How to Improve WildFact into a Bigger Entity

[peter]

POLAR 


Thanks for a good lead post with interesting ideas. Coincidence has it I've been thinking about a few things as well. It seems our ideas are not that different. The question is how to get there in a few years from now.

Building an organisation or, as you wrote, a world-class company from scratch isn't easy. The main problem is a lack of experience. I have, however, experience in another field. As there seem to be a lot of similarities between music and a forum about the natural world (...), it should be possible to use this experience. 

In this post, I'll describe a few ideas you'll probably recognise.   


a - Goal

In my opinion, a business doesn't start with money. It starts with passion. Other words I could use are true interest, dedication, commitment and ambition. The ambition to transform an idea into something real.  

Although some money is needed to get started, it is about the goal. What is the goal of those who started WildFact? Initially, we wanted to create a forum about the natural world. Not much later, the idea to transform it into an organisation became leading. The reason is we worry about the developments we see around us. Most of them result in the destruction of the natural world. Apart from the consequences often described by many, like climate change, we worry about the loss of a thing of beauty. The natural world is unique and can't be reproduced. If it will be lost, it will never return. 

Those who worry about the natural world not seldom develop a cynical attitude towards our civilisation. This is not the intention of those who started WildFact. It is, however, clear that we have to address a few issues. One of the things we need to do first is to redefine 'civilisation'. At present, it's a mono-culture that can only result in a slash and burn policy. Instead, we need a culture based on overview, respect, knowledge and responsability. We also need to protect wild country and wild animals.

In order to become a leading organisation, we need a niche. When we started, we decided for apex-predators. The reason is they are the best indicators of health. A healthy ecosystem often has large predators.  
    

b - Policy and tools 

The best way to get to our goal is to focus on good information about the natural world. As we need some money to get started, we recently added a donation page. What we raise will be used to get to more knowledge (a) and to buy the tools needed to communicate in the best possible way (b). Starting a forum isn't expensive, but maintenance is and so is service. Sanjay invested a lot of time into the forum and should be enabled to buy what is needed. At the moment, this is not the case.

As to the forum itself. The aim is a team of specialists able to cooperate. Specialists are needed to keep the ship on course and to keep it safe. They're also doing the repairs. At sea, they transfer the information they collected. In order to prevent distortions of reality, the information is presented as it was collected.     

The ship they work on sails to wild regions all over the world. After collecting information, they sail back to unload. In port, they pick up new passengers, new equipment and new researchers. Than they sail for another wild region. It is about these wild regions and their inhabitants. Those interested in them need the ship to collect and transport the information they want. 

The wild regions represent the natural world, the large ports represent the human world and the ship represents the forum. 

When things are going well, the company paying the bills wants to start publishing documents and organise regular meetings and safaris. In order to be able to do so, those who know about data, publications, marketing and safaris are needed. The company is founded and controlled by WildFact, but those donating have a voice. 

      
c - Time

When we started, we thought we would need 3-5 years to get established. So far, we're not disappointed. In about 30 months, we had well over 2 million views. This means the forum has become interesting for advertisers. It also means we are close to a position to deal with some of them.  

So far, WildFact concentrated on good mods and quality information. Now the time has arrived to attract those enabling us to expand. In about 2 years from now, the aim is to offer the team some kind of reward. Could be expenses and could be a small salary. Same for donators. 


d - Dreams

Although it's likely that some of you will have a few doubts about the ambitions described above, I disagree. Here's why.

When I was deeply involved into music, I played in a band that had real good musicians. The problem is most musicians don't know how to sell their product. Same for us back then. More often than not, we played gigs I wouldn't recommend. Over time, it has an effect. When the band was close to the end, I decided to give it a try with someone prepared to do everything I could not. About seven years later, in our department, the band was elected best band of Europe by their peers. Organisers already knew, as we were booked everywhere. Same band, same musicians, same music. What happened?

One is you need to believe in what you do and want to sell. Two is you got to accept that others are not that interested in what we consider to be quality. Most people care about passion, dedication and the intention to get to the core of things. They recognise it, call it 'feeling' and when it's there, they want to be close to you. Not to listen per se, but to sense something that is largely missing in their life. When they feel it, they feel good and when they feel good, they smile and interact in a positive way. Not saying I saw the start of countless new relations, but we definitely produced something they liked. Did we produce something they had asked for? No. Our kind of music was quite unknown. This means a business isn't about selling a product people want. It's about something you want to sell. You succeed when you think it's good and when you're able to communicate. 

How does it work? How did we convince organisers? I kept telling them what we offered was both unique and good. After some time, they believed it and sold it as something out of the ordinary. And it was, because we thought it was. Meaning quality is something important to those who think they are able to produce it. Not to others. Why is that? 

What we described as 'quality', in our ears, was quality. That meant we liked playing all the time everywhere. That's what people saw and felt and that's why they responded. And my memory about those days? What I remember most is the music. I still play, but everything has a time. When the moment has arrived, you got to be there. When you're too early or too late, you can play all you want, but it will be in vain. Coincidence is always there and it's always important. Much more so than many think. You just got to accept it and act accordingly, meaning you have to learn how to feel it and how to use it.      

As for Wildfact. All of us really like the forum and we also think we produce something the world needs. We call it 'quality' and I do not doubt that ever more readers agree. The feeling we have is reaching our readers, that is. And people respond. I get mails from all over the planet. This means the time has arrived.

The 'product' we sell is a very real, but hidden world. The world in which all of us were born and raised. When it's lost, we'll never be able to return to it. Well before destruction has materialised, the soul of man will be destroyed. The reason is he 'knows' what is happening around him. He knows, but feels unable to act. This is where a forum or organisation like WildFact comes in. We know how to respond to changes that result in destruction and we offer the public a tool to reconnect to the world they know. A world deeply embedded in all of us. When we unite, it will have an effect.                               
 

e - Money

We feel honoured to read you're prepared to help us start in a way, Polar. Apart from that, we saw something else. Referring to ideas about how to connect to social media, ideas about how to develop the forum and ideas about how use present and use the forum in today's world in order to achieve our goal. I saw real interest, commitment, creativity and passion.    

What I'm saying, Polar, is we can use someone who could develop into a marketing specialist. Why don't you make us an offer we can't refuse? 


f - Future

WildFact is doing well. In order to continue in this way, anyone interested in the things discussed in this post is invited to respond. Thanks in advance on behalf of all of us, 

Peter. Reply