Next year will mark my fiftieth year in business. The first fifteen years I worked for large corporations. The last thirty-five years I've owned my own business.
Owning a business is a lot like home ownership. You say "you" own the business as if that is first person singular -- when, in fact, the pronoun is almost always PLURAL.
Unfortunately, owning my business involved working with creditors, who became an annoying part of that "you." Over the years, I paid over $2.5 million in interest. More to the point, I spent at least twenty-five percent of my time dealing with cash flow issues.
Until very recently my business almost always had severe money problems.
Yet - I'm retiring with what seems like a comfortable economic pulse.
I tell you this because -- some who haven't been around this site for the twenty years that I have might wonder why Erin & Co. seem to be asking for money every month.
Simply put:
1.) They have a business that relies heavily on donations from the users, and
2.) Many of those users have the mindset that everything on the internet should be free, or simply cannot afford to donate, and
3.) Big Closet . . . which should be creditworthy . . . because of the length of time BC has been in business and its record of success where others have failed -- would not be able to get a commercial line of credit. A LOC would be the normal answer to many of its ongoing problems.
I'm going to send Erin a second donation for this month. I'm sending this because Erin provides an extremely valuable service I've enjoyed. I'm sending this because Erin has proven again and again to be a fine person with a huge heart.
I don't perceive this as a charitable contribution. Having been a part of the Big Closet "you" for so long -- I think of it as a left pocket / right pocket transfer.
Jill
Comments
Sent the Money
. . .and got the message that "A brand spanking sparkly NEW version of HatBox is coming soon."
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Thanks, Jill
We've gotten several contributions last night and this morning.
Thanks to all.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
100% agree
with what you have said.
This month is proving pretty hard on my finances. All of my pension has disappeared from my bank already and the month is not yet a week old. That said, if I win anything on Premium bonds this month, I'll contribute it to the site.
I wish we could get this site on a more sound financial footing.
Samantha
Our hope
Our hope is to keep growing DopplerPress to where it contributes significantly to the finances of the site. Right now, after sharing with the authors, paying for artwork, and contributing some to the editors, we make a bit less than $1000 most months.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
I Wish I Was A Better Writer.
I'd happily let BCTS have everything I write.
Gwen
I feel the same with each plea from Erin
Jill, you have taken the words from my mouth. Erin provides a valuable service and a outlet for us. everyone who enjoys this site, should pitch in
$5 a month. this will get Erin out of hock, and allow the others to draw a salary.
Exchange rates
Exchange rates limit my contributions. It cost me nearly $15 to contribute US$10. :(
Thanks, hon
We understand.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Top Shelf has saved LIVES! DONATE!
I have talked to many folks on Top Shelf via skype and personally. Several have told me that Top Shelf, it's stories, the help they got from others via messages and blogs, have SAVED THEIR LIVES, or helped them over the enormous mountain of concerns they had about transitioning.
NOW!
Angela and I have been punching away at the same thing for years. We both, and I know we aren't alone, want Top Shelf to be financially secure and no longer dependent on donations.
THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO DO CONTRIBUTE REGULARLY!!
but...
Unless and until someone comes up with a workable way for Erin to integrate into something that DOES work, we're stuck with the donation method to try to keep the site online and to help pay off the enormous debt that Erin put herself into, trying to keep the ship afloat.
Here's the deal folks. Erin had almost bankrupted herself, trying to keep things running and the lights on. Piper works for a third of what she could get in the private(straight) sector. Volunteers work for their love of the site, the genre and for Erin herself. A few do get paid here and there for "special" services like editing books for publication and other things.
Other than the income from books and a bit from advertising, Erin holds herself responsible for ALL the rest of the money to keep things from folding up and vanishing from the internet.
So what we have is Erin, on her virtual knees, every month, BEGGING for help to keep Top Shelf online!
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!
To begin with, SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO FREAKING BEG!!!! There are enough MEMBERS who, if they just kicked in a dollar or two a month, begging would be unneeded. Then we have the "casual" group of folks who aren't signed in user of the site, but come here once a day or three or four times a week. Then we have the occasional folks who maybe hit the site once a week or less and of course there are the lurkers.
I'm not addressing any of this to anyone other than the signed in members. a DOLLAR OR TWO A MONTH, FOLKS! That's all that's needed from each and every one of you.
okay, yes I KNOW that some of you are at a tipping point where even a couple of dollars can make the difference between paying the rent and eating for the month. I understand, as I'm mostly pretty damned close to that point myself. You are given a free pass. Enough of the rest of you (us) HAVE to shoulder the task... and yes I DO contribute. ALL of my stories, Both of my books, are all virtually signed over to Erin for use in garnering funds for the site... and I know Angela and a few others do the same thing.
Can you all just help and sign up for patreon for just a dollar or two a month, or SEND her a buck or two each month? Once Erin's personal debt is paid off, the pressure of funds for the site will ease off some and Erin can then afford spend time finding ways to fund the site without having to depend on donations...instead of worrying herself into ulcers about keeping the lights on.
As a T-woman, I do have a Y chromosome... it's just in cursive, pink script.