The perfect timing will never come; it’s for you to create it
Launch day… serendipitously on International Happiness Day
Hi there!
It’s ironic really how I’ve been intentionally and transparently preparing both you, dear readers, and myself for the day I launch the paid feature for Follow Your Gut, yet now that the day is here I feel less prepared than ever.
It embodies the obscure reality of a lot of things in life; you simply can’t plan how you’ll feel in situations you’re yet to experience.
Personally, I’ve run an online art business for 7 years. It’s not the first time that I launch a new product or get paid for my creative work. But it’s the first time I do it on Substack and for work of this nature.
At first my rational mind tried to speak sense with me and push the date even further (until I felt really ready). In truth, I’ve already pushed it 357 readers beyond the initial milestone of a 1000.
But my gut stepped in and informed me that it would feel inauthentic and disingenuous to keep pushing (at least without inviting you behind the scenes).
Ps. I just realized that today (20th of March) serendipitously got named the “International day of happiness” by the United Nations in 2012 as a way to encourage awareness around the importance for people to feel happy with their lives. I LOVE that.
So here’s the truth
The real reason I’ve pushed the date is because I’m still re-reading and re-editing my first self-published book ‘When will you get a real job?’ (2019). The book is one of the perks you’ll receive as a downloadable e-book (kindle file) immediately upon joining my paid tier… that is, as soon as the edits are finished…
I’m accepting the reality that the perfect timing will never come. Instead I take ownership of the situation and decide that the perfect timing is right now.
By opening the doors for enrolment in advance I consciously create a self-imposed deadline to finish the final details within a month from today (this will ensure that you who graciously choose to join now, whether yearly or monthly, will have a chance to download the book and be free to leave after the first month (technically giving you the chance to get my book for 5 bucks).
Naturally, I hope you’ll want to stick around a bit longer, but that’s up to you of course, no harsh feelings, promise ❤️
Side note: I’ve also started writing on the sequel of the first book, which will be included for paid members as well (though there’s no set deadline due to motherhood so you can choose to ignore this side note if it doesn’t feel relevant).
Current working title of book #2 is ‘How to keep your “real” job’, as a reflection of the reality that it’s one thing to launch a creative business and another to sustain it for years to come (and of course… continuing the provocation around what a real job is, because I still find it intruiging).
In all honesty, I never imagined what an emotional labour it would be to re-read something I had deemed completed.
When will you get a real job? reflects the first couple of years of accidentally becoming a self-employed artist.
It’s a case study (just about 36,000 words) written in real time, partly because I felt incredibly frustrated at the time (2017/2018) not being able to find relatable stories from artists who were building in the era of social media, so I decided to write it myself.
The title ‘When will you get a real job?’, is simply the most frequently asked question in those early days (I’m sure many of you can relate…).
To read it is emotional in part because we (my husband and I) made it through with our art all these years… and in part because I wrote it before our children entered the world and motherhood drowned old versions of myself.
Reading, to some extent, is bringing parts of the old me into the new upgraded version of me, which feels expansive.
Maybe this part wasn’t forgotten, but rather slumbered in the deep dark corners of my soul waiting to re-enter the spotlight when the time was right.
If anything, I’m blown away by the clarity of our vision and motivation to create a life of creative independence and autonomy from the start. A life designed by following our guts (full circle moment here!).
In addition to the chronological storyline, it’s packed with reflections on what we did, how we did it and why I think some things worked better than others in an attempt to transparently invite you into the process (and hopefully help to reflect on your own journey to creative success too).
That’s the book part; Now the newsletter part…
In the name of transparency, you don’t have to upgrade to still be able to enjoy the majority of my letters.
I have big dreams for this publication, not only personally life-changing ones, but more so potentially life changing for others too, which means that I still aim to reach more readers.
As a result it’s only logical to keep the majority (read: about 75-80%) free. AND, I don’t want to push anyone who isn’t financially able to pay for writing they didn’t knew they needed.
What do I mean with life changing for others?
Another reason for the delayed launch was due to indecisiveness around how to incorporate my heart-lead projects.
At the end I came back to the KISS principle: to Keep It Stupid Simple (for the sake of both you and I).
As such (instead of creating a separate publication), 30% of all profits from this newsletter will go straight into the current heart project that I’m developing with my midwife Sandra; Women empowerment through midwifery education and birth centres in rural Nepal.
Why?
Sandra changed my life and now I want to change hers by using my skills in art, writing and entrepreneurship to raise funds and develop educative materials. In turn, she’ll be able to follow her dream and gut to support women around the world in their most vulnerable stages of pregnancy, birth and post-partum.
She already has her heart and a foot in Nepal through an organisation that is working to support women locally, so that felt like a good place to start.
I’ll share the behind the scenes here on Substack as things progress, including experiences and insights into building a non-profit venture alongside a for-profit creative arts pursuit.
It’s still early on and lots to do, but if there’s anything Sandra has taught me through our friendship, it’s that even when you don’t have much in terms of finances, there’s always something you can do to better the day for someone else.
This newsletter, being a new passion project for me, will be the space where I explore things further. Both how I can support YOU with reflective writing of what it means to live a creative life (both personally and professionally), as well as how I can leverage impact by splitting profits with others in need too.
I don’t have the financial means to help alone, but together we can maybe make a difference.
Ps. If this project speaks to you, please feel free to reach out to me in DMs if you have ideas or want to get more involved.
Last but not least… Let’s address the elephant in the room: payment and currencies
I set the launch offer (after much contemplation) to 5€/month and 25€/year. The main reason being that I want to incentives yearly sign-ups for this first launch to avoid a big drop off after the first month + to get a chance to deepen our relationship with one another (to fall in love with an author’s writing takes time…)
The launch will end when the “Get a real job book” is available for download, which will happen in maximum 30 days from now.
After the launch is finished, price will increase to 6€/month and 50€/year. I will never make a 25€/year deal again to honour yearly early bird sign-ups who believe in me from the beginning.
Currency discrepancies is a real deal. Having lived across countries and continents I know it first hand and want to invite everyone who is affected by this to reach out in DMs and I’ll match the price as best as I can to your location. (Including you who aren’t in a place to financially contribute at all, but have reasons to think my work can help you in any way).
Brief behind the scenes of this letter for those who enjoy some extra spice
As promised the entirety of this launch sequence is written as transparently as possible to truthfully reflect what goes on behind the curtains of a creative online business. It’s why I scrapped my initial plan of a more professional (perhaps boring?) launch - this letter reflects the infusion of spontaneity (in an intentional way of course).
In fact, transparency and honesty is what I believe (after observing the shift in the online marketing space through the years) to be the most viable strategy in the current environment.
For example, I can only speak from my own experience, but considering a growth of 0-1357 readers in about 3,5 months (I didn’t transfer any email list over, so this is all grown within the Substack network as a creative experience to test my theories…), my tactics have so far played out in my favour (and I’ll break down more of some things I’ve done as we go along).
The launch, which will have subsequent emails, will all be free to read (and to analyze if you so wish). If this intrigues you, regardless of whether it’s the good time for you to upgrade financially or not, you may like the next letter which will outline in more detail my decisions and reflections on how to position my offering in response to the reader survey on Paid newsletters that I sent out at the beginning of the month.
You can read the results of the survey here in case you missed it.
You are also warmly invited to check out the archive if you wish to familiarise yourself a bit more with my writing before making a decision
Thank you so much for reading and considering to upgrade (now, later or never ❤️)
Elin, X
Ps. I’d love to hear your experience of launching a new project… Have you turned on the paid feature yet? Yes/No, what was the biggest struggle?
And to your question, I have paid turned on but never announced it properly as I have no time and strategy behind it and no benefits. I might turn it off again and link to buymeacoffee.com instead. Currently all money from my paid subscription would go to a charity of my choice as I have other income streams.
Once my substack grows more, I’ll revisit how I feel about paid. Currently I can’t stick to a regular writing schedule so it just feels fair to not charge I guess. I don’t know 🤷♀️
So exciting Elin! Looking forward to reading the book when it’s ready and supporting your beautiful projects! 🪄