I’m always looking for something to celebrate, and here is a big milestone for Youth Ministry Exchange: 1000 Members.
In honor of this momentus occasion, I’ve posted our first "State of YMX."
One thing I didn’t mention… Derek and I have still never withdrawn a penny for ourselves from the site. We are firmly still in the "reinvestment stage." Profits may one day grow to a point where the site generate income for us… but that’s still on the horizon.
Below is the text of my "state of YMX" that will explain the diagram to the right.
Where we’ve been:
It seems like we’ve been doing this forever, but we started in December 2005 with only a few members and a crazy idea. "Let’s create our own community, not dependent on any publisher, ministry, or anyone else." That’s
exactly what we did. With the friendship of many long-time online
buddies, we launched YMX as an independent online community geared
specifically to those ministering to today’s amazing adolescents.
Derek
and I had no idea what to expect. We figured we would last a couple of
months before one of the "big publishers" got annoyed and knocked us
out. To our surprise, that didn’t happen as all the "big publishers"
seemed to be thrilled that we were off and running without them. We
learned some early lessons which have become our core business values. "We will compliment and not compete." That simply means that we want to point members to good resources instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. "We will help emerging authors by cultivating discussion about the things they are passionate about." That means we will talk about what the community is interested in and we always keep things practical. "We will act compassionately." We
immediately recognized that almost all youth workers are walking
wounded, and we have always wanted YMX to be a place where youth
workers feel encouraged, connected, and safe.
The simple truth
is that we had no idea how to run a business when we started. But we’ve
learned. We formed an LLC, got our accounting stuff up and running, and
set up a bunch of practical policies and goals. We relied heavily on
friendships to get everything going… we’ve been amazed through the
start-up process and Derek and I have learned oodles.
Since day
one, Derek and I have had an amazing team of diverse people we call
"the admin/mod team." Most of us had never administrated a forum.
(Except Ruth!) But from day one we vowed to stick together… that plan
has worked tremendously as the forums have grown from 25 members to
1000. In Fall 2006, we talked for weeks about adding a new moderator
and have been thrilled with the addition of Angie. It’s an awesome
honor to work with such a fun-loving, passionate, and diverse group!
Where we are at:
YMX is fiscally simple. We don’t make much money and we don’t spend
much. But in Fall 2006 we decided we needed to do some things that
would help us grow financially as well as enhance YMX member’s
experience. So, we added Amy Sondova to take over the editorial side of
the sites articles and grow that. She expressed an interest in a site
that focused on connecting youth workers to musicians… so we created
All Access. That began a flurry of ideas and innovations and we quickly
added another "subsidiary" site for our members called "YMX Hosting."
We added major site enhancements with a total redesign and added "Rate
Your Stuff." All of these innovations are fiercely and intentionally
focused on youth workers. That’s our niche` and we’ve fought to stay
there.
Along the way, we’ve also helped launch one initiative
called, "Raising Lazarus" and partnered with a major player in internet
ministry, Gospel Communication.
What does the future hold?
Let’s
first say, "If it’s the Lord will, the site will continue to encourage
youth workers in greater capacity." As the model demonstrates, the main
site will always be our core. It’s this audience that we focus on
building and "networking" to our subsidiary sites and partner sites.
That can expand indefinitely as we seek to "compliment and not
compete." There are some things that we see ourselves getting into and
some things we don’t see ourselves getting into. We do see ourselves
continuing to develop subsidiaries of our main site that will help
youth workers. We don’t see ourselves spending a lot of energy/money to
do what other companies are already doing excellently. (Such as major
events, print media, etc.)
In the next 6-12 months we are
planning being a part of some major events in small or big ways. Derek
and I, as excited about the 1000 members we have here today, are hoping
to meet and encourage a lot larger percentage of the US and worldwide
group of people that God has hard-wired to minister to adolescents.
So…
that’s who we are today. We are confident in who YMX is. We know our
place in the youth ministry world. And we are excited and energized to
tell more and more people about the site as we continue to feed the
cycle of "forums driving content and content driving forums."
Thanks for reading and as always, please feel free to contact derek@ymexchange or adam@ymexchange.com for more information.
Adam and (for) Derek
Leave a Reply