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Permalink Reply by Russell Portwood on October 26, 2012 at 8:14pm

Hey Gen!

Excellent question - especially in light of the fact that JT and I always talk about how we are somewhat control freaks and don't like to leave ourselves open to something we invest in disappearing on us. 

<long pause>

Although I don't see Ning going out of business my choice is always to have my own software instead of having SAS (software as a service). I mean, heck, I still use Autoresponse Plus because it's on my own server.

So, that's still no answer to your question.

To be totally transparent, fact is, we just wanted to get the site transformed quickly and Ning was a quick easy way to do it. BuddyPress probably is just as quick and just as easy.

Bottom line:
I'm gonna take a good hard look at it before we get to deep into Ning. Thanks for stirring the pot and waking me up!

Russell

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Permalink Reply by Russell Portwood on October 26, 2012 at 8:54pm

Wow - you bring up a lot of points close to my heart. 
re: BuddyPress and its growth and support due to being open source is major. Now I wonder if, after I do the proper due diligence, that BP may be the right choice after all. And then the hassle of transfer after the community is starting to grow. If we do pull the trigger, it's better to do now instead of later. (Our transition from BlogTalk Radio to our own platform was a major undertaking.)

I too have been helping local businesses and am considering making that a real focus. But in some ways - no, most ways - it is in fact trading time for dollars. I have to stay focused on the residual income. 

side note
Nothing is truly residual - it all takes some effort to keep it going. But it's like a flywheel. Once you get that heavy thing turning with the initial energy, it only takes minimal energy to keep it going.

Your market ideas are great!

Thanks so much for your input!

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Permalink Reply by Gen Franks on October 26, 2012 at 8:54pm

hanks for the reply Russell,  Community  website are something I am actually fairly familiar with.  I have had a Vbulletin community of over 3000 members since 2007.  It is in the process of being revamp right now.  I am too invested into Vbulletin to switch but if I could,  I would switch to buddy press in a heart beat, just because the potential it has being a part of the Word Press community.   I know there will alwasy be new plugins, themes, and support from  the Word press community.  Something that is almost non existent these days with VB.  

I did a lot of research into ning and come to the conclusion, that even though it has a lot of nice featues and probably ahead of the curve compared to BP,  it is still limiting because it is not open source,  and it is possible to get all these features on buddyPress if you look around for the plugins.  

My interest is marketing to communities and membership site,  and my platform of choice for future community sites will be buddypress.  I like the Idea of having loyal members who have the same interest that I have.  Some communities I am in process of starting is. Park City resort community ( you can imagine the marketing potential there)  Tennis community,  Fitness community,  just to name a few.  I just need to get off my butt and get  them going.   

Been spending a lot of my time helping others with their local business, online marketing needs. Very easy to get  tempted with these  gigs. if you just mention to someone with local business, you posses the skills to help, they are eager for your help.  LOL  I am trying to avoid the temptation to keep doing this, as I know tis is not a good route to passive income.

Trying to stay focus but it is hard.

Looking forward  to participating in this community.  I know it will be beneficial to me.  Looking forward to being held accountable  to reach my goals. I hope I  can provide some benefit  to others who may  not be as far along in the process of figuring this  IM stuff out.  

Paying it forward as I go.  LOL

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Permalink Reply by Gen Franks on October 26, 2012 at 10:24pm

Just posted a resent BP presentation video.  He states a lot of same things I mentioned and show you how to set it up.  

Russell Portwood said:

Wow - you bring up a lot of points close to my heart. 
re: BuddyPress and its growth and support due to being open source is major. Now I wonder if, after I do the proper due diligence, that BP may be the right choice after all. And then the hassle of transfer after the community is starting to grow. If we do pull the trigger, it's better to do now instead of later. (Our transition from BlogTalk Radio to our own platform was a major undertaking.)

I too have been helping local businesses and am considering making that a real focus. But in some ways - no, most ways - it is in fact trading time for dollars. I have to stay focused on the residual income. 

side note
Nothing is truly residual - it all takes some effort to keep it going. But it's like a flywheel. Once you get that heavy thing turning with the initial energy, it only takes minimal energy to keep it going.

Your market ideas are great!

Thanks so much for your input!

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