Wahm.com is probably one of the oldest and best work at home home websites on the internet. I know when I first started looking for work at home it was the place I turned to, before venturing into creating my own work at home websites.
Apparently Cheryl Demas the owner of www.Wahm.com has sold wahm.com to a big corporate entity. This can be viewed in two ways depending on your mind set.
If you're the thousands of work at home seekers that frequent wahm.com's wildly popular message boards then you probably fear Cheryl's decision. Some may even view it as selling out! And I can see how a user would feel this way. But it's somewhat based on our own selfish needs.
Work At Home Moms have really come to depend on Cheryl's message board for guidance, friendship and support when searching for work from home. Anyone that has been searching for work from home opportunities for a long period of time can tell you how frustrating the process can be. So the wahm.com message board was not only a source of great job leads but it also fostered a sense of community. Big corporations aren't about community and I speak from experience because I work for a fortune 100 company and yes they have their community based initiatives but when they take on a project, it's to earn money! The company taking over wahm.com isn't just coughing up that money to keep things as they are at wahm and time will tell if it will be for the good of the users.
Now on the flip side as an owner of multiple websites, most of us dream of the moment to sell out and make an easy million or two. I started late so I missed the .com boom when it was easy to do this. So considering that aspect of it, I definitely don't blame Cheryl for selling. I'm very certain she's made a killing. If she was offered anything less than a million dollars then she's a fool. Wahm.com has a very strong brand and tons of traffic. So I hope she worked out a deal that compenstated her well for all the blood and tears she has put into the site.
So can any good come from the sale of Wahm.com?
From a users point of view, she's claiming that the company that has taken over will be able to provide better technical support and other bells and whistles. I don't doubt this. As much as I've loved the forum content, in terms of technology and design wahm.com is very antiquated and hasn't adjusted with the times. So I think users will get a wahm.com that will receive a badly needed face lift on the front and back end. So this should make for better usability. Because often times the message boards load speed was very slow.
For advertisers this may also be great that Wahm.com is switching hands because it means that there will definitely be more options to reach the loyal wahm.com users. I've seen some double standards in terms of what ads are accepted on wahm.com. So hopefully with some new leadership we'll see some greater consistency with the ad policies and better opportunities for everyone to advertise on wahm.com
But ultimately, I'm very concerned with the aquisation of wahm.com by a big corporation, especially one focused on real estate. I just don't understand the connection and what type of value they can bring to a community focused on making money at home, not buying homes. This could lead to the forum and content of wahm.com suffering because I doubt they have any real understanding of the plight of work at home seekers. So we'll see what happens.
It wouldn't surprise me if this corporation takes on a slash and burn approach with wahm.com and once they've squeezed all they can from it they leave it in ashes. But I'm hoping this won't be the case. I want to be very wrong about this!
All and all I am very happy for Cheryl as she will now be able to focus on her other interest which apparently is stand up comedy. Who knew? lol But I do feel the concerns that is being echoed by many Wahm.com users.
Honestly I don't know any other work at home website with the huge community base of wahm.com and the free and legitimate job leads. There are many others that try but none with the strong hold of wahm.
But if it's just about finding free work at home job leads then there are tons of replacements :
But when it comes to the friendships and communities that has been built because of Wahm.com there will definitely be a void if this take over turns out to be about profits and not the people. Only time will tell.
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