Today marks 7 full years since I brought SSWT online. That's short for Self-Starters Weekly Tips, which originally started as an email newsletter more than 10 years ago.
The discussion forum & website were launched on March 26, 2003. Prior to that the discussion was in my Inbox every week - and it was madness.
I opened the forum so that readers could communicate with each other and benefit from the discussions as a group.
At the time I was living in a remote cabin on Center Hill Lake, as a single mother to two young children. I home schooled them both, and I worked from home in web development. We had the ideal, laid back lifestyle. I worked poolside most days.
I had several success stories under my belt by then, and a lot of experience with early online marketing. In fact, the SSWT name came from a conversation with a client of my very first business. He knew my story, and called me a "self-starter".
But when I launched SSWT, I had no idea what it would ultimately grow into...
My goal was to share what I was learning along the way, with other like-minded entrepreneur types that were interested in working online. It was a labor of love, something I did in my spare time. I enjoyed helping others achieve the same life-changing success that I had, and I loved swapping ideas & resources.
The growth has been incredible.
I switched to the vBulletin forum platform last year. Prior to that we were using PHPbb and had over 13,000 members and almost 100,000 threads. I employed 4 moderators and a programmer, and the 6 of us combined still couldn't manage it all.
One of my solutions was to offer an upgrade option, so that I could continue to work directly with the action-takers on board. This group of Elite Members had a separate private section on the forum for live group brainstorming.
We're now in our 4th year as a Private Brainstorming Group.
I have never done an 'official launch' or even publicly promoted the option to join my private group. In fact, the option to upgrade remained closed more time than it was open. I would slip people through the "back door" from time to time, but kept the group small to start. For good reason...
It's been an awesome experience, and the group has now grown into an incredible community... but there have definitely been growing pains.
I was talking to a business consultant recently about some of those "growing pains". About the issues I've had personally managing such a large community. He brought up the idea of closing it down. He asked me: If you closed the community today, would you miss the income it generates? I answered without hesitation: No.
Then why do you run it? - Because I love it.
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7 Things I've Learned In The Last 7 Years
- It's not about the money. You better LOVE what you do.
- You can't do this alone. Join a group, hire a coach, get a mentor...
- Create with growth in mind. Think scalability.
- If it's broke, fix it. If it's not, leave it the heck alone.
- People will not conform to your medium/platform. Conform to suit them.
- Never back down from your beliefs or standards. It dilutes your brand.
- CONSISTENCY IS KEY.
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The month of March has always been a time of growth and change in my business. I can't say why, really. Perhaps its New Year Procrastination on my part. ๐
In addition to the SSWT milestone, ClickNewz.com was also born in March. I've been blogging (here) for 4 years as of the 11th of this month. I've been actively blogging for almost 6 years total. Consistency is definitely key.
March 2010
This year I am making dramatic changes yet again.
I am going to close the option to join my Private Brainstorming Group before the month ends. It won't remain closed forever of course (I'm crossing my fingers on getting it reopened within a few weeks) but the membership dues will be increasing when we open back up. There's entirely too much value, with much more to come.
If you'd like to get locked in at the current rate, you'll want to join before we close to the public this month. /fairwarning
The public areas of the forum may also close temporarily while I update the community structure. I have not yet decided if I'll continue to run a public forum, or if that will close so that I can devote 100% of my time to Elite Members in the Private Brainstorming Group.
I'll have more details as the dust settles, closer to when we re-open.
What's in store for Year 8 ?
More step-by-step tutorials and how-to guides. Video site review sessions (live and recorded). Private brainstorming on your business model. Monthly challenges to help you grow your business. Live "Brainstorming Hour" calls and exclusive interviews with business & marketing experts. Access to my private affiliate program. And much more- some of which I simply can't disclose publicly.
But most important of all: More Success Stories
I've watched Elite Members go from "getting started" or "getting by" to growing their business to the 6-figure level. I've seen them create their first website or blog, get top rankings in Google, and make their first sale online. It's been incredibly powerful to watch (and be involved in!) their progress.
The SSWT Community is made up of a wide range of men and women, of all ages, newbies and seasoned marketers alike. And it's a group of serious action-takers! I often describe them as "some of the best people on the 'net".
As with any community, it's not right for everyone. Feel free to join us now - and be a part of the community changes as they're rolling out - and decide for yourself while the rate is still low. If you decide it's a great match for you, you'll get to keep that rate for the life of your membership.
http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/elite-members.php
For only 27 bucks, with no commitment to continue, you owe it to yourself to find out if this is exactly what you need to accelerate your online business growth.
Best,
p.s. Before you join us, you should know how we define a Self-Starter. This is for you if you're self-motivated, self-taught, self-disciplined... and are/want to be successfully self-employed. This is not a rah-rah club, and I reserve the right to boot any dead weight in the group to maintain the integrity of the community.
About Lynn Terry
I have really enjoyed being an elite member. The case studies and input from other members has been invaluable. Thanks Lynn!
Happy Birthday and thank you Lynn form making this wonderful community what it is and always being there for us all! Best thing I've ever done was to join the Elite group! So worth it! Looking forward to the 8th year ๐
Congratulation Lynn! I'm glad to say I've been with you since the beginning, and have seen your community grow and evolve over the years. Also, your forum has been one of the reasons for many of my past successes, and I am sure many future ones.
It's been a pleasure to know you and be able to call you my friend.
Here is to many, many more happy, successful and profitable years.
I'm excited for you, Lynn! I appreciate the interest in doing an even better job for your Elite members and look forward to watching SSWT evolve.
Party on!
-- Kurt
SSWT sure is a great community, and yours is a fantastic story of the success that can be had by continually working at your business. To be honest I've never really paid much attention to the "Elite" section, but I'll keep an eye open in the future.
7 YEARS LYNN!!! That is Amaaaazzinnng! [loud applause and hooting] That is consistency on steroids!
I came to SSWT a year ago when I couldn't even spell affiliate, and it's been a warm womb of nurturing to get me prepared to launch and have the best chance of succeeding. I don't know all the answers of course, but because of your incredible dedication and CONSISTENT everything, I'm now confident that I understand most of the questions, and where to find the answers to them as I go along.
I love what you've said and hinted to above for year 8, and I'm so grateful you are taking time to formulate how and what you want to do. Just thinking how great it's going to be is giving me Spring Fever!
Best wishes as always for your continuing success in all your endeavors!
Happy Anniversary Lynn! It will be 1 year in June that I have been reading your ClickNewz Blog and 1 year in July that I became a Self Starter elite member. I am so thankful for finding you and especially your SSWT Forum. I realize how much work it must take for you to give so much of yourself. Please know that you are appreciated.
Selfishly, I am really glad you love running the forum, because I for one would truly miss the feeling of family and the wealth of knowledge found there if you were to close it permanently.
It has been an honor to get to meet you and call you a friend. I wish you much continued success in the coming years.
Hey Lynn,
Just joined the elite group last week and am especially enjoying live case studies. Don't think I have gotten full advantage of the group yet, but look forward to the interaction.
One thought on the public forum. You could leave it open and let it run itself since it has such a huge following now. And if people want your interaction, they need to become Elite members.
WOW! Congrats Lynn! It's pretty cool to see how much time, energy, and love you've put into your business and community. I'm definitely glad to learning from you.
Heck, I didn't know all of that was going into the free side of SSWT - that is definitely some love. If you do close that part, I think people will happily upgrade or continue conversations on the clicknewz fan page, just a thought.
I've been hearing nothing but great things about the Elite group; I hope to join soon, keep up the great work!
Happy Happy Bday SSWT and Happy Happy Anniversary Lynn! It's been a great, awesome, stupendous ride and I can't wait to see what's next! ๐
Sorry..I commented on wrong post.AWESOME picture of you Lynn!
D
Thank you David ๐ That photo was taken by a friend of mine on my daily walk down by the river here in TN.
Happy Birthday, Lynn and SSWT!
Isn't it amazing what a small idea can snowball into within a few short years!
My youngest son is 7, so it's easy for me look back at the past seven years... have they flown!
Congratulations on your success and happy milestones:)
Oh, and, I must add- I have learned about 80% of what I know about online marketing (and I do this for a living) from Lynn Terry!
Thanks Lynn for all you do. You don't hold back anything and your leadership goes down to the members. You are extremely relational. Even though not yet actively involved yet I see the real benefits of being an Elite member and glad I joined recently.
Lynn,
Great story! You are always inspiring!
Carlton
Congrats on this milestone! I appreciate everything you do here at Clicknewz and at SSWT. Today I just want to give you a (((hug))) and maybe a really big slice of pie!
Key Lime Pie?!? ๐
You Rock!!
I had Key Lime Pie a few days ago in Shula's at the Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin - yummy yummy
I love milestones. They mark progress, growth, achieving goals. When you hit one, it just plain old feels good. I hit 1 Million page views this week and I sat there slack jaw when I saw my stats.
When that happened, I thought about you and how you made some recommendations that I tried and all of the growth, the bumps in the road since I started my site and what I have managed to achieve -- many times with tears in my eyes from frustration.
Then, who would I think about but you. I knew if you had the drive, the ambition and the fortitude to push through, learn and set your sites on something that I could too. You've been such a positive inspiration without you ever really knowing I thought that. Today is a great time to share that bit of info with you.
Suffice it to say, AttentionTargetShoppers.com probably wouldn't be what it is today without your voice going off in my head hit and miss and those recommendations about 2 years ago. Thanks Lynn!
Wow, Ginger. Wow!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I have often thought of you since that live site review that we did during the BlissDom series. What a success story!!
I'm celebrating right alongside you ๐
Great post Lynn!! Again, congratulations for a very successful and action packed 7 years. You have been a tremendous mentor and participating in the Elite group has brought me to a higher level of knowledge and understanding.
I am looking forward to continuing this ride my friend! โฅ
I firmly believe every online business owner would highly benefit from Lynn's Elite Membership and if you aren't a member yet, you are doing your business an injustice. Lynn shares not just her internet marketing knowledge but also her valuable time and energy to help elite members progress further in their business ventures. Who better to learn from than Lynn, who is there and doing it right now! ๐ Happy Birthday Lynn!!!
Happy birthday Lynn, thank you for all your help this past year ๐ And for your friendship.
Leigh ๐
Thanks for the value resource and all that you do with the forums, especially the Elites. I have learned more than I ever expected when I first joined. I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with it.
Before you know it, you will be celebrating 15 years of helping us all achieve our goals!! Big party for that one!! I'm as happy to be here as I was the day I got my first computer. Never ever expected to be connected to the net never mind trying to make a living off it. Yes, and
ike so many others, it's been Lynn who inspired me the most!
Congratulations!!
7 years?!? Time flies ... ๐
The tough part of lasting that long is staying relevant and maintaining value ... a struggle for most that you've made look easy, Lynn. ๐
! consider myself lucky to be one of the fortunate to have known you since the start ... and looking forward to the next 7. ๐
Cheers,
Mike Merz
Your friendship and your being open to sharing resources with me when I first launched... was a big part of the early success at SSWT. I'll never forget that, Mike - Thank you! ๐ *cheers*
Lynn,
Congratulations on seven years of hard work and success!
I'm thrilled for you!
Here's to another 7 more years- Cheers!
Congratulation Lynn and SSWT, I really appreciate the things you do for us as Elite members.Clicknewz and SSWT are great places to be and they are what they are because of you. I can't wait to see what's to come.
I meet you at Willie Crawford's Birthday Bash in Orlando and you have no reason to remember me but you did the one thing that has changed my life completely. You wrote down the names of Clicknewz and SSWT and handed them to me and I have been moving forward every since.
You really do change lives with your caring and the knowledge you share. Thanks again for all you do.
And I am proud to say that I am one of those Lucky one's Lynn let slip through the "back door".
Your comments here have completely blown me away. Forgive me for not replying individually - but just know that I read each and every one.
Thank you!
I am very excited about the year ahead, and about the major changes that are in progress. Here's to success in 2010! *cheers*
Congrats Lynn! You're a constant inspiration and example of someone that is "doing it" and doing it really well.
Keep up the fantastic work and here's to many more years.
Happy Birthday SSWT. SSWT has definitely helped me out a lot. And thanks Lynn for bringing this community to us.
Happy Birthday, Lynn and Congratulations on SSWT going into the 8th year. I started following you back in 2003 and have learned so much from you in that time.
Thank you so much for all you share and your time and patience.
WTG, Lady.
I just started following you in the last year or so. Congratulations and Happy Birthday.
Providing the forum, free information and helpful community like you do, is top notch in my book.
Hi Lynn,
Happy belated birth Day for your site. You have done it well that's is why it is up until now congrats.
Lynn - I've always perceived your websites as a resource for people to find an alternative way of living - a better way. For this purpose, I'd love to see you keep the public portion of your forums open.. maybe hiring more moderators or even creating a system for knowledgeable people to contribute in their spare time - like a 'distributed' moderating system. In any instance, I think you've been a tremendous benefit to the community over time and I applaud your accomplishments!
I feel so lucky that I found you back in Sept of 2008 when I joined the Elite Forum. I did not have a direction and just took classes and built websites for fun back then. Now I have a increased my site traffic from 3 to 487, getting monthly affiliate checks and building a real business helping offline businesses get on line.
I have won contests, done things I did not know how to do, learned new ways to do things and best of all met new life time friends.
Just wanted to say thank you Lynn for the tutelage and patience while I found my place on line as I moved from learner to earner.
Happy Anniversary SSWT!
Thank you Lynn!
Happy Birthday/Anniversary and Congratulations Lynn! I love SSWT and ClickNewz and have found so many helpful people in the Elite Forum. I enjoy the group and the giving and sharing nature of everyone.
Looking forward to the "new year!"
Follow me @terribrooks on Twitter.
CONGRATS Lynn, to you & SSWT! Has it been THAT long already? Time flies when you're having fun! Been quite the ride. LOL
I had to look it up but I joined SSWT way back on Sun Jul 27, 2003 8:24 pm! SSWT was my third Internet marketing related forum I joined. I found out about your forum thru Mike's IM4Newbies forum.
CRAZY days back then - huh? heh heh
Looking forward to seeing what you have up your sleeves next! You have the knack.
Thank You!
Rick Wilson aka CorpRebel ๐
What a great post! I love hearing about what you have learned and your early days. I absolutely agree you have to love what you are doing. I am finally getting to that in my business. I was just telling Angie today that with my new niche I had to get to the point where it wasn't about money and guess what?! I found it! I found my passion! I can credit this to being a part of the elite forum and participating there!
Thanks for all you do!
Happy Birthday to my favorite web wonder woman! Your honesty and integrity never fail to amaze me Lynn, and I'm sure it's why you have built such a wonderful community here.
I am so excited to hear more about the changes in the forum. Maybe you'll even throw in some private coaching at some point?? ๐ I look forward to continuing to build my business as part of your tribe, and finally break into the world of affiliate marketing this year. This ecommerce stuff takes way too much energy! ๐
And now that you've had some of the MAC Attack, please consider finding a webinar/teleseminar package that makes it easier for us MAC folks to participate.
That's on the list, Annmarie ๐
"Web Wonder Woman" I'm totally diggin' that!! ๐
And yep - ecommerce makes me tired. Even though mine is a passion of mine...
Happy Anniversary Lynn!
I echo everything everyone has said already. You are a true inspiration as are the people in the elite forum who have me out in so many ways. Thanks for bringing us all together ๐
What a great post Lynn! I enjoyed reading it. ๐ Happy Anniversary to you! I know I have not been on the forums recently. I will try and visit more often. I agree with everyone here, you are a true inspiration! Keep up the good work. I finally subscribed to Click Newz. ๐
Tammy
congrats!
I wish you all the best
Happy Birthday Lynn and SSWT. I very happy to be part of your group and learn so many things which I will not be able to get it anywhere.
I thank you Lynn for sharing ideas,methods and other peoples insight here. I thank God for bring me here because I was lost and found here.
Words cannot express the happiness and goodness you gave not only to me but also to all here. Thank you Thank you
Wow, Lynn! I absolutely LOVE the Elite Forum, and I am so grateful for all that you have done and all that you do for us. You have created a wonderful community and it is a privilege to be a part of it. Congratulations!
Diana
As always you got it going on. Happy 7 years.
Charles
Well Lyn, I finally joined... I have visted your blog a few times thanks to Mark Mason putting me this way but never commented before.
I look forward to some discussions and seeing what I can learn from the excellent group.
"7 Things Iโve Learned In The Last 7 Years
* Itโs not about the money. You better LOVE what you do.
* You canโt do this alone. Join a group, hire a coach, get a mentorโฆ
* Create with growth in mind. Think scalability.
* If itโs broke, fix it. If itโs not, leave it the heck alone.
* People will not conform to your medium/platform. Conform to suit them.
* Never back down from your beliefs or standards. It dilutes your brand.
* CONSISTENCY IS KEY.
" They are some of the best possible things to learn! Fantastic tips, very true!
Lynn...as someone who just 'found' you this year - you are a great find and generous giver to all....I'm glad you are who you are, and love your 7 things...
especially the first one - loving what you do! so true!!! it is not about the money! I'm someone who had the millions, lost the millions, and took that to realize what life is really about, who your friends really are and to cherish family, friends, lighting up the talent within you....before money!
Cheers, Maria
Great post Lynn! Loved the 7 things, DEF the top of the list! ...adding this post to my fav recent reads!
But I'd vote not to close the free forum, it's a great resource for people and not everyone can afford the membership when they first find it (or first start their marketing endeavor). Remember lots of people are just starting online and they need valuable free resources before they can really start dishing out dough (and they have to figure out who they can trust and who is actually giving them value). SSWT is a good forum and I'd love to see it stay!
~k
Happy Birthday SSWT! I don't know what I'd do without this forum. Upgrading to the elite membership was one of the best decisions I've ever made. It's forcing me to focus on the important things that I need to do for my business to grow. I do think that the public forum should remain open and just understand that they wont' get access to you personally unless the join at the elite level. There's plenty of elite members that can help the newbies on the public side for you.
Time really flies when you're having fun, right Lynn?
Seems like only yesterday the first SSWT forum launched - a great place right off the bat.
Thank you for keeping the forums and your blog fuelled by continous enthusiasm, drive and TLC.
But mostly, thank you for being you.
I'm feeling both proud and blessed to have known for for so many years.
I think March is just your natural "fiscal year" start, Lynn!
For two of your favorites, at least...
I joined SSWT within three weeks of its inception. Yep, April 2003 is when I discivered the treasure that is you. I know you say you've changed in many ways since then, but in others not at all.
Had I fully embraced your last lesson, "Consistency is KEY", back then and since, how much further along I'd be today. Even slow learners can learn, fortunately.
Congratulsations to my favorite guiding star on yet another milestone in your life. I've known of some of what you've endured and overcome in that time and I want you to know you and all you do is very, very, very appreciated.
Oh wait...I almost forgot to say something funny. How about kumquat?? ๐
Here's to the next seven!!!
Dan
Congrats Lynn, This forum is the best online tool for learning i have ever seen online. Keep up the great work and thanks for being a good friend. All the best in the future. ๐