241: Finding Freedom and Financial Reciprocity through a Paid Newsletter with Nic Antoinette
Nov 14, 2023
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Nic Antoinette, creator of a private paid Substack, discusses the challenges of sharing personal experiences for content creation while maintaining boundaries. They also explore the importance of prioritizing mental health, redefining success, and navigating financial insecurity as business owners.
Setting boundaries in sharing personal information online and considering the intentions behind sharing content.
Exploring financial accessibility in creative work and balancing the delivery of valuable content with personal well-being.
Embracing a small and intimate business model and prioritizing personal reflection and creative autonomy.
Deep dives
Shifting Priorities and the Importance of Financial Reciprocity
The podcast episode explores the host's shift in priorities and the importance of financial reciprocity in their creative work. They discuss the decision to switch to a paid format for their writing and the surprising enjoyment and sense of freedom it brought. The hosts reflect on the idea of building a right-sized work life and resisting societal pressures for a big career. They also discuss setting boundaries and not over-giving in their work, while still providing value to their paid subscribers.
Navigating Boundaries and Exploring Nuances in Online Presence
The hosts delve into the topic of boundaries in sharing personal information online and the nuances of self-expression. They share their experiences with uncomfortable exposure and discuss finding alternative ways to connect with an audience, such as using art instead of personal photos. They emphasize the importance of self-reflection and creating a job description for oneself in the online space, rather than conforming to societal expectations or trends. The hosts encourage a more thoughtful and intentional approach to sharing content online.
Financial Accessibility and Reflecting on Expectations
The podcast episode explores the topic of financial accessibility in creative work and the host's concerns about making their content accessible to all audiences. They discuss offering sliding scales and scholarships in their other offerings, while considering how to incorporate financial accessibility in their paid subscription format. The hosts also reflect on the expectations placed on them as creators and the balance between delivering valuable content and maintaining personal well-being. They discuss the need for self-care, setting boundaries, and not feeling pressured to over-give.
Finding the Right Size Business: Embracing a Tiny Business Model
The podcast episode explores the speaker's journey in understanding the kind of business they want to build. They emphasize the importance of not feeling the need to scale to a large business and instead embracing a tiny business model. The speaker discusses their preference for staying connected to the work, facilitating small and intimate spaces, and having time and creative autonomy. They also highlight the value of reflection and self-awareness in determining the right size business.
Navigating the Balance of Honesty and Privacy in Content Creation
The episode delves into the speaker's approach in sharing personal experiences in their writing and content creation while maintaining boundaries and honoring their own healing process. They discuss the importance of personal reflection and intuition in deciding what feels good to share and what may be cannibalizing their healing. The speaker emphasizes the need to avoid performative vulnerability or sharing for the sake of clicks, focusing instead on the meaningful and mundane aspects of honesty that can provide value to readers.
“You do not need to cannibalize your healing for content.” Today, I’m in conversation with longtime blog-turned-IRL friend Nic Antoinette, diving deeper into her decision to shut down her Patreon community (taking a $30,000/year haircut to do so), then pivoting to a private paid Substack while she navigated her way through decisions about what might follow.
We discuss the generosity of being honest, the trap of wanting to be special, knowing where to draw the line on how much or how little you share, and much more. Be sure to also check out our earlier Pivot conversation in episode 342: “Whatever Comes Through Me Comes for Me First,” with Nicole Antoinette.
More About Nic: Nicole Antoinette is a writer, long-distance hiker, and former indoor kid who never imagined she’d wind up spending months of each year pooping in the woods. In 2017, stuck in a loop of codependency and people-pleasing, Nicole set off to find her self-belief and inner resilience by doing something she did not for one second believe she could actually do. The results are two adventure memoirs, How To Be Alone: An 800-mile hike on the Arizona Trail, and What We Owe to Ourselves, and a weekly Substack newsletter called Wild Letters.
🌟 3 Key Takeaways
Spirals of intimacy: who has access to which parts of you, and when, and why?
Before posting, ask: What am I hoping to gain from sharing this? Is it coming from a place of your ego seeking validation, or does it feel “true and good” to share?
Remember: (Almost) all deadlines are arbitrary!
📝 Permission
Go your own way: if you are going to use a certain platform or give a certain type of offering, you don’t have to opt into the ways other people are using that offering.
✅ Do (or delegate) this next
For an existing program, reflect on how you might realign with your strengths, energy, and values. Ask, “What does this offering really want to be?”
