Welcome to Uploading the podcast where we take you behind the wheel with the world's best creators, marketers and professionals who have cracked the code on how to profit through content. You'll learn the ins and outs of content strategy, creation, production, distribution, growth platforms, tools and more. If you haven't already, be sure to join castmagic, the all in one content workspace for professionals. We be sending out tips from our shows in our weekly newsletter and we've also got a slack community of over a thousand creators. So make sure to drop in and say hello. And now get ready for the show. Welcome to today's episode of Uploading. Today we're joined by Eugene Kman, who is the COO of million dooll sellers MDs, which is an elite community for top Amazon entrepreneurs.
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The Million Dollar Community Blueprint
Speaker
Blaine
Speaker
Eugene Kamen
Eugene Kman reveals how he grew Million Dollar Sellers from a small Facebook group into a thriving, high-value community of 700 Amazon entrepreneurs generating $11 billion in sales. He shares insight on organic growth, community values, trust-building, and strategic monetization for sustained success.
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“Welcome to Uploading the podcast where we take you behind the wheel with the world's best creators, marketers and professionals who have cracked the code on how to profit through content.”
“The Key to Community Growth "So first the common denominator, right? We were all trying to succeed in this, you know, private label Amazon business, you know, so we had something to talk about next is there they have to feel like safe that they can talk in this space without their that information, you know, escaping the room. Right.”
“You want to get, you know, at least five to 10 conversations happening a day, right. If somebody can ask a question and have it answered that same day like that, that, that's the value creation right there, right.”
“How Monetization Transforms Community Growth Quote: "Once we started monetizing, we started putting all of that money back into more events and more resources, building a team, right? Before that, it was just. It was me, my business partner. It wasn't something that we spent time on. But once you show, like, hey, this is something that we're treating like some kind of business, right? And once you start adding back value by hiring people that help keep things organized, putting on calls regularly, right? Doing, like, events regularly, you'll get that respect from those members of those existing members.”
“If you were building a community from scratch in a totally different field, so let's pretend we're not doing Amazon, you're building it around something else. Like, how would you start it from scratch? Would you start on Facebook today? Would you start on Slack? Like, where would you start it? How would you start it? Who would you bring in? And then what would you do before you actually start to get to that point where you can monetize it?”
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Eugene helped grow MDS from a humble Facebook group into a six figure membership community of over 650 founders, generating over $8 billion in annual sales. And he did it while running his own Amazon brand as well. So in today's workshop we're going to cover how Eugene grew MDS into a thriving community without quitting his day job. He strategies and values that he's used to grow MDs. For example, give more, get more, which has made MDS super successful. The business model behind MDS and why people pay over $7,000 a year to be part of this network and so much more.
So.
So Eugene, without any further ado, I'll let you kick us off. Why don't you tell us a little bit about your background, how you got involved in MDS and you know, just, just what it's all about.
Yeah, well, thank you for the little intro. So it came about in a very organic way. I mean, I entered the Amazon business. You're behind the computer and you're alone and I was looking for other people that were doing the same thing. There weren't any at the time. There wasn't, you know, any groups around of people that were doing what I was doing, which was just importing things from China and selling them on Amazon. Pretty funny. That didn't exist before, before but most of the Amazon sellers were just doing retail arbitrage.
So there were a couple groups here and there that were, you know, just. And said, you come to this Foot Locker, get a good discount, buy some Nikes and Jordans and list them on Amazon. That's how most people did it. Then I stumbled upon this group called mds. Well, it wasn't called MDS at the time, but what made it different is it was a verified Private label sellers. So in the beginning, the verification line was just $10,000 a month and there were about 50 members when I joined. So I came in, saw this group, they quickly raised that bar to 1 million a year or $50,000 a month was like kind of the next one. Then it was 1 million a year.
And being a member, I finally became kind of part of something I was really enjoying, was just a Facebook group. There was nothing else going on and everybody was trying to kind of figure out what they were, how to succeed in this business. So we had that common denominator. Everybody was struggling to figure it out. There wasn't much information about, you know, doing this kind of business. So there was a, you know, a real kind of wantingness to share information with one another. And also being that everybody was verified and there was no, you know, kind of pitching or no like outside service providers, it made it kind of a very safe place. So I came in and I decided to say, hey, let's all meet up in person.
I put together a little event in Cancun about I guess six years ago and 80 people, I mean at that time that group was about 120 people on Facebook. And 80 of those people actually flew down to Cancun for this meetup. I think I charged at the time like $99 for a ticket. I lost a ton of money. But it was just something I did for fun and I got to know everybody in person and that's kind of what started this community journey. And over time I continue to do more events. MDs became what it is and we partnered and started treating it like, like a real community, you know, growing organically from members, things like that. And here we are today.
We're kind of the E Commerce founders community for, you know, that seven to nine figure sellers. Great.
So you covered a whole bunch of stuff there that I think is really important that you could easily just glaze over. But we're going to get into all of that. One thing just before I start asking you those questions is tell me about where you stand now. What characterize the community? How much does it cost to be in the community? How much revenue are you guys doing on an annual basis? How many members are in the community? Just give us some of those stats.
Yeah, so we have now about 700 members in the community. We're up to 11 billion in total sales, which kind of makes up about 1% of all of Amazon private label, which is pretty impressive to have at least a digit there. So yeah, we have a couple Million in revenue amongst all the members. We also have like a partnership revenue from affiliates or partner sponsoring the events. We have about 100 events a year. So we have some event revenue too. We have our biggest event of the year coming up right now, just called Inspire. See it here.
And that's at the end of this month. It's the same week as Shop Talk and Prosper Show. So that event's like the highest concentration of 79 figure founders. So it's a couple different revenue streams, but yeah, total, I'd say 4 million amongst it all.
Awesome. So 700 members, $4 million in revenue. And what's the ticket price to get in the community?
Seven a year.
Seven what?
7,500 a year.
$7,500 a year. Okay, so that's. So now everyone has a little bit of context about what MDS is, what Eugene has done and now want to get into the tactical stuff. Right. So couple things that you had mentioned in your, your opening intro that I think are important to go over. Number one, you had said you had started the community organically. Another thing that you said is you made sure to filter out the noise of the community. So you guys not only set a threshold of what it took to become a member, but you also said who couldn't be a member.
You said, we don't want any like service providers in this community. And then so maybe we start with, there with those. Right. What does it mean like when you're starting that community, why is it so important to like get the, you know, the membership of who's like becoming a part of that, right? From like an organic sense and what does it take to get that right?
So I, I think, you know, in order for people to engage with one another, they need to have something to talk about. So first the common denominator, right? We were all trying to succeed in this, you know, private label Amazon business, you know, so we had something to talk about next is there they have to feel like safe that they can talk in this space without their that information, you know, escaping the room. Right. Took a while. I mean we've had our fair share of information escaping just like anybody else in the community. But like making sure that we took that seriously and everybody kind of respected one another was a big thing and that helped it grow organically. And that peer to peer trust that was built over time. So had we had service providers or people wanting to sell one another that would deteriorate very quickly, especially when somebody has a tactic that they're sharing and then there's a service provider there and they're going to just take that tactic and share it to grow their audience like they have some other ulterior motive.
So you know, as long as everybody's motives are aligned, you have, you know, good quality engagement, which is I think what's important to make your community grow over many years.
Yeah. And you know, a couple things that you said there, I think like we've seen a community can be absolutely one of the best ways to, to monetize. But talk to me about value, right? Like in order for people to pay to be part of something, you need to create some sort of value. So when, when is the right time to monetize the community? In your case in mds, where did that happen along the journey? And how should other people think about the monetization element of a community versus building something of value that they can then monetize?
I, I think your first objective should always be like that, that correct core, you know, group of the founding members, right. For us, I mean I think it was like 150 members before we started actually monetizing. But you know, I would say you want to get to 100 members, you want to have at least your, you know, at least 40, 50 Die Hard members that are engaging in there every single day. You want to get, you know, at least five to 10 conversations happening a day, right. If somebody can ask a question and have it answered that same day like that, that, that's the value creation right there, right. You don't want to be the one, you yourself answering every single question because you yourself, you don't know everything. And that's the hard part too. People try to build communities, you know, which you can do that if you're a brand or if you're, you know, a podcast or something like that.
If you're trying to build it around subject matter, you want to bring together people around that subject matter that can help one another. So I would say once you get to about 100 people, once you get to, you know, a core group of really engaged 40, 50 people, once you get to about 5, 10 conversations a day, that can be that, you know, have threading and be answer quickly. You start with an event. That event doesn't need to be driving any kind of revenue. For us it didn't drive much revenue. But those people meeting up in person, like putting a multi day summit together is going to build a very strong bond. It'll feel almost like a family reunion. Right.
Like these people have been engaging on an online chat Room for months. Right. Getting to know one another and they're going to see each other in person for the first time. It's a pretty cool thing to see. And that's what kind of starts that first kind of flywheel effect. And that's what it did for us. If you can get to that point, then you can start saying, okay, we're going to put a price on this. Right.
But until you get there, it's going to be really tough. And if you're putting a price on it, like, you have to make sure that you're doing it with your group. Right. Like you want to include them in the decision making process. And that's what we've always done. Right. We have a corporate members, like a council that we run all of our decision making by. So that's what I recommend.
Yeah, no, I love that because I think, you know, when you're launching a community, this is a question we get all the time. We've launched a couple communities as well. It's like, how do you know how to launch it? How do you know when to monetize it? Like all these different things? Because a community is very different than know, launching a podcast, podcast or like a content series or launching a product. Right. It's like a totally different thing. It's living, breathing thing. There's human relationships there. And the monetization element, like you were just saying, is, is definitely a part of it, but it's a, it's a, it's a distinct part.
And one thing that you just mentioned that I kind of want to go into, you said think about monetization alongside your community. So what does that mean? How do you, how would you characterize that? How would you characterize, like how you make that decision as a group? And what does the monetization essentially unlock for the community as well?
Well, I. What is it going to bring to the. So whenever somebody starts making a profit because of others, like, there's going to be some level of like, why are we doing this? Right. And, and there's also going to be that, that hesitation to grow. Like everybody's going to be like, hey, this is. We're so great, like, we don't need more people. Right, Right. And we've crossed that bar.
100 members, 200, 300, 400 members. There's always that, oh, we're too big, we're too big, we're too big and you're going to get that pushback. And I mean, the biggest thing that I think that helped us do it together Is one. Once we started monetizing, we started putting all of that money back into more events and more resources, building a team, right? Before that, it was just. It was me, my business partner. It wasn't something that we spent time on. But once you show, like, hey, this is something that we're treating like some kind of business, right? And once you start adding back value by hiring people that help keep things organized, putting on calls regularly, right? Doing, like, events regularly, you'll get that respect from those members of those existing members. And then the new people that are coming in, you have to show that these new people actually bring value to the community.
So, like, a big thing that we've always done is just require, like. And I mean, again, it happened very organically. But now looking back at it, it was very important. We interviewed all those members, right, that were coming in more extensively than members. In the beginning were interviews. They had two interviews, and they were required to share something. Like, the first thing you have to go and, you know, do a big value app. And it's like, you don't just go in and say, hi, I'm here, welcome.
Right? You get a bunch of comments saying, welcome, welcome. That's just noise. And especially it's like you get 15 of those in a month. Again, all you have is a bunch of threads of people coming in. You don't like to see that. So instead of, you change it, like, you know, you write a post that's about, what value are you bringing? Give more, get more, right? And you can introduce yourself in that post. But people start seeing we're bringing in amazing people to this community and the. The people that have been there for a while to kind of, you know, sit back like they've done their part, that they kind of go on to that next phase of, like, volunteer and giving back, which we have those positions in our organization where they can serve on the council, they can serve as a member interviewer, they can now lead a chapter.
There's various things they can do. They lead calls, they lead channels. We've given that opportunity to people that once they've been in the community for a while, they can also just give back in other ways. And they get their questions answered. They get to meet really cool people. So, yeah, so we've.
We've also. We've already kind of covered this, but I'd love to, like, if you were doing it all over again and you're launching a new community, and like we said, there's a bunch of people here who are kind of tuning in from all different partners of the world and.
To hear, like, what are people like? What do people have?
Like, yeah, like it. And for you guys who are tuning in, drop the actual style community, what your community is about in terms of topics, members, any details in the chats, and we'll be able to, like, pick it apart and give you some insight on that. But like, before we get that, Eugene, maybe just from a general sense, right, what are. If you were building a community from scratch in a totally different field, so let's pretend we're not doing Amazon, you're building it around something else. Like, how would you start it from scratch? Would you start on Facebook today? Would you start on Slack? Like, where would you start it? How would you start it? Who would you bring in? And then what would you do before you actually start to get to that point where you can monetize it?
First thing, what is the common denominator, Right? And if you are bringing people together of this common denominator, how much value are you creating these people? Right? So it's like, what is the monetary value you can assign to that that's ultimately going to say what you can charge for it. So if you're bringing together, you know, school teachers, it's different than you're bringing together, you know, like dentists, right? Because, because there's different spending power there. So you want to first understand that. And then you'll also. It'll help you build that community around it. If you're bringing together hobbyists that are doing, you know, flying kites, right? How much are they value are you going to create for them versus if it's like their professional, like, I don't know, people that jump out of planes, like skydivers. Right? So start, start with that, right? Because. Because it'll help.
All the other questions next is, where are these people talking, right? Is this person on WhatsApp? Is this person on Facebook? This person on Discord, Slack, whatever. If it's business people, they're on Slack already, right? So you think about the medium. You want to know, like, what apps are already on their phone, where are they already engaging? Because, I mean, there's a lot of community platforms on there. We've built our own too, but we've learned is you're going to start on a community platform like Circle or Mighty or something. You're kind of dead in the water because you're requiring your members to download something brand new. And it's too much friction. So there needs to be very little friction because all you're doing in the beginning is trying to stimulate that engagement. Then you want to say, okay, these people, what does it take to filter out noise? You know, is it skydivers that have done 10 jumps? Right? Right.
Is it musicians that have sold a label, right? Like, or like already signed a contract or record deal? Like, what is that one noise filter that makes it. So it's like people aren't asking, well, how do I start this? How do I begin this? Right? Because I mean, that's a different type of community. But that's when you're like, you're the educator, you're the. It's a different type of thing, right? It's less peer to peer information driven because it's just everybody listening to that one educator. So you want to find something where there's peer to peer knowledge to be shared, where there isn't maybe a common track of education for this, right? So it's like learning to sell on Amazon. You can't learn that at school, you can't go to college for that. So it's like, what are things? I mean, becoming an influencer, right? You don't have that class in school. So if you had a community, and it's probably become a better influencer, become a better content creator, only for people that have, you know, signed at least 10,000 bucks in the last six months or whatever that bar is, that's how you would start.
And you know, these people already on TikTok or Instagram, you would, I mean, you can't really start something on TikTok, but you get what I mean. Or an X or so that. That would be how I would. That's how I approach.
Awesome. So you want to find out where these people are, you want to find a common interest, you want to set a bar of like where they're doing. And then when it comes to actually like kickstarting the community, what is your involvement? How do you get these conversations happening? How do you make sure? Because I think it's something that's so common where you start a community and you have all these plans for it and then, you know, the community just dies. So how. Why don't you talk me through what's the difference between a thriving community and dead community? And how do you make sure that after going through all this effort to like set it up and do all the things that we just talked about, you don't end up with just a dead Facebook group where no one's talking in danger, Right?
So it's going to come down to consistent engagement so it's like, it's much easier if you're picking a topic that organically has something to talk about. Right. So and that there's ever changing, there's constant news, you know, for us, Amazon's always changing its policies. There's always, the DTC is always changing. There's always something new that's happening that helps. You want to have some kind of regular calls scheduled. I mean like we have weekly calls on some topics to help stimulate more conversations. So it's like in the beginning, I mean you want to have engagement for at least like three months, four months at some level and that'll help build that baseline.
People do like, I mean there's all sorts of things, you know, when's the themed days for theme kind of information or whatever. But at the end of the day it helps, but it doesn't work as much. We've done contests so it's like those have been great. I think one of the biggest things that we have, Member of the month and MVP also like our most valuable post. So every month we award a member that did like, you know, we do a lot of metric tracking. So like if somebody gave like a value post or somebody asked a question or if somebody just answered question, those are all valued differently in our system. And you know, we pick the top three and our council votes on the winner. I mean we had a much more rudimentary thing beforehand but people compete for this, they take it really seriously.
And in the beginning it was like a, we were giving people anything thousand bucks like you know, computers, like random electronics. We, we pivoted now to giving a high end swag. So it's like we give people like a branded Toomey suitcase or like a nice Patagonia zip up like and they the our, our swag has become such an integral part of the community in general. Like people really, you know, they know that this is the only place they can get something nice like that, right? You can't just buy it, we don't sell it. And, and so that helps with, with, with it. Like I said, MVP was the most valuable postings. Like somebody doesn't drop consistent value but they go in there and just blow people out of the water like. 50 comments 60 comments We've had some members like literally solve people's Christmas dilemmas with a small little code that they wrote or a script and with shipping and just kind of moves on its own like that when you implement those things.
Another thing that we've chatted about like offline you and Me was the idea of, you know, not just about having the community that's, like, engaged, but you actually set a criteria for your members in terms of, like, what they have to do. You say, give more, get more, but, like, you actually mean it. And I know, I remember you telling me that, like, you guys actively will kick people out of the group if they're, you know, not doing the right things. And you also told me about, you know, seating in the. In the early days and making sure like, like you're saying to get that kind of community market fit before, you're charging. Like now you can charge, you know, 7,500 bucks a year and you've got a wait list. But before that, you got people in, you seated it. You got those people.
And even you said some of the people in the early days, you'll kick them out if they're not, like, contributing. So why don't you tell me a little bit about, you know, this balance between seating, payment and how you actually make. Keep people engaged as opposed to just saying, oh, I've got this thing for life. And, like, you know, I'm good, and I'm just going to sit here on the sidelines.
Yeah. And we develop now like, you know, a member score that tracks everybody's activity. And we're actively reaching out to people that aren't engaged. I mean, specifically if they're like a member that's not on a. Has some kind of, like, price plan that isn't what we offer now. They more often not just get removed. We try to talk to everybody. You know, some people are having a hard time in their life.
Right. And they were what happened. So, I mean, we've been very active on that. And it's not only that, something we do ourselves. Like, our members are really big on saying, oh, this guy's been in here for a year. They haven't posted anything or what happened to this person or. No, nobody wants. People are just watching and not sharing.
So it's like any day. I mean, our, our community, we have like 80% engagement, right? It's like. So it's like hyper engaged. I take that any day, over 7,000 people with 100 people. Because the quality of that engagement is just super low because the people know just a bunch of watch. So you have to, from the beginning, build that culture. Like, our core values are all centered around, like, I mean, give more, get more, show up. Like, you don't come to an event, you don't get the benefit.
I should probably know all of these. They're on our website. But like group comes first. Like, you know, it protects us from people that try to solicit or like do things on the side. And it's like if it's not helping us as a whole, like sometimes you have to, sometimes you have to get a better, worse deal or wait if the group wins. Right, right. Together, collectively. So we, we've instituted a lot of these like things that have helped set those guidelines and, and members, you know, they really buy into it.
It's important. I, I, they, they, they make a difference and they'll help you along the way and like you have to guide yourself by them if you need it. And it's kind of like country has their, you know, their declaration and stuff. So same thing.
So, yeah, so now you guys are like fully set up, right? You, you've got this community, you've got that flywheel running, you've got applicants. So walk me through now that the fact you've got an established community, you've got community members, they've got practices, they're engaged. There's valuable information in there. Walk me through how you treat the application process now and the onboarding process. I know you mentioned briefly that people kind of come in and they've got a brief bring value in their first post and it's not just like, hey guys, I'm here and here's, here's about me. So just walk me through your, your, your kind of funnel now that things are actually set up.
Yeah, we've, we're constantly, constantly iterating on this because you're playing a dance between getting that applicant to trust you and, and keeping them like entertained throughout it. Right. So we start with a deposit. Then the next step is. So there's very little questions leading up to the deposit, like two or three questions place the deposit. Then there's like a more thorough application. About like 30, 40 questions they need to fill out. Once they're through that application, it goes to the, or it might actually be the person that, yeah, applications first.
Then there's a member interview. So, and this is typically highly valuable to them because like the members, it's, you know, there's no script or anything. It's just like an organic, like they need to find out one or two things about the person. But like all the time we're getting the applicants like, oh, can I get a recording of that? Because it was like so great, like I learned so much. I want to remember what we talked about. And then we have a final interview with somebody on the team. Which is more just like making sure they don't have any questions. And it's like, here, no, now you pay for the commute.
We've done different things in the past. Like, we've done it full upfront and then all the process. And it's just been different times of, like, our growth pattern. Right. When we've done payment up front, you kind of struggle with, like, people that come up the street and they're like, who are you? Why am I giving you 6,000, $7,000? I'm not gonna give you that money right away. When you struggle, when you, when you don't take. Take any money up front, you go through your interview process, you're. You waste a lot of time.
People don't show up to calls like, they have. They have no skin in the game. So it's a balance. Our whole application process, we try to also not make it too lengthy so, like, somebody can have somebody complete it in like a week or two. We have like a pool of member interviewers in different time zones, so it's like they can choose the first available. And I think it's also been important to keep the. The member engaged. It's like member checks for culture fit, and then we kind of do, you know, overall make sure they know what's going on as they come in.
I think that fully answers that, right?
Yeah. And just talk to me a little bit also about where you're, where you guys see this going, because I think one of the trickiest parts with community is, like you were saying, it's, you know, people want value, people want closeness and connectedness. And at a certain point, like, I don't know if communities necessarily scale to a million or something in the same way that, you know, other, like a product can or, or something like that.
So it's definitely not something that's scale. Right. It's difficult to scale people. And if you're scaling it, you quickly lose your identity. And that means your churn is going to go through the roof. I mean, we've been lucky enough to have like, you know, total 8, 9% churn annual. Right. And that's been at our highest, at our lowest are maybe like 3% angle.
Wow.
So. So it's, it's, it's slow, steady growth. Right. You've had average 30 growth year over year. It's not hyperbolic. You can't just throw, you know, it's very difficult to just throw eyeballs at it and have it scale because it can quickly, you know, lose control. But, like, the Way that we see it is now that we're growing, we have these local chapters, right? So like we're penetrating at local levels because at the end of the day everybody wants connection and you know, there's digital connection. But like that in person is that secret sauce that everybody needs despite the fact that times are changing.
But I think, I think you can't like that person to person interaction is very hard to replace that. I mean we've had many members that even like they're very introverted, they've never shown their face anywhere and they're big personalities online. They come to our events and they're like, wow, I be myself, I love it. And they're going to become like die hard members. So it's fun to see that. But yeah, for us the scaling aspect is going into these local chapters and almost kind of think about your franchising your model in a way. And if you look at like, for us like our bigger competitors have been around for decades, like EO YPO, these are general business organizations. They have 10,000, 15,000 members.
Where they win is they just have these hyper local chapters that really know what's going on at that local level. And they're different, they do different things, they run different budgets, they just operate differently, different leadership teams. And it's, it's just so we've kind of allowed our members to lead that. And growing in the local levels is one thing of scaling.
How, how many chapters do you guys have and how many people are in each chapter? Obviously I'm sure it differs by places where there'll be, you know, more, more.
Population density, but 15 or 16 now and we've been doing chapters like three years. So every chapter like the minimum was like 15 people in a chapter because otherwise work like average chapter size is like 35, 40 people. They're not everywhere, right? Like there's not. So I mean we have different products that we're trying out for like cities that don't have a chapter yet and you know, so seems to be, I don't know, we haven't seen the it like progress yet. But I definitely think that there needs to be that to grow. And, and it's kind of you use your, your members, your boots on the ground to be like, hey, you get to 15 people here, you get a budget, we'll give you resources, we'll help you plan these events. And so people.
Awesome. And you know the last question I wanted to ask, how do you, how do you run these things now? Like you said you started on Facebook. I know you've mentioned like you guys are building out a whole bunch of like really crazy software across like multiple different platforms that supports like a really scaled community motion. But are you guys using that now? Are you guys on a different platform? Have you tried other platforms in the past? How do you like manage and run it in a digital sense?
That's the hardest part of this business because any social media platform doesn't want you to own that user. Right. So whereas it's very difficult to get engagement on a non social media platform. You need an operational tool to run it properly. Right. To organize resources. So we've developed a tool called groupos groupos.com and it essentially gives us one place that sits on top of everything we're doing and you know, helps organize it for members like it's their membership hub. It has all the events that we do.
It has all of our video content. Now. I mean we've managed to migrate almost completely from Facebook messenger because I mean we've had hundreds of messengers, like groups for different purposes. It's just, it's impossible to manage. And now we have them in the app and people are chatting like that. That's been a very difficult thing to, to build a chat because people have such a high bar for chat. But we have a document archives. We have all of our provider offers with different statistics that we didn't have before leave reviews for providers.
They could see all their chapter stuff. And it helps us from a platform perspective really manage our users very finely. So like, hey, Tommy went to an event in Chicago. So we recorded some content at that event in Chicago. Tommy sees it because he showed up to. Right. So like, and then he's more like people are more inclined to go to events if they know there's something they're getting. Like we have our, you know, big show like Inspire.
We record all the sessions. They're only for members, member attendees. So a lot of people that aren't members that can come to the event, but then if they want the recording, they become a member. So I get like this app helps us do a few things to run our business more smoothly and it provides value to members and helps keep things organized. That's like the number one thing that I see across the board. Everybody speaks like everything is all over the place. Right. You're using Google Drive, using some Google Sheets, using Eventbrite, like loom, whatever else for the, for the events.
Yeah.
And I think what's, what's really interesting here is it seems like there's kind of this new age style of community that's like, because everyone says, oh, we're building community tools. But community can mean so many different things. It can mean something just like that's like a chat app, like a, a Discord or a Slack or something like that. But also when you're actually running a membership based community that, you know, has really high tickets, really engaged members, chapters, all that sort of stuff, all of a sudden the needs start to, to change. So it's a really interesting space to, to keep an eye on. And the last thing I'd like to ask is like, how do you think about, you know, because I think one of the most valuable things everyone here is like, for castmagic, a lot of people are content creators. Right. So what is the, what is the overlap you see? And what's the opportunity for content creators who may want to pursue community as a way to monetize? I think, and like this is something we were talking about.
This might be one of the best ways to monetize. Right. Like imagine like we're a podcast creator. Maybe someone will pay us, you know, like, oh, hey guys, can I sponsor your podcast for like a thousand bucks here or there? But. And then that's more work that we have to take on and create. But when you're at, when you actually have a community, you're now monetizing the network, the relationships, really the value of like the stuff that you're doing as a content creator. So like, how do you think about it? Communities is like a value capture mechanism.
So I would ask, are you looked into, are there podcasts, communities out there for podcasters that have at least this many followers? Something like that, Yeah.
I mean, and, and that's, this is the other interesting question, which is like, what dimension are you cutting it on?
Right.
Because like, yes, we're a podcast, so we could do a community for podcasters. Or you know, we also like our podcast topic is either in here for uploading, it's content creators, or in DTC bot, it's, you know, building consumer brands. Yeah. So it's like, it's, it's like which direction you want to go. But I just think the opportunity is for communities in general is just the fact that like really a lot of times the value as a creator is like the people you're reaching, the network that you're building. And this is like such a great way to capture value there and monetize it as opposed to, you know, selling out to a sponsor who's like, oh, I'll pay You, you know, this amount for this cpm, and you're like, that's not the point. Because I have a very niche audience around a very specific topic. And you know, now you want me to do, to create a bunch of work by putting out a sponsored asset.
So if you just speak to like, you know, the value of monetizing a community versus maybe other ways creators could monetize.
Yeah, I think like from the space of a podcast, I, you know, all in is a great example, you know, that they, they, they have local meetups, doing, watching parties, you know, they, they can share, like, they can sell merch, they can sell their summit tickets. They can have like an inner circle, right. They can have place where everybody chats. And they are, they are kind of trying to do that. But, but that's an example. You have, you have an audience and you're just putting your audience together. And if they, they, they're listening to your podcast because they have something that they want to learn, right? Typically you're following that same medium. So all you're doing is you're taking those people, putting them together and allowing them to, to have that peer, peer relationship.
And you could have, you know, general, like, you don't need to monetize the memberships. You can at that point treat it like a media company and, you know, have partners in there, right. In a different way and have them act as a, like, you know, kind of a different kind of member with limitations of what they can do. But like, you can have events, so, and you can maybe have like inner group of, that has some kind of bar. Because, I mean, that would be the first thing I would do if I was, you know, from a podcast perspective, how I would approach it. If I was just creating content, I probably, you know, focusing more around like, what kind of content. If I wanted to get together with a bunch of content creators doing the same thing I'm doing. But the thing is, you don't want to niche down to the point of where you're just talking to your competitors because then there's going to be information sharing, right? So it needs to be big enough to allow for people to want to share information.
Right? But for us to Amazon, like there's so many Amazon sellers, all different niches, and when people kind of never really mention their brands. But like, I mean, we have competitors and we have people, like, it always creates some kind of drama or chaos. But if you want to avoid going way too niche, you want to be high enough there. And then another thing is if you Have a good audience. Like they're already listening to you because, I don't know, you have a cooking podcast. They like cooking, right? They want to know about cooking. They can sign up, they can get your exclusive recipes or whatever. Right?
Awesome. All right, so now let's open it up to some Q and A. So if anyone who's tuned in, if you have a specific question about your community, any question for Eugene about, well.
Maybe I'll be back in one minute.
Yeah, go for it.
Go for it.
So we'll just give you guys a couple seconds to drop in the Q and A things that you'd like to pick apart with Eugene, and he'll be able to help you kind of strategize maybe the best ways to either improve on an existing community that you're trying to scale or on, you know, how maybe what the launch strategy is behind a new community if you're looking to launch from scratch. So, okay, I can see Jordan already dropped one in here. And just to cover real quick, Eugene, let's run through the comments and just talk about some of the communities that people mentioned that they have. So for example, Amiel has an entrepreneurship community in Latam. Severine has a personal finance education community. Leanne doesn't have a community yet, but is thinking about it. She's a career coach that helps people land their next jobs. And Sally, save US taxes legally for on Facebook and YouTube.
And let's see. And then Jordan's is don't have a community launch yet. Been sitting on it for a year. But it's a community for business leaders struggling to leverage Gen AI. Yes, Jordan, I was on, on your show. It's a great show, so be sure to check it out. So those are some of the things that, you know, some of the communities that people have. We're going to start with Jordan's question because he has a really specific one.
And guys, some of the other ones I mentioned, if you have a follow up for anything in particular you want to cover, go ahead and drop those in the comments. And I'd love to kind of unpack those with Eugene, but let's start with Jordan. So Jordan is saying podcast advertising for niche audience is crazy. That's why we bundle all our platforms for advertisers and not just podcasts. It gives, it gives advertisers better returns. So Jordan, are there any particular questions that you would have there about the community that you're considering launching again? Eugene, his community there, the idea that he's sitting about is business leaders struggling to leverage generative AI. So if you were approaching that from the ground up, like, what would, what would that look like for you? And here just put my follow up in the Q and A. He has a big podcast audience.
We generally always emphasize free content. I want to launch a community with a free tier than a lower ticket paid tier. What would be your best advice?
Yeah, I mean, I would launch it. I mean, I guess AI conversations are probably mostly like on X. Like you can create those X spaces, I would say. Right. I would start with that. You're gonna again focus on engagement first. So there's so much going on in this AI space and so it's fast changing. So that's great.
The one thing that I feel that there's a lot of, there's a lot of noise, a lot of competition, right? And at one point in this Amazon space, there was so many, so much noise in different Facebook groups. Like everybody was moving more. So think about like, what is that? Okay, you're actually doing this as a business now. Like you are. You have clients. Like I know a few people that have softwares that do do like AI. Like you drop a video, makes a bunch of videos, a couple of those, or they help you write scripts. So like think about the business perspective.
Like what makes somebody that actually is running a business on this. I think it's great to have a free tier. You can have a free tier, but it's, it's easier to manage a smaller amount of people. So like focus on those people because those are people that actually like where the, where they're, they're going to get into this business and they're going to stay in this business. Like think about like that, right? So it's not somebody that's dipping their toe that, that's trying generate AI. In three months they're going to be doing something else because then you're, you're wasting your time with other people. So focus on the people that are in that business, going to stick through with that business, bring those together in some kind of chat. Like I doesn't have to be anything crazy and then try to get those people together in person and you can build on that.
And just to follow up because like I have a good idea of Jordan stuff. He already has a live show which goes live on LinkedIn every day. Jordan, are you on any other platforms? It's also a really large podcast, so it goes on to LinkedIn lives, it goes out as podcasts. So would you say there's like a target number of people from his audience he would try to bring in. Is there a criteria that you would try to establish as a, like a filter for the people who could to apply? Would you put together like an application process to get those people started? How would you think about that?
Yeah, if I was. If I would probably have census in the beginning. If I wasn't sure, like, what is that common? I put together a list and not put together type form, get it sent out, get at least 6, 700 responses. If your community is outside and you probably figure out what is it that people are doing and then decide that next step. Because I mean, you do want to get it right. But I mean, if you're in the business yourself, it should feel you probably have an idea of it too. And you throw in like, hey, does this sound right? Do you associate with this, right. This statement that I'm a generative AI founder that built a product that has 100 users? I don't know if that's something, but you know what I mean, right.
So, yeah, and, and another thing, so I want to get to Claudia's or to Chandra's question in a second, but this is something that we've been doing. Like I said for DTC Pod, that was my first. That's our first podcast that I host, Eugene. It's with all direct to consumer founders that are selling direct. And you know, that was actually why we built Cast Magic in the first place, was because we needed to solve our own problem with the podcast. But, you know, we've been kind of kicking around the idea of community. We're primarily a podcast first. And this kind of ties into Chandra's question.
But if you are podcast native, that doesn't necessarily mean you've got an email list, right? Like, sure. You know, there's some podcasters that, you know, have been very successful at growing an email list, but there's other podcasters who are out there who may be like recording all the time, don't have an email list and don't have a way to get the, the word out. So one thing that we did was when we was trying to build up a wait list for the community because like I said, we didn't want to just like throw everyone or we didn't want to just like throw one person in at a time and then have it sort of be dead. So we wanted to wait. We wanted to collect some data and all of that.
So like I said, 30 diehard people are like, hey, when's this opening? Was it like, when are we. You do.
So that's what you want, right?
Yeah. You want it because you want to have to talk.
Exactly. They want to be able to talk. Exactly. So you want to have that feeling. And one thing that we did was we basically put up like an airtable sort of application form. We link it in our show notes, and also we have a CTA to it. So when we're having the show, we say, hey, guys, we're about to launch our community. If you're interested in it, apply.
The link is in our show notes. And through that, we've got a lot of applications as well as we do have a newsletter, so it goes out through there as well. And you can obviously post on social as well. Do you have any other tips, Eugene, in terms of, like, if you're at that early stage. And here's Tranja's question.
When we were there wasn't any place to chat at this high level. Like, we determined, okay, you're making 10,000 bucks a month. That's the bar. My partner, he went to some other Facebook groups, like, hey, do you mind if I post in here? I mean, it's different times now, but sure. Posting in there saying, hey, there's a bunch of noise, and the place is bunch of noise. Hey, if you actually are doing this business, come join here. It's free, right? Yeah. And that can go to the wait list or anything.
But I mean, at the time we, we got to that first 30 or 40 than a week. Right. Because we posted, so we didn't have to wait for that wait list. And if it's taking you too long to get 30 or 40 and you have such a big audience, it's taking you that long to get people. I want to talk on the topic. You might want to question if that's a good topic. Like, you should be able to really quickly find 30 to 40 people. Right? You should.
You. If you can't get 100 people in a month and a half, two months, then it might be difficult for it to scale.
To scale and monetize. So let's go into Chandra's question specifically. Right. In terms of the. The niche that, that she's in and everything. So we've got. I have a radiology podcast for technologists. My community listens to my podcast at a rate 71%, which is great.
And, and brands have ads with me, but I want to build a community to leverage my own monetization. I don't have an email list yet. How do I begin to take your first step? So is there anything else you'd Add to that, I know we had talked about like the CTA and, and that sort of stuff.
The common radiologists. Right. So like I would then meet radiologists locally. Right. Or connect with radiologists that have, I mean you're already a radiologist so like that's, that's your bar. So you can go pretty wide. And I don't know if they're, I mean they're sure there are like some Facebook groups out there, so you might want to think of like some kind of unique thing, like I, I don't know radiology as much. But there has to be something that makes you different than the other radiology Facebook groups out there.
Maybe it's just the fact that like, you know, Facebook isn't the best medium for those groups because I know they exist on there a lot from the medical field. Maybe it's again like WhatsApp or somewhere else where you're going for that, like next generation of radiologists or something like that. But I would focus on your, you know, taking your core group because they already have a common denominator and just getting them together so they can talk to one another then that's the first thing.
Awesome. Next one from Severin says I haven't launched the personal finance education community as yet. I want to start off paid community, have a fairly large following on LinkedIn, Instagram, other social, YouTube and podcast. Any tips? So it sounds like Severine wants to start. And, and just for clarification here, severing, do you mean you want to start immediately having it paid or do you want to just get started building towards a paid community? Give you a second there and then.
Unless you already have a really big following, it's very difficult to start paying unless you already, you need to, you need to have that list of people. Right? So yeah, so that's the one. If you're a massive brand, right, and you're making an insider circle for that brand, people pay you right away. But I don't, it's difficult otherwise, I don't know.
Yeah, I, I think that's a good point because at the end of the day it's, it's supply and demand and you, you want, you know, you want to create something that there's pent up demand for and I do it automatically as paid.
Then I would probably go like the, the education approach. So it's like I'm selling you a education component, like a course or whatever it is. And as a benefit you are also joining group. And, and if you want to answer Your question of like not having too many people, it's like you can go the, the, the, the route of like the, the forum or the personal accountability group. It's like you're gonna take this course and you're gonna be partnered with everybody that signed up this month or this quarter. Here's your seven people or eight people. And in addition to your course you will, you'll also have a guided monthly call. There's a ton of these like accountability thing that's like you're gonna go deep with these people and that way it's, you're immediately starting, but it's just like you're gonna have, it's more, it's more high touch right away.
And when somebody's paying money for something they have, they, they have an expectation for something, right? Definitely you need to deliver immediately on the promise and if you don't, you have retention issues. So that's why starting free and then having that peer to peer baseline, it's helps solve a lot of problems because well, even if you do nothing, you got something.
Yeah. And I think that's a really great clarification that you just made. Eugene is like at the end of the day, if you want people to pay for something, there's got to, there's an expectation that there's something in there that they're getting. And one way to do that, if you're talking about just leveraging network, it's the fact that you've got that flywheel started. There's natural conversations happening and they can access some of the smartest people in whatever their field is and get their answer right. That's value there and that's why you want to pay to be a part of it. But if you don't have that pre established and you don't want to go through that period of, you know, building that free flywheel, then you need to go the other way, which is typical education. And as a benefit we've also got this community to, to chat with.
So Severine, in your case, you've got, you've got an email newsletter, you've got a super engaged podcast. I would say, you know, you want to start out by, if you want to monetize immediately, just make sure there's something of value to Eugene's point that you can deliver on, on the promise. So see and last, this is going to be the last one unless anyone has anything last that they want to drop in there from. Amiel Said. Thanks you. Thanks Eugene and Blaine. Our IG account somos copiloto went really viral, but we've struggled to turn that virality, virality into community and. Or monetization opportunities.
What would you suggest? And just for some context here, Eugene Mel has a entrepreneurship company or entrepreneurship community or like Instagram Account, where it's a bunch of business tips for entrepreneurs in Latin America. Right. So if that's the goal, what, what would you recommend here? Do you think it's about figuring out what that criteria is, an application process, building up a wait list? How would you approach that? Is entrepreneurship too broad as a topic? Would you, would you, you know, figure out an. Some sort of niche angle or how would you approach that?
There's problems with going niches. Probably going broad. Right. So it's. Something fits. I think it's your audience is already on Instagram. So that's, that's, that's. You've kind of, you have a little bit of narrow legs are following you.
So they probably. There's already some kind of common denominator of your content that's not even going to be there. Right. So, so I, I stick with it. I'm curious, have you started any kind of like, chat, like WhatsApp, like Latin America? WhatsApp is the thing. There's a ton of WhatsApp groups. Have you started a co. WhatsApp? Just a general one.
Yeah, we, we'll wait for a sec. Emil, do you guys have a, a current, like a chat group set up at the moment? Or what is. What does community look like for you now? Like what, what stage are you guys at?
I think the other thing I can just keep going a little bit. I. Since it is entrepreneurship, you do you. You would ideally want to have some kind of bar that you set at this. And then also your other big thing you're going to get into is people trying to like just pitch to one another. Because immediately if they get in there and a bunch of people use it as a platform to just say, hey, I have this. Hey, I have this. So I was like, it needs to be a no, I have this zone.
Like, it needs to be a, hey, I'm doing this. So There is a WhatsApp group for webinars. And then, yeah, so our boot camps again, you have it. So you're selling things there. So immediately that, that people make that association. I came here, I'm being sold, so I'm muting this thing. I don't, I don't want to listen to noise. So we try to be very careful about communicating things that like, oh yeah, you don't allow them talk the one way thing.
So, yeah, you went crazy. You had no application process. You want to have some. Our application process in the beginning was send me a screenshot of your seller dashboard with like a picture of you and like an ID or something. So simple. Send me that. And I think it was like, one question. Great, you're in during this Facebook group.
So. And, and also it's like, okay, we're only. For now. We're only going to let in like 15amonth, and you're waitlisted so 10. So it's like you, you. You gave yourself time. People to come in, and you gave yourself time to police those people and be like, hey, you got to behave in here. And then you set the tone and you're like, okay, these are going to be what our group is doing.
Going to upgrade, reset the values. And then as people get in, it's not all on you to make sure that everybody's following the rules. It's like, we, we. We don't have time to monitor all that. People, people in the group message us, hey, did you see this? Hey, did you see this? Did you know that person did that? So it's like, think about it, like, from that perspective.
Yeah, and, and I think one clarification there, too, is like the, you know, there's a difference between like a broadcast channel and like a. A true community. So, Emil, I think you have the opportunity to probably, you know, set something up, figure out what that common denominator is and that threshold you want to achieve for applications. And I think the cool part is, like, this probably hasn't been done as much in Latam, so you could probably figure out what that criteria bar is for some sort of application process. You know, get people in, get them talking, right. About whatever that thing is, and then start building a wait list. And then, you know, naturally things like your. Your boot camps and.
And your other webinars and stuff will fit nicely into that. That community mix.
People are always thinking about getting scammed, right? So it's like, you want to make it so people don't think they're getting scammed. You want to make it feel like a safe place. Yeah.
Yeah. So, all right, Eugene, this was awesome. I learned a lot. I hope everyone else did as well. You know, why don't you just drop. Why don't you shout out your socials or where people can contact you if they want to get in touch on whether it's LinkedIn, email, wherever, wherever we can find you and group OS and just to Stay in touch.
Learn more. Yeah, I mean, if you search Eugene Cayman on LinkedIn, I think I pop up. I'm going to be posting some videos and content more now about building your community and events and stuff. Because events is really where I community is where I start. Events is where I thrive. Yeah. Or you can check out MDS Co if you're an e commerce entrepreneur. You can check out our event Inspire or Groupos if you search groupos.com sweet.
Well, thanks for coming on uploading today. This was a blast. Hope everyone learned a bunch and we'll see you guys next time.
Bye.
Also generated
More from this recording
Castmagic LinkedIn Post
Building a thriving, premium community is the ultimate unlock for network and revenue — but most founders don’t know where to start.
Eugene Kamen, COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS)—an elite network of top Amazon entrepreneurs generating $11B+ in annual sales—joins Blaine Bolus on this week’s Uploading.
Eugene grew MDS from a humble Facebook group into a six-figure membership powerhouse. In this episode, we dig into how he built organic engagement, set the right member filters, scaled to 700 active founders, and drove millions in revenue—all without quitting his day job.
You’ll learn the blueprint for building, monetizing, and maintaining a hyper-engaged community, event strategy, and why “give more, get more” matters.
Listen to the full episode here: [link]
hashtag#shopify hashtag#dtc hashtag#ecommerce
3 quick tips
Most online “communities” are just noisy chat rooms.
Here are 3 ways to build a million-dollar community (from MDS’s proven blueprint):
Set a high bar for membership
Don’t let just anyone in.
Filter for people with…
• A clear common goal
• Real experience (ex: $1M/year in sales)
• Value to add (not just “lurkers”)
👉 Quality > quantity
Design for engagement, not spectators
Require new members to share value immediately.
Don’t allow:
• Service providers pitching
• Empty introductions
• “Watchers” who never contribute
When everyone gives more, everyone gets more.
Make it safe (and strict!)
Protect your space:
• Actively remove non-participants
• Enforce “no selling” rules
• Build trust by keeping info inside
Safe = higher trust = more sharing (and real results)
Don’t chase big numbers.
Build a tight group where real value flows every day.
Steal these principles from the pros—and turn your following into a legit, thriving community.
📚 Timestamped overview
00:00 Podcast showcasing top creators and strategies for profiting through content, featuring Eugene Kman, COO of Million Dollar Sellers.
03:35 Hosted a meetup in Cancun with 80 attendees, began building a community that grew organically into MDs.
06:45 Building trust and a safe, collaborative space is crucial for organic growth and meaningful peer-to-peer engagement.
11:49 Monetizing allowed growth by reinvesting in events, resources, and hiring, gaining respect from members and proving new members add value.
15:59 Focus on existing platforms to reduce friction and stimulate engagement.
16:46 Create peer-to-peer communities for niche skills like content creation or influencing, targeting professionals with proven experience.
20:09 Started with random giveaways but pivoted to exclusive high-end branded swag, fostering community engagement and value.
24:02 Explain your application and onboarding process now that the community is established and engaged.
29:39 Chapters average 35-40 members, with a minimum of 15 for startup; growth relies on local members and resources.
33:10 Community tools are evolving, focusing on diverse needs from chat apps to high-engagement, membership-based communities, creating unique opportunities for content creators to monetize through community building.
36:20 Monetize memberships or operate as a media company, create events, involve diverse content creators, and avoid overly niche focus to encourage information sharing.
38:04 Q&A session with Eugene to strategize community growth or launch; participants discuss their communities: entrepreneurship, finance, career coaching, and legal tax-saving.
41:10 Focus on committed business users, not casual ones; build a community around them.
43:43 Some podcasters lack email lists, which can limit audience outreach; building a waitlist helps gather data and engage effectively.
49:48 Paying for access requires clear value, such as leveraging networks or education alongside community interaction.
50:25 Focus on delivering value to monetize and turning virality into community and monetization.
54:03 Differentiate between a broadcast channel and a true community, identify common criteria for applications, and build engagement and a waitlist, particularly in Latam.
📚 Timestamped overview
00:00 Uploading: Content Creation & Strategy
03:35 Cancun Meetup Sparks Community Journey
06:45 Building Trust for Organic Growth
11:49 Growing Community Through Monetization
15:59 Choosing the Right Engagement Platforms
16:46 "Building Peer-to-Peer Learning Communities"
20:09 "Exclusive Swag Builds Community"
24:02 "Community Onboarding and Application Process"
29:39 "Growing Population Density Chapters"
33:10 "Monetizing Community for Creators"
36:20 Membership Media Strategy Ideas
38:04 Community Growth & Strategy Q&A
41:10 Focus on Committed Business Users
43:43 Building Podcast Email Lists
49:48 Unlocking Value Through Community
50:25 Monetization Strategies for Creators
54:03 Building Community Applications in Latam
ℹ️ Introduction
Welcome to a special episode of Uploading, where we dive deep into the world of successful membership-based communities with a blueprint you won’t want to miss. This week, Blaine is joined by Eugene Kamen, COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), an elite network for top Amazon entrepreneurs.
In this episode, you'll hear how Eugene Kamen grew MDS from a humble Facebook group into a powerhouse: 700 engaged members, over $11 billion in collective sales, and a thriving community that commands $7,500 a year for access. Discover the strategies, values, and practical steps Eugene Kamen used to build trust, filter out noise, and foster genuine value-sharing among high-performing founders—all without quitting his day job.
We’ll unpack everything from early growth tactics and member selection criteria to the importance of in-person events, monetization best practices, and how to keep your community engaged as it scales. Whether you’re curious about launching your own community, finding the right platform, or just want to learn from someone who’s cracked the code, this episode is full of insights and actionable advice. Stick around for listener Q&A, where Eugene Kamen tackles real-life community-building challenges.
Ready to learn the Million Dollar Community Blueprint? Let’s get uploading.
💡 Speaker bios
Eugene Kamen’s journey into the Amazon business began in an organic and pioneering way. Working alone behind a computer, Eugene started importing products from China and selling them on Amazon, well before communities or groups for Amazon sellers existed. At the time, most people in the space were engaged in retail arbitrage, making his approach unique. Driven by the desire for connection, Eugene carved his own path, becoming an early adopter in the world of e-commerce import and online selling.
💡 Speaker bios
Bio for Blaine (in summarized story format):
Blaine is the dynamic host of "Uploading," a podcast that takes listeners behind the scenes with some of the world's most innovative creators, marketers, and business professionals. Each episode, Blaine guides his audience through the secrets of content strategy, creation, production, and growth—sharing not just tips, but real-life stories from industry leaders like Eugene Kman, COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), an elite community for top Amazon entrepreneurs. Beyond the podcast, Blaine fosters a vibrant community through the Castmagic content workspace and an active Slack group of over a thousand creators, making him a trusted connector and resource in the world of content-driven business.
💬 Keywords
Here are 30 topical keywords covered in this transcript:
Amazon entrepreneurs, private label sellers, community building, Facebook group, membership community, monetization strategies, content creation, content strategy, event planning, peer-to-peer trust, noise filtering, application process, member engagement, community management, onboarding process, value creation, monetization timing, business model, churn rate, niche communities, networking, digital platforms, Slack community, WhatsApp groups, community platform, chapters, local events, group values, boot camps, personal brand, affiliate partnerships
❇️ Key topics and bullets
Absolutely! Here’s a comprehensive, structured breakdown of the topics and sub-topics covered in the episode "The Million Dollar Community Blueprint" from the Uploading... podcast, based directly on the transcript:
1. Introduction to the Show & Guest
Podcast purpose and audience (Blaine)
Brief overview of CastMagic
Introduction of Eugene Kamen, COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS)
MDS community statistics: founders, annual sales, membership size
2. Eugene’s Background & Entry into MDS
Starting an Amazon business solo (Eugene Kamen)
Search for peer groups and communities
Difference between early Amazon seller groups vs. MDS
Early verification standards for membership
Organic growth and first in-person event in Cancun
3. Evolution and Structure of MDS
Community transformation from Facebook group to established membership
Raising membership standards and verification
Focus on creating a peer-driven, safe space
Expansion and current status: number of members, revenue, events
4. Business Model and Monetization
Revenue streams: membership fees, events, partnerships
Membership cost ($7,500/year)
Value proposition of MDS for members
Annual events and flagship gatherings
5. Community Building Strategies
Importance of organic growth (Eugene Kamen)
Common denominator and filtering members
Excluding service providers and sales pitches for trust and safety
6. Criteria for Monetization & Value Creation
When to monetize: membership engagement, conversation thresholds
Value creation through peer interaction (Eugene Kamen)
Decision-making transparency: involving members in changes and monetization
7. Managing Growth and Member Engagement
Balancing monetization and reinvestment into events/resources
Member onboarding and filtering process
Demand for closeness, trust, and peer value as MDS scales
Setting core values to reinforce engagement (e.g., give more, get more)
8. Application & Onboarding Process
Multi-step process: deposit, thorough application, peer interview, final interview
Criteria for joining, ongoing evolution of the funnel
Ensuring cultural fit and initial value contribution
9. Scaling Community & Local Chapters
Challenges and limits of scaling communities versus products
Local chapter model inspired by EO/YPO
Number and size of chapters, leadership and event budgeting
10. Digital Infrastructure & Tools
Transition from Facebook Messenger to proprietary platform (Groupos)
Importance of a centralized hub for events, content, resources
Member experience improvements with digital tools
11. Community as a Monetization Opportunity for Content Creators
Comparison of monetizing podcasts/content vs. communities
Creator value capture through network and relationships
Examples and advice for podcast/content communities with paid tiers
12. Q&A and Case Studies from Listeners
Listener questions about launching and monetizing communities
Advice tailored to specific niches: GenAI, radiology, personal finance, Latin American entrepreneurship
Strategies for seeding engagement, creating waitlists, and filtering applicants
13. Final Takeaways & Closing
Importance of setting clear member criteria and values
Trust, safety, and value as pillars of lasting communities
Contact details and shoutouts for further learning
If you need a timeline with explicit timestamps, just let me know and I can add those details as well.
🎠 Social Carousel
Slide 1: Cover
10 Tips Every Community Builder Needs to Know
Slide 2: Start Organic
Begin your community with genuine connections—let it grow naturally before thinking about monetization or scaling.
Slide 3: Set the Bar
Define a clear entry threshold so members share common goals and experiences, keeping engagement high and focused.
Slide 4: Filter the Noise
Exclude service providers or outside sellers to foster trust and honest peer-to-peer sharing within your group.
Slide 5: Build Trust
Create a safe environment where members feel comfortable sharing valuable information, knowing it won’t leave the room.
Slide 6: Value First
Don’t monetize before you have real, daily engagement. Aim for meaningful conversations and fast responses.
Slide 7: In-Person Matters
Host events and meetups to deepen relationships and kickstart the community flywheel—these bonds are priceless.
Slide 8: Give More, Get More
Encourage new members to share value from day one. Contribution fuels engagement for everyone.
Slide 9: Keep Members Accountable
Track engagement and reach out to inactive members. Remove those who aren’t contributing to maintain quality.
Slide 10: Community Over Scale
Focus on quality engagement over size. A tight, active group beats thousands of silent spectators any day.
Slide 11: CTA
Ready to build your own million-dollar community? Join our Slack group and newsletter for exclusive resources and tips!
❓ Questions
Absolutely! Here are 10 discussion questions based directly on this episode of "Uploading...," titled "The Million Dollar Community Blueprint," featuring Blaine and Eugene Kamen:
Eugene Kamen emphasized the importance of setting a high bar for membership and filtering out unwanted noise in a community. How do you think strict membership criteria impact the culture and growth of an online community?
The MDS community started as a simple Facebook group for verified private label Amazon sellers. What do you think were the key moments or decisions that allowed it to evolve into a multimillion-dollar, highly engaged membership organization?
Eugene Kamen stated, "Give more, get more" as a core value of MDS. How can this philosophy be fostered practically within growing communities?
The podcast touched on the challenge of deciding when and how to monetize a community. In your opinion, what are signs that a community is ready to introduce paid tiers or membership fees?
How important are offline/in-person events in establishing strong community bonds, especially in comparison to purely digital engagement?
Blaine and Eugene Kamen discussed balancing community growth with maintaining intimacy and high engagement. What strategies might work to preserve quality as a community scales?
MDS has instituted practices like member interviews, required value-add introductions, and even removing non-engaged members. How do you feel about these accountability measures? Could they be seen as too rigid, or are they necessary?
The need for a dedicated community platform that organizes resources, conversations, and events was highlighted in the episode. What features do you believe are most essential for running a high-value membership community?
Eugene Kamen compared community growth to building a business, referencing churn rates and local chapters. In what ways do community-building and traditional business management overlap, and where do they differ?
Both speakers agree that for creators, community might be one of the best ways to monetize compared to sponsorships and ads. What are the potential benefits and pitfalls of making community your primary value capture mechanism as a content creator?
Feel free to dig deeper into any of these questions based on your own experience or observations!
🎬 Reel script
If you’re looking to turn your network into a high-value community, this episode is a must-listen. I sat down with Eugene Kamen, COO of Million Dollar Sellers, who shared how he transformed a Facebook group into an elite $4 million membership community of top Amazon entrepreneurs. We break down how to attract engaged members, set the right filters, create real value, and know when you’re ready to monetize. Whether you’re just getting started or want to level up your existing community, these are the insider strategies you need to build trust, drive engagement, and unlock true business growth through community.
🔑 7 Key Themes
Sure thing! Here are 7 key themes discussed in this episode:
Organic community growth and founding principles
Filtering noise, member selection, and verification
Monetization strategies and timing for communities
Importance of peer-to-peer engagement and trust
Scaling challenges and local chapter approaches
Application and onboarding processes for members
Value-driven culture: "Give more, get more"
💎 Maxims
Absolutely! Drawing from the conversation between Blaine and Eugene Kamen in “The Million Dollar Community Blueprint” episode, here’s a comprehensive set of maxims to live by, inspired by the lessons and principles shared about building thriving, valuable communities:
Maxims to Live By from "The Million Dollar Community Blueprint"
Give More, Get More
The cornerstone of true community engagement is generosity. Offer value—insights, help, connections—and you’ll receive even more in return.
Build a Safe Space First
Before monetizing or scaling, create an environment where people feel comfortable to share, connect, and support each other without fear of their information being exploited.
Set Clear Entry Criteria
Filtering out noise and service providers ensures members have a shared purpose and comparable experience, fostering trust and meaningful interaction.
Focus On Quality Over Quantity
An active, engaged group of 700 is far better than a dormant community of 7,000. Prioritize depth of participation over scale.
Value Creation Comes Before Monetization
Don't rush to charge. Make sure your community offers immediate, tangible value—quick answers, peer support, unique insights—before introducing fees.
Include Members in Decisions
As you grow, make monetization and operational decisions collaboratively. When people feel ownership, engagement and loyalty skyrocket.
Cultivate Organic Growth
The best communities grow naturally—from connections, shared struggles, and real conversations. Artificial “seeding” rarely lasts without authentic interest.
Celebrate and Reward Engagement
Recognize MVPs, valuable posts, contributors, and those who consistently show up. Motivation follows recognition.
Adapt Your Platform to Your Audience
Start where people already are—Facebook, Slack, WhatsApp. Reduce friction by meeting members on familiar ground.
Regularly Prune and Update
Track member activity and don’t hesitate to remove those who only lurk or don’t give back. A thriving culture depends on active contributors.
Set Core Values and Protect Them
Define guidelines that put the group’s interest first, discourage self-promotion, and foster a spirit of collaboration.
Invest in In-Person Connection
Digital may be scalable, but nothing replaces the bond created by face-to-face meetups. Organize events to deepen relationships and energize your group.
Scale By Supporting Local Chapters
For larger communities, break down into hyper-local chapters to maintain intimacy and relevance.
Your Community Is Your Value-Capture Mechanism
As a creator or brand, your greatest asset is often your engaged network, not your content itself. Monetize relationships and expertise, not just media or products.
Stay Consistent and Persistent
Communities are living things—nurture them with consistent activity, conversations, and shared experiences over months and years, not just days.
Trust, Transparency, and Respect Are Non-Negotiable
Set the tone early—members must trust each other and the leadership; transparency in processes builds loyalty.
Experiment, Listen, and Iterate
There’s no one-size-fits-all blueprint. Continually seek feedback, try new things, and adapt to changing needs and contexts.
These maxims encapsulate the wisdom Eugene Kamen shared about building Million Dollar Sellers, but they’re applicable to launching, nurturing, and monetizing communities of all kinds. Embracing them will set you up for sustainable growth and lifelong impact—whether your “community” is a business, a club, or your personal network.
Interview Breakdown
Discover how Eugene Kamen transformed a humble Facebook group into Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), an elite community for Amazon entrepreneurs generating billions in sales. This episode breaks down the blueprint for building, monetizing, and growing a high-value membership community—even without quitting your day job.
Today, I'll cover
The step-by-step journey from Facebook group to a thriving, multi-million dollar, 700-member community
How to set criteria and filter out noise to build trust and ensure quality engagement
When and how to monetize your community, including tips for value creation and sustaining member activity
Tactics for keeping members accountable and maintaining engagement—including onboarding, events, and member scores
Strategies for scaling a community, balancing growth with exclusivity, and tips for community creators looking to monetize their network
Short Recap
On this episode, Eugene Kamen shares the exact blueprint he used to grow the Million Dollar Sellers community from a small Facebook group into a thriving network of 700 elite Amazon founders, generating over $11 billion in annual sales. He breaks down proven strategies for filtering members, driving authentic engagement, and monetizing high-value communities—all actionable tactics you can use to build your own profitable network.
1 Hack 3 tips
Here’s 1 community-building hack that can turn your audience into a thriving, high-value network:
The “Give More, Get More” principle.
(This is the core driver behind the $8B+ MDS founder community – as unpacked by Eugene Kamen and Blaine in today’s Uploading episode):
When members join any group, they’re not just looking for information—they’re seeking connection, value, and trust. But how do you engineer that level of engagement (and charge premium prices for it)?
Turns out, it’s not about quantity. It’s about quality.
Let me break down the blueprint:
Step 1) Set a High Bar for Entry
• Define the common denominator that unites your tribe (MDs had a verified revenue threshold, no service providers allowed)
• Filter out the noise—require proof of skin in the game (e.g., minimum sales, experience, or expertise)
• Make the group feel exclusive and safe—members know they can share openly, without info leaking or being “pitched”
Step 2) Engineer Value Exchanges
• Every new member must “bring value” on day one (no “hi, I’m new” intros—share a game-changing insight, strategy, or lesson)
• Organize regular touchpoints: events, calls, themed discussion threads
• Reward contribution: MVP posts, exclusive swag, public recognition
Step 3) Enforce Engagement (Even if You Kick Members Out)
• Track engagement scores—reach out or remove inactive members (yes, even early joiners)
• Make “giving back” not just a core value, but a requirement (serve on council, lead calls, review applications)
• The group comes first—if someone isn’t contributing to that ethos, they’re out
Step 4) Build Real-World Connection
• Host in-person summits or local meetups (MDs flew 80+ members to Cancun, sparking lifelong bonds)
• Capture event content for member-only access
• Local chapters = scalable intimacy, not scalable chaos
Why this works:
When people pay $7,500/year for a community, they’re not paying for information. They’re paying for a flywheel of peer-to-peer learning, support and trusted relationships.
Your community isn’t a broadcast channel. It’s a living organism, self-policing, self-motivating, and constantly raising the bar.
Want to build your own “Million Dollar Community”?
Here’s your checklist:
Set a clear, high bar for entry—keep out self-promoters and unqualified lurkers.
Make sharing insights and helping others the cultural norm (give more, get more).
Reward value, not just participation. Publicly.
Regularly prune inactive members. Protect the community’s engagement.
Layer in real-world connection to turn online relationships into genuine loyalty.
In a world of noisy, forgettable Facebook groups, building this kind of value-driven community is your unfair advantage.
If you want to learn more, check out [Uploading]—today’s episode with Eugene Kamen is a playbook for anyone serious about monetizing their network without selling out.
Short Blurb
E73: In today’s episode, I sit down with Eugene Kamen, COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), who shares the community blueprint behind an elite network of Amazon founders generating over $11 billion in annual sales. If you’ve ever wondered how to launch, scale, and monetize your own high-ticket community, this episode is packed with proven tactics and insider stories from someone who built a thriving ecosystem, all without quitting his day job.
On today’s episode, you’ll learn:
The 5 keys to building a million-dollar membership community
How to organically attract and filter top-tier members
Why setting strict criteria and no-pitch zones turbocharges engagement
The best time and strategy to monetize your community—and why member input matters
Specific onboarding and engagement tactics to prevent your group from going “dead”
Fun fact: At MDS’s very first in-person meetup, more than half the original Facebook group flew to Cancun—80 out of 120 members—all for an event that Eugene Kamen ran at a loss, just to create real-world connections that sparked a loyalty flywheel.
If you’re ready to put your content network to work, stop letting your audience sit idle and learn how to turn relationships into revenue. Tap into actionable tips that’ll help you launch your own impactful community.
Hit play and listen now—the million-dollar blueprint is waiting for you!
New Idea
Idea #1: Building an Engaged, High-Value Community
Focus on creating a thriving, engaged community by implementing intentional membership criteria, value-driven participation, and organic growth tactics:
Establish Clear Membership Filters: Set specific requirements for joining, such as revenue thresholds or being a verified practitioner, to filter out the noise and ensure quality engagement. For example, MDS set a bar of $10,000/month (later $1M/year) for entry and actively excluded service providers to encourage peer-to-peer sharing (Eugene Kamen).
Mandatory Value Contribution: Require new members to deliver meaningful value upon entry, such as a first post showcasing actionable insights or strategies. This “give more, get more” ethos was highlighted by requiring members to share something useful when joining—rather than simply introducing themselves (Eugene Kamen).
Proactive Engagement and Retention Management: Track member activity, reach out to disengaged members, and uphold core values by removing those who aren’t actively contributing. MDS developed a member scoring system and maintains 80% engagement by actively policing participation and encouraging a culture of “showing up” (Eugene Kamen).
Community isn’t just about numbers or channels—it’s about purposeful curation, active participation, and upholding a culture where contribution and mutual trust drive success.
1 Key Learning
Build Community Value Before Monetizing
Creators seeking to monetize a paid community must first focus on building a core group of highly engaged members and establishing peer-to-peer trust and value. The community should offer tangible benefits, organic conversations, and a strong sense of safety before introducing any pricing or paid tiers.
Rather than charging for membership from the outset, ensure that conversations are frequent, members are consistently active, and value is exchanged among participants. Launch events and allow strong relationships to develop so that the community's appeal is clear, and members become receptive to paying for access to those resources and connections.
Two short blurbs:
Set the Bar for Membership: Make joining your community meaningful by introducing filters or criteria—such as proof of expertise or achievements—to guarantee productive discussions and minimize noise. As Eugene Kamen shares, this keeps motives aligned and encourages more valuable engagement.
Iterate with Your Community: Decisions around pricing, onboarding, and added benefits should be made transparently; involve your founding members, seek feedback, and use their input to shape growth. When members see their voices and needs reflected in the evolution of the community, retention and satisfaction follow naturally.
Hustle Thread
Tweet 1:
Eugene Kamen was searching for connection.
No Amazon seller community existed.
He felt alone, behind his screen.
Today, he leads a thriving elite network.
Here’s his journey: 🚀
Tweet 2:
Meet Eugene Kamen (@EugeneKamen), COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS).
He built MDS into a $4M+ powerhouse community of 700 founders.
Tweet 3:
Eugene started as a solo Amazon seller.
He craved peer support and knowledge sharing.
But there were only noisy reselling groups—no true founders’ space.
Tweet 4:
He stumbled upon a small, private seller group.
Raised the bar: Only serious, verified founders could join.
No service providers. No spam. Only value.
Tweet 5:
He launched the first member meetup—80 traveled to Cancun.
He lost money but built real trust.
That in-person bond sparked something special.
Tweet 6:
MDS grew with strict standards and strong values:
Give more, get more. Peer-to-peer support only.
Active curation kept everyone engaged.
Tweet 7:
Today, MDS does $4M/year in revenue.
Members generate $11B+ on Amazon.
Annual churn is below 10%—community market fit achieved.
Tweet 8:
From a lonely seller to leading an elite network,
Eugene’s story shows: Build authentic connections,
Value > hype, and your community will thrive.
🧿 Viral Breakdown & CTA
Struggling to build a community that actually sticks?
Let’s talk about how to create a thriving, high-value community—and the secret why most fail.
Why listen up? Because Eugene Kamen grew Million Dollar Sellers (MDS) from a lonely Facebook group into one of the world’s most exclusive Amazon entrepreneur communities: 700 founders, $11B+ in sales, and people paying $7,500/year for a seat at the table. He did it while scaling his own Amazon brand, so yeah, he knows what it takes to go from zero to thriving.
Ever wonder what makes a paid community actually worth joining and paying for?
Here are Eugene’s 3 pillars for an unstoppable community:
Build It for Engagement, Not Just Headcount
A dead group is worse than no group. Real value starts with organic engagement: Eugene says you need a “core group of really engaged 40-50 people” driving 5-10 solid conversations a day—before you charge a dime. If you’re still answering every question yourself, it’s not a community, it’s a broadcast. Bring together people who solve each other’s problems. Don’t scale until you’ve built that day-in and day-out engagement.
Filter Ruthlessly for Value & Safety
Eugene’s mantra: “You have to filter out noise.” That means setting a bar for entry—real, verifiable accomplishments related to your niche—and blocking anyone with conflicting motives. Service providers and serial pitchmen? Not invited. Why? Trust and psychological safety are the lifeblood of honest sharing. The result: people open up, real value flows, and members stick around.
Monetize with Your Members—Not at Their Expense
Too many communities gum up the works by slapping on a paywall before there’s value. Eugene waited until he had a core crew, a flywheel of daily interaction, and even an IRL event (hello, Cancun) before charging serious membership fees—and he reinvests revenue into events, perks, and organizing resources. The upgrade? He includes top members in monetization decisions and onboarding, reinforcing a sense of ownership and shared mission.
Ready to level up your creator journey? At DTC Pod, we bring you the real playbooks from top Founders and Operators building game-changing communities, brands, and content businesses. Want these insights every week? Tune in to DTC Pod and join the next generation of creators who get it.
Uploading... Titles
Eugene Kamen, COO Million Dollar Sellers - The Secret Blueprint: How to Build an $8B Community From a Facebook Group
Eugene Kamen, COO Million Dollar Sellers - Why Founders Pay $7,500/Year for Access: Inside the Elite Amazon Network
Eugene Kamen, COO Million Dollar Sellers - Scaling MDS: 11 Billion in Sales, 100+ Events, & Hyper-Engaged Membership
Eugene Kamen, COO Million Dollar Sellers - Give More, Get More: The Value-Driven Community Formula to Monetize Anything
Eugene Kamen, COO Million Dollar Sellers - Community Flywheels: How to Start, Monetize, and Kick Out Dead Weight
Eugene Kamen, COO Million Dollar Sellers - Community vs Content: Why Top Creators Are Pivoting to Paid Networks
Eugene Kamen, COO Million Dollar Sellers - From Losing Money in Cancun to $4M Revenue: The Founder’s Playbook
Eugene Kamen, COO Million Dollar Sellers - How to Filter the Noise and Build a Thriving Entrepreneur Network
Twitter Post 1
This 1 Cancun meetup kickstarted a multi-million dollar community.
80 members flew out for $99 tickets.
The event lost money, but sparked the growth of MDS!
Mindsets
If you’re hoping to build a thriving, high-value community (or take your current network to the next level), here are 3 mindset shifts inspired by this week’s episode of Uploading:
💭 Shift from “how fast can I grow?” to “how intentionally can I grow?” Eugene Kamen emphasized that the deepest value and engagement in a community comes from having a clear common denominator—and a strong filter on who joins. Focus on curating members who align with your purpose and raise the bar for value-sharing, rather than simply growing the biggest audience possible.
💭 Treat “give more, get more” as a rule, not a nice-to-have. One of MDS’s core principles: everyone who joins must give value first—not just quietly consume or broadcast. Adopt a mindset that your role isn’t only to extract value from a network, but to contribute knowledge, support, or connections actively. That’s the flywheel that true community runs on.
💭 See monetization as a tool for reinvestment, not just for profit. Eugene Kamen shared that MDS puts membership and event fees directly back into delivering more value for members—whether through events, better resources, or improved technology. Approach monetization as a way to unlock and scale impact for your community, rather than just as an end-goal.
Thinking about launching or evolving your own community around these principles? Let this episode be your blueprint—value, curation, and collective growth always win in the long run!
Future State, 6 reasons post
In 2 years, we scaled an Amazon seller community from a scrappy Facebook group to an elite, $7,500/year membership of 700+ founders generating $11B+ in collective sales. Community is hands down the most powerful way to monetize expertise and networks—but most communities never reach their potential.
Here’s why most fail, and what it takes to win:
BACKGROUND:
Traditional “community building” is broken. Most creators launch a Discord, Slack, or Facebook group, invite everyone, and just hope for engagement. The result? A dead group drowning in noise, spam, or worse—crickets.
Old Community Model:
Anyone can join
No clear common ground
Service providers spamming offers
Chaotic noise, no trust or safety
Host does all the talking, little peer value
Monetization = afterthought (if at all)
New Community Flywheel:
High-barrier application and membership
Verified, peer-to-peer trust
Shared, specific goals and values
Zero tolerance for spam or low engagement
Multi-touch, in-person AND online connection
Monetization that directly enhances member experience
At Million Dollar Sellers, our "give more, get more" ethos and relentless focus on curation transformed not just the bottom line, but the value every member receives. It was only by being ruthlessly intentional that we unlocked hyper-engagement (80%+), record retention (<10% churn), and a thriving, trusted brand.
HOWEVER...
Most creators and founders still struggle to make the leap from passive audience to an active, thriving, profitable community.
Here are my 6 recommendations to reach the even better future state:
Set the Right Bar: Define a specific, meaningful "common denominator" for entry. Filter out generalists and enforce real, verifiable criteria (e.g., revenue, role, experience).
No Service Provider Zone: Keep out anyone whose primary motive is selling to the group. Member trust > shortcuts to growth. If you let in the wrong people, peer learning and sharing collapses.
Seed with Die-Hard Founders: Personally onboard at least 30-50 engaged early members. Prioritize those who proactively contribute, not just lurk—reward and spotlight their involvement.
Mandate Value Infusion: Require every new member to give real value in their intro—case study, tactic, resource, or hard-won lesson. “Welcome” posts are noise; value posts are the engine.
Enforce Engagement: Actively track member activity. Reach out and remove those who become passive. Make participation a requirement, not a perk.
Monetize After Momentum: Wait until you’ve built up daily peer-to-peer conversation and real emotional buy-in before charging. When you do charge, turn every dollar into more events, resources, and support for the group—make sure your monetization unlocks more value.
If creators and founders follow these principles, the future of high-ticket, community-driven growth will be inevitable.
What’s YOUR winning formula for an engaged community?
Where do you see the biggest opportunity or blind spot that most leaders miss?
Drop your thoughts or battle scars in the replies—I want to hear how you’re building the next $10M+ community.
Workbook
Absolutely! Here’s a comprehensive workbook based on the episode “The Million Dollar Community Blueprint” from the Uploading podcast with Blaine and Eugene Kamen.
The Million Dollar Community Blueprint
Workbook: Building a Thriving, Monetizable Community
Table of Contents
About this Episode
Core Learnings
Reflection & Action Questions
Practical Exercises
Community Blueprint Template
Further Resources
Key Quotes
1. About this Episode
This workbook distills insights from Blaine's interview with Eugene Kamen, COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS). MDS is an elite private community of 700+ top Amazon entrepreneurs generating billions in annual sales. Eugene Kamen shares actionable strategies for growing, monetizing, and managing a high-value community, with advice applicable across industries.
2. Core Learnings
Start With a Clear Common Denominator: Every successful community is centered around a shared interest, goal, or qualification.
Quality Over Quantity: Curated membership, with active engagement and contribution, is more valuable than a large, inactive group.
Safe Space = Real Value: Peer-to-peer trust and privacy (no outside service providers or pitching) fuel openness and sharing.
Monetization Must Be Aligned: Only charge once clear, ongoing value exists. Reinvest revenues into improving the community experience.
Onboarding & Engagement Are Key: Structured applications, interviews, and early “give value” expectations set the culture.
Growth Can Be Local: As scale increases, consider local chapters or sub-communities to maintain connection and relevance.
Incentivize Sharing: Reward prolific, generous contributors; remove inactive or non-contributing members.
3. Reflection & Action Questions
What truly connects your community? (Define your “common denominator.”)
How are you ensuring new members will actively contribute value from day one?
Is there a clear, enforced boundary between members and those who might dilute trust (e.g., aggressive marketers)?
At what stage will you monetize? What value will members be paying for, specifically?
What engagement metrics will you track (e.g., number of daily conversations, events attended)?
How will you keep engagement high and the value exchange ongoing over months and years?
Can you envision local chapters, events, or in-person meetups for your community? If so, what might that look like?
4. Practical Exercises
1. Define Your Membership Filter
List 3-5 key qualifications or criteria.
Example: “Must have $XX in annual sales,” “Must have published X content pieces,” “Must be at X career level.”
2. Value Proposition Canvas
Draw a two-column chart:
Column 1: What do members give to the community?
Column 2: What do members get from the community?
3. Application & Onboarding Flow
Draft the steps for applicants.
Application form
Interview with existing member
Value-introduction post
Council or core team review
4. Engagement Plan
Create a list of regular activities to keep conversations alive:
Weekly themed discussions/calls
Monthly MVP/member awards
Swag or other non-monetary recognition
Member-led workshops
5. Measuring Engagement
Identify 3 engagement metrics you’ll monitor.
Number of threads/posts per week
Attendance at events
% of members contributing monthly
5. Community Blueprint Template
Customize this for your initiative!
6. Further Resources
MDS: mds.co
Blaine: Linkedin, Castmagic
Eugene Kamen: Linkedin, Groupos (groupos.com)
“Building Successful Online Communities” (book by Kraut & Resnick)
Online Community Platforms: Slack, Discord, Facebook Groups, Mighty Networks, Circle
7. Key Quotes
“Give more, get more.”
“You want to be high enough that people want to share information, but not so niche that it’s just your competitors.”
“If you can’t recruit your first 30-40 truly engaged people quickly, reconsider your concept.”
“It’s not about numbers, but about having your 40 die-hard members.”
“Events are where the initial flywheel starts.”
Ready to apply this blueprint?
Start with defining your “common denominator” and listing your first 20 dream members today!
If you want to dive deeper into any section, just let me know!
Tweet thread on learnings
Tweet 1:
How did Eugene Kamen transform a scrappy Facebook group into a $4M/year, 700-member powerhouse for 7–9 figure Amazon sellers?
He built the Million Dollar Sellers (MDS) community by enforcing this one rule:
“Give more, get more.”
Here’s what every ambitious builder should learn from his playbook:👇
Tweet 2:
Curation Is Everything—Quality Over Quantity
From day one, Eugene put up strict barriers—to join MDS you needed real revenue and (this is key) no service providers allowed.
Filtering aggressively → safe space for honest, high-value sharing.
The right members = the only growth lever that matters.
Tweet 3:
Don’t Monetize Until It’s a No-Brainer
Eugene didn’t add paywalls early. He waited for 100+ members and 40+ super-engaged diehards before charging a cent.
Make your community so sticky with value and daily conversations that people insist on paying before you ever ask.
Tweet 4:
First in Person, Then Forever Connected
The real flywheel?
Organize an in-person event for your early members—even at a loss.
Eugene’s $99 Cancun meetup created lifelong bonds, turbocharged trust, and made online engagement feel like a family reunion.
Tweet 5:
Enforce the “Give More, Get More” Mindset
Every member had to actively contribute valuable insights—no lurkers allowed, ever.
MDS tracks engagement, removes passive members, and requires new joiners to add value on their first post.
Culture eats everything else for breakfast.
Tweet 6:
Technology Is a Multiplier, Not a Replacement
After nailing culture, Eugene built custom tools (Groupos) to centralize docs, events, and comms.
But he’s blunt: tech won’t save a dying group—the magic is always human.
Organize chaos with tech; build belonging with people.
Tweet 7:
Community ≠ Infinite Scale
MDS will never be a million-member group; it’s about depth, not width.
You grow by launching local chapters, keeping churn ultra-low, and continuously seeding leadership from within.
Steady, intentional, slow growth beats a massive but empty community.
Tweet 8:
Bottom line:
World-class communities are engineered through
ruthless curation
“give more, get more” culture
and putting connection above all.
Monetization, tech, and scale come after.
Focus on belonging, and the rest will follow.
Save this and audit your own community strategy.
Youtube Description
How to Build a 7-Figure Community in 2024 (Step-By-Step Million Dollar Blueprint)
Ready to unlock the secrets behind building a hyper-profitable community that members love—and are happy to pay for? In this video, I sit down with Eugene Kamen, COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), to break down the exact strategies that turned a humble Facebook group into a thriving membership network doing over $4 million a year and boasting $11B+ in collective sales.
This is the ultimate step-by-step blueprint for founders, creators, podcasters, and content entrepreneurs looking to monetize an audience, foster real engagement, and build a community that scales up without losing its core value.
Million Dollar Community Blueprint: We’ll kick off by exploring how Eugene grew MDS from scratch, the critical decisions behind its exclusivity, and how their “give more, get more” philosophy drives non-stop engagement and value.
How to Launch a Paid Community: Thinking about monetizing your audience or launching a paid community? Learn the exact signals to watch for before you start charging, how to validate your idea, and when to move from free to paid tiers.
Community Monetization Strategies for Creators: Discover unique insights for creators, podcasters, and business owners on how to monetize not just your content—but the relationships and network you create (yes, this is far more lucrative than sponsorships or ads alone).
Step-By-Step Community Onboarding & Scaling: Eugene reveals the MDS onboarding funnel, including their secret interview process, how to build early hype with a waitlist, and the art of keeping your members hyper-engaged (and weeding out lurkers).
Community Platforms & Tech: Should you use Facebook, Slack, WhatsApp, or build your own platform? Get Eugene’s advice on starting and scaling, what to watch out for, and the software stack you actually need in 2024.
Real Examples & Live Q&A: See how these strategies apply to different niches—from AI and entrepreneurship in Latam, to personal finance, radiology, career coaching, and more.
Whether you want to scale from zero to 700+ members, create real value, or simply build a business that runs itself off recurring revenue, this episode is your million dollar playbook.
👉 Want more tips and resources? Join the Castmagic creator community here: https://www.castmagic.io
👉 Follow Eugene Kamen and discover his community-building tips on LinkedIn.
👉 Check out MDS and the GroupOS platform for more inspiration.
Don’t forget to drop your community ideas, questions, or niche in the comments—Blaine and Eugene dig into all of them in the Q&A.
Build your million dollar community in 2024. START HERE.
#CommunityBuilding #MonetizeYourAudience #PodcastGrowth #CreatorEconomy #MembershipBlueprint
Simplify
Absolutely! Here’s a simplified summary of the episode for you:
The episode is called "The Million Dollar Community Blueprint." Blaine talks with Eugene Kamen, the COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), a successful community of Amazon entrepreneurs.
Key points:
Eugene Kamen helped grow MDS from a Facebook group to a paid community with around 700 members. The businesses in the group generate over $11 billion in sales, and MDS earns about $4 million in revenue each year.
Members pay $7,500 per year to join. The group is for verified high-level Amazon sellers—people who hit certain sales targets. Service providers (people just looking to sell their services) are NOT allowed.
The community started organically. Eugene Kamen organized events, like a meetup in Cancun, to help build connections. The point was to have a safe space where people could share information, learn, and support each other.
To keep the group valuable and active, members are expected to give back by sharing advice and participating. If someone isn’t active or doesn’t contribute, they might be removed.
Eugene Kamen stressed that building a community is about creating value—for example, by answering questions and sharing knowledge. Before charging a membership fee, it’s important to get the basics right (like daily conversations and strong engagement).
As the community grows, local chapters are created to keep the personal connection strong.
The secret sauce: filter your group for quality, make people feel safe, and encourage sharing and real engagement.
If you want advice on starting your own community, focus on:
Finding a clear common interest
Creating a safe, trusted environment
Encouraging people to share and connect
Only monetize when real value exists
Let me know if you want a summary of any specific section!
Uploading LinkedIn-YouTube
From scaling a humble Facebook group to building a powerhouse 700-member community generating $11B+ in Amazon sales, @Eugene Kamen, COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), knows how to create lasting value.
On this week’s episode of Uploading, Eugene joins @Blaine to break down the proven blueprint for launching, growing, and monetizing a high-ticket, hyper-engaged network. He shares actionable tactics for attracting the right members, creating meaningful in-person connections, implementing gatekeeping and value-driven participation, and keeping engagement high while scaling.
We dig into community business models, member onboarding, event strategy, and the critical importance of “give more, get more” as well as tools and platforms that power successful communities today.
Whether you’re a content creator, founder, or brand looking to unlock the next level in community growth and monetization, Eugene’s insights are a must-listen.
Watch the full episode here: [YouTube Link]
#uploadingpodcast #communitybuilding #entrepreneurship #amazonfba #businessgrowth #membership #networking
5 Characteristics of Winners
Based on “The Million Dollar Community Blueprint” episode, winners in building monetizable communities consistently demonstrate five key characteristics:
✅ Setting a clear common denominator for members
✅ Creating safe spaces for peer-to-peer sharing
✅ Proactively filtering out noise and misaligned incentives
✅ Investing in consistent engagement and high-touch onboarding
✅ Enforcing “give more, get more” values for lasting member involvement
Whether you’re launching a mastermind for Amazon sellers or scaling a niche professional network, these traits are what make thriving, high-value communities stand out from the crowd.
The Rule, The Process, Keys to Success
Building a thriving community is like mastering the art of assembling a puzzle where every piece shapes the bigger picture.
Here's a general rule from Eugene Kamen: create the conditions where your core members both share value and feel truly safe doing so. That’s “give more, get more” in action—not just a mantra, but the engine for real belonging and engagement. Don’t let the noise in. Curate who’s in the room, and set the bar high. Not everyone gets a seat at the table, and that’s by design.
Process-wise, Eugene Kamen and the MDS team started small and organic. Begin with a tight, verified group around a shared, niche goal. Let authenticity lead—don’t chase numbers, chase engagement. They built MDS with hand-picked members, focusing on those already walking the walk. Early days meant in-person events, layering real conversations on top of online ones. Only when the group had its own heartbeat—with frequent, quality interactions and natural momentum—did they introduce monetization, and always in collaboration with the members.
So what’s the key to broader success? Move slowly, deliberately, and relentlessly prioritize the member experience. Filter out the non-contributors. Make it clear: if you’re not adding, you’re subtracting. Build in accountability and opportunities for contribution, and don’t be afraid to prune the tree so the fruit grows healthier. Scale isn’t about blasting everyone—it’s about local chapters, meaningfully connected people, and never losing the closeness that got you there.
In the end, success isn’t about a million members; it’s about the right members, building together, and feeling ownership of something they helped create. You get exponential value by being intentional about who joins, how the community runs, and what you give back. That’s the million-dollar blueprint.
3 bullets 3 bullets (dakota)
Most thriving online communities:
• Didn’t start with fancy tech
• Didn’t have a marketing war chest
• Didn’t open the doors to everyone
They just had:
• A clear common denominator that brought the right people together
• The guts to filter out noise and kick out the wrong members
• Consistent, genuine engagement—give more, get more
Your own six-figure mastermind is more achievable than you think.
Start small. Focus on creating real value and meaningful conversations.
Find your die-hard ten, then your first hundred.
Exclude the noise, build trust, and monetize only when your community’s thriving.
Don’t overthink: Keep the bar high, the friction low, and let your tribe run.
Community pays when you help the right people connect.
Framework To Build From Scratch
If I had to build a 700-member, $4M+ revenue community from scratch (with high-ticket membership)… here’s the playbook I’d use:
(We grew Million Dollar Sellers into an elite network using these exact steps. It now represents $11B+ in annual ecommerce sales).
You can turn a loose group into a thriving, monetizable community, but you need 3 key foundations:
• Extreme clarity on your common denominator (who’s IN and who’s OUT)
• Prioritize peer-to-peer value — give more, get more
• Ruthlessly filter for quality and engagement
So how do you engineer this?
Here’s my Community Flywheel Framework:
Curate, Don’t Collect:
Set a barrier to entry that matters. For us, it was verified Amazon founders doing $1M+. No service providers, no pitching, no noise — just operators.
Choose your filter and stick to it.Cultivate Value BEFORE Monetizing:
You need daily conversations, diehard core members (aim for 30-50), and “give-first” culture in place before you ever charge a dime.Events Create Glue:
In-person or virtual — events transform online chat into real bonds. Host early. Make it about THEM, not profits.
(Losing money on the first event? Worth it.)Reward Contribution, Remove Passivity:
Celebrate value-givers publicly (think “Member of the Month”). Quiet lurkers? Offboard them. Tight-knit, trusted, high-energy beats big-&-dead every time.Co-create Monetization:
When you do charge, make the price about reinvesting in experiences, resources, and collective wins — not just “access.”
If you’re a creator or entrepreneur, community might just be your top monetization lever.
Audience = Reach.
Community = Compound Value.
Prioritize curation, connection, and contribution — and everything else (money, impact, network) follows.
Ready to build something real instead of another ghost town group? Start with the right people and build from there.
3 Success Strategies
Build an Aligned, Curated Community (And Ruthlessly Protect It)
Trying to grow a thriving membership? The biggest unlock isn’t adding more people, it’s setting the right filter for who’s allowed to join.
In Eugene Kamen’s world, community is only as strong as its common denominator. From day one, he made sure that MDS was for verified, high-performing private label Amazon sellers only—no service providers, no outsiders, no exceptions. This wasn’t just about exclusivity for exclusivity’s sake: it created a safe space where everyone spoke the same language, faced the same challenges, and wasn’t fearful of being pitched every time they shared a tactic or asked a question.
The lesson? If you want to create sticky engagement and lasting value, you need to set—and uphold—clear criteria on who can and can't be part of your network. Letting in the wrong people, or diluting your group’s focus, will kill trust and tank engagement faster than any algorithm change.
Focus First on Value, Then Layer on Monetization
You can’t slap a price tag on a Facebook group and expect people to pay up. According to Eugene Kamen, monetization comes only after you’ve assembled a truly engaged core who are already getting daily value just by participating.
What does this look like? Before launching paid memberships for MDS, Eugene Kamen waited until he had 100+ verified members, five to ten active conversations happening every day, and people eager to attend real-world events. That flywheel of consistent value and peer-to-peer support is what made members willing to pay—and what justified raising the price to $7,500 a year.
Want to make your own premium community work? Prioritize member experience, knowledge sharing, and organic connection first—then price in a way that lets you reinvest in more resources, support, and unforgettable touchpoints for your people.
Engineer a Culture of Participation and Accountability
A vibrant community doesn’t just “happen.” It’s engineered and maintained—sometimes fiercely—by both leadership and the members themselves. Eugene Kamen shared that MDS goes beyond saying "give more, get more." The group actively tracks member engagement, reaches out to lurkers, and even removes those who aren’t contributing value.
It’s not just about top-down policing, either. MDS members themselves buy into the values: they expect new members to introduce themselves by sharing real, actionable advice, and they’re quick to flag anyone who’s coasting or “just watching.” Recognition programs like Member of the Month and Most Valuable Post don’t just drive ego—they drive healthy competition and a sense of belonging.
The upshot? Real transformation happens when everyone knows it’s not a spectator sport. Set the ground rules early, bake participation into your onboarding, and don’t be afraid to show non-contributors the door. When your culture is tight, your engagement (and retention) will follow.
3 Success Strategies v2
Build a Community Around a Clear Common Denominator
Feeling alone in your entrepreneurial journey? Take a page from Eugene Kamen’s playbook—success starts with assembling a tribe that shares a common goal.
Eugene didn’t just stumble into leading a powerhouse network; he began by identifying a clear, shared denominator—Amazon private label sellers chasing seven to nine figures in sales. This focus allowed for meaningful, actionable conversations and built trust among members.
Here’s how to apply this strategy:
Start by pinpointing what unites your audience. It could be a business niche, revenue benchmark, or shared challenge.
Use this filter to build exclusivity and value. For MDS, it was a revenue threshold and private label focus.
Create a safe space—members know the conversation stays in the room, making them more likely to share and engage.
By establishing a clear bar for entry, you keep the community dialogue relevant, valuable, and highly engaged. Whether you’re launching a Slack group, Discord server, or Facebook page, start by defining your common ground, and let that drive everything else.
Filter Out the Noise—Set Membership Criteria and Enforce Engagement
Nobody likes a community full of lurkers and spammy pitches. Eugene Kamen’s secret: maintain quality by filtering who gets in and who stays.
From the earliest days, Eugene and his team made sure only active private label business owners—not service providers or coaches—could join. On top of entry bar, they actively monitored engagement and booted inactive members, keeping the group alive and valuable for everyone else.
Here’s how you can do it:
Identify what kind of members detract from your group (e.g., service providers, non-contributors) and keep them out.
Implement an onboarding process that requires applicants to share value—a post, insight, or resource—before joining.
Track engagement. If someone’s not contributing, reach out or remove them to maintain a thriving dynamic.
The result? Eighty percent engagement and a tight-knit network where members actually help each other succeed—not just collect information. Start with strong entry requirements, reinforce participation, and create a culture of “give more, get more” to make your community truly worth joining.
Grow Organically—Prioritize Value Creation Before Monetization
Wondering when to start charging for your community? Eugene Kamen proved that patience pays: value must come first, monetization second.
Instead of launching paid memberships out of the gate, Eugene created undeniable value through member-led events, in-person meetups, and ongoing peer-to-peer engagement. Only after a core group was actively helping each other did MDS introduce membership dues—and by then, demand far outstripped supply.
Here’s how to follow that roadmap:
Focus on achieving consistent, real engagement—think 5–10 conversations per day and 40–50 diehard members.
Launch free events, encourage group problem-solving, and build relationships before considering paid tiers.
When the time is right, involve your core members in the decision-making process and reinvest membership fees into enhanced experiences.
By letting value lead the way and avoiding premature monetization, you’ll create a “flywheel” that attracts high-quality members and keeps your retention rates strong. Don’t rush. Build trust, foster connections, and let demand for premium access emerge naturally—then capture it.
Try putting these strategies into practice as you grow your own community or network. Stay focused, filter relentlessly, and don’t monetize until people genuinely feel the payoff from being a part of your tribe.
Episode Summary
Eugene Kamen is the COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), an exclusive community for top Amazon entrepreneurs. He has played a pivotal role in transforming MDS from a small Facebook group into a six-figure membership network boasting over 700 founders and $11 billion in annual sales, all while scaling his own Amazon business.
In this episode of Uploading, Eugene shares the Million Dollar Community Blueprint, detailing how he organically built a thriving, high-value community. He covers strategies for filtering out noise, establishing trust through member verification, determining the right time to monetize, and sustaining engagement with core values, events, and local chapters. The discussion provides actionable advice for anyone looking to launch, monetize, or scale a community around a niche audience, especially content creators seeking new methods to profit through network-driven value.
Blaine Content Sample
How We Turned a Facebook Group Into a $4M Elite Community (And Why “Give More, Get More” Made All the Difference…)
Six years ago, Million Dollar Sellers (MDS) was nothing more than a scrappy Facebook group for Amazon entrepreneurs. Today, it’s a powerhouse: 700 members, $4M+ in revenue, and a network generating more than $11B in annual sales. All without quitting the “day job.”
Here’s how Eugene Kamen and the MDS team built, scaled, and monetized the kind of community people pay $7,500 a year to join—and why the secret wasn’t a clever business model, but a relentless focus on peer-driven value.
Background
Most Amazon sellers start solo—behind the computer, searching for connection
Early groups were noisy, pitch-filled retail arbitrage forums
MDS stood out by verifying private label sellers and setting a high bar for entry
It started as a safe online space and evolved into IRL events, member-led chapters, and a true “give more, get more” culture
Four Principles That Shaped MDS’s Breakout Success:
Quality > Quantity
Early on, MDS filtered relentlessly: only verified sellers, no service providers, and a clear entry bar (first $10K/month, then $1M/year). This meant every member had skin in the game—and every conversation had substance.Monetization as Value Amplification
MDS didn’t charge until the community had real momentum: 100+ members, dozens of daily threads, and an organic flywheel of engagement. When they introduced fees, that money went straight back into events, resources, and systems—making members feel their investment was fueling their own growth.Peer-to-Peer Trust and Transparency
By requiring interviews and new members to share actionable value in their introduction posts, MDS kept noise out and built trust. Members were actively encouraged to “give more, get more”—and if you just showed up to watch, you got the boot.IRL Events—From Family Reunion to Growth Machine
The first Cancun meetup had 80 attendees (out of 120 in the group). Now, chapters run 100+ events a year, and flagship gatherings are where real relationships—and business breakthroughs—happen. High-end swag, member awards, and hyper-local chapters keep engagement high and churn low.
Bottom Line:
If you’re building a paid community, don’t rush the fees—rush the trust, engagement, and peer-to-peer value. Set your entry bar. Lean into in-person. Reward your best contributors. Kick out the lurkers. Build alongside your members, not for them.
Would love to hear your stories on what’s worked (or not) for community-building, monetization, and keeping engagement alive—especially if you’ve managed a paid-only group!
1 most actionable piece of advice
Start by gathering 30–40 highly engaged core members immediately.
Gregs LinkedIN Example
the $10M community blueprint for 2025
start with a core group (small, engaged, die-hard)
filter for quality (no noise, no opportunists, only the right people)
make it safe to share (trust over transaction)
do things that don’t scale (real-world events, manual interviews, personal outreach)
give more, get more (value-first culture)
congrats, you've created an unstoppable flywheel
old playbook: chase numbers, fill a massive Facebook group, hope for the best
new playbook: curate, gatekeep, and obsess over engagement (not size)
keys to winning:
create actual value (if questions get answered in hours, you’re winning)
nail the application filter (set a bar, keep it high)
keep the culture (core values > followers)
kick the lurkers, reward the givers
invest back: events, team, tech to serve your members
2020: “communities die when they get big”
2025: “scale with chapters, keep the soul”
everyone thinks community = free chat room. Wrong.
Real communities monetize trust, not FOMO.
$7,500/yr for MDS, 700 members, $4M+ revenue.
You set the bar, you keep the bar. Never apologize.
Want retention? Make it insanely valuable to belong—then make it obvious when someone doesn’t.
Grow slow. Let the engaged curate the next cohort. Build local, in-person roots as you grow global.
Your job:
start conversations
get everyone to the table
make it worth showing up IRL and online
remove the pitch-sellers
old model: one person creates, all consume
new model: everyone creates, everyone wins
Tech helps, but culture is king. Platform is just scaffolding—community is the house.
Community is the premium product. The network is the moat.
Build carefully. Kick out anyone killing the vibe.
Monetize when people beg you to open the gates.
Happy building.
(see Eugene Kamen on Uploading for the full blueprint)
Questions Shownotes
How did Eugene help transform MDS from a humble Facebook group into a thriving, multimillion-dollar, invite-only community for top Amazon entrepreneurs?
Why was filtering out service providers from the MDS community essential for building trust and meaningful engagement?
What makes “give more, get more” a foundational value for MDS, and how does it shape member culture?
How did in-person events—like the first Cancun meetup—spark the sense of family and belonging within MDS?
When is the right time to start monetizing a community, and what signs indicate that it’s ready?
Why is reaching 100 “die-hard” members and achieving daily active conversations a tipping point for community monetization?
What are the key factors that differentiate between a thriving community and a dead one?
How does MDS use onboarding, interviews, and member requirements to ensure new members actively contribute value from day one?
What systems does Eugene’s team use to track member engagement and handle inactive participants?
Why do established members sometimes get removed from the community, and how does that protect its overall health?
How does MDS’s business model support annual revenues of $4 million, and why do members pay $7,500 a year?
Why does MDS prioritize local chapters and in-person connection for scaling, rather than a purely digital approach?
How do you keep a community culture strong and cohesive as membership grows from dozens to hundreds?
What role do member-led councils and decision-making play in MDS’s evolution and value creation?
Why is picking the right platform—whether Facebook, Slack, or a custom app—so critical for stimulating engagement?
How does “GroupOS” serve as a digital hub for MDS, and why is it important for operational efficiency?
In which ways can content creators leverage community as their most powerful—and profitable—monetization strategy?
What are the challenges and opportunities in starting a paid community versus beginning with a free tier?
How should entrepreneurs think about setting “noise filters” or entry thresholds for their own niche communities?
Why is in-person connection still considered the “secret sauce” for long-term loyalty and member retention, even in digital-first communities?
Episode summary
Eugene Kamen is the COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), an elite community of top Amazon entrepreneurs generating over $11 billion in sales and a six-figure membership business.
In this episode of Uploading…, Eugene shares the blueprint behind growing MDS from a humble Facebook group into a thriving, high-ticket community—without quitting his day job. He and host Blaine dive into the strategies, values, and tactical steps that made MDS successful, including filtering for quality members, fostering peer-to-peer engagement, building a strong community culture, and scaling with local chapters. Eugene also breaks down MDS’s business model, the application and onboarding process, and actionable advice for creators looking to monetize through community.
Lead Magnet Idea
"Launch & Scale Your Premium Community: The Ultimate Blueprint for Content Creators and Entrepreneurs"
Description
This lead magnet is a visually engaging, action-oriented PDF guide that helps ambitious creators and entrepreneurs launch, grow, and monetize elite communities—drawing directly from the proven, practical strategies shared by Eugene Kamen in this episode of Uploading. Driven by insights from growing MDS into a 700-member, $4M/year powerhouse, the guide offers a step-by-step playbook for building a thriving, high-value network (even as a side hustle), plus interactive templates and checklists to kickstart your launch.
Components:
1. The Million Dollar Community Framework
Infographic distillation of the core stages discussed by Eugene Kamen:
Find Your Common Denominator: Worksheet to define your community’s unique “bar of entry” (with examples from MDS: earning requirements, member types, etc.).
Build Trust & Value, Not Noise: Checklist to audit for potential friction points, service provider “pitching,” or lack of peer value.
Monetization Readiness: Scorecard to determine if you have enough “give more, get more” engagement to start charging (inspired by MDS’s “100 engaged, 5–10 daily threads” rule).
2. The Community Launch Kit
Launch Timeline Roadmap: Actionable, week-by-week plan to seed, socialize, and validate your community with strategic “waitlist” and invitation templates.
“First 40 Die-Hards” Playbook:
Copy/paste outreach email/DM scripts
Value-add post sample (how to get members sharing immediately)
Member Application Template: Adaptable form inspired by what Eugene Kamen and MDS used to filter and onboard ideal members.
3. Engagement & Retention Pack
Conversation Jumpstart Prompts:
10 plug-and-play “starter thread” topics relevant for any premium community
Template for “Give Value First” posts and examples
MVP & Rewards Program Guide:
Step-by-step breakdown of how to implement “Member of the Month” and high-impact swag strategies to supercharge engagement
4. Monetization Pathways
Pricing Calculator: Determine your optimal membership/annual pricing and event upsells (with breakdowns referencing MDS’s $7,500/year model)
Checklist: “Are You Ready to Monetize?” (when to transition from free to paid)
Event Monetization: Event type ideas, ticket pricing tips, and how to structure tiered offerings
5. Tech Stack & Platform Resource List
Platform Picker: Recommendations with pros/cons (Slack, Facebook, WhatsApp, Mighty, custom platforms, etc.—all based on community type and member friction insights covered in the episode)
Tool Suite: Event, content, analytics, and group management tools
Visual showcase of “what great looks like”: Sample screenshots of streamlined group hubs, event calendars, and chat systems
6. Bonus: Quick-Start Chapter System
Mini-guide on replicating MDS’s highly successful local chapters for scale and intimacy
Leadership structure and budget templates
Visual Appeal:
Clean, modern design with bold accent coloring and on-brand fonts
Infographics and flowcharts to clarify frameworks
All major checklists/worksheets are interactive, fillable/foldable for easy completion
Episode quotes from Eugene Kamen are sprinkled throughout for credibility and inspiration
Badging and call-outs for “Pro Tips,” “Watch Outs,” and “Action Steps”
Call to Action:
Download Instruction:
“Ready to transform your audience into a high-value, highly-engaged community? Click below to download your ‘Million Dollar Community Blueprint’ and turn your network into your most profitable platform!”
Invitation to Engage:
“Want ongoing tactical tips and support? Join our creator Slack community, powered by CastMagic, for continued behind-the-scenes strategies, templates, and real-world feedback from community-builders just like you.”
“Sign up for our free newsletter to get weekly playbooks, episode extras, and exclusive community-building resources.”
Follow-Up Offer:
“Need help applying the blueprint to your niche or want a personalized review of your community idea/application? Book a free 15-minute strategy session or get a special invite to our next community accelerator event—details inside the guide!”
Example CTA Block:
“Download The 'Million Dollar Community Blueprint' Now!
Take your audience from listeners to loyal connectors—and capture the true value of your content and expertise. Want even more hands-on help? Join our exclusive CastMagic creator group or claim your free strategy call inside the guide!”
By delivering step-by-step advice, fillable worksheets, and visually engaging templates—all rooted in proven results from the MDS case study—this lead magnet bridges inspiration and rapid action, guiding aspiring community founders smoothly from confusion to their first wave of loyal, paying members (and making continued engagement with your content and workspace a natural next step).
5 reasons why with a PS
I built a 700-member, $4M+ revenue community from scratch—before it was cool. Here’s my (non-secret) Community Flywheel if you want to turn your network into an asset people pay to join:
Filter ruthlessly—your core members ARE the community
Start with a clear common denominator (niche, experience, ambition)
Set a HARD entry bar (not everyone should get in)
Remove non-contributors and anyone who doesn’t play by your values
“If it’s too easy to join, it’s too easy to leave.”
Make sure people get real value fast
Value = conversations, answers, connection not just content
5–10 engaged convos/day is your minimum before you monetize
Get people together IRL as soon as possible (family-reunion energy is the secret sauce)
Don’t monetize until you have the “can’t-live-without-it” moment
Wait for at least 100 members & 30 true die-hards
Test, then ask the group together when/what/how to charge
Prove any money goes straight back into member value: team, events, tools
Protect your culture like a hawk
Kick out lurkers, “watchers,” and especially service providers pitching their stuff
Bake contribution into your DNA (“give more, get more”)
Leverage your best members—volunteer councils, interview committees, chapter heads
Use tech as a force multiplier—not as the answer
Go where your audience is already (Slack for business, WhatsApp for LatAm, not some shiny new platform)
Lower friction > more engagement
When you scale, build your own tools to stay organized (events, archive, content, chat)
You don’t need thousands of members to build a million-dollar community—just the right ones with energy and purpose.
If you want to see how we scaled a “hobby” Facebook group to a multi-million dollar, invite-only organization (and why creating a waitlist is your best friend)—drop what community you're thinking about building below.
P.S.
If you’re serious about monetizing your audience and building something with real staying power, re-listen to my convo with Blaine—it’s packed with tactical moves you can steal right now.
Episode Notes
SUMMARY OF EPISODE
In this episode of "Uploading...", Blaine welcomes Eugene Kamen, COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), an elite community for top Amazon entrepreneurs.
Together, they unravel the million-dollar blueprint for launching, scaling, and monetizing high-value online communities.
Topics include:
The organic evolution of MDS from a Facebook group to a $4M+ membership organization.
Setting strict membership criteria and the importance of filtering out service providers.
The values that underpin thriving communities—“give more, get more.”
When and how to monetize a community, and why people pay $7,500/year.
Actionable tactics for stimulating member engagement and adopting peer-to-peer trust.
Building and maintaining a highly engaged membership, including “Member of the Month” incentives.
The art and science of onboarding, member retention, and setting application processes.
Strategies for scaling communities via local chapters and events while preserving culture.
Monetization opportunities for content creators through community-building.
This episode serves as a masterclass for anyone looking to launch, grow, or monetize a professional community or creator network. Eugene Kamen dives deep into process, lessons learned, and the importance of authentic connection in sustaining value.
BULLET POINTS OF KEY TOPICS
The Organic Launch & Growth of MDS
Eugene Kamen recounts how MDS began as a small group of verified Amazon sellers and evolved through in-person events and a strict verification bar, emphasizing the early importance of member trust and shared struggles.
Filtering Membership & Building Trust
The necessity of setting barriers to entry—such as sales thresholds—and prohibiting service providers, ensuring the community remains a safe and valuable space for founders.
Monetization: Timing and Tactics
Insights into when to monetize a community, focusing first on member engagement and value before putting a price tag on entry.
Collaborative decision-making and reinvesting revenue into events, staffing, and platform development to further enhance member value.
Driving Engagement & Value Creation
“Give more, get more” as a central value, requiring members to contribute meaningfully rather than simply joining.
Discussion of incentives such as “Member of the Month” and “Most Valuable Post,” and the use of high-quality swag as rewards.
Importance of frequent, substantive conversations and building family-like relationships among members.
Application Process & Onboarding
Details of MDS’s multi-step onboarding, combining a deposit, thorough application, member interviews, and final checks to ensure culture fit and value alignment.
How member scores and active outreach maintain engagement and filter out lurkers.
Scaling Through Local Chapters & Events
Transitioning from online to offline via regional chapters (15+ now, averaging 35–40 members each), using franchised models and in-person gatherings to deepen bonds and increase value.
Community Management & Tech Stack
Challenges of managing digital communities across platforms; development of their proprietary tool “GroupOS” as a centralized membership hub consolidating events, resources, chat, and member tracking.
For Content Creators
The overlap between content creation and community-building; why communities are one of the best methods for creators to monetize their network and audience.
Steps for launching a community around a podcast or content platform—including common denominators, platform selection, and starting with an engaged core group.
Live Q&A Highlights
Actionable advice for launching paid vs. free communities, building application processes, and avoiding broadcast-only “noise,” tailored to entrepreneurship, finance, radiology, and Gen AI leaders.
Tips for converting virality into sustainable engagement and opportunities—including the difference between broadcast channels and true peer-to-peer communities.
For further insights or to connect with Eugene Kamen, listeners are encouraged to check out LinkedIn, MDS.co, and Groupos.com.
Timestamps Trial
00:00 Welcome to Uploading; intro to content-driven community success
00:48 How MDS grew from Facebook group to elite Amazon community
01:30 Eugene Kamen's journey into Amazon and finding community
03:35 Organizing the first MDS in-person event; Cancun meetup
04:16 MDS today: membership, revenue, and scale
05:40 Pricing and annual revenue breakdown
06:24 Importance of member selection and filtering noise
07:51 The value of trust and peer-to-peer engagement
08:32 When to monetize a community; building early engagement
09:56 Community flywheel: in-person events and scaling value
11:09 Making monetization decisions with members
12:43 Vetting, onboarding, and requiring value contributions
13:55 Volunteering and ongoing engagement in community
15:06 Blueprint for launching a new community: finding common denominator
16:46 Choosing the right platform for your audience
17:43 Setting entry bars and filtering for quality
18:31 Ensuring consistent engagement and avoiding dead communities
19:21 Incentives: contests, member recognition, and high-value swag
21:06 Enforcing engagement: member scores and kicking inactive members
23:19 Building culture and core values for sustained quality
24:02 Application and onboarding process: deposits, interviews, value posts
27:19 Scaling challenges and local chapter strategy
29:39 Local chapters: growth, size, and leadership structure
30:29 Digital management: platforms and building custom software (Groupos)
31:31 Chat, events, and keeping resources organized
33:10 New age of community management tools
34:01 Monetizing communities vs traditional creator monetization
35:38 Community strategies for creators and podcasters
37:15 Finding the right niche and peer-to-peer value
38:04 Opening Q&A: breakdown of listener communities
40:08 Strategies for launching an AI business leader community
42:26 Application funnels, surveys, and setting the right criteria
44:16 Launching community for podcast-first creators; tactics and CTA
45:26 Building and monetizing niche communities (radiology, finance, entrepreneurship)
46:00 Scaling tips: speed of growth as a key signal
47:01 Unique value propositions and local engagement
48:01 Paid communities: course-plus-community strategy
50:25 Flywheel and value creation for paid communities
51:00 Turning viral social into engaged community; filtering and application process
54:48 Broadcast vs. true community distinction
55:14 Eugene Kamen's contact info and event details
55:42 Wrap up and next episode tease
About the Episode
Eugene Kamen is the COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), an elite membership community of top Amazon entrepreneurs generating over $11 billion in annual sales. He’s also an Amazon brand owner himself, and has helped scale MDS from a small Facebook group to a thriving network of 700 founders—with members paying $7,500 a year for access.
In this episode of “Uploading…,” Eugene shares the blueprint for building and monetizing a high-value community. He covers the tactics and values that turned MDS into a six-figure business, including filtering out noise, setting strict membership criteria, and fostering organic growth. Eugene and Blaine dive into practical strategies for launching a community from scratch, creating a culture of contribution, maintaining engagement, building local chapters, and leveraging events for connection and retention. Eugene also discusses the operational challenges of running a membership network, the tech stack behind MDS, and the key differences between monetizing communities versus other creator models.
If you’re a content creator or entrepreneur thinking about launching or scaling a paid community, this episode is filled with actionable insights—on building value, achieving community-market fit, and unlocking new ways to monetize your network.
Show Notes
Episode Summary
Eugene Kamen is the COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), an exclusive community for top Amazon entrepreneurs.
In this episode of Uploading, Eugene shares how he organically scaled MDS from a humble Facebook group into a multi-million dollar, high-ticket membership community of over 700 founders generating $11 billion in annual sales—all while running his own Amazon brand. Discover the values, systems, and growth strategies that turned MDS into one of the most successful paid communities, and learn practical advice for building and monetizing your own thriving network.
Episode Notes
About the Episode:
Eugene Kamen is the COO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), a private, invite-only community for seven to nine-figure Amazon entrepreneurs. Eugene joined MDS when it was just a Facebook group with 50 members and helped transform it into a powerhouse community of 700+ members, generating over $11 billion in annual e-commerce sales.
In this episode of "Uploading...", Eugene details the step-by-step growth of MDS: from finding the initial organic core of private label sellers, to setting strict admission criteria, and fostering an environment of radical value exchange with their “give more, get more” mantra. He unpacks why filtering out service providers and raising the bar for entry was crucial to unlocking authentic sharing and deep engagement.
Eugene discusses the business model behind MDS—including membership dues, affiliate partnerships, event revenue, and their proprietary GroupOS software platform for member management and engagement. He explains how to build and maintain a highly engaged peer group, the practical realities of managing churn and scaling through local chapters, and key strategies for onboarding, enforcing contribution standards, and policing community health.
Finally, Eugene offers actionable tips for content creators and professionals considering launching their own paid or free communities, including where to host, how to seed early engagement, and when and how to monetize.
Today, we'll cover:
How MDS grew organically from a Facebook group to a multi-million dollar, high-ticket community
The “Give More, Get More” philosophy driving member engagement for the long term
Strategies and systems for filtering out noise to protect high-quality conversation
The business/revenue model that keeps MDS thriving (and justifies a $7,500/year membership)
Tactics for scaling while maintaining quality: chapters, contribution requirements, member onboarding
Advice on building, managing, and monetizing communities for creators and niche experts
What You'll Learn
How to Start a Community from Scratch
Strategies for Organic Community Growth and Engagement
Filtering Out Noise to Create a Safe, Focused Environment
When and How to Monetize Your Community (and when not to)
The Difference Between Thriving and “Dead” Communities
Systems and Software for Managing Memberships and Engagement
Application, Interview, and Onboarding Best Practices
Tips for Creators Looking to Build and Monetize Communities in Any Niche
Timestamps
00:00 Intro and background on Eugene and Million Dollar Sellers (MDS)
04:45 Current MDS stats: revenue, members, ticket price
06:45 Starting MDS organically and filtering members
08:33 Value creation and when/how to monetize a community
14:44 Where to host a new community and selecting early members
17:53 Driving engagement and the difference between thriving/dead communities
24:02 Application and onboarding process for MDS today
26:55 Scaling: local chapters, member engagement, and what comes next
30:30 Platforms and proprietary software (GroupOS) to power community operations
33:44 Opportunities and strategies for creators to monetize via communities
38:33 Audience Q&A: launching, scaling, and monetizing communities in different verticals
44:00 Building a wait list and leveraging your existing audience
46:02 Strategies for monetizing “day one” and managing value delivery
50:44 Turning viral social followers into real community and monetization
55:15 Wrap-up and where to find Eugene online
Quotes
Building Engaged Communities
“I think your first objective should always be like that core group of the founding members… You want to get to 100 members, you want to have at least 40, 50 die-hard members that are engaging in there every single day. You want to get at least five to ten conversations happening a day. If somebody can ask a question and have it answered that same day, that's the value creation right there, right? You don't want to be the one, you yourself answering every single question because you yourself, you don't know everything.” — Eugene Kamen, 08:33
Monetizing and Scaling a Community
“Whenever somebody starts making a profit because of others, there's going to be some level of, like, why are we doing this? And there's also going to be that hesitation to grow. Everybody's going to be like, ‘We're so great, we don't need more people.’ … The biggest thing that I think that helped us do it together is one, once we started monetizing, we started putting all of that money back into more events and more resources, building a team… Once you start adding back value by hiring people that help keep things organized, putting on calls regularly, doing events regularly, you'll get that respect from those members, those existing members. And then the new people that are coming in, you have to show that these new people actually bring value to the community.” — Eugene Kamen, 11:33
Protecting Community Quality
“You have to, from the beginning, build that culture. Like, our core values are all centered around… give more, get more, show up. You don't come to an event, you don't get the benefit… If it's not helping us as a whole… sometimes you have to get a worse deal or wait if the group wins. We’ve instituted a lot of things that help set those guidelines and members, they really buy into it.” — Eugene Kamen, 23:07
Community as the Best Way to Monetize
“If you have an audience and you're just putting your audience together… all you're doing is you’re taking those people, putting them together and allowing them to have that peer-to-peer relationship... [and] if you have a good audience — they're already listening to you because, I don't know, you have a cooking podcast, they like cooking, they want to know about cooking. They can sign up, they can get your exclusive recipes or whatever.” — Eugene Kamen, 36:02
Links
Learn more about MDS: mds.co
Connect with Eugene: LinkedIn
Explore GroupOS: groupos.com
Subscribe to Uploading for deep dives on building, growing, and monetizing content-driven businesses and communities!
Created for: Uploading...
Episode Title: The Million Dollar Community Blueprint
Guest: Eugene Kamen
Host: Blaine
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