Mistake of doubting our site...

[komodo]

Here's a quote from a post on bimmerw3rkzz....

Originally Posted by komodo9,Apr 20 2005, 06:54 PM

I appriciate your concern in our matters, but we seem to be doing quite well at this point. You, like so many others, have no faith in motivation, irregardless of the age.

I'm assuming you know little about me, so let me fill you in.

I'm 18 years old and currently running a web development company I founded. We have 8 part time local employees and we've completed dozens of projects. We've contracted web solutions for CompUSA, Chevron, Texaco, NetCentric Solutions, and many other respectable companies. Penguin Studios is legally incorporated in the state of GA. Let me remind you that at 18 years old, age did not stop me from having meetings with some of highest officials in CompUSA for the entire SouthEast, and successfully presenting my proposals to a Board with enough money and power to BUY most of the other companies I'm dealing with. We developed an automated online solution to facilitate the backend of the technical part of CompUSA, called GSS. We controlled all the data and information that flowed through the system, keeping all people informed via email when needed. For Chevron and Texaco we built a complex database backend to control and distribute gas prices to hundreds of stations in GA, in addition to handling their inventory in the stores with them and payroll of employees in the central office. The operation of this system is critical to the daily operations of Mountain Express Oil, an umbrella we were developing in direct contact with.

We're in the process of developing a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) program in-house that we plan on marketing publically in coming months to compete head-on with software suites offered by Siebel, SAP, Oracle, and SalesForce.... all multimillion, if not billion, dollar companies.

I'm the sole owner of this company and while I don't take much of the profit for my own salary (most is reinvested into corporate affairs), I still managed to pull enough out to purchase my own car for around $12k and do thousands of dollars worth of modding on it. And yes, let me remind you again I graduate high school in 4 weeks.

How do I have time for all this and school? I've developed software in house to automate our processes as well. I have a hand in all the daily affairs, but am not directly required for their operation. Our partners get project sign offs, our project managers hand them off to graphics artists, who hand interfaces off to programmers, etc... all tracked through an internal ticketing system with flow control. How do I manage all this while in school for 8 hours everyday? I had that problem originally and innovated a solution for it, which has been in production for almost a year now and is working great.

You blatently said above you didn't think United Bimmer would go anywhere because it was started by a bunch of high school kids.... and by saying that you obviously don't know me. When I start a project like this, I WILL be successful in it. I do not give up until I have accomplished what I aim to, by whatever means necessary. You think I can develop sites for multimillion dollar enterprises, but I can't develop a small online forum for car enthusiasts? You sir are either horribly mistaken about me, or just dumb.

United Bimmer will be successful, and that I promise you.

I just thought I'd share that with you guys.

[Torque]

Well, what can I say ? Back to you !

[ChrisWorrell]

pwnt

[cruzin 323is]

well.. they do have a point for being upset... i mean, they lost a bunch of users allready! i mean, i barely go on there anymore heh

[komodo]

Originally Posted by cruzin 323is

well.. they do have a point for being upset... i mean, they lost a bunch of users allready! i mean, i barely go on there anymore heh

Haha, but that's just the thing. All the members know about both sites and are given the choice between them. We've developed a great community here and members usually see that. It's not about us taking members, they're giving them to us. We opened the door, and everyone walked through. lol

Silvr_e39 has already had a quick conversation with me that went like this:

Slvr e39i (12:10:58 AM):why are u taking away bandwidth from bimmerwerkz?
Slvr e39i (12:11:00 AM):lol
Slvr e39i (12:11:08 AM):thats not very nice
CalliditasCastor (12:11:26 AM):bandwidth is expensive so i'm just trying to be nice :-)
Slvr e39i (12:11:51 AM):banned
Slvr e39i (12:11:57 AM):lol
CalliditasCastor (12:11:59 AM):haha
CalliditasCastor (12:12:00 AM):;-)
Slvr e39i (12:12:05 AM):ull never win
CalliditasCastor (12:12:36 AM):its not about winning or losing.
CalliditasCastor (12:12:41 AM):its about the community
CalliditasCastor (12:12:49 AM):and i'm offering mine, and letting the members choose
CalliditasCastor (12:12:50 AM)::-)
CalliditasCastor (12:13:11 AM):you have to understand i'm not doing this for money or power or anything... i'm doing it for the purpose of building a large and successful community

And I honestly feel our board setup is better because it's EXACTLY what the members want (in theory) because of the freedom of choice. We run all changes by everyone publically, and listen to all suggestions, and actually act on the good ones.

Another example of this board is that post of the aim conversation above. What other Bimmer enthusiast board can you post an aim conversation and it retain formatting? lol

I was talking to someone on aim the other day and they didn't know about United Bimmer. When I told them, they replied with something along the lines of "oooh! I didn't know about it. That'd explain why bimmerw3rkzz is so slow and boring these days... everyone's over there." I smiled in real life. haha

[cruzin 323is]

whatever floats your boat komodo

[Addicted?]

Originally Posted by cruzin 323is

whatever floats your boat komodo

is that really neccassary? anyways komodo very professional in the "comebacks" im pretty speach less! but how did they forget me in the founders! what a bunch of... haha anyways i graduate in a few weeks too!

David

[Sean]

thats kind of funny

[Addicted?]

yeah we finally decided to as he put it "**** it"

david

[komodo]

Originally Posted by 95bmwpwer

is that really neccassary? anyways komodo very professional in the "comebacks" im pretty speach less! but how did they forget me in the founders! what a bunch of... haha anyways i graduate in a few weeks too!

David

Yeah, i noticed that. lol, i consider the "founders" you, me, chris, and torque.... we were the 4 in the chat room the night it was made.

[Addicted?]

Originally Posted by komodo

Yeah, i noticed that. lol, i consider the "founders" you, me, chris, and torque.... we were the 4 in the chat room the night it was made.

chat room sounds to professional, it was an AIM chat room haha makes us way cooler!

David

[Torque]

Originally Posted by komodo

Yeah, i noticed that. lol, i consider the "founders" you, me, chris, and torque.... we were the 4 in the chat room the night it was made.

Well, you can considerd us being whatever you want, but you are the only real founder. You bought the software, set it up, bought the domain and are the one absorbing all financial costs associated with running something like this.

Thank you for making it possible for us to have this site.

ps. Although I have to give credit to myself for coming up with unitedbimmer.com even though you guys wanted bimmerunited.com

[spiff]

heh, im glad i have an impression in him. basically, you guys just owned him.

[catalyst]

this site is doing great.. and i love it, but i think that you guys should be careful not to start up some stupid rivalry.. that would just blow.

anyways.. w00t, unitedbimmer owns.

[Dave635csi]

Originally Posted by Torque

Thank you for making it possible for us to have this site.

Yes, thank you!!
This is a GREAT place!
Everyone of you have done an incredible job!