Amelia explains how revenue generation through all-access passes and affiliate links gets layered onto the free summit model, and why this is where summits start to feel MLM-esque or exploitative for speakers with smaller audiences.
20:57Here's my podcast. Here's my community. Let me know if you wanna set up a call, but, like, I'm not interested in joining a summit from someone who I've never had an interaction with before. That's just kind of a policy or boundary for me. Then I look at the intention and the structure of the summit.
21:11So for this, I'm really trying to figure out who the summit is set up to benefit and how. I'm asking things like, will it mostly benefit the person hosting? Like, does it seem to be a big email grab for them? Will it benefit me for teaching? Are they really upfront about how they share my lead magnet, invite people onto my list, send emails with links directly to my mailing list instead of just back into their ecosystem.
21:38That could be a great benefit to me. Also, will it benefit my audience if they sign up? Right? So it's not just about the host or me, it's also about my community. If I'm gonna share a summit with them, I wanna make sure it feels relevant to them and like it will support them in a meaningful way.
21:55And then again, when I'm thinking about those benefits, I'm thinking about audience growth. I'm thinking about shared knowledge and I'm thinking about revenue. So is someone making money from this summit? And do I feel good about supporting them? I've definitely seen summits where all of the proceeds go to nonprofit or mutual aid organizations, and I like that.
22:14That's fun. Right? It's a way to sort of build in a paid aspect of the summit, but then redistribute that money. Is that actually in and of itself can feel like a mutual aid effort? So I like when summits do that, and I might be more likely to say yes if that's the case.
22:28I also again consider, are they asking me to promote a certain amount or to do certain things? You know, if they want me to send five emails and post in stories every day, I have to tell them, one, I don't have stories. And two, I'm not gonna send five emails. Like, there's no way I'm gonna send five emails about a summit that I'm just one of many speakers in. I'm not even sending five emails about the summit I'm hosting yet.
22:51So, you know, I'm thinking about all of that, the intention, the structure, the benefit when I'm figuring out if I will join a summit. I will also say that I prefer summits that don't require me to create or teach something new. Because most of the time with summits, you are being asked to teach or to speak for free or for like cross promotion and exposure. I don't wanna build a whole new thing for free. I'll be honest.
23:19I want to be able to contribute a talk or a recording that I've already done before or to do an interview where I get to be in conversation with the host. I love doing summits where the host interviews people because it helps me, like, have a deeper relationship with that person, and that's valuable to me. That's worth the hour of my time and the one promo email they may ask me to send. Right? There are lots of benefits in summits.
23:43They're not always sketchy, but we have to be thinking about again, who's running them? What is the structure? What is the promo request? Does anyone make money and do I like who's getting that money? Will my audience meaningfully benefit if I share this with them?
23:58And what are the overall intentions here? So those are some of the things I consider when I'm asking if a summit is sketchy or if it feels aligned. Because all of that said, I do think summits are great ways to cross promote, so I don't rule them out full stop. I'm just careful and thoughtful with the summits I participate in. And if you're curious what those summits have been, I can tell you.
24:21In 2024, I was a part of the Cosmic Business Salon with Paula Crossfield. This was called a salon, but the whole model follows the summit model from every other summit I've done or been invited to, and that was great. Paula was on the podcast. We got to have a conversation about social media. I really enjoyed getting to know her work and her community better through that summit.
24:41I'm glad I was a part of it. In 2025, I was also part of the Drop the Mic, a Feminist Podcasting Unsummit hosted by Becky Mollenkamp of the Feminist Podcasters Collective. I'm a big fan of Becky's work. We know each other pretty well over years of collaborating on different things. And so when Becky asked me to be a part of an Un Summit, I was like, hell, yeah.
25:02Sign me up. I'm a fan. And I shared this summit with the Softer Sounds mailing list quite a few times. I did have an affiliate link to invite them to upgrade to paid. And honestly, the sessions in this summit were often just like straight up podcast classes.
25:17I definitely felt like there was so much value in them. It was a gift to get to attend live or be a part of the live week for free, but I felt very good selling the lifetime All Access Pass because that stuff was valuable. And I think in the end, maybe I made a $100 in affiliate sales from that. I'd have to look up the exact amount. It wasn't huge, but I was happy to share it.
25:41And I shared it with the Softer Sounds audience. I did not push this really hard at the off the grid audience because not everybody off the grid wants to make their own podcast. But everyone on my Softer Sounds podcast studio mailing list either wants to make a podcast or has one they want to improve. So it felt very easy and aligned to promote there. And then in 2026, I'm actually taking part in three summits.
26:04Two have happened so far. One is coming up soon. So I was a part of the profitable and preferred service business summit with Maggie Patterson. I really love Maggie's work. I think that she is such a straight shooter, so authentic and direct.
26:20And for that summit, she interviewed me talking about marketing without social media. She had great resources to share it with my audience, but there weren't specific promo requests or demands. So even though the folks who signed up all ended up on Maggie's email list, I felt really good joining her and promoting that, spreading the word, sharing her work, and myself in the process. And then more recently, I was part of the Level Up Summit with Bianca King. This is one that I was invited to by a longtime biz friend of mine, Mel McSherry.
26:49Mel and Bianca are friends, and I guess Bianca hosts this event every year. Mel was putting on a panel of business owners who are breaking up with the status quo and asked me if I would be a part of it. And I immediately said yes because I have a ton of respect for Mel. The event sounded great, and I was happy to be involved. This was another one where there was no promo requirement for the summit, although I do think it was paid to attend.
27:14So I'm not sure this was free, but it was a really amazing conversation. I'm really glad I got to be a part of it. I met very cool people and got to know a community I had never encountered before online. So again, another summit with like great mutual benefit that felt really good. And then coming up in May, I'm gonna be a part of the Advanced Freelancers Summit with Austin Church of Freelance Cake.
27:37I met Austin last year when he hosted me in his paid community to talk about my book. And so because Austin had already given me that time, supported my work and my book and was sharing it, like, he invested in me and my work. And so when he asked me to be a part of his summit, I was like, yeah. Happy to contribute. Right?
27:55Because you have already supported me, and I have felt the benefit of that. I am now happy to join in supporting you and your work, giving my time to record a class for this, sharing a resource for your bundle. That feels good because it's someone I have a relationship with. Right? So that's just a quick review of the summits I participated in.
28:12Apologies if I'm forgetting one. If anyone listening to this is like, Amelia, you did my summit. I just have a horrible memory. I'm sure it was amazing. Did not exclude you because I didn't think it was great.
28:22I only do summits that I think are great. And having shared all of that, I would love to tell you how I designed the astrology and business planning summit to feel like a summit with mutual benefit where the host, me, the speakers, interwebers, and the attendees, all you lovely people from the off the grid community, all feel this, like, beautiful reciprocal flow together. The story begins in how this summit even came together. Because let me tell you, I never intended to host a summit. It was not something I was thinking about doing.