My Personal Story of Invisioneer: 4 Years in the Making

[JoelR]

Invisioneer may have officially started a short two months ago, but it's been years in the making behind the scenes.  

Why did I start Invisioneer.org?  

I've been running my primary community (not Invisioneer) for over a decade. In the early years, my community was doing okay - until it plateaued.  In all of that time, I actively participated in forum administration sites, forum webmaster blogs, forum promotion sites, and the developer's support community, and I was both a vocal contributor and experimenter with everything that was being discussed. I thought I was doing "everything right." 

But I wasn't.  In 2017, my site's activity and engagement plateaued.  It didn't crash or burn, but the growth was stagnant.  I was doing the same thing, more of it, and it wasn't yielding me any results. Working harder and visiting the same sites wasn't getting me anywhere, which made me realize that I was grinding on the wrong path.    

So I began to question myself, and my tactics, and my context.  Maybe what I was focusing on was wrong? What could I change? Was I tapping into the right resources and learning?  

There were some hard truths that I arrived at:

• My early success was due to being lucky, not good. 
• My "context" was wrong.  I was learning the wrong things from the wrong people. 

When did I pivot?  

One day, a developer of community software made an off-hand comment.  Something like, "there's more to running a community than being a forum webmaster." 

But wait.  That was all that I was doing up to that point.  I was visiting, almost every day, the same forum administration and forum webmaster sites.  These were the sites that talked every day about tweaking your server, or installing plugins, or SEO.  And maybe, just maybe, there was more to modern communities than the latest plugin to install.  

So finally, I finally stepped outside of my box in early 2019.  And I realized a whole new world of professional community management - smart and elevated topics that incorporated references to behavioral sciences, psychology, sociology, and organizational theory.  These aren't discussions that you find in your every day forum administrator site.  The last thing they talked about was the software.  The first thing they talked about was strategy.

It's the exact opposite of what you find in forum administration sites! 

What is my vision? 

Reading through these discussions opened a whole new world of learning and opportunity, and I felt like I jumped from being stuck in the mud to skyrocketing in my community's success. In 2019, I immersed myself in community management and professional consultancies.  

It paid off.  These are real statistics of my other community and my growth continues to steadily climb, backed by community strategy and sharply-defined objectives:

There is a huge amount of success that every community owner can achieve.  Part of it is driven by your choice of technology, but most of it is driven by yourself - your leadership, your strategy, and your choices.  

My vision with Invisioneer.org is simple and bold: to focus on the areas related to community strategy and community operations.  To leverage principles from behavioral sciences, psychology, sociology, organizational theory, leadership and management sciences, and more. To make these concepts digestible for everyday discussion and execution. To inspire us to thrive together, even when it gets harder to compete. 

NameCheap says the site started 2 months ago.  But the site's launch represents 4 years of a desire to do something different, and something a little bit better, for community owners who are looking for a fresh new perspective on community management.  

I invite you to join me on the launch of Invisioneer to be passionate about community management, to deeply discuss complex issues related to strategy and operations, and most of all, to open your mind to a broader world of learning and inspiration.  

[Fan Clubs]

This is a very well-written post. Congratulations on making this shift. You're doing it the right way and adding a ton of value in the process.

I've been stuck with my tires spinning in the mud for the last few months, but you touched on some glaring weaknesses of mine that my current community and my new community can definitely benefit from.

Thank you for sharing! This is something I'll be sure to visit from time-to-time.

[JoelR]

3 hours ago, Motorcycle Nerd said:

This is a very well-written post. Congratulations on making this shift. You're doing it the right way and adding a ton of value in the process.

I've been stuck with my tires spinning in the mud for the last few months, but you touched on some glaring weaknesses of mine that my current community and my new community can definitely benefit from.

Thank you for sharing! This is something I'll be sure to visit from time-to-time.

Thank you so much. Many of us are stuck in the same problem together.  

What's especially bad is that, in many cases, we don't KNOW we're in trouble.  We go to the same sites with the same people, but are we really moving the needle?  

Invisioneer is meant to be a Success Community, with a clear goal to actually help you be successful.  You won't earn points, you won't participate in forum battles, you won't advertise your site to the same dozen webmasters, but you will hopefully get a fresh perspective on things with concepts that will help stretch your skills.  

[Fan Clubs]

3 hours ago, JoelR said:

Thank you so much. Many of us are stuck in the same problem together.  

What's especially bad is that, in many cases, we don't KNOW we're in trouble.  We go to the same sites with the same people, but are we really moving the needle?  

Invisioneer is meant to be a Success Community, with a clear goal to actually help you be successful.  You won't earn points, you won't participate in forum battles, you won't advertise your site to the same dozen webmasters, but you will hopefully get a fresh perspective on things with concepts that will help stretch your skills.  

I love the approach. It's a very value-driven approach and I'm here for it!

[Cedric]

It takes a lot of courage to admit you’ve been doing wrong. Invisioneer is definitely one if a kind and I hope it will work out for you Joel. You often make great insightful posts 👍 I like how you say that the site represents 4 years experience.

Also, I’ve said this before but there’s too much “misleading” items/content that this is for IPS clients exclusively. I know you said that wasn’t the case. But I’m on my mobile now so next time when I’m on my desktop, I’ll take a few screenshots so you know what I’m talking about.

I’ve asked before and saw others also asking this but you never seem to give an answer to it. Your other community which has over 50.000 members, which niche is that and do you have a link? Or would you rather keep it private? If that’s the case and  if you don’t mind me asking: why?

To close off, you’re a great guy. And I always enjoy reading your posts! Keep it up.