Contributed by Colin Campbell, EO South Florida, is an internet pioneer since 1993 and EO member since 1996 who has built multiple companies with his partners that have a combined market value of more than US$1 billion.
Colin and partners continue to launch new companies, including Startups.club, a Fort Lauderdale incubator; Club Domains, LLC, an alternative domain extension to .com, .net, and .org with more than 1 million registrations worldwide; Entrepreneur.wiki Foundation; Serial Entrepreneur Club.
After nearly a year of pandemic life in and out of lockdowns, I felt disconnected from the rest of the world. There were no tradeshows, no traveling to customers, and no in-person EO events. I was living life “the pandemic way”. And it was getting old.
Then, I discovered Clubhouse, and everything changed. Clubhouse is an iPhone app that enables members to host and join audio—not video!—audio-only conversations with other users on an extensive variety of topics. Life seems so different after finding out about Clubhouse!
I had no idea Clubhouse even existed until registrations on my company’s domain registry .club exploded. I am the founder of the relatively new domain extension “.club,” an alternative to .com, .net, and .org. After noticing the considerable uptick in .club registrations, I posted a tweet with the headline “What the Heck.Club is Going On?” That’s when I started getting a lot of calls. It turned out that “Club owners” and individual members on Clubhouse were branding themselves using a .club domain extension.
You may not have heard about Clubhouse because it’s currently an app that you can join by invitation only. However, that will soon change, according to Paul Davison, Clubhouse’s CEO. However, there are already millions of users, including many high-level leaders in both the entrepreneurial ecosystem, Silicon Valley, and the entertainment industry.
The antidote to Zoom fatigue
For those new to the scene or still in the dark, Clubhouse is a drop-in, audio, social networking chat. If you’ve got Zoom fatigue, you’ll like this aspect of it: No video, no text, just live voice chatting. People drop in and out of “clubs” to hear experts about nearly any topic imaginable. Some choose to go on stage to talk and provide additional advice or to answer specific questions.
I have heard celebrities, influencers, and successful entrepreneurs all espousing their thoughts and ideas about topics they understand in a surprisingly intimate environment. Last night, I popped into a session to hear Kim Dotcom, and then another session with Grant Cardone, the 10X guy. I have also talked with people from every continent and just about every background.
Clubhouse reminds me of the time I spent in the 1990s launching my first company, an internet service provider in Canada. In those early internet days, there seemed to be innocence, a strong sense of community, and a willingness to share. That’s very similar to how it feels when chatting on Clubhouse today.
Through Clubhouse, I have participated in brainstorming sessions and delivered talks on entrepreneurship and domains. Some rooms have sessions with thousands of people while others are just a few clubbers ideating on the next big thing. Elon Musk busted the system when he decided to host a Clubhouse room on 31 January, talking about his newfound interest in Bitcoin.
I’ve set up a weekly session every Friday at 2 pm ET to talk about how entrepreneurs can transform their businesses or launch new companies. My Clubhouse is called Serial Entrepreneur Club. Our first meeting attracted over 50 fellow entrepreneurs coming together to ideate and collaborate.
MyEO Clubhouse
When that room started to grow and get a little too big for discussions and collaboration, I decided to launch a MyEO Event titled “ClubHouse”. We had our first closed meeting which allowed for an intimate, confidential, and safe environment. The No. 1 rule: Give to get!
To become a member of MyEO Clubhouse, you must be an EO member with a thirst for learning. Although we experienced technical difficulties because the room was exclusively for MyEO members, it was still a magical moment. I really got to connect with other EO members around the world in a very intimate and safe way.
I truly believe, much like the adoption of dial-up, broadband, and social networking, that Clubhouse represents another pivotal moment in internet history. Clubhouse is a true paradigm shift that will see businesses and industries massively disrupted while at the same time opening the flood gates to huge opportunities for entrepreneurs to embrace the new change.
How to join MyEO Clubhouse
If you’re an EO member who wants to join MyEO Clubhouse, sign up via the MyEO page on eonetwork.org and search for Clubhouse. If you’re a Clubhouse member who would like to join our 2:00 pm ET Friday Serial Entrepreneur Club sessions, we post the schedule on Serial Entrepreneur Club.
If you’re new to Clubhouse and want to access all it has to offer, go to www.join.club on your iPhone browser to download the app, and set up an account. If you don’t have an invitation to join, email me at colin@campbell.club and I will help you get activated.
While the Clubhouse app only works on iPhone at this stage, Android access is coming in May.
Talk to you in Clubhouse! @colin.club