Fortunes Yet to be Made?

[elder999]

I'm gonna start a cult.

Who's with me?

There is that, but don't call it a "cult."

Stick with the idea that it's a "church," even a "Christian" one.

Make several layers of heirarchical progression, like in the Masons or Scientology.

Start with women-if there are women, the men will follow.

Provide a place to live.

Delete your last post to avoid IRS prosecution.
,......never mind. :lfao:

 

[Cryozombie]

But I think my Hook is that I'm gonna be honest and call it a Cult.

Let people know what they are gettin into for their money up front.

We're gonna have Chicks and Guns and Firetrucks.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Not to pooh-pooh Bob's expertise here, but Bob is not alone. There are oodles of people with community building expertise. While those skills are not worthless, by themselves they are not rare. And MT is not that big a success that it sets Bob apart from others. The forum is fairly disorganized, and does not have a real focus. If it had, you'd expect the majority of the posts to be about the site topic. Axe the study and you lose more than half the traffic.

Sure there are. But none of them are capitalizing upon those skills properly. They're all geeks in love with the communities they have built; or they're Guthy-Renker build-it-and-sell-it types. They don't see all the places where their skill set fits.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

But I think my Hook is that I'm gonna be honest and call it a Cult.

Let people know what they are gettin into for their money up front.

We're gonna have Chicks and Guns and Firetrucks.

Enter the Church of the SubGenius:

http://www.subgenius.com/

 

[MA-Caver]

But I think my Hook is that I'm gonna be honest and call it a Cult.

Let people know what they are gettin into for their money up front.

We're gonna have Chicks and Guns and Firetrucks.

Well that's alright I reckon but... we're not going to have to kill ourselves later on down the road are we? And can we leave ANYTIME we want to?

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I got offered $40k in 2007 for MT.
I turned it down.
The bottoms since dropped out of the forum market. Glutted, Facebook, changes in habits, etc.
I've monetized MT as best as I can, but even with regular pushes, ad revenues are still below what they could be, MartialTalk tee-shirts ain't exactly selling like mad, and my last attempt at bringing in new sponsors at bargain-bin rates wasn't a success.

As to forum-building, I'm good. I've got some successes. But I've never been invited to speak at a forum builders convention. I never got around to writing a book on the topic (started to twice though). MT isn't a household word even in the martial arts niche. So, modest success. I am working on some expansion ideas refocusing heavier on the martial arts, especially with the departure of IKF, but it's going to take time, cooperation and heavy involvement of others, things previous expansions lacked and failed as a result.

I push my photography, but it seems unless boobs are involved, I can't get more than a dozen people a day to view my work. (A boob shot gets over 100 views, a landscape 10). Frustrating, when my goal there is to be seen as a competent shooter, and hired for do work. I hear repeatedly my martial arts work is top notch, but can't seem to break out of the 'part-timer' booking rate. It's frustrating.

So, on my end, frustration, a dwindling cash reserve and a loss for what to do next freezes me.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

But I've never been invited to speak at a forum builders convention.

*invited* ???

Never heard of the word.

Invite yourself.

http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/12...vip-mixer-party-with-top-marketing-gurus.html

Consider trends. Cities, counties, and states are now facing severe cash shortages. Privatizing is coming fast, like it or not. What city services could you provide that tap on your forum and community-building expertise and save the government organization money? How could you create an interface between government and citizens that gives instant feedback so they don't hugely unpopular boneheaded moves in city council meetings - they know ahead of time that there is or isn't public support for it, etc?

As I previously mentioned, consider all the companies in your area that make products that have geek fans. Look at their websites. Do they have an online support forum? If they do, I'll bet it's crap. Ta-dah. Get in there and demonstrate what it could be, sell your consulting services to build it out for them after explaining how it's going to benefit them and either save them money or build a rabid fan base that evangelizes their products far and wide.

Invited? Nobody ever got invited to the get rich party. The door is where you kicked a hole in the wall.

 

[MA-Caver]

Well, if anything Bob... we love and appreciate you for hanging in there as long as you have, for continuing to believe in this site and us. You're awesome.

You could write a Forum Building for Dummies book... heh!