What am I doing?

Seriously.

What am I doing?

I have been asking myself this lately.

I have been reevaluating what it is I want all of these spaces I am active in to be...or even if I want to exist in this many spaces.

I have been in talks with a few about starting an app, in talks with a couple about actually making that happen, and in talks about branching out away from IG and FB.

I really do give so much away for free. And not just content but myself.

Advocacy is work. It is often thankless, tireless, demanding work. And for many of us who do this type of work, we cannot literally work, so content creation becomes a literal job for us.

I never set out to generate an income from this. I just wanted to cultivate a community that wanted to change the world. I soon learned that it is incredibly difficult to show up in the way I would like on these platforms without some kind of income to keep on keeping on.

One, this is actual labor if you are providing some substantive content.

Two, to even "compete" and I even hate to say that for advocacy but when you are on an online platform where the algorithm is King, you are literally competing for exposure, you most often have to devote time, and often resources into things that will help you stand out. Like the pro version of editing apps like Canva or some video editing program for your reels, etc.

Three, if you are like me and do some things outside of here that require connection with others, those things can cost money too, like Zoom memberships, etc. Even keeping your internet/phone on and connected is an expense.

There's a lot more I could list off but I will stop there.

For me, time is a big thing for me. I homeschool, I have two children who need a lot of attention, and so time between here and there is vital. The resources and income I generate from these spaces helps me to care for them and this is incredible especially being a one income household whose secondary insurance for the boys (medicaid) hardly pays for anything and we move every other week.

I feel as though it is time for me to make some changes.

I want ownership of my content. I want to own my work. And if I want to make money from it, I want to be able to do that without the fees and whatnot. I don't own my stuff on here. Or IG. Or FB. Or Substack. I want to branch into consulting. I have done a bit of it this year and I think I am actually pretty good at it. I want to do webinars from my own website. I want to be able to work smarter and not harder.

I want to be able to show up in these spaces and not feel burnt out but still help out my husband monetarily.

And I still want to be able to do so while still maintaining and providing content that is low cost and free.

I have my website, I just haven't done anything with it yet. I will work on it in the upcoming weeks. I am thinking about taking some "coaching classes" just so I can feel more confident in my ability to coach or consult. And I have to get over this fear I have of pricing my content. I think I keep thinking because it's online that it's supposed to be free or really low cost.

But yeah, changes for Fidgets and Fries are going to come. I don't yet know what they will look like, but they are coming. And I will probably spend more time in my paid spaces as well. I have some sponsored things I have to do for a couple of companies and promote my book some, and I don't plan on leaving those spaces, I just need to reevaluate my presence and what I am doing in those spaces.