âWhen Rihanna comes out with Pumas everybody buys them. When Kanye drops a new album everybody buys it. When BeyoncĂ© drops a new clothing line everybody buys it. Your friend wants to open a new business and starts a Gofundme page and nobody spends a dime because theyâre all skeptical about supporting. Why do we pour into the entrepreneurial endeavours of strangers before we support our own family and friends?â
Oh, fuck right off.
You don't buy Pumas "to support Rihanna". You don't buy Kanye's albums "to support Kanye". You don't buy Beyoncé's clothing lines "to support Beyoncé". You buy their shit because they are making things that you want to have.
That's without even starting on the fact that everyone and their cat has a side hustle, and only 1 in 100 is going to be anything more than a sinkhole for time and money, albeit possibly an enjoyable one.
Which is fine. If you love it, keep doing it! But if you want people's money, and you want them to still be your friends afterward, make something they'll want to put money into. You are not entitled to the resources of your friends and family just for having a side hustle. Being someoneâs Facebook friend does not entitle your work to their attention, let alone their hard-earned coin.
This is why I never tell people to "like my page" on Facebook. I won't demand that they give me anything. I will post something just to say, "hey, I did a thing, here it is," or, "this is what I'm doing with my time," or sometimes even, "if you like P, Q, or R, maybe you'll like this?". I might even, in the future, run a crowdfunding campaign saying something like, âif you enjoy my work, you can help me to make more of it exist!â
But I will not be caught dead demanding that people invest in my shit for my sake.
