Greater than 5 minutes, my friend!

So this is it.

We’ve made it through our first year.

It’s hard to believe, but 365 days ago I have registered that theopenmic.co domain, installed WordPress and started building something that has turned into one of the most inspiring communities for translators and interpreters.

Was I qualified for this job?

Hell No!

I was no leader. I had no idea how to unite people, bring them together and build communities (I’m actually very shy and often awkward around people).

I was no developer. I had no idea how to build a website of The Open Mic’s magnitude. I mean, the first social network and blogging platform for translators sounds pretty cool, right?

I was no marketer. I had no idea how to promote this, how to grow and how to get people to spend 10 seconds of their life and signup for the forever free account (you’d be surprised how hard it actually is).

I was no writer. I had no idea how to write a compelling story. I had no idea how to write a copy that sells, informs or even entertains people (because who doesn’t like a touch of humor here and there, right?)

Yet it didn’t stop me.

I was doing all of those things for entire year even though I wasn’t qualified to do them in the first place.

The result?

Well, in my books the result is:

Here are our results for that first year: 1,568 registered members, 510 published articles, 3,099 comments, 51,156 site visitors, 237,185 page views, 5,109 monthly active users, 1,099 newsletter subscribers, 2,000+ followers across all our social media accounts.

I know that most of those things are just vanity metrics.

But they’re still impressive nonetheless.

Because they show what you can achieve when you pour your heart and soul into something.

When you really care about what you do and want to make a difference.

I have to say that there’s also another metric that cannot be quantified, but ultimately it’s the only metric that matters.

I’m talking about the support of the community that we’ve built together.

I receive positive messages from the members of our community almost on a daily basis.

It’s amazing to see how impressed new members with my attention to detail, my efforts and the overall design and functionality of The Open Mic.

Your kind words of support and encouragement is the only thing that really matters.

You inspire me.

You help me move forward.

And I want to thank you all for that.

You (the members, the writers, the readers) make The Open Mic possible.

I’ve made so many new friends here, it’s insane!

I doubt that I would ever have the chance to meet all those amazing people if it wasn’t for The Open Mic.

People like, Kozue, Elena, Gert, Pieter, Catherine, Patrick, Caterina, Tanya, Alex, Sofia, Rafa, Nikki, Rossitsa, Simon, Steve, Clarisa, Patricia, Deniz, Laura, Francesca, Lewis, Delfina, Olga, Marie and many many many others!

Thank you so much for all your inspiration and support!

Where do we go from here?

One year is a major milestone.

But looking back I think this year was truly amazing.

I have a million of things that I’d like to try.

From building profiles for clients to make it easy for them to contact and hire translators to developing web-applications for translators that will help us all work more effectively and efficiently.

And of course i want to continue improving the knowledge-sharing aspect of The Open Mic. After all this is why we love The Open Mic so much, right?

It’s a unique place that helps us all to learn, read, teach, write, inspire and grow stronger together.

I think this project is very important.

There’s a lot of things that we could improve both in our profession and in our industry.

And we’re just getting started.

As you know, above all things I value transparency.

This is why I have build this Roadmap page so you could keep track of all the development.

I don’t think that there’s any single platform or website in our industry that does anything like that.

This is what makes The Open Mic so different from other platforms.

And I want to continue that journey.

I will keep swimming against the tide.

I will keep pushing through skepticism.

I will keep doing things differently.

But above all things…

…I will keep using funny GIFs and using that unique tone that only The Open Mic has.

After all we’re building a community.

And communities have to be human. I mean, it’s 2016, for crying out loud!

Let’s be weird, let’s be human!

*Tips his hat*

Now accepting birthday presents 😊

Now to the fun part!

When it comes to birthdays, there are two kinds of people: control freaks who stress out and want to make everything perfect and everyone happy, and people like me, the ones who just like to chill, enjoy themselves and receive presents from friends and family (or not, presents don’t really matter when you’re a grownup, duh!)

So, while others would do something extra special for all the guests (you), I’m afraid I didn’t plan much for today.

＼٩( ‘ω’ )و //／ Sorry!

I figured, once in a life, I’ll take a little break.

Besides, it’s a long weekend here, in Canada.

But I’m accepting presents, though! 🙂

And the best present you can give is by telling me why you love The Open Mic OR what would you like us to build next (or improve).

You can share this in the comment box below or you can take it to Twitter (I LOVE Twitter).

For love letters:

[clickToTweet tweet=”I #LoveOpenMicXL8 because… (place your reason here)” quote=”I #LoveOpenMicXL8 because… (place your reason here)”]

 

For feature requests:

[clickToTweet tweet=”Hey, @OpenMicXL8! Can you build… (place your request here)” quote=”Hey, @OpenMicXL8! Can you build… (place your request here)”]

 

For improvements:

[clickToTweet tweet=”Hey, @OpenMicXL8! Can you please improve… (place your request here)” quote=”Hey, @OpenMicXL8! Can you please improve… (place your request here)”]

Thanks in advance for all your comments and tweets!

I really, REALLY appreciate this!

One last thing

The Open Mic has been nominated for Proz Community Choice Awards in the best website category.

It would be awesome if you could cast your vote here.

You can also vote for #BlabbingTranslators (Elena and I put a lot of love into this side project).

And, of course, vote for the articles that have been published on The Open Mic!

Here’s are the nominees:

• Translating 1,000 words per hour: Is it possible? by Pieter Beens
• What clients say to freelancers (and not #tothebaker) by Pieter Beens
• Why freelance translators should have a blog by Maeva Cifuentes
• Is translation technology on our side? by Gert Van Assche
• Why you need a Translation Management Software by Irene Koukia

Thank you so much for reading, thank you for writing, thank you for being a member of this community!

You guys are awesome!

High-five from Toronto!