Survey Results, considering Community, and more

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Hello there 👋

Welcome back to another housekeeping-oriented edition of Behind the Hustle, the newsletter for Behind the Hustle fka SWRolodex. How are you doing this week? Now that I’m done with a spontaneous late-January deep dive into redoing my houseplant collection (with a new 4-foot plant light installed earlier today), I’m back to burying myself in spreadsheets and editing work. The cold winter days always put me in a good position to just hunker down at my desk with a big mug of tea and some beats to help me focus on the “boring” work that needs to get done, but is certainly harder to focus on when the weather is warm and inviting. So I keep my nose down, do the work, and take short but gratifying breaks away from the computer. I just started watching Reacher on Prime and so far, it’s good for a random hour of distraction in the middle of the day.

Again, thanks to the folks who hit reply on the newsletters. It’s nice to hear from you, and to connect with some people I haven’t talked to in a while. As a lapsed blogger, writing a regular newsletter is familiar yet also difficult to build into my routine, and the support and connection is appreciated. The email this week is going to catch us up on some stats and goings-ons, but I want to open with a section on community because if you’re anything like me, finding your people and building with them is probably at the top of your mind these days.

So let’s get going and dig into those tasty deets! There’s a lot of ground to cover but here’s the rundown; feel free to jump around to the section most relevant to you. As always, this will be available on the newsletter’s hub and later republished on the site’s blog. 🧡

• talking about community

• ask a (my) laywer

• survey results!

• a note about ads

Let’s talk community

The concept of community has been on my mind a lot since last November’s election. Whenever things get tough, I tend to read more than I write/post/speak; finding my own words feels too big a task, the choice of what to say feels too important. But it emphasizes the eloquence of those who can find their voice during such challenges, and use it to bring solidarity to their online spaces. It’s a skill that I recognize I don’t have now, but that I do hope to acquire/hone over time.

But until then, I wanted to share a few passages from those who are known for their carefully crafted passages, and who have brought me some solidarity in recent months.

Sadly it appears I’ve deleted a few more emails I had intended to quote here, so instead I’ll turn it over to you: if you have any literary quotes or journalistic musings that have brought you some peace of mind (or some strength of will) in recent memory, I’d really enjoy reading them with you. This is certainly not the last time you’ll read me talk about this subject, either. 🧡

What would you ask a (my) lawyer?

As I mentioned in the last update about the process of securing Hustle to Hire as an LLC, I’ve contracted a business law group to help me make sure the paperwork is 100% locked in while also keeping my personal info private. This week I have a meeting with the lawyer I’ve been working with on this, just as a follow-up/consultation thing to wrap up any loose ends from the LLC registration. And while I already have my own list of questions at the ready, I’d love to hear from you on this!

What’s one legal question you have right now? Could be something you’re curious about regarding Hustle to Hire specifically, could be about creator work in general or a niche industry regulation or concern that could impact this business, anything that I can maybe bring into the conversation. If it’s not something that I can ask my business lawyer this week, it may be something I already have some educational resources on that I could pass along. But I’d love to hear what kind of questions are out there; you may just inspire me to ask or look into something seemingly obvious that hadn’t occurred to me! Happens to the best of us (that’s why we have lawyers).

Subscriber Stats & Survey Results 📊

As you may know, I encourage subscribers to fill out a brief survey to help me understand where y’all are at with your work and how I can best use this space to help you. It’s been a couple months(!) so I thought it was time to report in with some of the results and let me just say, I think there’s some really exciting insights here!

• As of the time of writing this, we’ve settled into a cool 704 subscribers. Heck yes?! A large portion of that was imported from the previous mailing list and user accounts on the marketplace. I know the number will fluctuate over time, but still, 700+ subscribers. That’s cool. And for the stats-driven among you, we’re look at an open rate of ~45%.

• Approximately half of respondents said your primary work is in a creative industry, with a majority (but not all!) in the sex work industry. Outside of creative, the next biggest industry was tech.

• And for folks who said they aspire toward or are working on a side hustle, a solid 80% want to be more active in creative industries. BUT, sex work was not in the majority here, with people leaning towards more general SFW creative pursuits.

• When asked what kind of business resources you’re most interested in, the top responses (tied) were “Downloadable Guides & Tools” and “Education and How-Tos”. Hmmmm! That’s so juicy to know isn’t it?! Especially since the marketplace offers instantly-unlocked file downloads, a feature not enough of our freelancers utilize IMO (so expect some chatter on that soon!). That puts “Freelancing and Outsourcing” in third place, with “Apps, Gear, and Tech Stuff” rounding out the list of what kind of resources people are seeking.

  

• Regarding burnout, I was very happy to see that most people have some tools and systems in place to help you avoid burnout. There was a reasonable mix of folks who don’t know how to avoid it or don’t have access to things they think would help and, yeah, been there; it takes time! To the ONE person who said you aren’t worried about burnout AT ALL… PLEASE, tell us your secrets?! 😭 Because when asked about specific concerns, another person responded with, “Burnout, Batman on a pogo stick save me from burnout”. REAL.

• On that note, the open question regarding current concerns were… surprisingly aligned. A lot of folks have clients on the mind, like, A LOT a lot… okay most of the responses fell into the realm of how to find/market to new clients, and how to retain them once you have them. Well! I actually share your concern y’all, with regards to this very business and its marketplace! So this will be fun to explore together! Other concerns included financial security, staying motivated, and keeping up with changing technology. I’ve experienced all of these, too. Several of them already this year… 😅

• And sorry to 🥞Team Pancakes, but 🧇Team Waffles is in the lead by a WIDE margin. But, this could change over time, as more people respond to the survey…

There was some great insight in these survey results, so thank you so much to those who have taken some time to fill it out and submit your responses! I’m always open to hearing more about where you’re at or what you’re struggling with, so (and I’m sure I sounds like a broken record saying this but) don’t hesitate to reach out.

And if you haven’t taken the survey yet but you’d love to chime in with your own responses, by all means! Here is the link to take the subscriber survey! It takes 5 minutes! I’ll keep my eye on it and keep y’all updated as trends change and interesting new insights come into play.

A note about sponsors and advertisements

Setting up this newsletter on the beehiiv platform allows me to monetize by accepting ads from within their network and to kick things off I have chosen Raptive, a company that helps creators with ad management. Where are the ads placed? Who sees them? That I do not know. I’m willing to bet they’re also focused on SFW creators, so keep that in mind.

Scrolling through their site a bit, they do have some nice resources for people working in the creator economy and that alone might be worth the click-through. Remember: advice from SFW creators very often applies to—and was possibly originated/honed by—NSFW creators (even if the SFW folks don’t know it, teehee!), so never rule out SFW resources when you’re trying to learn something new to integrate in your own NSFW business! Because business is business. 

I hope this will be an unobtrusive way to help offset some business costs and maybe introduce you to brands or organizations that you’ll enjoy or benefit from! Thoughts on having ads in the newsletter? I do get to review each advertiser opportunity directly before approving it, and in theory get some coin every time someone clicks the ad and visits the advertiser’s website. Even if only a few folks click through, well, that’s still $5 towards server costs for hosting the marketplace site (and there’s also the Ko-fi link at the bottom of the newsletter, btw). I’ll let you know how this goes!

That’s a wrap

Well that’s been a whole lot of a lot of things! Lots to think about, yeah? I know I’m definitely going to be making some noise about the user survey results! And, to paraphrase something from Mr. Rogers, I’ll be continuing to look for the helpers within my communities, and doing what I can to support—or join—them.

Oh and on a personal note, some of you may have heard that I won a spot in a four-month business cohort for neurodivergent entrepreneurs(!!). We just had our kick-off call last week, and I must say it has already been so rewarding to just be able to talk about my work and my concerns out loud with others, and to receive feedback. I haven’t worked with a coach before but I’m absolutely leaning into the experience, and I’m excited to begin integrating the lessons and epiphanies as they come!

This email is already long so, let’s get things wrapped up. I hope you have a good week, eat some good food, and spend time in the company of at least one good friend whose laughter makes you laugh even harder. Allow your heart to indulge in some “unproductive” time that makes you happy; it’s pivotal to our survival that you do. 🧡

Talk soon,