I gotta unroll all of this at a pace…but I’m going to get a little jumpy with it all because I want you to read it all and I want you to understand what I’m doing.
The ‘Merch thang’ was never intended.
Neither was profiting off of the information that I provide and to-date, I’ve never had a ‘Paid Only’ post and still have ZERO plans of becoming a ‘paid-subscriber only’ substack..In fact, and I will 100% guarantee you this…that I will NEVER have a paid only substack post (on purpose).
I do appreciate the paid subs and it has helped me make a couple of trips for a couple of public appearances and get a couple of things to help me continue on…and that’s amazing.
So…when I rolled out the T-Shirt Idea, as a giveaway, I actually never thought that others may want to buy them and had to shift gears a little. My 20 shirt order has seemingly turned into a much bigger thing, because some of you want to buy them…and this too is AMAZING!
Shifting Gears
I don’t want you to buy a T-Shirt to have a catchy hashtag on it…nor am I narcissistic enough to believe that you’d buy one just to have a YakkStack Logo on it.
So…if/when you get one, I want you to not only wear it, but celebrate it!
And I want to incentivise this exact thing.
It’s going to roll out like this.
Provide me with a photo of you wearing my T-shirt that you authorize me to use to advertise the T-shirt, and I’ll give you a cut of the profit. I hope to see more than one submission…but I’ll break down how this cut will work, if/when I sell a T-shirt.
You see…every year I try to give back to my community and encourage others to do the same. Now…I typically do this through a Tax Break Donation…because it helps me feel better as a person and so that I can stiff the Government on a few bucks through the tax break.
Yes, I am this petty.
And coming in to November, while in past I have worked on both Food Collection and Donation Matching for our Veterans…
Sadly, I’ve not been great over the last 2 years for their cause.
Not that I didn’t want to…I’m on a budget, man…I allocate my expendable funds and try to be fair and last year, Kids Help Phone got my attention and was greatly supported by the people I worked with and for…as well as got another price match from an outside company.
And it’s not that I think that Veterans don’t need my support this year by way of donation, but…again budget…and I’ll get to this.
This year…whimsically, I decided to just give away 20 T-shirts - which is around my donation budget (when you include shipping, design, materials...), instead of shooting to feel better and screw the government.
Because, while I may not get the tax break, having this message shared in general public and raising the awareness is effectively helping me feel better and screwing the government by helping to bring this COVID shit show to an END!
[notice how I book-ended ‘shit show’ with all caps words]
So…I don’t want you to be a paid subscriber because you think you might miss out on one of my posts…that will only happen by email failure and this does happen daily:
Instead, I’d prefer to have you as a paid subscriber with you knowing that I am putting your funds into continuing on and making my content better…
And I don’t want you to buy a T-shirt because I am narcissistic enought to think that you’d buy one because it says “YakkStack” on it…
I don’t even want you to buy one unless you intend it for someone to wear…
I want you to champion your pride sharing a message and knowing that I’m going to not only work to support the communities that I am associated with by way of proceeds…but that if you show yourself off, you may be padding your own back hipster with a few shekles.
Now…what I am initially committing to is
That I provide a product worthy of purchase…not just a Walmart cheap piece of shit…and
Because of this, prices will not reflect bargain basement nor limited time offers…keep in mind that I am giving away 20 of these…&
While I may have to use ‘Stock Photos’ to promote my messages that it is my intentions to…
Pad your back hipster for helping me achieve my goal…and in this…
I beat my wife in an arm-wrestle on my donation budget this year so that…if after costs and not enough orders to cover my annual donation by way of proceeds from sale, I am still going to be giving my annual donation amount to support the veterans this Remembrance Day, and I will provide a screen shot of me doing this exact thing…
Meaning…I am 100% risk and by you showing off the gear you can be 100% reward.
Which also means I am trying to still give the same donation without it costing me 2x as much…yeah, I can still be a little selfish here.
Tl;dr:
I am not ‘Wealthy’, but I am Rich in my family and the people who consider me a friend.
I am going to be donating to the Veterans this year for Remembrance day…despite my whimsical offer to give away money…without a tax credit.
I don’t want to fuel the fire of you buying shit for the sake that it’s cheap.
I believe in ‘Truth behind Advertising’ product specific…quality…
I have a collective message to help spread, (several actually), but I only want you to be a part if you can be a part….
And I’ll pay ya to do this!
I’ll take one but want to pay so you can give to the vets. I wonder if I can get away with wearing it in front of my lib family?
Sheldon, I would be proud to wear it and especially at the BC legislature.