Join Us in Habit (on Facebook!)

For three years, I had a Facebook group with approximately 1600+ women in it. It was a really great group. First we called it," “Live, Love Hope” then we called it, “Colour Me Happy.”

It was very active (about 94%!), and mainly positive, encouraging, and supportive. But the group was a lot of work to manage, to be honest. And although it doesn’t seem like managing a Facebook group would be tough, it was.

Join another addiction group on Facebook and tell me how easy it is to keep that thing happy, positive, and focused on personal healing. Yep. Not easy!

In fact, time and time again I was told to stop doing so much for free! But I didn’t listen because I thought I was helping… until I did UnBound Me live. UnBound Me is my signature class on boundaries, in case you were wondering.

The first time I did the course live, I offered “scholarships” to people who couldn’t afford to pay for the class. Donations came in from some amazing people and we had quite a few women who were able to be fully or partially funded to join.

Three lessons learned:

• Those who paid for the class straight out seemed to get the most out of the class.

• Some who partially paid for the class also did extremely well and had life-changing revelations.

• Those who were admitted for free? Less of a success rate. Not a total loss! Just, less.

Closing Down Our Community

Like… not for the faint of heart, let me tell you. People were very, very angry. But I had to do what was best for the ministry, and it wasn’t for it to shut down for good because I was exhausted and burning the candle on both ends.

Out of the 1600+ members, around 110 women joined the new community upon its launch. Today, there are 66 left. That’s a 96% drop in community members.

Correction, now there are 63. And one is my mom.

So Many Flaws With the New Platform

The new platform was a hot mess. There weren’t any notifications, it was hard to log into, tech trouble, name-changing trouble, not enough people there, not enough responses- you name it.

The new women who had joined and had never been in the Facebook group liked it because they finally had support. But overall, it wasn’t good for the community. They much preferred the Facebook group where they were used to the platform and logged in every day anyway.

I read your emails, I have heard your concerns, I understand, back to Facebook we go.

I tried it and I admit, it failed!

But, God Taught Me Something

Even though the new model was flawed, I did realize some valuable things…

Another three lessons:

1. I could do so much more for the ministry if I had an income (and occasional babysitter!).

2. My heart is still very much in helping women intimately and in crisis. Which means, we need to be able to talk freely in real-time, when they need it.

3. A paid community, though smaller, created a committed, closer group excited to follow God and find healing.

One Last Thought

I also realized I am not doing enough for divorcees or widows transitioning out of life with addiction.

I am divorced, by the grace of God I am not widowed. A lot of the women who stayed were in one of these two life places and I think it’s important they have a place they feel they belong to while they transition into their new lives.

So, I’m committing to making sure I provide more for each stage of addiction. Unless you’re a girlfriend, in which case, read this (because I love you).

I would love to see you in the new version of our online community. Colour Me Happy 2.0? Nah.

A NEW Habit. Let’s try this again!