It was almost a year ago now (January 2011) when Steve and I were hanging out in Las Vegas conceptualizing TLB.

At the time it seemed like a (really) good idea to create a 12-month program split into two core parts:

1. being an affiliate (6 months)
2. then operating as a vendor (6 months)

However … it was the same time (evil) Steve introduced me to Blue Moon beer. It was love at first sight.

… so I think the gorgeous Belgian White played a hand in that "damn good idea".

Truth is … it wasn't such a hot idea in the end. But it has taken us almost 5 months to understand that.

Our original master plan wasn't all that far off though.

Creating stuff that matters to the people you care about serving is an iterative process. We know that.

Having the flexibility to learn, then adapt (pivot) accordantly — is what leads to something that is truly remarkable. And we want nothing less for TLB.

Since launching TLB on July 18th, 2011 — we've learned (discovered) a number of things:

• Not everyone wants to be an affiliate.
• Not everyone wants to be a vendor and product owner/creator.
• Because everyone is progressing at a different speed — forcing everyone to move on to vendor training (ready or not) is hardly ideal.

The most scalable TLB is always going to be when you're a product owner — creating value for and focusing on your tribe of customers. No question about that.

But at the same time we appreciate that not everyone wants the responsibility of creating products and leading a tribe.

The "affiliate lifestyle" (no products, no customers) is sexy as hell. We know. We've both been there.

Beach. Laptop. Cocktail in hand, earning a living online.

It's a beautiful thing.

But we don't feel it's right that we proscribe what you should do.

… as in force feed you vendor training if you're only interested in being an affiliate — or vise versa.

As you know, we're all about understanding the needs of our tribe and then servicing that need. That's core to everything we do (and teach).

So we've decided to completely separate the two core components of the training — and create a separate product for each:

• TLB Affiliate Edition (TLB-AE)
• TLB Vendor Edition (TLB-VE)

We're now renaming this part of the training to TLB Affiliate Edition (or TLB-AE for short).

It will be 7 months long (you're 4½ months into that now).

… meaning that January 18th 2012 will be your LAST $39.95 rebill.

Meaning you would have graduated through the complete TLB (Affiliate Edition) training. Yay! :)

We'll start working on TLB-VE in the new year.

TLB-VE will be a bit different to AE. There'll be an entrance requirement.

You'll need to ALREADY have a business (affiliate or vendor based ) that's earning $2,000/mo or more to qualify.

But for for now, TLB-AE is about getting you up to that point (at a minimum). And that's where our complete focus is right now.

We're excited about these changes to TLB.

We're doing this for you, our tribe. So we'd love to hear what you think — positive or negative (use the comments below).