The Next Chapter

Since 2008, I've joined in 2008 alongside one of my closest friends at the time. Stu McLaren and me brought our expertise together and came up with Member.

It was never in our minds that we'd be embarking on an amazing and unprecedented trip. WordPress has been growing rapidly. This was a thrilling time. The details were a bit hazy, however there was a lot of examples that WordPress can surpass Joomla and Drupal.

For putting it into perspective Katy Perry and Lady Gaga had made waves on the new musical scene. A few of us were still in the first year of high school, as we entered the band.

In the time that the Internet advertising market was taking over the world The debate over websites for membership was very popular. But, there was any other options to create an online website for membership made of WordPress. Numerous development companies focused on themes. Therefore, the premium plugin market was not really anything of thing.

We considered this to be an opportunity and took action quickly. Mike Lopez was our Jedi coder who could create anything that we asked for him to design. He developed the first version of Member on his own in only three months.

As with my previous software businesses, we identified an opportunity to design an efficient solution for the common problem. Naturally, the members experienced rapid increase in revenue. In the beginning, profits were fueled entirely by word of mouth. The business grew over an entire year, but it was not spending any cash in marketing.

They are the possibilities that entrepreneurs are able to only imagine.

At the beginning of the existence of our company in the time when the business founded was approached with the initial request for information on selling our business. The reply was extremely flattering But they were searching for established companies that have a founder who is willing to go. The founder is young energetic and full of enthusiasm, therefore this was a complete misunderstanding.

In the final day, the first inquiry confirmed the fact. The member was always "Built to market" like many other sellers in the marketplace.

After the initial inquiry, I had a conversation with an acquaintance who I believed to be an honest adviser. His entrepreneurial experience includes owning several different businesses. The most notable of these is a Venture Capital firm. In addition, he sold other businesses previously. This is no surprise since this person is an specialist in his field.

A friend of mine gave me an insightful piece of advice. He said "the way to sell your company is to figure out who's buying it and to ensure that every aspect you say about your company is an ideal fit."

The advice I received made a lot of logic to me but I have a couple of small issues. First, being partners means that you're not creating an entity that only one of the partners is interested in. This is building something that partners have decided to construct. The second reason is no buyer.

There was a time when Stu and I created Mike as a partnership with the minority. I think it was the year 2010.

It was a dramatic change in late 2014. Stu took the choice to keep his love for teaching and to concentrate on helping other people build successful membership websites. Mike along with me both stayed in the firm that made software.

In the beginning, I was the major shareholder of the Member. It was terrifying as well as thrilling all at once.

The leadership team I was with and traveled to Colorado for a plan-making session.

We realized that we required some changes. Our focus had to shift to the accomplishments we've made over the years, and focus on the things we could accomplish in the next few years. Personally, I would rather put aside my thoughts about creating the type of business I imagined someone seeking to buy and start considering the kind that I would like to own.

These past few months have taught me a lot of aspects. The main thing I've learned is that Isolation kills entrepreneurs. In business, it can be quite lonely at moments. It's essential to establish connections and relationships that will aid in creating equilibrium and balance in the workplace.

It's difficult to anticipate when a friendship will blossom into an actual connection...

I met Micah Mitchell at a conference. He was a partner with someone else who was working with the same software as a member. Some thought of him as a adversary. This wasn't something I was thinking about. the matter, but simply believed the man was amazing and would like to learn more about him.

The following year, Micah left his former organization and set up a brand new business named Memberium. It was widely believed the man was a rival now. The only thing I could affirm was that I liked the man.

It was further confirmed when I met him in the security line at the terminal. The two of us had a fantastic chat, talking about what we'd researched and we found out that our seats that we were given were close to each other during the plane. Was this an humorous act? It's likely that someone planned to carry out this. This was certainly not random.

Then we started to consider our most memorable April Fool's joke, where we'd announce that Micah recently purchased Member. It was fun to imagine that it might be called Memberium. It is possible to add 360 to the name for fun. Anyone who reads this article will understand.

The friendship began when I was accidentally given seat beside my rival software (thanks Delta!) became a lasting friendship. Our two friends were able to meet monthly to discuss business matters during the next several years. Our meetings unfortunately came to an end after my family and I came back to Tennessee. The friendships we made were wonderful all through our time in Utah also. It was difficult leaving our friends for a short time.

I love designing software. The thrill of having an idea turn into a realization is thrilling. It's particularly thrilling when you've got an outstanding team, and the product you've created is better than you ever imagined it might be. A great example is our latest update to the Courses Add-Ons to Member.

While it's exciting as that sounds, the truth is, it's actually quite a challenge. Once you've crossed the line of one yard and you're close to scoring there's a chance to end up exhausted from your efforts.

When we had finished with the design and planning to launch the product I started to feel tired. I realized that the best solution was to look for a genuine market partner. Someone who was aware about the market and would help me get my Member to the next stage. I made a couple of phone calls to some of my best business friends. My wife told me that Micah is on my list of potential applicants. I promised my wife I'd reach out to Micah on the next day.

Before I even contacted Micah He randomly texted me the message. It was as if I was with Micah in an airplane. It's difficult to determine if there's an explanation for all things.

The discussions led to the idea to sell Member to Micah's company MemberShipper which is also the company that is responsible for Memberium. The result was that what we had built using Member was exactly the kind of thing MemberShipper was looking to add to their existing product lines.

In the past, I've had several inquiries concerning selling my company. A majority of these didn't appear to be correct, at least not until recently. It was extremely important for me to see Member expand as a firm. In addition, I wanted to make sure that the people is properly looked after by our wonderful staff.

Each step was more clear that it was the ideal future for our Members, the team and the many thousands of wonderful clients who have been with us for so long.

I'm extremely thankful for the people on both the both sides. They've put in a lot of effort to make this change as easy as they can for me. It's awe-inspiring to observe all the team members work with one another.

The most commonly asked question I currently get is "What's your next action for you? ".

Although I think I'd really like to retire, what do really require is a break. I'm planning on taking some much-needed personal time off.

What's the matter with those of you who are member?

If you are thinking about it You can rest assured that our team is committed to providing innovation and Member continues to improve and be upgraded. It's not going to go away.

I'm looking forward to working together with Micah and the entire team over the course of the whole year. Now I'm in a position which could be described as my dream job. I'm the new "Director of Strategic Partnerships" for both brands owned by MemberShipper.

You can find me at numerous gatherings in the coming months. Personally, my goal is to provide the greatest benefit possible during the time all year long. I am excited to watch Member move into the next phase under Micah's guidance.

It's possible that I will stay around for more time than anyone could thought of.

I've never been more optimistic about the future of Members than at present. We are just getting started.

Read Micah's complete message regarding the purchase on this page.

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