This is the end

This is the last issue you will be receiving of “The Blank Page.” Yep, it’s no more, I’m shutting it down.

But, I’m still writing every day and publishing my daily email, but from now on, I am doing it all through TimStodz.com.

Why?

Because this doesn’t make sense anymore. Let me explain …

1. Copyblogger and TimStodz are very similar. - I created The Blank Page (what you’re reading now) as a way for me to write creatively and freely.

I did this because I wanted to turn TimStodz.com into a media company that sent a weekly newsletter about marketing and business.

That’s great, and I’ve done that. Since then, I’ve acquired Copyblogger. The audience for Copyblogger is massive and the information I sent to my audience at TimStodz.com is almost identical to the information I send to the audience at Copyblogger.

So why am I competing against myself?

I get about 20 - 40 new email sign ups a day to TimStodz.com through my social media, so why wouldn’t I just send all of those signups to Copyblogger where I have a team and a much bigger audience?

That way, I can funnel all my resources into an asset I could actually sell one day. It’s basically impossible to sell TimStodz.com, because I am the brand. Whereas there is plenty of ways that I could sell Copyblogger.

2. TimStodz.com is on Wordpress whereas The Blank Page is on Substack - I actually really like Substack. It’s a free product and I believe in the mission that Hamish is fighting for. But, the mission of Substack is not my mission.

I monetize my TimStodz newsletter with sponsorships. The reason I don’t have sponsors on The Blank Page is because it’s against Substack’s terms and conditions to monetize through sponsorships.

Substack believes that sponsorships and ad revenue is leading to the decline of honest and authentic journalism.

It’s a noble cause, but the reality is that I’ll make 100X more money by running ads against a daily newsletter than I would by selling memberships.

I’m not a journalist. I’m an entrepreneur.

Now, I don’t have any plans on running ads on TimStodz just yet. But I am one of the biggest platforms on Convertkit’s ad network, and I’m fairly certain I could start getting daily sponsors for my personal newsletter.

I could even sell sponsorships on my own, just like Daring Fireball does.

It’s time to put on the big boy pants and move off of Substack. This was always temporary. The time has come …

3. Consolidation is top of mind - I’ve been writing about this a lot lately.

I want to be highly optimized to excel in the projects that provide me with the best statistical probability for massive success.

Those projects are … (in this order)

1. Stodzy

2. Copyblogger

3. Recovery Local

Right now, the weekly newsletter for TimStodz.com makes me about $2000 a month in sponsorship revenue, and that’s great. However, that’s still an additional workload that I take on.

I wake up at 4 am every Tuesday so I can write and publish the newsletter at exactly 9 am ET. Then, I end up having to write my daily blog post at night.

In my view, the daily writing is more valuable than the $2000 a month I am giving up by killing the TimStodz weekly newsletter. Writing my daily blog gives me such clarity and helps me clear my mind.

Not to mention, I think I provide great content for my readers. I get thank you emails from my readers every day. So, doesn’t it make more sense to share this message with more people?

Since I don’t promote The Blank Page (I actually don’t tell anyone about it), I only have about 600 subscribers. Compare that to the 18,000 subscribers over at TimStodz, and were talking about a massive increase in readers.

So, I can now share my experience, strength and hope with a bigger audience.

I am doing a disservice to the 18,000 people by not sharing my honest and raw thoughts with them every morning.

I am taking one more thing off my plate and in the process, improving what matters.

It’s a win / win.

It’s strange, because I will miss this. There is something about the title of this blog … “The Blank Page”, that I’ve always loved so much.

The blank page has been a dear friend to me ever since I was a little boy. I’ve always felt like the title of this blog was some kind of tribute to the dozens of filled notebooks and journals I have stashed in the corner of my office.

It’s overly sentimental, but, I’m still sad to say goodbye.

So, goodbye. And hello.

Onward.

P.S. - I am subscribing you to TimStodz.com, since I can only assume you wish to continue reading my emails every morning.

See you on the flip side.