In the last week of this month we’ll open Conscious Growth Club for new members. The last time we invited new members to join was in the last week of April 2019, so it’s been a year.

I expect the overall structure of Conscious Growth Club, including the private member forums, member portal, coaching calls, quarterly planning sessions, course access, and monthly 30-day challenges to remain largely unchanged. I’m going to review all the features and benefits, decide what to add or tweak, and record a new invitation video for it, so that’s when I’ll share the exact offer details for the upcoming year.

I intend to keep the price the same: $1997 per year. There are no payment plans and no refunds. It’s meant to be an all-in or nothing type of deal, such that the members who join really want to be a part of it.

Some members have already renewed for the next year early, although I haven’t sent out renewal invitations yet.

The full CGC year runs from May 1 to April 30, although people will get access to the group as soon as they join in the last week of April.

Some people have asked if we’ll open twice this year. While that is a possibility, I don’t have any current plans to do that this year, so I’d say that the chance of a second 2020 opening is very low. Presently I just intend to open CGC once for new members for 2020. The doors will open on April 27, and the doors will close on May 1st. So if you miss it, you’ll have to wait a full year for the opportunity to come around again. As long as you’re on my email list, you’ll be notified about the opening. Or you could mark your calendar to check back on April 27.

Even though people have asked to join mid-year, I haven’t allowed anyone to do so. I like welcoming new members together once per year, so we can be in service mode the rest of the year.

CGC currently has about 150 members. About 60 of them joined last year, and the other 90 joined during the Early Access period. The group initially started in April 2017, so we’ve been going for three years now, and this next year that starts on May 1st will be our fourth year.

Coronavirus and CGC

Given the current virus situation, I thought about how it may impact CGC’s 2020 opening and how we should adapt. So I’ll share my thoughts about that. The short version is that we’re proceeding with the opening as we normally would.

It’s obvious that many people are going to tighten up on their spending right now. For some people, spending $2K on a personal growth program will go on the back burner relative to other expenses like rent and food. I understand and accept that.

I also think there’s a compensating factor, which is that some people will be more likely to invest in CGC right now. They’ll want to take advantage of the resources of the group for helping them through their personal and professional transitions. Having such a group to lean on for a year (or more) will be seriously beneficial for some people who want that kind of support, especially when social media just isn’t doing it for them.

Given the current situation in the world, it would not surprise me if the group shrinks in size after the April opening. But pushing back the opening (and by how much) would be a matter of guesswork, and it might not make things any better. The reality is that there doesn’t seem to be any better time for opening the group relative to the current plan, so I think it’s best to stick with the current opening plans.

Fortunately we’re on very stable financial footing, so I don’t feel any neediness regarding numbers for the next opening. If the group shrinks in size, that’s okay. And if some people want to skip it this year, they’re still welcome to rejoin in a future year.

CGC was designed with resilience in mind.  It can function well with 20 members, with 200 members, or with 2000 members. It will just operate differently at different scales. With a small group, it will be more intimate. With a larger group, there will be more energy and activity.

I also like thinking that even when the world is in chaos, CGC can serve as a stabilizing presence for those who want it. While the Olympics may need to be rescheduled, CGC can still open as usual and continue to serve its members through a global crisis.

I’d like this group to endure for decades, so when I think about it from that perspective, it makes sense to proceed with the opening as normal each year, as long as it’s possible to do so. Since this is an entirely online group, it can still function just fine.

I was actually planning to do a new live event in October 2020 in Las Vegas, actually two events back to back. The first part would be a special event just for CGC members so they could connect in person. And the second part would be a new three-day workshop open to all. But I’ve had to take that off the table due to the virus situation. I can’t be certain that the circumstances will allow for a live event at that time. And I’d need to book the dates before the CGC opening, so I could let people know the dates and location. That isn’t possible right now because all of the event spaces in Las Vegas are closed, so we can’t look at meeting rooms even if we wanted to.

I still want to make live events a regular part of CGC as well as doing more workshops for everyone who wants to go, but the current circumstances make it unrealistic to plan anything until we see where the dust settles. And that could be a while, maybe not till 2021 or 2022. In the meantime I’m taking this as a directive to focus more deeply on the online experience of CGC.

Sheltering in Place with CGC

A friend helped me see that CGC is a beautiful group to shelter in place with. It’s a sanctuary for connecting with growth-oriented people in a space free of the craziness that you’ll find elsewhere on social media.

We’ve been actively discussing the coronavirus situation in CGC since February 26th, so our members had a chance to start preparing for this sooner than most people and definitely sooner than the mainstream media caught onto it. Now there are many ongoing discussion threads about adapting to this situation, including trying to predict where things are heading, handling the psychological side, home fitness routines, and more. We even have a check-in thread to keep tabs on members who’ve gotten sick themselves.

Video chats among members seem to be increasing as well. We have a 24/7 video chat channel, so members can talk live whenever they want. While some people are just discovering Zoom today, we’ve been using it since 2017, including for our member coaching calls.

There’s even a discussion about which movies to watch while sheltering in place, and a new subgroup that picks a movie to watch and then discusses it afterwards.

I love seeing how this group has evolved during our first three years, and I’m excited for our future. While I understand and accept that some people will categorize CGC as a non-priority for this year, and I empathize with the reasons they may do so, I think that some people will sensibly prioritize CGC higher precisely because of the circumstances that we’re in now.

Some will want help navigating the uncertainty. Some will want to invest in relationships with people they can trust to be there for them. Some will want to add that stable rock of stability and cool-headedness to their lives.

If you intend to join (or renew) CGC this year, I look forward to sheltering in place with you and supporting you through these current challenges.

And if you decide to pass for this year, I understand and accept that. Please know that you’re welcome to join us in a future year.

And if you’re on the fence, no worries. Just sit tight, and I’ll share plenty of details about CGC as we get closer to the opening week.