Introducing - NEW OWNER {previous owner/older thread}

Hi everyone!

First let me give my apologies, this introduction is long overdue.

My name is Thomas Allan and a few months ago I got into a conversation with Lee, the previous owner of bmindful.. one thing led to another and I agreed to buy the site and take over.

It suited Lee as he has less and less time to manage the site and I believe wanted a fresh break for a new project and it suited me as it was aligned with a new passion project I had started.

- My Background… -

So I have been using affirmations for years, but also more generally reading personal development books, and I am a big believer that we can take control of our minds and change the direction of our lives – for the better.

At the beginning of this year I started my own passion project in this area:

http://www.freeaffirmations.org

I built up the site, and reached out to Lee to see if he wanted to get involved or if there could be any synergy to work with bmindful.. this is where talks began.

At the time I had a lot of free time, my other businesses were doing well and I took a look around bmindful and the more I looked I liked what I saw.

I saw things two ways.

Firstly, to be positive, I saw an amazing site, with a dedicated network of users who were active on the site and in the forums. I also saw a really unique site which was long standing and built on unique systems – bmindful really is a one of a kind in the world and custom built. So great, a great investment..

Secondly, not to be negative, I saw room for improvement. I thought the website looked a bit old and had some cranky features. I knew it needed updating. My existing business partner is a web developer so after he had a look he really saw a lot of need for updates and things we could do to improve the site – again, another great investment – a potentially under-performing site with great potential.

So talks continued and we actually took over around 3-4 months ago now.

HOWEVER..

Almost instantly I went from being quite relaxed and having free time and having big plans for the site… to having some problems in my existing businesses.

My income started to drop and I had to go back to work and do a lot of writing and work to improve and fix issues with our existing businesses – to go into any further detail would bore you, but my situation is still the same – I am working 10 hour days to recover income and progress my businesses back to their previous standards, and put systems in place to manage them better into the future and try to insulate ourselves so things stay consistent…

To sum up – My income is at threat and I just don’t have the time to manage, actively monitor, police, or UPDATE bmindful right now.

So let me apologize, I know there have been some arguments and personal disputes on the forums, I can only apologize for this, but I have to be honest and realistic, I just don’t have the time to police the forum right now.

bmindful was meant to be a passion project for me, but right now I can’t justify spending time here when my existing businesses are losing money – because by spending time here and not there I lose even more.

THE FUTURE

For the next 6-9 months NOTHING will change. bmindful will stay as it is 100%.

So I ask you, please keep the peace, please respect each other. I will pop in occasionally and if I see any new threads where a member uses a curse word at another member then it will be an instant ban/deletion of their account. This is totally unacceptable. Please read “How to win friends and influence people”, it really gives light to antagonizing others and you will see that it is pointless and only hurts all parties.

In the distant future, yes we do want to make updates to the site and improvements, but please believe me when I say that the site will remain 100% free. It is our goal to grow the site by making it more viral, by growing the member numbers and optimizing the site to get it found better – not by closing off areas or making bmindful a paid site.

The exact changes we don’t know truly, and the internet moves at a fast pace, but in 6-9 months we will share our plans and ask for your feedback and features you would like to see.

Apologies, thanks and lots of love!
Thomas Allan

I’m am so glad for this post! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

When you guys redesign the site I hope you will consider adding like and dislike thumbs, that might serve to discourage negativity. Just a thought. Another thing that would be neat might be the ability to directly display youtube vids right inside our posts without having to navigate away from bmindful.

I just checked out your other site. Looks great!

Thanks for popping in, Thomas.

We’ll be good! We promise!

He said with a wink! No, we will be, we really will be. You havum heap good way with word, AC. Is it just me, or does it feel better in here already?

Hi Thomas ,thank you for sharing with us here at bmindful.

I like your other site especially the metaphysics part.

You are right Smart Routines it feels like it has been spring cleaned here and is a very special place to be .

Love flowergirl

I’m doing a happy dance on the inside. Really! I’m speaking for all the bmindful users who are encouraged by recent events and grateful for the signs that we will continue as a remarkably positive community.

˚ allowing all good 💗  

Posted on 07/09/2012. Last edited on 07/12/2012.

And oh yes Thomas, thanks for fixing the weekly activity page Whether it was your partner, or whomever…appreciated(:

• Search and Activity Page the site ?? Too cool!!!
• Search Engine for the site too!
• And the latest discussions?
• And ..everyone look closer and you will see some affirmations and-> off to right tags/members affirmation-lists

I love this feature. You can click in the affirmations, forum threads or tags. And you can search. If the activity page that many glance at gets filled up…this area is wonderful, and will know what is going on in the community.
Thanks again Thomas for handling this so quickly(:
With regard to your site: Liked this Thomas
Guide to Using Positive Affirmations

That activity thing is neat, I hadn’t ever seen it before you shared it with me the other day.

Thank you all for the warm words and understanding. In truth I felt awkward to introduce myself due to my lack of time, but also as I understand that it is always a worry for someone new to take over a business, especially one which is essentially free and a social hangout, so let me assure you again that nothing will change and that the site will be kept free but just modernized and hopefully grown :)

Sharing happy vibes with you all and thrilled that you are all still happy to be here and getting so much from the forum and the site!
Thomas

Heya Thomas, we’re all here as your friends and it’s great to have you here! I wish you luck with your financial situation but don’t forget to “B Mindful” (I’m new here and I’m great at terrible jokes, just ask flowergirl)