photo from beneaththecover.com

A little more than a year ago, I launched the Liberated Life Project.

At the time, I was inspired by bloggers like Chris Guillebeau and Danielle LaPorte who have a gift for changing people’s lives with their words while at the same time running a sustainable business model in the form of their websites.

I’ve learned a lot over the past year. One of the biggest lessons is that creating and keeping a blog going with original and useful posts over the long term is no easy matter. And, with rare exceptions, it is not a fast path to making money.

I’m sharing the following observations because I’d like to share with you the vision behind this website, and what I’ve got planned here for 2012.

As well, I know a number of you are contemplating launching similar businesses or are already doing so. The more we can harvest our collected wisdom from these ventures, the more everyone will benefit.

When I started the Liberated Life Project in November 2010, I was convinced that by the end of 2011 I would have 1,000 subscribers here. The reality is more in the neighborhood of 270 people – but you are an engaged and faithful 270!

I also thought that I’d have an e-book for sale by this time that would bring in a few hundred dollars each month. That hasn’t happened either.

But what I am learning is that many of you have made huge changes in your lives this past year – leaving unfulfilling jobs, starting your own businesses, taking adventurous journeys, discovering new parts of yourselves, trying out creative experiences that have pushed your edges.

While the revenue that this blog has generated has been modest, the joy I’ve gotten from hearing your stories of transformation and liberation has been immense. That will always be the heart of the Liberated Life Project.

So the current reality of this blog is different than my initial vision. But something else has gotten clarified in the process, and it’s got to do with my relationship to money. I don’t have a problem with making money, in general, but something felt incongruent about mixing it up with another motive, which is to offer resources through this site to help people make significant changes in their lives. If I had paid closer attention to my intuition at the start, I would have recognized my misgivings about “making money” off of the mission of helping people.

Perhaps it’s time to let go of my initial ideas about what this blog should be doing, money-wise, and let it evolve into a new model.

Here’s what I know for sure –

• This blog gives me an important opportunity to practice my art – writing – and to have a platform to share it with each of you.
• The writing I offer here is intended to do some good in the world.
• I put a lot of time into this blog, and it requires some investment of money as well to maintain and improve it. I need to find a way to cover those costs. Over and beyond that, I would like the LLP to be a viable source of income that will help me pay off a long-standing student loan debt so I can be completely debt-free.
• And yet, as I started off by saying, I have a problem with charging people for something that I want to make readily available to you in order to support your aspiration toward freedom.

In considering how to work with this dilemma, I’ve been inspired by three sources –

• I’ve been reading a truly remarkable online series on “Income Ethics” from Raam Dev. I highly recommend it if you’re grappling with the question of how to make a living in an ethical way.

• I’ve watched my blogging colleague Sandra Pawula and how she has gracefully invited people to support her outstanding blog, Always Well Within, through a weekly subscription letter.

• Lori Deschene, the creator of the Tiny Buddha website and now the book of the same name, was interviewed here last week. She, too, has been an inspiration for a model of generosity by sharing her forum with many other bloggers and offering so much excellent content for free.

After reflecting on these perspectives as well as my own, here’s what I’ve come to: The Liberated Life Project is meant to run on an economy of love and generosity.

It needs to pay for itself, for sure, and I need to have some sense that the time I invest in it is a good investment. But I have faith that this can be done through a donation and pay-what-you-can model rather than a “pay me for this product” mindset. I’m not saying this is the right choice for everyone who has a blog like this, but it’s the right choice for me at this point in time.

What does this look like in this coming year?

• As always, weekly posts will be freely offered here, covering topics of liberation as it manifests in spirit, livelihood, creativity, relationships, and in our contribution to the world. I’ll continue to invite guest writers to contribute to the series on spiritual/contemplative practices that can support true freedom in your life.

• This year, I plan to initiate a series of video interviews with people who I consider to be embodying “liberated lives.” I’ll share many excerpts with you, and at some point I’ll make the full series available on a by-donation-basis.

• I want to publish an e-book in 2012; that too will be by donation. I’m still considering the focus of the book, and I’d be happy to hear what you would find most useful as a topic.

• The Freedom Friday series has been popular and many of you have said that the resources listed there have been very useful. I will continue Freedom Friday but, at least for a while, I’ll shift to compiling this list monthly (usually the last Friday of the month) rather than weekly, as it takes quite a bit of time to put together.

In all this, I’m trying to find a path toward more sustainability in my own life. If you feel inspired to support this effort, you are welcome to make a donation using the button below. But most importantly, I am grateful for our connection here and the good karma we are all generating. Blessings to you on your journey, and thank you for sharing it with me!