I probably said a while back that I wasn’t going to start a community or anything of the sort. Truth is, even though that still feels more comfortable, I’m almost forced to change my mind. Trying to funnel, if you will, these onboards into a working, supportive system is a gargantuan task—and I think starting a community is the only smart move.

The name? I kept it simple: Ecuador Hive. Something obvious. Something someone might bump into and instantly know what the community is about before reading more than two words. That said, I’m still debating the rules with myself, but for now, I’m not going to sweat it too much.

So what’s the plan? As of today, it’s to have all the new onboards join the community and teach them to post there. That way, we can create some buzz, and they, in turn, can easily find each other. That last point is key—because I’m trying to build a commercial hub here, people need to know who the players are.

I’m sure within a few days, some things that make sense will be written there, and I’ll find a few people to help me mod the community. I’m not trying to put a thousand things on my plate—I don’t have @ecoinstant’s ability to juggle so many jobs without driving myself crazy.

All that said, if you’re one of my new onboards—family, friend, or… foe (well, maybe not a foe, yeah, not you)—please join Hive Ecuador and help me get the ball rolling. We’re still in the very early stages of this little project, but I can already see how easy it would be to drop the ball unless we get a bit more organized.

To everyone who’s been supporting my onboards, you have my deep gratitude. Today I finished onboarding @jersonsweetplace, and it has me feeling quite optimistic. I think with Jerson, I won’t just be helping a business thrive—I’ll be making an ally out of a friend.

Until tomorrow. Until the next onboard.

MenO