Our Next Chapter

When I was in 2008, I formed a band together along with one of my most close acquaintances at the time. Stu McLaren and me put our expertise together to form Member.

We had NO idea we were about to embark on an incredible and thrilling adventure. WordPress had been increasing at a phenomenal rate. It was an exciting period. Nothing was clear but there were many signs that WordPress could outdo Joomla and Drupal.

In order to put it in perspective, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga had been making waves when they first entered the music scene. Many of our team members were still in grade school at the time we established ourselves.

In the internet marketing world discussion about membership websites were the talk of the town. There weren't any options for creating an online membership website using WordPress. Most development companies were focussed on themes. Consequently, the premium plugin market was virtually absent.

We saw this as an opportunity and acted swiftly. Mike Lopez was our Jedi coder who could create anything we put him to the test with. He created the initial version of Member single-handed in less than 3 months.

As with my previous business in the field of software, we noticed the need for a solution, so we developed a solid answer to the commonly encountered problem. Naturally, Members was able to see some rapid growth. The first year, sales were all driven by words of mouth. Our sales grew well beyond a year before we spent not a cent on advertising.

They are the possibilities that the entrepreneur hopes to take advantage of.

At the beginning of our journey when we first started, we got our first request for information about selling the business. The response was very flattering, however they were looking for existing brands that had a strong owner who was ready to take a break. We were young and full of life and enthusiasm, therefore it made zero sense.

In the end, the initial inquiry provided a strong confirmation. Members were always "Built to Sell" as were many who were interested.

Shortly after the first inquiry I had a conversation with a friend who I also thought of as a reliable advisor. His entrepreneurial experience includes owning several different businesses. One of these is a Venture Capital Firm. He had also sold several firms in the past. Naturally, this man is an expert.

A friend of mine shared an important piece of advice. He explained, "the secret to selling your business is to determine who the purchaser will be and to make your company a perfect fit."

This advice made lots of sense for me, however I had a few minor issues. When you're working with a partner you're never building an organization that only one of the partners would like to build. It's a joint venture that the partners have agreed to construct together. Second, we could never determine the purchaser.

At some point, Stu and I formed Mike a minority partner. I believe it was in 2010.

It was a dramatic change in late 2014. Stu decided he wanted to continue his passion for teaching and focus specifically on training people to grow profitable membership sites. Mike as well as I continued to work in the company that developed software.

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

My team of leaders and I made a visit to Colorado to concentrate on planning.

It became clear that we needed to do some reconfiguring. We needed to stop focusing on what we've achieved in the past and get focused on what we can do in the coming years. Personally, I wanted to put aside the idea of building an organization that I believed someone would want to buy and begin thinking about the sort of company I'd like to run.

The last few decades have taught me numerous things. A simple one is that Isolation kills entrepreneurs. Running a business can be quite lonely at times. It is essential to have relationships and friendships that can help you bring balance and order to the forces.

It is impossible to predict when a relationship will turn into an actual 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. Many people would have considered that they were a serious competitor. I wasn't thinking much about it and just felt like he was a great guy and I'd love to get to know him more.

Fast forward a few years and Micah was leaving his former business partnership to start a new company called Memberium. Again, people would have thought of him as much more of a threat. What I did know was that I liked the man.

This was reinforced when I bumped into him during the security checkpoint at the airport. The two of us had a good conversation, discussing what both of us were doing with our businesses We then discovered we were assigned to sit close to one another during the flight. Was this a joke? Surely, someone lined this up. Nope, it was completely random.

On that exact trip, we also began thinking about our most infamous April Fool's Day joke in which we announced that Micah just acquired Member. We laughed that it could be referred to as Memberium. Perhaps we'll add 360 to the name just in order to add a little fun. A few people reading will be able to comprehend.

It began as an unintentionally allocated seat beside my software competitor (thanks Delta!) became a lasting friendship. He and I would meet monthly to talk business over meals for the following years. Sadly, our meetings came to an end after my family and I returned to Tennessee. We made some great friendships in Utah as well. It was really painful to say goodbye.

I love designing software. The excitement of seeing an idea become a reality is thrilling. It's particularly exciting when you have an amazing team and your product is much more than you imagined it would become. An excellent example could be the most recent update for the Courses Add-Ons for Member.

As exciting as all of that sounds, the truth is that it's also demanding. Just when you get to the 1-yard mark and you're close to scoring, you could be on empty from all your hard work.

When we had finished on the design and planning to launch the product, I began to feel very tired. I started to realise that the most effective option would be to seek out a true partner in marketing. A partner that understood the market , and would help me move my Member up to the next step. I have made several phone calls to my best business contacts. My wife reminded me that Micah should be on the list of candidates. I promised my wife that I would contact him the following day.

Just before I contacted Micah I contacted Micah, he sent me a text message. It was kind of similar to sitting with Micah during the flight. It's not always easy to know when events happen because of a purpose.

The discussions grew into the notion of selling Member to Micah's business MemberShipper which is also the company supporting Memberium. What we were building through Member was precisely what MemberShipper wanted expand their portfolio.

In the past, I've had hundreds of inquiries about selling the company. The majority of them didn't feel quite right, until this moment. It was crucial for me to ensure that Member continue as a growing brand. Also, I wanted to be sure our amazing team would be looked after.

Every step was becoming more evident that it was the right option for the Member The team as well as for the thousands and thousands of amazing customers who have stayed with us for so long.

I'm extremely thankful for the leaders on both sides. They've been hard at work to make this transition as simple as they can for me. It's very impressive to observe everyone working cohesively.

The common question I'm getting currently is "What's the next step in your life?".

Although I think I'd really enjoy retirement, do I need really is a break. I'm planning to take some much-needed personal time off.

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

In simple terms, you can be sure that the team will continue offering new ideas and the Member platform continues to be improved and refined. The company isn't going to stop.

I'm determined to work together with Micah as well as the rest of the team for one entire year. They've put me in a job that is easily my ideal job. I'm now the "Director of Strategic Partnerships" for both brands that are owned by MemberShipper.

You can expect to meet me at many conferences in the near future. My own personal goal is to give the most value possible for the next year. I am excited to watch Member advance further with Micah's direction.

Who knows, I may be around for much more time than you ever imagined.

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

The full statement about the purchase on the acquisition here.

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