In many ways it feels like just yesterday…in other ways it feels like a lifetime ago. At the time we started the forum I was also starting my own firm (after working with a partner for many years). I can still remember the call from Dave where he pitched the idea. I remember where I was when that call happened AND I remember sitting on my couch a VERY short time later building the skeleton of what would become our forum. For those that don’t know (or don’t remember), our first year was spent on a platform that was functional but far from being capable of handling the numbers and activity we were amassing. There were many late night calls with the platform tech guys (who were in India so they were only available late at night) trying to address issues and prevent downtime.
A year into it we migrated to Xenforo, a task that required far more time and money than we had anticipated…but it was worth it. Converting our existing forum content to the new platform required us to shutdown for 3 days so a conversion file could be built and uploaded, while simultaneously we had to design and build the visual/functional forum. Mind you, none of the three of us are even remotely close to being skilled website or forum building so much of this was done by the seat of our pants. In the end, the conversion went off as well as it could. … and I remember vividly the moment I (with Dave and Chad on the phone with me) clicked to button making the new version of The Shaving Cadre forum live again. I made the forum live while Chad sent a message to our loyal members who had been watching our Facebook page letting them know the forum was once again up and running. I remember this moment vividly because while I sat in my car with my laptop flipping the switch to go live, my wife was recovering from just having surgery, a surgery that would later reveal to us that she had cancer…although we wouldn’t know for 2 more weeks.
@BarberDave has always had a vision of what the forum would look like, a vision so clear to him that hours have been spent tweaking color schemes and other details that few even notice.
@Cvargo has a keen sense of project management and business operations, his work behind the scenes to organize our development, expansion, celebrations and nearly everything else has been integral to what we’ve become. All of this was necessary for us to accomplish our FIRST forum convention in Las Vegas and the launch of our new logo/branding scheme. The convention and branding upgrades took months of work from the three of us but when we announced the changes to a room full of forum members AND another handful of members watching us on livestream it was all worth it.
I can promise you Dave and Chad have BIG visions and bold aspirations for the forum so (while I know of nothing eminent) keep a watchful eye out for what lies ahead. In the meantime, keep spreading the word…invite others, participate in threads that interest you and start new threads when inspired to do so.
Happy anniversary to you all.
