Everybody wants to receive the offer Johnson made to Hicks. Everyone wants to have the power doors thrown wide open. They want to hear, ” Here you go They think this is what will happen.
Just don’t understand the dangers of this path. They don’t understand the strings attached and how their freedom is more valuable than anything else.
Ryan Holiday
I answered “ yes
Last week I reached the 40,000-subscriber mark for Young Money. It’s a great way to start Summer 2023.
In April 2022 I found myself in a very different situation. 13 months ago I had fewer than 6,000 subscribers, and a lot of life decisions were looming. I had to make a decision about whether I wanted to go to NYC to attend Business School
After a year living carefree, I was intrigued by the idea that I could do my There were some signs that I had gained momentum. My growth rate was increasing, big names were listening to Young Money and,
I had only one problem: I hadn’t made any money from this.
While I romanticized the idea that I could say ” F*ck this system, I will do what I
There are two ways you can monetize your blog/newsletter: 1) subscriptions paid and 2) advertising.
Advertising is a great way to monetize content without having to sacrifice growth. Plus, ads look official. In my mind, I thought that running an advertisement on my blog would be a sign that I’d “made it
I was desperate to get my first sponsorship.
Around the same time last year, a well-known cryptocurrency exchange had a marketing budget that seemed to be unlimited.
The company in question was FTX.
FTX US was preparing to introduce a stock trading platform and wanted to partner with financial publications and writers for An ad agency with whom I’d previously worked asked me 1) if I would be able to help with
I was able to write some copy for their new trading/investing platform. Running an FTX ad in my blog was a different story. This made me feel a little apprehensive.
It was true that I wanted to sponsor a cryptocurrency exchange, but I also had to ask myself, did I really want After all, I was a outspoken cryptocurrency skeptic. But I wouldn’t actually be promoting crypto. I would advertise a stock trading system… which happened to be owned a crypto company. P
We often only consider the benefits of contracts, offers and favors.
“She’ll pay me $20,000 as a sponsor deal?”
“They’ll set me up with a penthouse if I am willing to move?”
“The bonus amount is $100,000?”
“He wants me to buy that new suit/watch/car?”
seductive is the only way to describe it. The point is to make it clear. Every asset comes with a liability, and each benefit has its own cost.
What was I risking by signing the FTX contract? ~$500 per ad? What if FTX collapsed in 2022? It would not have mattered if I had “just advertised FTX US stock trading platform” because I would be another promoter linked to a scam. You can’t exchange $1500 in order to keep your reputation intact.
I was fortunate that 1) This was a brief-term campaign; 2) I was adamant I would ONLY refer to their stock platform/refer FTX US to readers as an “all in one” solution. 3) I quickly corrected my mistake and apologized, and 4) many people smarter than myself were drinking the FTX Kool Aid at the time.
FTX’s failure was a warning to me. I was close to suffering some serious collateral damages.
A bad sponsorship deal can be rectified in the short term. We all face tempting and seemingly lucrative “offers”, which can be difficult to resist.
- Promotions can bring you prestige and big bonuses… but they also take away your time and freedom.
- Favors can open doors that were previously closed… but they also become permanent IOUs.
- You can get a scholarship to attend school for free, but you must dedicate at least 50 hours a week to your sport.
- Startups are acquired by companies, but the founders must sign non-compete agreements and stay at their new firm for a minimum of two years.
- You lose control of your book and your potential upside when you accept a lucrative advance from a publishing house.
List goes on. It’s not all bad. But if you don’t consider the costs that aren’t monetary, you could find yourself in a difficult situation. Many seemingly good things can be well-disguised pitfalls.
Beware of “wins” which can permanently affect your ability to control your future. Bonuses and gifts that seem generous on the surface may be a gateway drug to a lifestyle where you are forced to keep that high-dollar salary. While big checks and sponsorships may improve your financial position in the short-term, they can undermine the audience trust which made your content valuable in the beginning.
Next time you are considering a proposal – whether it’s a job offer, a favor, a promotion or anything else – ask yourself this question:
