I did it. I jumped on a bandwagon.
For a very long while, I've wrestled with the question of monetization for this blog. While it is generally pretty affordable to host, it's not a non-zero cost, and as I look towards my future there is a good chance I will choose to trade financial abundance for emotional balance; which means I'm spending a lot of time scrutinizing my expenses, and making plans to maintain the ones that bring me joy.
At this point in my life, climbing the career ladder and earning that next raise and promotion doesn't interest me. The purpose I get out of my work today is only a fraction of the work that I do. It's the mentorship, counseling, inspiration, education, and support of the people around me that drives me.
I want to inject more of that into my life. In fact, I feel strongly that it is the purpose of my life, to lift others up.
All I need to do it is what the most ambitious people in the world will never have: enough.
Enough to take care of my family. Enough to put a roof over their heads. Enough to feed them, and care for them. Enough to maintain a happy home. Enough to live my values, without feeling constantly compelled to compromise them.
But I don't want to monetize my blog to do it. I don't want to taint it with ads, and I don't want to feel compelled to inject affiliate posts just to earn a buck. I like to build and write because I like it, and I won't compromise that just to replace one financially-driven choice with another.
Instead, I want to create multiple paths for those that like what I am putting out into the world to show their support for it. While I haven't quite figured out what paths I want to create, I do know that the world is more than monetary.
If you want to throw a buck my way to help me stay caffeinated, you will have my gratitude and appreciation, because money apparently costs money. But if instead you've got some writing that needs writing, or code that needs coding, or even if you just want to send me a note of appreciation to buoy my spirits, I would absolutely love to hear from you.
As you can tell, I'm not good at the "personal marketing" game. But that's kind of the point, isn't it?
In the end, all I care about is that I'm putting some value out into the world, and if you think that's worth buying me a coffee, then please do... or don't. I'll keep writing and building anyway :-).
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If you like this post or one of my projects, you can buy me a coffee, or send me a note. I'd love to hear from you!
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This is post 041 of #100DaysToOffload