Thought Evolution

Today I was struck by the awesomeness of ideas bending and shifting over time, as they are communicated back and forth between human beings. A couple work ideas have been evolving in my head over the last few months, and have continued to evolve into entirely new concepts as they are shared with colleagues, but I won’t be able to talk about them here, yet. I can talk about the current evolution of thought around my on-line professional network for project managers in the Louisville area, LouisvillePM, though.

LouisvillePM

Back when I knew absolutely nothing about the internets, last year, (I’ve dropped the “absolutely” and now just feel that I know nothing about the internets), I thought that it would be ridiculously easy to start a web-site, get a bunch of traffic, sell ads, and back the truck up to load all the money I’d be making… I also thought that it would be super easy to get people involved in a community. In my mind, over the course of a year I would:

A. Get 500-1000 people to become members
B. Get 10%-25% membership to engage in the site
C. Count my money $1k per month from local advertisers

How Hard Could It Be?

Yea. After a year on-line (I started it last July) the site now has a small but mighty 285 members. These generally disengaged LouisvillePMers may log in occasionally, and rarely create or add to conversations. I’ve created over 200 blog and forum posts personally and have cleared around $400 total.

Is this a failed business model, then?

I don’t think so… because although my original fascination with hyper-local niche networks has not changed, my ideas around making money with a hyper-local niche network have changed.

EVENTS
For example, at 285 members I realize that I just don’t have the numbers for anybody to get comfortable forking over the dough to advertise on the site. That’s totally ok. Over the course of the last year, I have toyed around with throwing a few events to the point where I am now confident in my ability to secure a venue and get butts in seats.

In my experience, organizations like to pay to sponsor events that get 50-100 people in a room together looking up at a screen. That is what I’m calling a thought evolution. I wasn’t really thinking about this potential revenue stream when I kicked-off the community, but over time I now have a desire to fully explore this path.

LEAD TO ENGAGEMENT
After the last LouisvillePM event, site engagement sky-rocketed and then promptly came back down to earth the next day. That was another thought evolution, as I used to wonder why site participation was so low. These people don’t necessarily feel comfortable conversing on-line until they meet face to face. So in order to drive up site participation, and possible ad revenues, I need to have more events to let people get to know one another.

JOB LISTINGS DO TOO
The last LouisvillePM thought evolution comes down to jobs. I have created a mandatory profile question regarding employment. If you want to be a LouisvillePMer, you have to let the group know if you’re employed. As a result, I know who on the site is looking for employment, so I know that there is pretty solid demand for a job board. Companies pay money to find competent people, and I am eager to fully explore this path as I think that it will also do wonders for site engagement.

The Evolution of Thought

There you have it. Instead of giving up and throwing in the towel, I’m choosing to evolve my thinking, explore what the market is telling me, and grind it out. What do you think? Do I have the right approach, or should I stop wasting my time with LouisvillePM?