Unless you are particularly sour to such things, you may have noticed that something is lacking on this project: Advertising.
There are no popups. There is no paywall. There are no subscriptions or memberships or signups. There are no requests for donations or me begging for money (and no, this is not one of them.) It is not an oversight or a bait-and-switch or a free trial until I get bigger and need revenue.
It’s purposeful. It’s philosophical. Probably a little privileged, sure, but it’s what I believe is right for at least some of the work I make.
It’s not that I haven’t and don’t elsewhere dabble in trying to earn some side cash from my online projects. I’m not independently wealthy or above paying basic bills. Monetization was my mild obsession for a while, actually, to offset costs. But I can tell you the two big things that side-hustle culture doesn’t easily result in for me: cash flow and happiness.
We have been deceived into believing that everything we make, every word we write, every note we play, every photo we take, every art we create, and every word we utter should be part of a brand, a pitch, our creative time building to some kind of passive income fever dream of pretend financial freedom.
But it doesn’t always need to. Shouldn’t always need to.
And I should not need to explain that. I shouldn’t need to justify creating and sharing a thing like this site for the simple joy of it. I shouldn’t need to make an excuse for giving these words out for free because it makes me happy to write them, record them, and post them.
Making stuff for the sake of simply making it can be an important kind of intrinsic compensation, too.
Terms FROm this POSt
- brand
- Even seasoned advertising and marketing folks sometimes struggle to pin this definition to the ground, but in essence it implies more than a logo or a tag line. A brand is the entirety of how one is perceived by the public, and it can be inclusive of, yes, logos, colours and names, but also values, vibe, and style. Corporate brands are common, but personal brands are an idea that has gained particular prominence in the internet era when people put on a public persona that represents their effort to influence others or promote their ideas, politics, or work.
- monetization
- When I think about this term it often strikes me as a shift in business rather than an initial plan. It seems very much like someone started off making something for free and was giving it away, but then realized that they could make money off it so started selling it instead. I know it is often more complex than this, but the vibe is one of realizing that something has more worth than originally planned or intended and changing the model once it is popular.
- paywall
- Not everything can necessarily be free. People need to eat. But the concept of a paywall often has a negative connotation: in that seeking compensation for a product, someone has been lured to that product, tempted with a partial or incomplete product, and then asked to pay money in order to see the rest. We all understand that stuff costs money, but paywalls have the vibe of something that feels like it was offered for free but the reality of the “wall” sets in when one is partially through enjoying the product.
