This weekend’s update comes to you from a train heading into London St. Pancras where we’re headed for the Location Independent Meet-up this afternoon (very excited about that!).
Although we’re from the UK, it seems most of our audience and community isn’t so it’ll be very nice to meet the few people who are braving the onset of autumn to venture out to meet us. I’ll report back more on how the meet-up went next week.
In the meantime, I’d like to introduce the “LIP Thumbs Up” to you…
A Bit Of Background
One of the things we’ve been struggling with recently, as we strive to make LocationIndependent.com a business rather than just my pet hobby, is how to deal with the many requests we get to partner with people on a LIP-based project or help promote some sort of LIP-related venture.
As you can imagine, some of these ventures are better than others and the aspect that can be the hardest to deal with is when somebody has decided to use the term “LIP” or “location independent” in their brand/domain name.
Even though we first coined the term to describe the “live and work from anywhere” lifestyle, we don’t own it but it’s clear that while most people who do this have good intentions, some are quite clearly “brand jacking” the phrase for their own good. Fortunately, most people are courteous and professional enough to ask us if we mind first, but there are those who don’t.
As Location Independent & LIP are essentially key aspects of our core brand, anything that uses these terms may, quite naturally, be associated with us by default. And as we’ve built up a measure of trust amongst readers and our community, we don’t want that trust to be abused by people who seek to leverage the fact that they can use these terms to convey a relationship or association that doesn’t exist.
We’ve been advised by a number of people, to ask anyone who uses the terms to make it clear that they are in no way associated with us but I prefer a different, more positive approach.
So, we’ve come up with a way that enables us to help support & promote the ventures & resources which really do add value and we’re calling it the “LIP Thumbs Up”.
What is the “LIP Thumbs Up”?
The “LIP Thumbs Up” is our way of visually demonstrating our support and endorsement of a resource that someone else has created that truly adds value to our community and readers.
It’s essentially a badge which can be displayed on a site to show that there is indeed a relationship with us and that we recommend that resource.
Additionally, we’ll be adding a section of “LIP Thumbs Up” resources to the site in the near future so that all the best resources can be collated in one place.
Why would you want the “LIP Thumbs Up”?
For anybody who wants the LIP Thumbs Up, we’re very happy to work with you to make your resource the best it can be (yep, basically free consulting!). This is to ensure that anything we do support, recommend and associate with our brand is of the highest quality and value.
So, the benefits of getting the LIP Thumbs Up are:
- Free consulting and advice to make your resource the best it can be
- Leveraging our platforms & channels to spread the word about your project
- Working in partnership with, instead of competing against us
- What is essentially free advertising on our site and in our other online networks
How does this benefit the community?
Whenever you see the “LIP Thumbs Up”, you’ll know that we’ve seen the product/service/resource (and maybe even helped improve it) and are confident enough about the value it provides to happily endorse it.
Whenever you see the “LIP Thumbs Up”, you’ll be able to trust and have confidence in the resource without worrying you’re being taken for a ride or wasting your time. We’re basically doing the filtering of the very best resources for you.
How to get the LIP Thumbs Up
If you have a resource or an idea for a resource that is related to location independence or targeted at location independent people – and you’d like to get the LIP Thumbs Up, please contact us to discuss your project. We’ll be adding a more streamlined process shortly but for now, just use the usual email.
P.S. We announced the opening of the LIP Freedom Roundtable last week. So far, it’s going great but we still have a few more places available. However, we’ll be closing the Roundtable soon, so if you have been thinking about joining, now is the time to do so. We’ll close the Roundtable (at its current price) on Friday 16th October.
What about all the other people associated with the term "location independent"?
People like Chris Guillebeau, Zoe Westhof, John Bardos, Andy Hayes, Brooke Ferguson, and websites like wisebread, I will teach you to be rich, Tim Ferriss.com, thrilling heroics, vagablogging…
I like your site but its definitely not the only location independent resource I use…
Hey Jessica – we're not claiming to be the only location independent resource out there. This is aimed at helping people who *don't* necessarily already have their own audience or voice within the LI community but who have or want to create a valuable resource and would like to spread the word about it.
This is a way of ensuring that we can help use the platforms we've already created to promote the best of these without compromising our own brand. When somebody chooses to use the term "LIP" or "location independent" in their brand/domain name, to some people this may imply some sort of association with our site/company – we want to ensure that it's clear to our audience & readership where this relationship does actually exist – and where it does, we'll aim to promote & support the resources as much as possible.
The people you've mentioned already have their own audiences/platforms and obviously don't need our "thumbs up" to continue doing the great jobs they're doing.
Uhh…seems like you’re putting out some sort of “seal of approval” process. Glad you’ve found a niche and all…but this is just throwing a fence around “your” territory…in which we all are allowed to graze freely.
I’m sure it won’t mean a darn thing coming from me…but don’t do this.
Great way of protecting the brand and increasing exposure all while helping others! Co-opetition not competition!
I see this kind of like Oprah’s Book Club :)
Are their other Oprahs in the world? Sure. Are there other book clubs in the world? Yeah. But when Ooprah puts a seal like “Oprah’s Book Club’ selection on a book, it’s a way of stating she recommends or approves of that book and its contents.
People who don’t like the LIP Thumbs Up: Why is Oprah’s seal of approval ok, but this one isn’t? When Oprah puts her book club seal on, it’s not ‘excluding’ other books. No one is saying ‘don’t buy these other books.’ But just as Oprah has, for many people (and this is an objective statement about marketing and Oprah’s brand) built up some trust and wants to make sure she continues to protect that trust and reputation, so do Lea and Jon.
Many people are living a location independent or non-conformist lifestyle. Lea and Jon are the first ones I know of who specifically and consistently addressed the concerns and issues surrounding location independence and as far as I know, coined the phrase (duh, it’s their domain name). Just because they haven’t formalized the ‘name’ Location Independent doesn’t mean it’s not right for them to leverage their reputation and recommend certain things in an official capacity.
@Robert – I’m not sure why providing a platform for recommended resources we like is such a negative thing. This is not designed to stop anyone from doing anything – quite the contrary. We’ve already had some awesome resources submitted – some of which we’d never have found ourselves – and will provide immense value to some of our readers, some of whom we met at the weekend and who I *know* will love them & find them very useful.
@Alex Fayle – thanks Alex, glad you can see the positive intention behind this.