Our Next Chapter

In 2008, I teamed together with one of my best friends at the time. Stu McLaren and me put our talents together to create Member.

We didn't know we were about to embark on an amazing and thrilling journey. WordPress is increasing at a phenomenal growth rate. It was a thrilling time. There was no clear answer, but there were a number of signs suggesting that WordPress would surpass both Joomla and Drupal.

In order to put it in perspective, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga became the talk of the town when they first entered the music scene. A few of our team members were still in grade school when we first got started.

When the Internet marketing industry was in full swing, discussions about membership sites were the talk of the town. However, there were not numerous options for creating an online membership website using WordPress. Many development companies concentrated on themes. Thus, the premium plug-in market was pretty much not even a thing.

We saw this as an opportunity and acted swiftly. Mike Lopez was our Jedi programmer, who was able to create whatever we put him to the test with. He developed the first version of Member by himself in just three months.

Similar to my previous business in the field of software, we noticed an opportunity to create the perfect solution to the common challenge. It's no surprise that Member saw some RAPID Growth. The first year, the majority of sales came from words of word. Our sales grew well beyond one year, before spending not a cent on advertising.

These are the opportunities an entrepreneur dreams of.

In the early days of our existence, we received our first inquiry about selling the company. It was flattering but they were looking for existing brands that had a strong owner who had decided to take a break. We were youthful and full of enthusiasm So it made zero sense.

Ultimately, the first inquiry proved to be a valid validation. The member was always "Built to Sell" and there were many interested.

Shortly after the first inquiry I had a conversation with an acquaintance who I thought of as a reliable adviser. His entrepreneurial experience includes owning several different businesses. One of those is an Venture Capital Firm. The founder also sold numerous businesses during the past. Naturally, this guy knows his stuff.

My friend gave me a helpful tip. He said, "the secret to selling your business is to determine who the purchaser will be and then make everything about your business a perfect match."

The suggestion made lots of sense to me but there were some tiny issues. First, when you have partners, you're not creating a business that just one person would like to build. It's a joint venture that the partners are able to agree on to build. Second, we could never determine the purchaser.

Somewhere along the way, Stu and I decided to make Mike an associate. I think it was 2010.

The landscape changed dramatically in the latter half of 2014. Stu decided he wanted to continue his passion for education and concentrate on training people to grow effective membership websites. Mike along with me continued to work with the software company.

Then, I was the major shareholder alongside member. It was both scary and exhilarating at the same.

The leadership team I was part of and my took a trip to Colorado in order to focus on planning.

It became abundantly clear that we had to perform some reconfiguring. It was time to put aside the focus on what we had accomplished in the past and get certain of what we are able to achieve in the near future. Personally, I wanted to let go of the thought of creating an organization that I believed people would be interested in buying and begin thinking about the sort of company I'd like to run.

The last few months have shown me numerous things. A simple one is that Isolation is the death of entrepreneurs. Running a business can be quite lonely at times. There is no better way to build friends and relations that assist you in creating balance and order to the forces.

There is no way to know the moment when a friendship will blossom into friendship...

I had the pleasure of meeting Micah Mitchell at a conference. At the time, he was working with someone who sold the same software as Member. Some would have considered them to be an actual competitor. It wasn't something I thought about. it , and simply felt I was an admirer of his and would love to know him better.

In the next few years, and Micah was leaving his former partnership and started a company called Memberium. Again, people would have thought of him as much more of a threat. All I knew was that I liked the guy.

This was reinforced when I met him in the security line at the airport. We had a great conversation, discussing what each of us had been working on We then discovered we had been assigned seats close to one another on the flight. Did this happen as a joke? Sure, somebody lined it up. Nope, it was completely random.

In a funny twist, during that same trip, we began planning the best April Fool's joke in which we announced that Micah just acquired Member. We thought it might be referred to as Memberium. It is possible to add 360 to the name just for kicks. A few people reading will understand.

What started as a randomly allocated seat beside my software competitor (thanks Delta!) became a lasting friendship. The two of us would meet monthly to talk business over dinner for the next couple of years. Sadly, our meetings ended as my family and me moved back to Tennessee. Our friendships were great during our time in Utah as well. It was really hard leaving them behind.

I enjoy designing software. The thrill of having an idea become a reality is exhilarating. It's particularly exhilarating when you work with an incredible team, and your product is greater than you thought it would become. One great example could be the most recent update for the Courses Add-Ons to Member.

Although it's as exciting as this sounds, the fact is it can also be demanding. When you reach the 1-yard mark and you're close to scoring, it's possible to be through the air exhausted from all of your effort.

As we wrapped up the development and planning for the release of our new product I found myself feeling exhausted. I began to realize that the best option was to locate a genuine market partner. An entity that was knowledgeable of the marketplace and could assist me take Member to the next level. I have made several phone calls to my closest business friends. My wife reminded me that Micah ought to be on the list of candidates. I promised my wife that I would call him back on the next day.

Just before I contacted Micah, he randomly sent me an SMS message. It was almost as if I was sitting beside him on the flight. Sometimes you just know events happen because of a purpose.

Our discussions progressed into the idea of me selling Member to Micah's company MemberShipper that is the one that is supporting Memberium. The result was that what we were building with Member was precisely what MemberShipper wanted include in their portfolio.

Over the years, I've had hundreds of questions about selling the company. None of them ever felt right until now. It was extremely important to me to have Member remain a strong name. Additionally, I wanted to make sure our amazing team would be taken care of.

Each step the process became more evident that it was the right future for Members as well as the team, and for the many thousands of awesome customers who have supported us for so long.

I'm incredibly thankful to the leadership teams from both sides. They have been working hard to make this transition simple as they can for me. It's impressive to watch everyone working cohesively.

A common query I'm receiving right now is "What's coming up in your life?".

While I do think I'd really enjoy retirement, do I need really is a sabbatical. I'm planning on taking some much-needed personal time off.

What's all this about when you're a member customer?

To put it in simple terms, you can anticipate the team to keep innovating and Members will continue to be developed and enhanced. The company isn't going to stop.

I am committed to working together with Micah and the rest the team for one entire year. They have put me into a position which could be described as my ideal job. I'm now the "Director of Strategic Partnerships" for both brands owned by MemberShipper.

You can expect to meet me at several gatherings in the coming months. My own personal goal is to provide the most value possible in the coming year. I can't wait to see Member move up to the next step under Micah's guidance.

Who knows, I may remain around more time than you ever expected.

I've never felt better regarding the future of Member than I do now. It's just the beginning.

You can read Micah's full message regarding the acquisition right here.

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