First of all, thanks to everyone who signed up. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. The good news is that I have quite a few more Founding Members than I expected, and I’m really excited to get started with our mastermind sessions. I’ll let you know more about that very soon. (If you have’t seen my subscription announcement, it’s here.)
Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten as many Paid Subscribers as I’d hoped. As I said initially, this is a test. I’m kind of trying to have my cake and eat it, too. I’m asking people to pay for the Morning Report on a voluntary basis — leaving it available for free in the hope that that will make it easier for new readers to discover it. That may have been a tad unrealistic. We’re all busy. None of us are looking to do things we don’t really have to do. And we’re not used to paying for something that others get for free. I can’t really say for certain what I would have done if offered the same choice.
In any case, I’ll probably make a decision in the coming weeks but my guess is that I will have to put up a paywall and force people to pay if they want to read the Morning Report. Over the years, I’ve had many conversations about the fact that business plans tend to require adjustment once they hit the market. And now I’m experiencing that first hand, which is part of the reason I wanted to take this leap.
If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to use the comment section below. If you’re ready to subscribe, you can do that as well. Thank you all!
Thanks for your comment, David. I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to do, but I definitely don't want to charge anyone who is not in a position to pay. I appreciate this reminder and will definitely keep it in mind.
I only just found 21 Hats this week so have been using this week to “try it out.” I am still evaluating but in the meantime I offer the following observation/suggestion: hybrid. In order to keep building your subscriber base people need access to try it out. If you put up the paywall for everything you might lose more than you hoped to gain, given that we all have many options for daily curated news content. That said, you’re entitled to be paid for your work/service. You might consider marking some of the stories as “premium content” for which a small fee is charged and introducing a premium content subscription… maybe tie a discount for “shares” that emanate from your site to build exposure. Just a thought…
Thanks for the suggestion, Ken. Like Harry, I am a little wary of building something on Facebook at this point in time. That said, I take your point about finding another platform to offer content and community. It's something I'm giving a lot of thought.
One of my biggest irks with summary newsletters are links to other paywalled information such as NY Times (seems to be the largest source) or other places paywalled sites. Fast Company is the most guilty of them, I think.
As a retiree living on Social Security, I can no longer afford paid subscriptions. A paywall will effectively block me from your information.
Thanks for your comment, David. I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to do, but I definitely don't want to charge anyone who is not in a position to pay. I appreciate this reminder and will definitely keep it in mind.
I only just found 21 Hats this week so have been using this week to “try it out.” I am still evaluating but in the meantime I offer the following observation/suggestion: hybrid. In order to keep building your subscriber base people need access to try it out. If you put up the paywall for everything you might lose more than you hoped to gain, given that we all have many options for daily curated news content. That said, you’re entitled to be paid for your work/service. You might consider marking some of the stories as “premium content” for which a small fee is charged and introducing a premium content subscription… maybe tie a discount for “shares” that emanate from your site to build exposure. Just a thought…
It's a good thought, Joan. Thank you. I do hope to craft something along those lines. And thanks for trying us out!
How about a free newsletter put a paid facebook group, with some content extras. That model has worked very well for The Hustle
That would effectively cut out everyone (including me) that refuse to use Facebook.
Thanks for the suggestion, Ken. Like Harry, I am a little wary of building something on Facebook at this point in time. That said, I take your point about finding another platform to offer content and community. It's something I'm giving a lot of thought.
One of my biggest irks with summary newsletters are links to other paywalled information such as NY Times (seems to be the largest source) or other places paywalled sites. Fast Company is the most guilty of them, I think.