Wow, great thread Chris!
Good enough that someone told me to get over here and read it, and I finally created an account. Please, no flaming me yet please I’m new here…hehe
You are right, there has been a lot of people come in go over the years. I think most of all in this industry, what may have worked for a person yesterday will not always work tomorrow. I think sometimes that's hard to grasp for people, especially when a person or company comes into the industry and the first thing they try is successful. Then later when that stops working, they continue to do the same things until they close their doors.
More than anything I think to be around in 5 years, you have to be willing to evolve to your environment, and not become a dinosaur
I'm sure the next five years will bring about new laws, new ways of getting traffic, new ways of keeping members happy, new ways of billing members, and new ways of delivering content. I think you have to be willing to take a chance here and there. And as I personally know from the past some of ideas will work and some will become mistakes and cost tons of money, but as long as you recognize your failures and build upon them you can make it in this industry.