An Amazing Ride... It’s Been a Pleasure

Nathan · 12-28-2012, 12:28 PM

A little over 9 years ago I was working for a large telco as a network engineer and I got the bug to start my own business. In college I had worked as a painter for a man at my church and he taught me well and I picked it up quickly. I decided I’d take this desire to start my own business and the skills I had learned as a painter and start my first company. The only problem was... how do I run a painting business? I had more questions than answers and being from a technical background I immediately started to look online for knowledge. It wasn’t long before I found a site called Painters Chatroom and it amazed me. I had never been apart of a forum before but I learned so much in such a short amount of time that I started to look around for other forums. I found landscaping forums and other trades and quickly noticed that 50% of the knowledge (sales, marketing, business, etc.. ) was all the same. That gave me the idea to start ContractorTalk.com and bring the trades together. One location where we could break down trade specific discussions while all sharing more general knowledge.

A few months later we started to notice a trend. More and more homeowners where finding our site and asking DIY questions. That wasn’t the intention for Contractor Talk but I didn’t want to turn them away and some pros were wanting to help out so we created a special site just for them called www.DIYChatroom.com. I had no idea what it would grow into... and it’s been an amazing and fun ride.

As fun as it was, over the years the sites started to take up more and more of my time and exceed my technical abilities. I felt like I wasn’t doing a good enough job on my own and was a little tired of being on call day and night. In order to keep growing the sites into the resource I wanted them to be and not get burnt out in the process I realized I needed help. Because of this, in January of 2010 I merged my company with Escalate Media. We still operate independently as “The Building Network” but they have taken over all the back end work that I’m not good at. That has allowed me to just focus on administration which is something I’ve always enjoyed and the sites have continued to grow.

I still love these sites and having had the opportunity to be apart of them has been a great honor for me. That being said, a little while ago I realized that I was ready to do something else. The world has changed a lot over the past 9 years and so has my life. With that in mind I started to hand over a lot of my administration tasks (password resets, username changes, email inquiries) a few months ago to another great admin at Escalate Media. The process has been going smoothly and I think I’m ready for the next step which is to step down as admin of DIYChatroom.com and it’s many sister sites. I’ll still be around but I’ve given up ownership in the sites and I’m going to step aside and let someone else take the reigns.

So, what does that mean for the members of DIYChatroom.com? Nothing really. The site will continue to operate as it always has and I’ll make sure that is the case. The Building Network will live on and continue to be the place where homeowners can get friendly advice. The reality is that I have been less and less involved in the sites over the past few years anyways so me leaving will have little to no impact. I just wanted to let everyone know what was going on and why.

I want to thank everyone who made this site possible over the years. The members of this site have always been great and most of all the Moderators are what make this site possible. They are the backbone of this site and a few of them have been with me since the beginning. Thank You for all your help. It’s been an honor working with you.

Bondo · 12-28-2012, 04:32 PM

Quote:

I want to thank everyone who made this site possible over the years. The members of this site have always been great and most of all the Moderators are what make this site possible. They are the backbone of this site and a few of them have been with me since the beginning. Thank You for all your help. It’s been an honor working with you.

Ayuh,.... 'n Thank You Nathan,... Glad ya had this little brain storm all those years ago,...

I wish you all the Luck ya need, in yer future endeavors,...

Also, a Big Thank You to the Mod Team here,...
I know the pain, I mod at iboats,...

Keep up the Great work fellas....

bigchaz · 12-28-2012, 05:01 PM

What is next for you Nathan? Are you in another career now or heading to retirement?

rossfingal · 12-28-2012, 05:33 PM

Good luck with whatever you're going to do!!!

Happy New Year!
Thanks for making this site possible!

rossfingal

**AtlanticWBConst.** · 12-28-2012, 05:54 PM

Thanks for creating the site to help so many DIYers over the years. I am sure that it will continue to grow and help many, many more future members.

Best of Luck in all you pursue and in Life.

federer · 12-28-2012, 06:58 PM

nathan-thank you so much for making this forum for us! i have the pleasure of having so much good input from the other members on here. its truly a wonderful community!

creeper · 12-28-2012, 10:11 PM

Nathan:
Coincidentally, I posted this earlier in Off Topic, but in view of your announcement I think this thank-you belongs here.

Best of luck to you !!

We are coming to the close of yet another year. The amount of knowledge and expertise that is generously shared around here, all in the hopes of helping others is truly astounding.

DIY is an amazing place with amazing people who give freely with little expectations in return.

I am personally thankful to all the members who keep this place relevant, but I wish to extend a special thank-you to the moderators who dedicate copious amounts of time and effort in keeping this forum running smoothly.

Cheers Gents and of course, Ladies

All the best in the New Year everyone !!

federer · 12-29-2012, 12:41 AM

i cant believe this. tons of members, and only a couple of us came in to say thanks?????

ddawg16 · 12-29-2012, 01:55 AM

The reality is.....that if you don't 'move on', then your not working hard enough.

I call this natural evolution....at some point you have to try something else....maybe invent the next 'DIY something'....

You don't know until you try.....

Thanks for letting us hitch a ride.....I'm still enjoying it....

gma2rjc · 12-29-2012, 06:11 AM

Thank you Nathan and best of luck to you in the future.

Have a happy New Year!

Barb

retired guy 60 · 12-29-2012, 06:42 AM

Thank you Nathan. I predict that DIY Chatroom will still be around in 50 years when many of those curently contributing will be replaced by new generations of DIYers. This website is an amazing testimonial to human creativity and effort. I wish you health, happiness and success in all your future endeavors.

northernlite · 12-29-2012, 01:32 PM

You've done a good thing here, thank you for it.
As someone from Canada who only discovered this site after another favorite and terrific site suddenly shut down, I'm very grateful for finding the same great expertise, helpful advice and friendly atmosphere here.

sixeightten · 12-29-2012, 01:45 PM

Nathan:

I already thanked you once in the other forum, but just wanted to extend it here as well. While I am not as involved here as I am there, this place has been great as well. Good luck in the future!

Warren

JCAHILL4 · 12-30-2012, 12:26 PM

**Stands in applause**

I read this site daily, Thank you

LVDIY · 12-30-2012, 12:38 PM

How did homeowners figure stuff out before the internet and great forums like this?

I guess they did somehow, and the new generation of homeowners like myself can reap the benefits of the endless pool of knowledge and information on this forum.

I am sincerely grateful, this truly is the best DIY forum on the web!

Thanks!!!