One of the convictions I had as I began to re-imagine my blog is that it would be an entirely non-monetized form of expression. For some, blogging is actually a source of significant income, and I see nothing wrong with this. For others, writing is a way to drive potential customers to their “paid” product. They provide free, hopefully valuable, content, with the intention of moving you further along toward becoming a paying customer.
But I’m not looking to sell you something.
I don’t want paying customers.
Your copay will always be $0 at The Honest Apothecary pharmacy of words.
I just want to write about the things that matter to me (and hopefully to a few others) without having to think about how many clicks I got, how many sales I made, or how many subscribers I have.
Affordable Hobby
But isn’t all this blogging stuff expensive? Don’t I need to generate some income? Shouldn’t this be my “side-hustle” that everyone is taking about? No. Blogging is actually a very affordable hobby. You simply need to sign up with a hosting provider and pay for a little space on their server for you to launch a free WordPress template and customize it however you like. A few hours watching YouTube videos is enough education to get just about anyone up and running quickly. Hosting service is like $5/month with many providers, at least for the first few years. I’m paying $4.16 per month for the next 48 months through Hostinger. And no…that endorsement was not monetized. LOL.
Blogging Without Barriers
If part of my writing passion is to make things as easy as possible for readers, then removing annoying ads and pop-ups feels like the right thing to do. There is nothing worse than visiting a blog, only to be assaulted with scrolling ads and images blocking the content, strategically placed in hopes of getting more clicks. Again, I have nothing against monetized blogs and websites. I just didn’t want this to be one of them. I just want to write. I’m done fumbling with Google Adsense codes, banner announcements, and sidebar click bait. Just content. For those who want to read it, I’ll make it as easy as possible to do so. For those who don’t.
The Affordable Blog Act (ABA)
And so, the re-imagined Honest Apothecary is a zero-copay blog. That way, if you don’t find anything here worth reading, at least you have gotten your money’s worth. I’m implementing the Affordable Blog Act (ABA) on this website. Browse for free. Read for free. Reach out to me from my contact page for free. I may not be able to respond to every comment, but I try to read everything that is sent to me, both the encouraging notes, and the constructive criticism.
Comfortably Employed
I’m actually quite comfortably employed in full-time pharmacy work, and don’t need another “gig” to make ends meet. This actually is a topic worthy of a whole post on its own. Suffice it to say that if you build your life to live within your means, and don’t constantly need more stuff to make you happy, you can just be happy with a job well done, and treat blogging as the purely pleasant hobby to me that it is. The Honest Apothecary (Jason) had forgotten to love writing just for its own sake. That is what I needed to get back to. And here I am. Back where I started many, many years ago. Writing. Thinking. Laughing at myself. Enjoying it, every letter of the way.
