With the recent poor performance of the article voting debacle, I got to thinking how a forum with over 16,000 members could produce so little votes. It would appear that many people sign up to this wonderful resource thinking starting a business is EASY and that information or assistance should be offered in abundance for free. When it doesn't turn out like that, they wander off bored never to return.
As most of the regulars already know, this is clearly not the case and I thought it would be a good idea if a sticky were to be put in the introduction section which might go some way to explaining the nature of the forum and how, if people were to stick around and participate more, everything would become clear.
I found, when I joined the forum, a first impression of a small community which, although friendly, after reading a few of the current posts and doing a couple of searches, appeared to have little to offer. I could not have been more wrong - it's not friendly AT ALL!
Spending time on these forums and participating in various threads brings out more information than a simple search will ever produce. Information on sourcing product, dealing with suppliers, marketing strategies, ways to make a profit, pitfalls to avoid etc etc all come up in unrelated threads more often than not and would be difficult to find if one is simply browsing thread titles.
So, my signature reflects my belief that you should be patient - you WILL find what you are looking for. You will be given the assistance you crave (maybe not in the spoon fed fashion you think, but in a way that is beneficial to all).
Best of all, you are among like-minded individuals who understand more than anyone else who you are, where you are going and, even, where you've been! Shut your eyes, fall back and we're there for you. HONEST
