I hope that you and your loved ones are well, and that you've managed to get through this last month ok.
It continues to be challenging for us all, for many different reasons.
I don’t know about you, but I’m finding routines are very helpful for keeping me going.
I’m also getting up extra early at the moment, simply to have some head-space before the day begins.
I hope you have been able to find some silver linings at times.
Introducing…
You might be wondering why there’s another email from me in the middle of the month.
I have something new to share with you, and it doesn’t really fit into the monthly newsletter format, which is why I’m writing now.
You may think this looks slightly different from previous newsletters. That’s because it isn’t sent out by Mailchimp.
It’s come to you via Substack, a different kind of email platform.
What’s Substack?
It’s a newsletter and web platform designed for writers with a specific audience (like this one).
I discovered it by following a newsletter hosted on Substack, and I became curious about how it could work for Radiant Business.
For some time now, I’ve wanted to create a space for a community, with discussion around the topics that I share on the Radiant Business newsletter.
If you completed the survey for the 5-year anniversary, you may remember that there was a question about it.
The community suggestion was popular enough for me to know that it was something to give proper consideration to.
I wanted something simple for me to set up, and easy for users too.
Sub-stack offers this in a very beautiful way.
Each newsletter is securely hosted on the Substack website, with the option to open up a discussion thread to go along with it.
It’s easy to set up new threads on other topics of interest to the community, such as a book-club, for example.
The Radiant Business Newsletter is now hosted here on Substack, like a blog post.
There are a few other reasons why I’ve chosen Substack to build this community option.
It doesn’t have the privacy and data issues that I was concerned about on Facebook.
It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles like the Mighty Networks site I use for the membership.
It’s a perfect ‘lite’ space for a new community.
Why a community option?
I want to offer you another option to connect not only with me, but with each other too.
Some of you have done one or more courses with me, and the most recent ones have also set up groups on messaging apps.
Others are part of the small and lovely membership, which runs for the rest of this year.
There isn’t anything in between.
I know that many of you are happy to be a free reader, and don’t want anything more, and that’s totally fine. If that’s you, there’s no need to change a thing. :-)
But, I consistently receive replies to my newsletters with comments and feedback, and I’ve known for a long time that there is a wider conversation to be had, and not just two-way.
Why now?
You might be wondering why I’m opening this up now, while we’re all in the middle of Covid-19, and so I’ll explain that too.
My website designer is in the middle of a makeover on the Radiant Business website, which has been needed for a very long time.
This was already scheduled for March/April 2020, though obviously I had no idea that Covid-19 was going to happen.
As part of the website makeover, I’ve needed to make decisions about all the small parts that make up Your Radiant Business.
This is the most important one, as the newsletter is my ‘core offering’ and it’s something that goes out all the year round.
I didn’t want to pause the website upgrade project having already committed to it.
So here I am, in the midst of the ‘school holidays’ and all the general disruption and lack of head-space, having to make decisions and produce content and material etc.
For a couple of weeks I’ve been journalling, thinking, reading and exploring. Then, finally, setting it up and writing this.
It’s not been a small decision, and I feel sure it’s the right one.
Why not host a free community?
I’ll be honest here, I would like the Radiant Business newsletter to be ‘self-funded’ and it would be helpful to have a regular income to pay for the help I have behind the scenes.
My assistant, Suzy, has been working for 6 hours per month for me for the last year and a half. You can get a lot done in six hours if you are as organised as Suzy!
Most of the work she does is for the Radiant Business newsletter and Instagram account.
She also helps out with the email requests I have for notes from my homeopathy webinars, PDFs for my published articles, plus sending out my ‘client-therapist’ agreement to anyone who asks. :-)
I pay for this block of Suzy’s time all year round, and I wouldn’t be able to do this on top of my practice work without her help.
In simple terms, I hope that the subscription option for the newsletter will free up my time for me to be able to offer the community alongside.
The monthly newsletter will always be free
I want to make a contribution to the profession that I love, and this is the best way I know how.
This is why I plan to keep sending a monthly newsletter, sharing Practice Reflections, book recommendations, interesting links, and the planners to download, completely free.
The format of the monthly newsletter won’t change and will be the same content for everyone.
Would you like to be part of the conversation?
If you want to join the conversation with other homeopaths - talk about practice, business, boundaries, and all those other little things that only other homeopaths understand - I hope you’ll try a paid subscription.
Or, if you don’t need the conversation but appreciate the work I share and want to show your support, maybe you’ll consider subscribing too.
I have thought for a long time about how to price it, and I’ve settled on £7 per month, or £70 for an annual subscription, which gives two months free.
I hope this is fair and accessible to everyone reading.
If you want to join the conversation, and this isn’t affordable for you, please contact me.
What would I get if I decided to subscribe?
Radiant Business newsletter every month + a thread for discussion and comments with myself and the community
New discussion threads in response to community interests (not too many, maybe one or two each month)
Full access to the archives + discussion threads (2020 archives are already in place and I plan to upload the best content from 2019)
Bonus - join my Practice Wisdom e-course FREE when you subscribe by the end of April
Additional surprise bonus - when you choose an annual subscription :-)
Thank you
If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading.
I know this is a strange time, and this email has something new for you to think about.
Don’t worry, there will be a monthly Radiant Business newsletter arriving next Friday, just as it always does.
If you have any questions at all about whether the subscription option is right for you, please write to me at: hello@yourradiantbusiness.com
And, if you would like to subscribe, there’s a link below. :-)
Thanks so much for being here,
Tracy