A Niche To Scratch

After Laying Off 40% of It’s Workforce Ning Says Things Will Be Different

Yesterday after getting an email from my husband, who had gotten an inquiry from one of his colleagues about the ‘changes’ at Ning, I didn’t pay much attention. Said colleague was asking about alternatives to Ning because they were going to be charging soon, my assumption was that this was likely the result of going over bandwidth or something of that nature.

I was surprised later when I got the link to the creators community where the announcement was clear as day… no more free communities. More news to be released over the next two weeks, free community creators will have the opportunity to upgrade to an undisclosed payment plan or will have to begin their transition elsewhere.

Many of the replies to the thread where the announcement was made are full of anger, many creators have spent hundreds of hours creating their environments, others are bummed but acknowledge that it probably makes sense as a business decision. There are even some who have created many communities, over 20 in some cases, and their frustration about how quickly even a small amount would add up is understandable.

Most of the comments come to the same conclusion though, they are asking the question, “How much will it be.”, and this has not yet been disclosed.

As a Ning Community Creator I am hoping it isn’t too much, I have about 4 different communities the largest of which has an international membership spanning 6 countries bringing moms who have Multiple Sclerosis together. My hope is that the small premium fees I pay will be enough to keep it going, but I’m doing my research just in case.

Sources:

http://creators.ning.com/forum/topics/ning-update?xg_source=msg_com_forum&id=4244211%3ATopic%3A151365&page=1#comments

http://www.fastcompany.com/1618615/5-things-ning-got-right

I’m obsessed with gardening now…it started last year when we owned our house but couldn’t afford to get it ‘finished’ enough to move into (it didn’t have floors and stuff) and so I was into using the yard to try and grow vegetables!! It worked out great except when a heat wave came while I wasn’t feeling well and it dried up…so NOW we’re back in the house and it is going full swing…I have seeds sprouting inside, plants going outside, lots of bulbs planted, and it is all just so exciting!! I decided that I wanted to connect with other local gardeners and created a community for it…Seattle Urban Garden if you are interested check it out!!

Talk about a niche, my husband, after years of us talking about personal development and why we were the way we are, if we have ADD/ADHD, why there were so many amazing ideas in the world and why people didn’t see/take advantage of them….had a conversation with a childhood friend of his and realized, well remembered, that he was a gifted child.

So now what? What happens to gifted kids after they grow up? What if (like me) they never knew they were gifted or were never treated as such?

We don’t have all the answers yet…but we’re working on it! He just created a new online community covering this topic of gifted adults and if any of this rambling is something you resonate with check it out HERE!