Case Study: How Ember Helped Izozi Build a Paid Community of Communities

Brianna Leever
May 27
5 min read

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Client: Eric Plantenberg

Business: Izozi Community

Industry: Personal growth, coaching, retreats

Platform: Circle.so

Consultant: Bri Leever, Ember Consulting

“There are three friends I know right now trying to build community, and getting their butts kicked. They don’t have Bri on their team. That’s the difference.”

The Challenge: A Vision Without the Tools

Eric Plantenberg had a thriving in-person retreat, but no centralized, sustainable way to keep his community connected in between experiences.

“We were using a hodgepodge of a Facebook group, text threads, and email chains. All of which sucked.”

He knew he wanted a digital container that could mirror the depth of his in-person gatherings. But navigating the digital community space felt overwhelming. He didn’t know where to start—or how to design something that would work. So, he reached out to Bri at Ember Consulting.

Why He Chose Ember

Eric first met Bri at a community-building workshop.

“I had like six pages of notes from a short session. I was blown away by how much actionable insight she offered in such a short time.”

From that moment, he knew he had found someone who could guide him through both the technical setup and the strategic heart of building a meaningful digital space.

The Approach: Designing a Community Rooted in Connection

Our work focused on four major pillars:

Clarifying Community Type: Bri helped Eric define whether his community was connection-centric or education-centric, an important early step that simplified decisions down the line.

“Education leads to connection, and connection leads to education. But we had to choose a primary driver,” Bri explained.

They landed on connection.

Choosing the Right Platform: Eric originally built his MVP on Swarm but transitioned to Circle after a long and deliberate look at the features this community needed. Despite the learning curve, this move set the community up for the greater long-term strategy ahead.
Building an Intentional Paid Model: Eric believed the community had to be free. Bri challenged that assumption. “My whole mindset flipped 180 degrees,” Eric said. Coming into the project, Eric had been convinced that the community needed to be free for people to participate.

“Once I knew more about his retreat structure and how intensive an experience it is, I knew we could do more, expect more, and would see more from people in the digital space if there was some financial buy-in. Unfortunately, it’s a sad reality of our culture that people show up with different energy when they’ve paid for something. When everyone else’s experience is dependent on others showing up, the paid model creates a better win/win scenario that’s more difficult to attain in a free space.” - Bri

Once Eric caught the vision, it changed his entire strategy and long-term vision of the community. He began to see the community not just for Abundant Living Retreat attendees but as a membership marketplace to host dozens of micro-communities and experiences (more on that below). Now, with a sustainable financial model in place, he realized this community would be a pivotal step in creating what will someday be Izozi in-person retreat centers, an investment that could only be made possible through the growing base of online members.

“Now I charge less for live events and a little more for community, which makes both more accessible and valuable.”

Lightening the Leadership Load: Bri not only created the tech and engagement strategy, but she also led the implementation of the community setup during the in-person retreat. Eric was able to fully focus on the event while Ember built backend tools like Circle setup, event workflows , onboarding inside Circle, and QR codes for easy access.

“Normally, I do all of that,” Eric admitted. “But I didn’t worry about the community at all.”

The Model: A Community of Communities

Izozi is a prime example of a new trend we see steadily developing in the space: a community of communities.

The people leading the charge on these communities might have their own specific community, but they recognize a broader network of individuals, all with overlapping modalities, who serve their same members. Even in Eric’s case, at Abundant Living, several different leaders facilitate different types of sessions from yoga to breathwork.

Each leader is an expert in their own right, and you could make the argument that each needs their community. But Eric recognized an opportunity to create a win-win. Each of these leaders doesn’t want to create their own community from scratch and become a master in online community building. They want to guide their modality and community is simply the newest online tool through which they can do that.

Instead of each modality designing, launching, and growing its community, we created a third way where each modality could have its sub-community under the Izozi umbrella with a pre-set strategy and structure for that community designed and implemented by Ember. For leaders, their audience can join just their sub-community for $30 per month, or they can get access to everything in Izozi and all of the sub-communities for $50 per month.

In this type of model, the core offer (the Izozi membership) must be a hands-down, no-brainer. In one of their sessions, Eric likened the model to Costco and reflected on his experience when his company Humm Kombucha, first got into Costco. He shared that he had no interest in making any money off of sub-communities. Any time a member signs up just for the sub-community, all of that money goes directly to the leader. But by having their community experience offered in the Izozi ecosystem, over time, that makes the Izozi membership insanely valuable for a no-brainer cost.

Watch the Izozi Community Structure

The Results: A Platform That Mirrors the Retreat Experience

✅ Seamless transition from retreat to digital community

✅ Organic member engagement from day one

✅ Platform infrastructure designed for scale

✅ New revenue model centered on intentional participation

“People are psyched to be in there. One member even apologized for not engaging more. That’s how much they care.”

Key Learnings

Choosing paid over free leads to more committed members and participation.
You can design for multi-generational, diverse communities—if you start with clarity.
A steady consultant presence frees up founders to lead, not just manage.

What Made the Partnership Work

Eric highlighted the clarity, care, and boundaries Bri brought to the engagement:

“You didn’t just build a platform, you held the tension with me. You challenged me in a way that made everything better.”

Final Thoughts

Eric describes his partnership with Bri as one of the most impactful collaborations he has had in his business. “There are three friends I know right now trying to build community, and getting their butts kicked. They don’t have Bri on their team. That’s the difference.”

Ready to Build a Community That Inspires Connection?

If you’re ready to create a space that fosters genuine connection and lasting impact, I can’t recommend Bri enough. Set up a free Discovery Call today to see if her services could be a good fit for you.