Review: The Third Tribe

FYI from the Third Tribe on Monday, March 28, 2011:

Third Tribe will be closing to new members on Friday, April 1, 2011.

We’re going to be reconfiguring Third Tribe as part of something bigger and better, and as part of that, we’re not going to keep it as an open enrollment program any more. When later members come in, the price will be higher, and it will be during limited launch periods.

Note: A “Behind the Scenes” video follows the text review.

The Third Tribe (affiliate link) forum was one of the first I joined when I began to get frustrated with the difficulty of digging information out of free forums.

The theory behind the site is really quite interesting and evolved out of a discussion in the comments on copyblogger.com. The discussion revolved around how people felt that there had to be a balance between the “in your face” marketers using hard sell tactics and the bloggers who value their community over their income. This group decided to start a forum for like-minded people to discuss their ideas, and the Third Tribe forums were born.

Pros

For $47 a month ($97 for the first month), members of the Third Tribe get access to bi-weekly seminars with top people in the field, monthly Q&A calls with the leaders of the Third Tribe and very active forums with members spanning an incredibly broad range of businesses. The founders of the Third Tribe actually participate in the forums, so you have the opportunity to read the daily wisdom from the likes of Darren Rowse, Sonia Simone, Brian Clark, and Chris Brogan. Not to mention that some of the other members of the Third Tribe are amazing businesspeople in and of themselves. There’s rarely a day that I don’t log into the forums and learn something valuable.

Cons

There are some disadvantages to the Third Tribe, and it certainly isn’t for everyone. You need to be able to commit the time to listen to the seminars, go through the implementation worksheets, and participate in the forums. The forum in particular can be a bit overwhelming, particularly for beginners. It’s very easy to get caught in an information overload – you have to be careful not to spend so much time consuming and digesting information that you never get around to implementing.

Similarly, since it is a monthly expense, you have to be careful not to put the Third Tribe on autopilot and make sure that you get your money’s worth each month. If you do decide to leave, the Third Tribe makes it easy to cancel – part of the Third Tribe (affiliate link) mentality is that they don’t want anyone there who doesn’t want to be.

In addition, the Third Tribe membership is heavily weighted towards online businesses. There are some very successful brick and mortar entrepreneurs there as well, but the majority of questions, posts and seminars target the online sphere. If you’re a ‘real world’ entrepreneur, you may have to work a bit harder to adapt some of the ideas to your business.

Other Benefits

I’ll admit that I spent six months in the Tribe before I buckled down and really started participating in the forums and listening to the seminars with an eye to implementing them in my business. That’s $300 that I essentially wasted while I floundered with how to effectively consume and participate in the community. In the months since I’ve figured it out, however, the Third Tribe has more than paid for itself in connections, opportunities, ideas, and (most importantly) increases in income. My networking in Third Tribe landed me the opening guest post on Darren Rowse’s FeelGooder blog, an amazing accountability partner, potential JV partners for multiple projects and the opportunity to be a content affiliate here at Matt About Solutions. That’s a pretty nice return on investment, and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible.

Conclusion

I think that the advantages of the third tribe far outweigh the disadvantages, and it’s one of only two subscription forums that I’ve kept paying for. I find the mix of new and experienced users in the forum to be ideal. There are plenty of experienced people for me to learn from, but there’s also a good number of new people so I’m hardly the only person asking questions. Often, when I have a question, a quick search of the archives will reveal that someone else has already asked. If you don’t have the time to participate in the forums, the bi-weekly seminars and monthly Q&A calls still have enough value to make the price of admission a bargain. It took me three months to work through the seminar archive, but there was only one out of 22 that I felt didn’t provide information that was relevant to my businesses. Each seminar comes with worksheets and next-step guides to help you implement the ideas in your business, and often the experts brought in for the seminars will offer exclusive discounts to Third Tribe members.

The Third Tribe is best for the entrepreneur who feels uncomfortable with some of the methods used by traditional internet marketers but who does want to make a good living online. You’ll get solid advice and actionable steps from the forums and seminars, but this does require motivation on the part of each person to follow through and implement the ideas. And for someone looking to network and find partners for a new venture, the Third Tribe (affiliate link) is one of the best places online.