Celebrating a Fifth Anniversary Ahead of the Curve

It seems like everybody and their guru is talking about how hot membership sites are these days.  I’m quite proud of the fact that I’m celebrating a fifth anniversary for one of my memberhips sites this month.  It makes me feel proud and somewhat ahead of the pack in some ways

The membership site I’m referring to is Mom Masterminds.

Mom Masterminds is a rich internet marketing learning center and private networking forum that you pay to access for 12 consecutive months, and then graduate into lifetime free access.

Launched in June of 2004, MM was a partnership between Alice Seba (the Internet Marketing Sweetie) and myself.    Alice stepped away from the project when she widened her target market and embraced the Sweetie brand, althrough she remains as a Special Advisor to this day.

I have also been partnered with Lynette Chandler. She has been the technological brains behind the site since the beginning.  She keeps the scripts updated and speaking well with each other – something I would have no clue on how to do.  She brings a darned sharp marketing mindset too.

A Membership Site When Membership Sites Weren’t Cool

Yes, we launched Mom Masterminds in a time when paid membership sites were rare in the mom market. There was in fact quite a few negative comments being spouted around the work at home mom community. 

• There’s already so much information available for free, nobody will pay for it.
• Why would anyone join a paid forum when there are hundreds out there for free?
• Cheaper paid mom associations already exist, nobody is going to pay those prices. (We launched at $24.97/mo)
• Moms are too cheap frugal for a paid membership program.

I’ll give Alice all the credit for ignoring the naysayers and plowing forward to launch MM.  I’m just proud to have been able to come along for the ride in those early years.

For sure, there are still some out there who view MM with negativity.  They would still point at the same old ‘free vs paid’ complaints.  At this point however, I think we have to chalk it up to sour grapes – because our track record and many long time member testimonials speak to our value and success as a training ground.

We knew that we would provide our members with great learning resources and advice.  But I had to admit early on that I never expected the amazing culture that developed on our forums.  The fact that every member had to pay to be there lifted expectations and influenced the nature of the networking.

Cooperation, encouragement and support was coming from everyone – partnerships, both short term and long term were birthed.   Courage was found.  New steps were taken.  It was – and is – an amazing place for a marketing mom to build and grow her business.

So… I’m proud to blow out the candles on our delicious fifth anniversary cake – and look forward to the next five years with as much excitement and anticipation as ever.

By the way, you can help us with our celebration if you’re willing.  We’re giving away Five Free Lifetime Memberships and we’d really like them to go to five truly deserving moms in business.  If you know a mom who is serious about growing her business but just doesn’t have the cash to invest into a paid learning opportunity right now, stop by our blog and tell us about her.  We may just choose her!