An Update + A Request
Read the Episode Instead
Hey, y'all!
Bit of an odd episode this time around. Given I've been relatively silent in terms of my writing/standard newsletter and am in a moment of transition with the podcast, I wanted to give you an update (and make a request for your input). Here's a link to listen to this week's show (only ~20 minutes long), if you'd prefer to listen. Otherwise, here are more details than I even go into in the audio episode —
The Newsletter
It's coming back soon! I can't say exactly when yet, but I *am* finally feeling more rested and nourished. This last week, I actually felt the intense itch to write return, and I can't wait to share with you what I've been processing lately.
Doing More Video
I'm gearing up to produce more and higher-quality video. You know, just some background & office improvements, as well as perhaps a slightly nicer camera, so things look better and everything is more compelling for you to watch. Honestly, I feel I'm able to do video a bit more frequently, too, just because it can be an easier medium for me to hop on and share than the energy required for writing and editing newsletters. So, I'm excited to get things more set up and to experiment a bit.
The Podcast
Here's the big news: I've officially hired a podcast production team! It took a lot of work over the last several weeks to find someone that felt right to hire, and now it's a pretty substantial amount of work to get them onboarded—showing them all of the details surrounding how I produce every episode so that they can begin to take it from here. I'll still be the one finding and booking guests, and, of course, hosting the conversations. But other than that, this team will now be doing everything else: editing the content, mixing the audio, creating the show notes and graphics, posting to social media in relation to the podcast, and sending you episode announcements via this newsletter. As you might imagine, this is a costly move but one I'm excited to make. I feel like it marks a huge transition point, which feels fitting for where I'm at right now.
Being Interviewed Elsewhere
In addition to taking over the production of the show, I'm hiring my new team to pitch me as a guest on a lot of other podcasts so that I can start to really grow This Plus That and the community surrounding it. So far, you can hear me on the Follow Your Curiosity podcast and the You Know Everything podcast, but I'm invested in doing more soon! (If you love a show and think I should be on it, reply here and let me know!)
I'm also considering...
Expanding into a Community Platform
Many of you have expressed a desire to engage with me more directly and to be able to talk about topics that come up on the podcast (and maybe even my newsletters) beyond what you're able to do now. As it stands, you can only read and reply here or listen to the show and ruminate on it by yourself. I'd like to create a space where all of this is possible. But, thinking about how to best do it has required...
Some Reflections on "Living in the Gift"
Wanting to live as much as possible in "the gift"—only asking that people pay me for this work if it inspires gratitude in them AND if they are resourced to do it, while also allowing them to dictate when and to what degree that happens—has made me reticent to put some of my content behind a paywall because it didn't feel like "gift economy" ethics. But, my friend Kyle reminded me that putting some things behind a paywall isn't the problem; it's what kinds of things we put behind a paywall and in what way that matters.
I'm still learning more about the idea of "artificial scarcity," but here's what I think I'm understanding so far: One of the ways we create false scarcity is by limiting access to content that only has to be created once and then can be infinitely copied forever, without any ongoing time, money, and energy (like some digital courses, for instance).
This Plus That, on the other hand, is not artificially scarce. I actually only have so much time to "labor" each day, and continuing to create these things requires both a lot of time and money. Expanding what I do into hosting more direct dialogue and community with all of you will require even more of it. This is my gift to give, and my writing and the podcast are my art, so it is my joy to do it! Still, part of living into the gift economy is more fully believing that we deserve to be supported for giving the things that make us come most alive, and doing this makes me come alive.
Plus, letting people know how they can pay you and what is most supportive of you in making your work sustainable isn't living *outside* of the gift economy. That is still part of the nature of the gift.
Living fully in the gift often doesn't happen all at once, either. That's not something I would recommend, for you or for me. My best hope is to continue doing it at my growth edge, encouraging myself (and you) to take whatever *next* step into "the gift" makes sense right now, based on the full context of your current life. For me, my current growth edges look like:
Speaking up more often (producing more content where I'm the one writing or speaking)
Taking the financial risk to hire a podcast team & invest substantially in growing my audience so that I can make this work sustainable, not only to pay for the expenses required to create and produce the newsletter and podcast but to pay myself a living wage (and more, hopefully)
Asking for support more directly and more often (aaaaah! why is this so hard?!)
And, being even more vulnerable by launching a community where I engage in real-time with you
All that being said, I have...
A Request for You
What kinds of things do you wish existed when you read my newsletters or listen to the podcast? What would get you SO PUMPED to have and make YOU feel seen and supported and encouraged if it existed, enough that you'd be willing to pay for gated content (behind a paywall, like you see with Patreon, etc.)? Podcast club, like a book club, but to discuss the show? Live chats with my podcast guests? Q&A sessions where we encourage each other to do more work that makes us come alive and you can ask me about my process? Something(s) else?
Would you let me know? Email me and I'll personally respond!
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Credits
Audio mixing by Joshua LaBure. All of my music is provided by the in-house musicians at Slip.stream.
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