TBP IS STILL FREE

It was exactly two years ago when my wife and I had the opportunity to meet David Stockman and his wife in NYC. I documented the experience in my article UNEASY IN NYC. After writing articles for the last eight years, I forget about them as I move on to the next subject matter. After re-reading it this morning, I was pretty impressed by my writing and my sense of humor. I found myself laughing at my own stuff.

David had just started his own website and had asked me to be a regular contributor. Over the last two years he has posted dozens of my articles on his site. At the time, my visitor counts were slightly higher than his. But, he is a world renowned financial mind, so it was just a matter of time until his site went soaring far above TBP. He basically wrote one major article per day, while posting the work of 20 or 30 other bright financial minds per day.

I love his articles and the articles of his like minded contributors. I would go there every day to find stuff to re-post on TBP. David and his wife asked about the business aspects of my site. I told them I made virtually nothing from the site. I didn’t require registration and emails to make comments. I had a full-time job and was running the site as a way for my voice to be heard. I could tell they were looking at his site as a potential money making venture.

I respect that. David makes his living through his writing. His book, The Great Deformation, is fantastic and should be read by everyone. I have interacted with and observed enough people, like Doug Casey, John Mauldin, Bill Bonner, Chris Martenson, Charles Hugh Smith, and many others, to understand how you can make a living from writing on the internet. You build an audience with good writing. You gather thousands of email addresses. You then use the email addresses to market your books, newsletters, or access to the really good information.

About a month ago, David partnered with Agora (Bill Bonner’s original company) and decided to make his website pay to access. He brilliantly used his new book Trumped! A Nation on the Brink of Ruin as the lure to sign up for access to the site. You got the book for free if you signed up for one year. It now will cost you $39 per month to read David’s articles and access his contributors. That’s $468 per year.

I’m a numbers guy and can appreciate the large potential earnings from such a move. TBP now averages 25,000 visitors per day. My guess is David was averaging 75,000 visitors per day. If he convinced 2% of those visitors to sign up, that’s $700,000 per year. Not too shabby. But now he reaches only 1,500 people per day.

I’m no David Stockman, but suppose I decided to do the same thing and charged $20 per month. If I convinced 2% of my daily visitors to sign up, that would be $120,000. Also, not too shabby when you have two kids in college and an underwater condo in Wildwood. But that would completely ruin TBP. My entire purpose for running the site would be over.

At this point, I will always keep TBP free, unless I get fired and am forced to make a living from TBP. I also used to write regular articles for the Casey Report. They would pay me $500 for 1,500 word article. I had to stop because running this site takes up too much of my time. David Galland has asked me to write for his new newsletter. I can’t.

Here’s where my frustration comes in. I think my site actually offers more than Stockman’s. TBP has a plethora of contributors who have found their voice over the last 7 years. Many of their articles have been picked up by Zero Hedge and gained a much wider audience. Except for a few trolls, the commentary on TBP is far superior to Zero Hedge’s or Stockman’s. I never beg for donations. I have attempted to generate some revenue through ads, but then I tell the regulars to download Ghostery so they don’t have to see the ads. Sort of shooting myself in the foot.

TBP visitors in October were up 30% over last October and up 85% over October 2014. TBP is on track to have over 7 million visitors in 2016. But, somehow my donations are lower than they were two years ago. I must really be attracting cheapskates. I bear all the operating costs for the site. I’m a one man show, with The Man With No Name behind the scenes keeping the site running fast and staying safe.

I feel obligated to keeping the site interesting 24/7/365. I get up at 5:00 am so I can post 5 or 6 things before I leave for work. My daily round trip commute is 2 to 3 hours. I’m working for over 9 hours in the office. When I get home after 6 pm every night I’m exhausted. If you calculated the amount of money I bring in from TBP per hour spent on the site, it probably comes to $3 per hour. I check the TBP PO box once per week. It is a little depressing when there is nothing in the box for 5 consecutive weeks. The paypal donations are a trickle.

I have 10 dedicated TBP members who automatically contribute to the site every month. They know who they are. I also have several other strong TBP supporters who provide significant contributions to TBP. That donation total comes from a very small club. To quote Crooked Hillary, at this point, what difference does it make.

If you think you get some value from TBP and have the financial means to do so, please make a donation. If not, I understand. If you are buying anything through Amazon, do so through my Amazon link. They pay me 6% of every purchase.

KEEP TBP FREE!!!!