where’s Waldo.
I’m talking real consent. Enthusiastic consent. The kind you want in bed and in business.
Imagine a subscription that asked people if they still wanted in—monthly, quarterly, whatever. Imagine respecting their “no.” Imagine giving them space to re-enter when it’s a “yes” again.
That’s not weak business strategy. That’s respect.
You know what happens when people feel respected? They trust you. They come back. They tell their friends. They don’t leave passive-aggressive comments or ghost you.
Consent-based retention is not just ethical—it’s effective.
So next time you build a recurring offer, ask yourself: Am I making this easy to stay—or just hard to leave?
Because there’s a difference. And your people can feel it.
Designing with Dignity and Choice
We need to stop designing subscriptions like jail cells and start designing them like art.
That means building with your people, not around them.
What do they actually need on a recurring basis? What would light them up every month? What would you want to pay for on autopilot?
Because here’s the deal: dignity isn’t some fluffy “nice-to-have.” It’s the heartbeat of sustainable business.
Dignity means saying no to manipulative urgency. No to fake scarcity. No to creating FOMO just to snag a credit card number.
Instead, design for agency.
What if your members could pause their subscription like a Spotify playlist? What if they could choose their level of access each month? What if they could opt into what they actually want—instead of buying the whole buffet to get the one dish they crave?
Dignity is granular. It’s in the details. The cancel button, the reminder emails, the check-ins. And yeah, it’s slower. But it’s deeper.
And it builds something that no bro-marketing funnel can buy: trust.
Flexible Models That Empower the Buyer
Look, we don’t need to throw out subscriptions entirely. Just the rigid, manipulative, extractive ones.
What we need are models that bend—not break.
Think: credit-based memberships. Tiered offerings. Seasonal access. Gift-a-friend passes. Pay-what-you-can windows. Value-aligned upgrades.
Let your people co-create their experience. Give them the steering wheel. Trust them to know what they need—and build a model that listens.
Empowered buyers don’t churn. They choose. Again and again.
They stay not because they forgot to leave—but because you made it worth staying.
So, here’s the question:
What would it look like to build a subscription model you’d actually want to buy?
Really. Would you want to be on the receiving end of your own offer? Would it feel empowering, generous, honest?
Or would it feel like a slow bleed of energy and cash?
Don’t just build for revenue. Build for resonance.
Because recurring income without recurring impact? That’s just a revolving door.
Let’s build the kind of systems that honor the people who believe in us. With fire, with grace, and with radical respect.
