The Next Chapter

In 2008, I teamed together with one of my best friends of the moment. Stu McLaren and me put our skills together and created Member.

We never imagined that we'd embark on an incredible and unprecedented journey. WordPress has been growing in a rapid manner. It was an exciting time. It was unclear, however there was a lot of evidence that WordPress can beat Joomla and Drupal.

In order to put it in perspective, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga were making waves in the new musical scene. Some of the current members were in the 1st year of school when we first into the band.

In the time that the Internet marketing market was in full force, the debate about membership sites was all the rage. However, there were no alternatives for creating an online website for membership that was built on WordPress. Many development companies concentrated on themes. Therefore, the premium plugin market was hardly any kind of thing.

We considered this to be an opportunity, and we acted quickly. Mike Lopez was our Jedi coder who could create anything that we asked him to create. He developed the first version of Member independently in just three months.

As with my previous software businesses, we identified an opportunity to design an efficient solution for the issue that is often encountered. Naturally, Members saw quick expansion. The first year, the revenues were driven entirely by word of mouth. The business grew over a year prior to spending any cash in marketing.

They are the possibilities that entrepreneurs can only dream about.

At the beginning of our business' existence, as the company was first established the company, we received the first inquiry regarding selling our company. The reply was extremely flattering However, they were looking for well-established brands where the founder is ready to leave. Young and full of energy and enthusiasm, therefore this was a complete misunderstanding.

At the end of the day, the first inquiry was a solid confirmation. Member was always "Built to market" like many other sellers in the market.

Shortly after the first inquiry I was talking to an acquaintance who I believed to be a reliable advisor. His entrepreneurial experience includes owning several different businesses. The most notable of these is an Venture Capital Firm. Also, he had sold other businesses previously. It's no surprise that this person is an expert in his field.

My friend gave me a helpful point of wisdom. He told me, "the secret to selling your company is to figure out who is buying and make sure that everything that you conduct about your business is an ideal fit."

This advice made lots of sense to me however I had a few small concerns. The first is that being partners means that you're not creating an organization which only one of the partners wants. It's building something that the partners decide to build. A second reason is there is no buyer.

There was a period when Stu and I formed Mike as the partner with a minority. I think it was the year 2010.

Things changed significantly in Late 2014. Stu took the choice to keep his love for instructing and focusing on helping others build successful membership websites. Mike and I stayed at the software firm.

Then, I was the majority shareholder with the Member. It was both frightening and exciting all at once.

The leadership team I was part of and my went to Colorado for a focus on making plans.

It was evident that we needed to do some adjustments. The focus needed to shift to what we've accomplished throughout the years and then be more focused on the things we could accomplish in the next few years. Personally, I would like to put aside the thought of creating the type of business I imagined someone would be looking to purchase and start considering the kind that I'd like to run.

These past few months have revealed a variety of things. The most important lesson I've learned is that Isolation kills entrepreneurs. Being in business is quite lonely at times. It is essential to have connections and relationships that will help you create equilibrium and order in the force.

It is impossible to predict the time that a friendship can blossom into an actual connection...

I was introduced to Micah Mitchell at a conference. He was a partner with someone else who was using the same software as member. It was thought by some as a adversary. It wasn't something I thought about. the matter, but simply thought the person was fantastic and would like to know him better.

In the following years, Micah left his former group and established a new business called Memberium. People would have assumed that he was an adversary now. The only thing I could say was that I liked the guy.

It was further confirmed when I saw him during the security line in the terminal. We had a great chat, talking about what we had been researching and we found out that our seats that we were given were close to each other on the flight. Was this an act of humour? It's likely that someone had a plan to do this. It was definitely random.

At the same time We began to think about our most memorable April Fool's joke, where we'd declare that Micah recently purchased Member. It was fun to imagine that it could be called Memberium. Perhaps we can even add 360 on the title just to play around. The few who are reading this article will understand.

It began as an unintentionally assigned seat next to my software rival (thanks Delta!) became a lasting friendship. The two of us would meet every month to discuss business issues over dinner over the following few years. Our meetings unfortunately came to an end when my family and I came back to Tennessee. Our friendships were great throughout our time in Utah too. It was difficult to leave them for a while.

I love designing software. The thrill of having an idea turn into a reality is exhilarating. It's especially thrilling when you've got an amazing team, and your product is much more than you imagined that it might be. An excellent example would be our latest update to the Courses Add-Ons to Member.

As exciting as all of that sounds, the truth is that it's also a challenge. Once you've crossed the line of one yard and you're nearing time to score, it's possible to be on empty from all your efforts.

When we had finished with the creation and plan to launch the product I began to feel exhausted. I realized that my best choice was to locate a genuine market partner. Someone who was aware about the market and would help me get my Member into the next level. I made a couple of calls to some of my best business friends. My wife informed me that Micah is on my list of potential candidates. I promised my wife that I would reach out to him on the next day.

Just before I contacted Micah He randomly texted me a text message. It was as if I was sitting with Micah in the airplane. It's not always easy to know when there is a reason for everything.

Discussions grew to an idea to sell Member to Micah's firm MemberShipper which is also the firm that supports Memberium. It turns out what we were building using Member was precisely the type of thing MemberShipper was looking to add to their product line.

Over the years I've received numerous inquiries regarding selling the company. The majority of them didn't seem to be quite right at least until now. It was very important to me that Member grow as a company. Furthermore, I wanted to ensure that the team we have be properly taken by our wonderful team.

Every step it was increasingly clear that it was the ideal future for Members as well as the team and the many thousands of amazing customers who have stayed with us for so long.

I'm extremely thankful for the leaders on both of the sides. They've worked hard to make the transition as effortless as they could for me. It's awe-inspiring to observe the entire team work together.

The most frequently asked questions I get currently I get is "What's your next move for you? ".

Although I think I'd really enjoy retiring What do I really need really is a break. I'm planning on taking some much-needed personal time off.

What's all this about for you , if you're a member?

If you think about it You can rest assured that our team will keep providing innovation and Member continues to be improved and improved. This isn't going away.

I'm looking forward to working with Micah and the entire team for the entire year. I'm now in an opportunity that could be described as my ideal job. I'm the new "Director of Strategic Partnerships" for both brands owned by MemberShipper.

It is possible to catch me at numerous gatherings in the coming months. My own personal goal is to give the best benefit possible during the time throughout the entire year. I am excited to watch Member advance into the next stage under Micah's direction.

It's possible that I will stay around for more time than anybody could have ever imagined.

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

Read Micah's complete message regarding the purchase right here.

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