Beer with Kyle Fridays: 21 Years of Wealthy Affiliate (And Why the Best Is Yet to Come)

Hey Everyone,
Welcome to another episode of Beer with Kyle Fridays. This is a bit of a special one for a couple of reasons.

First, we have officially turned 21 as a company. It happened yesterday, September 10th. It was September 10th, 2005 that we started the platform we now call Wealthy Affiliate. Twenty one years later, it has evolved immensely, and it is something we are deeply proud of. But just as much as the platform, we are proud of the community and the relationships we have built with you, our audience, over the years. That is something we want to keep incubating.

So today I want to explain some of the reasons why we do what we do, and where our game plan is headed. We are getting very close to releasing an entirely new experience at Wealthy Affiliate, one we are genuinely excited about, and one that was required to meet the world where it is at these days.

This Week's Beer.

As some folks said on my blog post yesterday, we are now 21. Legal drinking age as a company in the United States. Here in Canada it is 19, and I think Alberta and Quebec are 18. But it felt fitting for this milestone.

Today's beer is the Azacca, Nectaron, Centennial West Coast IPA by Fieldhouse Brewing, over in Abbotsford, British Columbia near Vancouver. They make some pretty wild, experimental beers, which Fieldhouse is known for. This one is fruity, blended out with a lot of fruit flavor, I think pineapple among others. It does not taste much like a traditional IPA, but it is very tasty.

It is in my fancy WA glass as always, and I really hope this one does not break because it is a limited edition from one of our first years down in Vegas. Which reminds me... the Vegas trip is something we are reintroducing this year after a bit of a hiatus. Something else to be excited about. Cheers.

Where the New Experience Stands...

Here is another little sneak peek. We are probably two or three weeks away from getting the new environment and experience at Wealthy Affiliate into your hands.

It is going to function differently than it has in the past. Much more connected to you and your business. That is the ultimate goal, and it ties directly into what I want to talk about today... how we have gone about building Wealthy Affiliate over the years.

How It All Started in 2005!

When we started out in 2005, Wealthy Affiliate was a keyword list, pay-per-click website. We taught people how to create pay-per-click campaigns, and we provided niches and relevant keyword lists on a weekly basis. That was the platform.

It was $29.99 a month, or $359.88 yearly. We did not offer a yearly discount, but a lot of people still went yearly because they did not like month-to-month payments.

And it started with one member. Just one. Then the next group of members came in, and they started recommending things they would like to see in the platform.

That is the core of how we have evolved Wealthy Affiliate over the last 21 years. We take ideas from the community, we watch for what people need based on industry changes, and we pay attention to the small nuances people struggle with. Then we evolve the platform on that basis, following the trends and technology available to us at the time.

Business Is Never a Straight Line.

A lot has changed, and it has not always been a linear path. That is something I really want to explain about building a business.

There are ups and downs. You can never expect that things are always going to go well, because you are going to hit roadblocks. You are going to hit stagnant periods. You are going to hit decline. Some of it is triggered by things you have done or not done. But a lot of it is economic, tied to the world economy, and can feel completely out of your control. Sometimes it is just life. You get busy. There are all sorts of things that influence the success of a business.

And that applies to your business the same as it applies to ours.

So you just have to stay focused and keep moving forward. That is something I think we have always been good at here at Wealthy Affiliate. Continuing to move forward. Continuing to learn about our audience. Continuing to learn about new technologies and how to use them. And that is exactly the mindset behind the new environment.

We Are in the People Business.

This is a big transitionary time for the internet and how people build businesses. But one thing has always remained constant... at the end of the day, we are still dealing with PEOPLE.

The conduit to those people changes. Different technologies, different platforms. But we are, and always will be, in the people business. We certainly are with our community at Wealthy Affiliate. And so are you. So is everyone operating an online business. We never want to lose touch with that, and we do not want you to lose touch with it either.

As we move into this new world where we can develop things with much more speed, we are going to keep taking your feedback and your ideas and molding the environment in ways that work best for you, your business, and your efficiency. Being able to manage several projects at once. Being able to produce more. That is the next leg of Wealthy Affiliate.

Thank YOU. Truly.

I just want to thank everyone for being with us and supporting the platform and the community over the last 21 years. And also for being critical of it at times, because that is exactly how we improve and evolve.

I truly believe our best is yet to come. It is a pretty exciting time to be online, with as much opportunity as ever, but you have to stay on top of things, and we are going to help you do that moving forward.

Now I Want to Hear From You...

I would love to hear how Wealthy Affiliate has impacted you over the years. I also want to hear about your excitement for the future, the things you want to achieve, and what you are looking forward to. Because we build this platform for you, and that is going to continue to be the case.

So here is a cheers to you, and to the next 21 years at Wealthy Affiliate. Thanks again for being such a big part of the community.

Have a great weekend. It is probably Saturday where a lot of you are watching this from, and I will catch up with you next week.