Look, here's the thing: this website is a work in progress. I once heard a startup advisor and investor describe entrepreneurship like this:
"Jumping out of an airplane, and building your own parachute as you're falling, hoping you can get it together before you hit the ground."
That's a pretty good definition, I think. We're doing crazy things—building things as we use them, stepping out in faith, jumping across the chasm without a net... pick your metaphor.
It's a crazy thing we do as entrepreneurs. A lot of times, it doesn't make sense on paper or on a calculator... and yet, somehow, we survive, and we're still here. So what does that have to do with membership? Everything!
I'm a full-time solopreneur. I work all day, at least six days a week trying to run this crazy little business I started many years ago. It works, but just barely. Every week and every month, it's a wonder if we can just survive. But somehow, we do.
Free Soloing, this new passion of mine, is the same kind of thing: I'm building it from the ground up, in my spare time, without any help, hoping that somehow, it will not suck, it will help others, and it will make sense in the end. But that's a big gamble. I have absolutely zero percent certainty. The odds are against me, and I will probably fail. Most new businesses do.
But anyway, I'm trying to build a resource and community for freelancers and solopreneurs just like me. I'm casting the vision, doing the work, and funding it all myself. But finding a way to recoup some of the costs wouldn't suck, too.
So that's why I've created a few membership tiers here:
Hobbyist: $100/year (or $10/mo)
That is the smallest one. It's the basic level of support that gets you email notifications whenever anything new is posted here, you'll get full access to every article here—without any tricks, annoying paywalls, or "subscribe to read the rest of the article" crap. (Seriously: this level costs just $8.33/month if you pay annually. Even I can afford this!)
Freelancer: $300/year (or $30/mo)
This amount (should be) less than three hours' worth of your billable time. Can you find a way to squeeze in three additional billable hours per year by becoming a member of Free Soloing? I sure hope so!
Plus, in addition to everything at the Hobbyist level, and you'll get merch: I have hats that are pretty cool, AND you can join in either a monthly coaching session or monthly discussion group with other people just like you. Community is important!
Founder: $1,000/year (or $100/mo)
Do you have a business that serves freelancers or solopreneurs? This is the level for you: you'll be a named sponsor, you get merch, and you get access to everything we create and we'll make sure people know you support freelancers and solopreneurs.
Interested? Great! Not interested? That's okay too. I promise to give away free, helpful content on a regular basis with zero tricks: none of those obnoxious "sign up for 50% off — expires in 12 hours!" garbage, or tricking you into having to get text messages on your phone in order to read a cheat sheet or PDF download.
That's crappy, insulting, and unhelpful. This is just a free publication from a guy who cares, and who aims to treat others the way he wants to be treated. If this isn't a profitable endeavor, well, that's okay. Because as I've said, I still work full-time as a solopreneur, and I'm okay with that. I don't need to make money here. I'd like to offset my costs, but if I don't, no big deal.
Who knows if this will work? Nobody does... but I'm willing to give it a shot. Do you want to join? I'll be forever grateful if you do. And if you have an alternative idea about how to support the cause, just email me and get in touch. I promise I'll respond to every inquiry.
Thanks!
Ron Stauffer