Three and half months after launching the site we now have 240 users in 36 categories, and 120 Items in 16 categories. People ask how we're doing and I am happy to say that we're doing very well. The data maybe not bring corporate development executives knocking on our doors, but Ekaweeka much like its users is growing naturally and monetary motivation is not the carrot we're chasing. Our carrot is to develop an authentic and relevant community for small businesses. So while by measure of advertising revenues we may not be terribly attractive, by measure of the culture and variety of businesses and creatives on the site we've already struck gold.
It's important that our users understand the difference I'm making here. Most of the users on Ekaweeka have a day job in addition to running their small business. They dream of quitting their day job and pursuing their passion full time. So they can easily bog down in the slowness of achieving their independence. This slowness shouldn't be confused for failure. Any of them with enough focus and patience can turn their business into a full time endeavor that pays the bills without supplemental income. What is important until achieving financial independence is recognizing the progress that has been made. Every victory is a step forward and seeing that helps to stay on track.
Cities, Trees, and People all grow at a natural organic pace. Small Businesses often feel pressured to go from idea to profitable overnight. Some of the best creations, organizations, inventions, and artwork took years to mature so why do we feel pressured to move faster then them? The way we see it here in Ekaweeka Land; nearly all of the 240 users on Ekaweeka are exactly the type of folk we want on the site. 240 artists, designers, computer programmers, actors, photographers, event coordinators... 240! Thats huge!. As long as we continue to stick by our goal and strive to make Ekaweeka a great place for its users to meet and help each other out by design or direct influence - we are doing our job. And by providing the arena for these synchronicities we are also providing a directory for the general public to find such gems. By constantly improving all of the above Ekaweeka gains recognition for being an authentic and relevant community. And if each and every member of Ekaweeka follows their own goals and strives for perfection they too have already succeeded.