Long long ago (okay, 18 months or so), I wanted to create a membership site but did NOT want the hassle of membership software.

So here's what I did!

I simply created a Skype group to teach eMail marketing and then put up an application.

That was it.

If I liked who was inquiring, I then shared a Paypal button and charged anywhere from $17 to $37/month. Paypal took care of the automatic billing and voila, there was my paid membership model. Once I was paid, I added the person to my group.

That lasted for over a year. Very low tech but it worked well.

I know this is feasible as a monthly autoresponder service as well.... something I'm currently thinking of.