Hey everyone, I hope you’re all well.
I just wanted to check in and let you all know what I have in the works and what I will be up to in the coming year. 2020 has been crazy for everyone and for me it was one of the most unique years of my life.
At the beginning of the year, I had been talking with my editor over at Waking Times about becoming a full-time editor/writer/social media manager. I quit my day job so I could get more involved but as I was making gains in work and pay, the lock downs hit which sparked an economic downturn causing ad networks to scale back payment, and both Facebook and Google started cutting our distribution back and demonetizing pages. That caused everything to fall apart.
So, I decided to do what any normal, rational person would. I sold most of my things and drove across the country. I saw Mount Rushmore, the Daniel Boone fort, and a lot of corn (I have more pictures if you want to see them).
While I was at my destination in Maryland, I started working on my website again. I structured the site much better and got into a loose routine where I was posting articles each week and keeping up with social media posts regularly.
In September, which was my best year both in terms of views and pay for my website, I got on Google Adsense where although a handful of pages have been demonetized, still pays better than my previous ad network by orders of magnitude.
Then, right as I stepped up my ad game, Facebook started seriously cutting back distribution of group posts which contained any type of anti-lock down or coronavirus truth rhetoric (i.e., anything that disagrees with the World Health Organization’s official stance). This completely messed up my social media strategy since groups are where I get 90% of my views and all of my viral views, which I need to fund the site.
Additionally, the number of people who want to read articles about anything other than either pro-Trump info or anti-lock down hot takes is currently few and far between.
Typically, when I write about something I really care about, a handful of my core audience members will give some very nice comments, but overall view counts will be so low that it’s not financially viable to do on a regular basis.
Thus, the only way I can keep the site above water financially is to write those very specific types of articles which Facebook has cut back distribution of and Google demonetizes. That combination put a serious damper on my business and forced me into a position where I need to branch out into new territories of style and content.
I fully appreciate everyone who has supported me thus far and I have no intention of going away. But to be totally honest, the support just wasn’t there. This could have been due to a number of things. Maybe readers would rather support other content creators which are more established with larger budgets or they just aren’t as interested in supporting influencers who they can’t connect with in video form.
Regardless, in 2021 you will see even more content from me, not less, in quality, quantity, and originality. The only difference is that it will be a bit more spread out and experimental.
To put things in perspective, earlier this month Tim Pool put out a video where he talked about where our movement is headed. In essence, he posited that if libertarians, conservatives, and free thinkers fail to make an influence culturally, we are going to remain the older generation talking endlessly among ourselves about everything wrong with the world while younger generations get their views from Tik Tok, YouTube videos, Twitch streamers, Hollywood, or whatever else comes along by then.
I don’t want us to end up being the AM radio listeners of future decades, endlessly complaining in spaces where those we really need to reach never encounter. I completely agree with Tim here and that is why I am going to focus much more on culture in 2021 and less on direct politics and current events.
When it comes down to it, you can spend countless hours researching topics and chasing clicks only to be met with some mix of support and criticism by people who tend to already be set in their own way of thinking or know a lot about politics anyway.
But ultimately, most people just don’t want to read those types of articles. Our job as informed and active influencers is not to simply chronicle facts like encyclopedias, hoping that the right people will find our work, but to reach out to the greatest number of interested people with the most truth we can.
In other words, if last year was about ambition and new beginnings, 2021 is going to be a year of experimentation and fun 🙂.
So, now for the fun part. Recently I created an account on Twitch, a streaming platform with a mostly younger audience where I have been streaming podcasts with a friend of mine as well as video game commentary over the past few weeks. If you could give me a follow, it would be more than much appreciated.
This is a big shift from what I have been doing over the past several years, which has been mostly writing articles and social media posts about hard-hitting political/cultural issues to already informed audiences (people in their 30’s-50’s on average).
My goal for this year is to expand my audience as well as my content to include a wider range of topics. I plan to create new websites which focus on more cultural and less political areas of interest (Video Games, Music & Entertainment, etc.) My reason for doing this is 1/3rd cultural impact, 1/3rd business strategy, and 1/3rd fun.
My first experiment with this has been to revamp a website I made for college two years ago with a focus on GMO’s and other environmental issues. You can view that website here and it will be mainly for me to gauge the threshold of the time and resources needed in order to begin monetizing a property. Sometime in January or February of 2021 I will be starting another website dedicated to video game news and culture. Make sure to check back later if you are interested.
Also, these new websites are going to be set up a little differently than here. On Phillip Schneider, Almost every article has been written by myself. I very rarely take article submissions because I like this site to be more about my own work as a writer and less like a full-on publication.
When it comes to my other sites, that will totally change. I will be accepting (and encouraging) article submissions so if you or someone you know would be interested in getting their work published on an up-and-coming online publication, make sure to send them my way.
This year, my goals are to get all of my properties to a point where they can fully sustain themselves financially, open up new publications to cover more topics, get other writers on board (and employed), reach many more people, and have a lot more fun than I had writing almost exclusively about depressing political turmoil and cultural polarization.
Every bit of support really does help more than you know.
To help out:
Follow me on Twitch (so I can grow my audience and increase revenue)
Support me on Patreon (for meeting financial obligations; any amount helps)
Follow my Facebook page (to keep up with me in a place nearly everybody is – see also Twitter, Instagram)
Subscribe on Minds and Gab (also MeWe, Parler, Brighteon Social, and USA.Life, because they do not censor content)
Sign up for my Email List (you will get an update each new post)
Support my affiliate, the Health Ranger Store, for clean food and survival gear, and also to help me reach my financial goals this year.
Last but not least, make sure to give me a follow on YouTube and BitChute so you can receive video/podcast updates from me in the future.
2021 is going to be a big year, but I can’t do it without you.
About the Author
Phillip Schneider is a staff writer and assistant editor for Waking Times. If you would like to see more of his work, you can like his Facebook Page, or follow him on the free speech social network Minds.
This article (Year in Review: What to Expect From Me in 2021) originally appeared at Phillip Schneider and may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author credit, and this copyright statement.