Do ya REALLY need a dangling carrot, to do the right thing?

I had to laugh. Substack sent me an email about incorporating “referrals” into my subscriber newsletter format. It’s’ not that their intentions aren’t lofty, or they don’t want to help their contributors reach a broader audience… but I doubt you’ll catch me taking advantage of this “new” feature.

I’m not wanting to ramble on about this, I merely want you to get better acquainted with me. My writings are spontaneous. They spring from whatever I’m feeling inspired or passionate about in the moment, and they’re cathartic for me. Hopefully, they’ll shed a little light on issues maybe nobody’s ever touched on with you, and you can store extra knowledge for a rainy day, when ya might need it.

In any case, this is WHY I anticipate never having you PAY to subscribe to my Substack newsletter (NADA. Not one single dollar!) or bribe you to refer your friends, so they’ll “follow” me. The reason is, I am an educator at heart.

Aside from all my other talents and abilities, this aspect is #1, and sits at the very top my totem pole. The myriad articles on my website ALL reflect this facet~ because I think deeply and broadly about various issues pertaining to the human experience, and cannot suppress SHARING what I’ve figured out during the course of my own growth and healing.

Back in 2019, I vehemently resisted the idea of monetizing my website. It ultimately became a matter of necessity, ‘cause my financial resources were wearing thin after I semi-retired. As things got a bit scary for me, I had to figure out how to stay afloat.

The offerings on my site are worth tens of thousands more than people pay, but my primary objective was to create a little passive income, to help keep the wolves from my door. Whether these measures would prove effective or not, I had no way of predicting, but took the plunge. And it helped.

Lots of people have set up their Substack Newsletters on a paid subscription basis~ and a few are well WORTH it. But I admire the hell outta those like Robert Malone, who make allowances for those of us who constitutionally resist paying to read another’s penned brilliance. I share Malone’s memes on ALL my social media platforms (at least the ones that can replicate graphics) and I love and sometimes pass along, his written offerings! I DO this, because his content has great MERIT, and I want others I know, to benefit from it as I have.

Personally, I am fundamentally against bribing you with “rewards” if you refer your friends to my site and encourage ‘em to subscribe to my FREE newsletter. Why does it feel ICKY to me? Hell if I know, because I’m absolutely certain I resolved my entitlement issues eons ago!

MY way of thinking about this stuff, is that you’re impressed enough with some of my newsletters, you can hardly WAIT to forward ‘em to a friend or relative, because ya sense they’ll RELATE to the issues on which I’m expounding. Anyhow, if ya really need that carrot to motivate you to share intellectual and/or emotional wealth, I’m truly sorry to disappoint~ but it doesn’t make me like or respect you any less.

I’m actually grateful to you for reading my meanderings, and commenting and/or liking em now and then. Without knowing it, you help keep my creative fires stoked~ and that’s damned Good Enough for Me! God bless you ALL.