What is "Networking"?

Let's make sure we start on the same page. According to Merriam-Webster, networking is "the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions, specifically: the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business."

That's a bit more broad than I had in mind, but that's fine. 


Forms of Networking
Networking is simply any interaction with other humans. Pulling a few sources together from an online search, a rather varied list develops:

• Operational Networking: Build relationships within your current organization.
• Personal Networking: Engage with people outside your company for personal professional development, referrals, and long-term career opportunities.
• Strategic Networking: Connect with people who can help you achieve business goals.
• Informal Networking: Casual interactions, such as chatting while getting coffee, attending hobby-related events, or connecting via social media, which can lead to professional opportunities.
• Virtual Networking: Engage in online platforms (LinkedIn, virtual meetups, webinars) to connect with people online.
• Event-Based Networking: Attend organized gatherings such as seminars, conferences, career fairs, or happy hours to meet professionals. 

To me, it all comes down to two types:

• In person
• Virtual/online

Which is Better - In Person or Online?
It depends.

If you can manage opportunities to meet in person, all the better. However, online offers opportunities unimaginable until recently to connect with people from around the world!

Event-Based Networking Opportunities
These are available in person or online. The more in person opportunities you can create for yourself, the more satisfying it tends to be for folks. 

• Seminars: Most education opportunities include networking time in their agenda—the best of both worlds! These can be free or low cost to definitely needing thoughtful budgeting for the expense. 
• Conferences: These tend to be more expensive, often a price break for those who purchase annual membership, and tend to last longer, on the order of days. 
• Career fairs: These are designed for purposeful networking. If you're actively in the job market, this is a great way to meet hiring representatives in person to cut through online job application systems and connect names with faces. This enables your personality to shine!
• "Happy hours": This is the most casual of organized networking. These can be after work or coffee/tea meet-ups. They can also be in person or online!

But I'm an Introvert!
Start small. One event at a time. Start with smaller events and work up to larger events. Many larger events, especially online, host networking "rooms" for a small group atmosphere.

Some event hosts provide discussion topics to start conversations. Consider jotting your own conversation starters if you feel like you freeze when it's time to talk; these will help you feel more prepared. 

I've met a few self-professed introverted trainers on LinkedIn that you may wish to connect with as resources.​Greg Roche, The Introverted Networker, is a great resource sharing on socials, a newsletter, and a podcast. (LinkedIn is hyperlinked; Substack newsletter is here)

Human Connection - the AI Differentiator
Networking and human connection will be what ultimately sets us apart from AI providers. AI can and will be able to do many of the tasks and services each of us provide. Some of our potential clients will be just fine or even prefer the output or convenience of AI providing services.

Those are not the clients we're looking for.

Networking is already a key deciding factor for employers when hiring staff. It's the primary way many in the job market are getting job opportunities currently. This article from OpenArc from October 2025 has a number of fascinating statistics. 

• "85% of available positions are never publicly advertised on job boards or company websites."
• "Online job applications have an average success rate of approximately 2%, compared to significantly higher rates through networking."
• "...referred candidates are hired at a 30% rate, while all other application methods combined yield only a 7% success rate—that’s a 4.3× advantage."
• "According to LinkedIn and HubSpot studies, an incredible 85% of all jobs are filled via networking."
• "Referred candidates move through the hiring process 11% faster than those from other sources. Additionally, referred employees tend to stay with companies 70% longer than those hired through other channels."

What's the difference between you and AI? Human connection. Personality. Interaction. A sense of humor. The unique experiences that you bring to the discussion.

Where Do I Start?
You may consider an AI chat to help you focus your energy on where your ideal client may be. You'll likely want to consider in person and online opportunities depending on your business, time, and energy!

• Local events: Chamber of Commerce, business associations, conventions, community groups (where you live, social media groups, HOA groups), NextDoor, Eventbrite, or MeetUp options in your target audience. Book fairs are great options for authors, and local nonprofit events are perfect for those in the nonprofit realm.
• Library events: Your local library and community centers likely offer low to no cost meet ups or groups that align with your client market. If you don't find a group that interests you, consider working with the facility leaders and offer your services as an instructor to create an event! 
• Online networking: Some social media platforms create events for the purpose of networking. My friend on LinkedIn, Sigrid de Kaste, offers an online networking opportunity every two weeks with a free trial option before membership. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Substack event and group options abound, as varied as your interests. The Nonprofit Hive courtesy of Tasha Van Vlack is a fabulous opportunity I recently discovered. Ilise Benun, Lynnaire Johnston, John Espirian, Felipe Cofiño, Roy Kowarski, and Joe Rando of LifeStarr offer networking communities as do many others on LInkedIn. 

I've Networked - Now What?
Build those new-found friendships and relationships! Keep in touch personally and in group activities. Consistent, regular participation builds your networking muscles and helps you be seen as a trusted resource. 

You won't typically find your new best friend in networking events, but you'll generally develop at least a passing awareness of others (if not deeper) to be able to chit-chat on occasion, refer client leads and opportunities, and support each other on the socials with comments and post engagement. You'll learn along the way, as many networking events are bundled with education opportunities—the best of both worlds in my book. 

Your Turn!
Do you prefer in person or online networking events? Do you have a favorite resource or group to suggest to others?

Love to hear about your networking journey! Let's Chat or find me on LinkedIn or Substack!

Book Review

I just finished Simon Sinek's book "The Infinite Game." Have you read it? I read his books "Start with Why" and "Leaders Eat Last" this past year and saw good reviews about "The Infinite Game." A lot of the concepts he shares in "The Infinite Game" are very applicable to nonprofit leaders, solopreneurs, and authors. Let's see what we can learn from him.

Basic Definitions
Sinek shares examples throughout his book of businesses and systems with a finite and infinite game mindset. 

• Finite game mindset: There's a clear winner and loser, generally in a given firm time period. A sports match is an easy example or when a business tries to "beat" another in some measurement. The focus is on winning and defeating opponents.
• Infinite game mindset: This is a long game. There are no winners or losers—no behind or ahead. The rules are fluid and changeable. This is more about pursuit of a "just cause" often cited in his book. The focus is on building trust, encouraging innovation, maintaining flexibility, and being adaptable to change.

A Just Cause
Sinek lists five characteristics of a just cause:

• For something, not against: optimistic and constructive
• Inclusive: welcomes all who wish to contribute
• Service oriented: benefits others, not just self
• Resilient: can weather changes in environment and culture
• Idealistic: bold, challenging, and can never be fully achieved

Referring to his books "Start with Why" and "Find Your Why," the difference between a Why and Just Cause:

• Why: tied to the past, origin story
• Just Cause: focuses on the future, the vision being built

Rivals
Rivals have different aspects in finite and infinite games.

• Finite rivals: these are competitors to be beaten or defeated
• Infinite rivals: these are "worthy rivals" to learn from, to improve oneself in comparison, spurs growth you wouldn't necessarily otherwise be inspired to consider. He gave an example of tennis players Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova inspiring each other to be better.

Get to the Point
How are these concepts useful for nonprofits, solopreneurs, and authors?

• A Just Cause: This sounds so inspiring, don't you think? Those I partner with typically have a bigger-than-themselves goal in mind to improve the world in some way. I support my clients in their rise to their just cause, helping to share their message in a variety of ways to inspire others to join their cause.
• Teams lift each other: Everything is more fun when shared with others! "A rising tide lifts all boats." We're all prosperous when one is prosperous. Let's work together to support your clients who can then support others. 
• "Rivals" for "coopetition": A friend through LinkedIn, Brenda Meller, has shared a term I love and hope she focuses on more - "coopetition." A mix of "cooperation" and "competition," "coopetition" is designed to lift others in your field as Sinek's "worthy rivals" suggests. You can get a sense of "coopetition" on her LinkedIn post. 
• Life of service: I am all about serving others and have realized I tend to seek other service-minded folks and organizations to collaborate with. In a world feeling a touch crazy some days, by focusing on those you can partner with and even rival to improve yourself along the way, the world has to get better in the process to lift others. The good we do ripples more broadly to others.

Your Turn
As you can tell, I enjoyed and related to Simon Sinek's book, "The Infinite Game."

If you've read the book, what did you think? Do you tend to focus on finite games or infinite games? (no wrong answer and no judgement - there's a time and place for both)

​Have you found your "just cause" or "worthy rival"?

Feel free to leave a comment or Let's Chat! You can also message me on LinkedIn or Substack. Thanks for reading!

What is Community?

This is pertinent to nonprofits, solopreneurs, and authors: define your "community" and build it. This is marketing at its finest! 

Merriam-Webster defines community as: 

• a unified body of individuals (common interests, characteristics, or history)
• "a state or feeling of caring about and wanting to interact with others in a group"
• society at large

Stanford Social Innovation Review puts it succinctly: "It's about people."

Why Community Matters
A Gemini AI overview compiles these factors, admittedly not seen in any one source, but they seem globally valid.

• Support and Security: members assist each other, especially when it would be difficult to tackle something individually
• Identity and Belonging: members are connected by a broader commonality
• Shared Purpose: members fulfill common needs such as safety, shared values, or mutual goals

Inspiration to Discuss Community
This article created by Tasha Van Vlack of The Nonprofit Hive and posted on Nonprofit Tech for Good grabbed my attention. The focus is on nonprofits, but the sentiments and suggestions are pertinent to all of my clients including solopreneurs and authors. The sentiment is really at the crux of what marketing should be. The entire article is fabulous but I'll highlight key aspects that pertain to my clients to consider.

Community is Far More than Clicks
We have become so focused on clicks, open rates, lists, and membership numbers, that we've lost the point of it all - relationships. People. Truly listening and hearing each other. 

Tasha makes a great distinction: "An audience consumes. A community interacts. An audience receives updates. A community creates momentum. An audience may appreciate your content. A community helps carry your mission further because people feel connected not only to the organization, but to one another." She proposes we find ways to "move from passive presence to real participation." I couldn't agree more.

It is far too easy to become a one-way push of information. Members watch and don't interact or communicate. You'll get an occasional reaction or "like." But your audience doesn't really feel belonging or invested. 

Questions to Consider
I'll share some of Tasha's questions geared to nonprofits to include what's pertinent to small business owners and authors as well. 

• Are people mostly consuming or are they connecting?
• Are we designing for peer exchange or only top-down communication?
• Do people know why they belong here?
• Are we measuring only content performance?
• If our community manager or marketer stepped away for a month, would my audience still connect with one another?
• Are we building something shareable because it is meaningful or just trying to market harder?

That's Nice - But HOW?
Consider how you build relationships. You'll see many overlaps as a business or nonprofit. The key is connecting.

• Networking
  • In person: If you're a nonprofit, do you host events or other opportunities to see community supporters and donors to be able to meaningfully share information and relate? As a solopreneur and author, are you physically meeting with clients or potential clients? There's really no better way to get to know someone.
  • Online: Next best is online networking through messaging platforms, post comments, zoom "chats," and available live events. It makes such a difference when you can take comments and messaging to some online visible meeting to get a better sense of someone!
• Communication: ​Are there ways your donors, supporters, or potential clients can actually chat with you? Consider an Ask the President/Author/Owner opportunity. Online live events that enable two-way conversation are useful. Consider a social media "group" rather than a "page" where all included are able to ask questions and interact, not just the admin sharing curated news.
• What unites you: Beyond simply donating to support a cause or purchasing services, what is your common bond or story? Preserving history - feeding the community - sharing stories of an era - what can you all meaningfully relate to?
• Stories matter: No matter the metrics on posts or emails, are you having meaningful communication with those you hear from? Connecting with a few more deeply is worth far more than vanity metrics. 
• Do you have passionate cheerleaders: Have you shared enough stories that supporters can share them with others to bring more into the tribe? It makes you or your organization more meaningful and takes far less work "marketing." 

Your Turn!
What is "community" to you and how are you building it? I'd love to hear!

Let's Chat or find me on LinkedIn or Substack! 

Beyond the Basics

This post will share updated information from this post from a year ago based on my own experience and adding insight from a couple of resources. 

Are Newsletters Useful?
"Is it worth my time to create a newsletter?" - yes! Let's review some statistics.


​From this Stripo article, January 2026:

• Return on Investment: For every $1 spent on email marketing, $10-$36 is generated in sales and even as much as $50 for high performers.
• B2C (Business to Customer) conversion: 59% of consumers attribute purchases to email notices received. Sales due to emails account for roughly 11% of company eCommerce sales and, perhaps more importantly, engage customers after sales and increase brand loyalty. 

36Agency confirms many of these numbers and adds more:

• "Regularly connecting with customers, past customers, and leads builds loyalty and keeps your brand at the forefront of their minds. Personalized content boosts open and engagement rates by 26%,..."
• "Monthly newsletters establish a direct line of communication with your customers, keeping them up-to-date with essential information and developments. Unlike social media posts that can get lost in the noise, emails land directly in recipients’ inboxes. This directness ensures that your audience receives your updates without any extra steps, making it a reliable method of communication."
• Newsletters also enable you to gain feedback from customers through survey questions and email replies.

According to Media Beats: "Newsletters are among the few channels that you fully control. They offer data privacy, independence, and long-term customer retention. 88% of people read their emails daily, with 78% doing so before starting work. No other communication channel reaches users as reliably and consistently."

But What About AI?
Newsletters remain useful in this developing AI world—I suggest more than ever!

From The Current's February 11, 2026 post:

• Regulators in Europe and the UK are moving to curb Google's AI Overviews which are increasingly limiting traffic to websites. Proposals have included publishers being able to opt out of AI overviews to others taking legal action, filing antitrust complaints. 
• A repeated theme in sources including The Current post above and Creator's MBA encourages newsletters as one of few owned media options, enabling one to be seen in inboxes and even monetize through subscriptions or advertisement relationships. If AI summaries will reduce website traffic, email newsletters are the way to connect with customers. 

Media Beats identifies newsletters as a powerful tool to boost reach, trust, and revenue. 

Newsletter Options
There are a number of platforms to consider for your newsletter once you've determined your strategy and market. Many, including me, provide a newsletter on multiple channels, including all three listed below. Consider your audience for what your best strategy should be.

• LinkedIn: Newsletters on LinkedIn are a series of articles you identify at the beginning as a "newsletter," which becomes a series of articles going to your subscribers. It's recommended you defer creating a newsletter on this platform until you have at least 1,000 followers as the first edition goes to every connection you have so they can then subscribe to receive news. LinkedIn helpfully offers new connections to subscribe to your newsletter - an automatic feature. Portions are sent to subscriber email addresses and guided back to LinkedIn for the full post. The trick on these is you do not own nor can you see the addresses of each of your subscribers. 
• Substack: Newsletters on Substack are a series of articles initially created as a "newsletter," just like on LinkedIn. It takes longer to build a substantial subscriber list, but you can begin creating your newsletter immediately rather than hold until you reach a certain number to begin. These newsletters can be shared for free or monetized as monthly or annual subscriptions. Substack does have a fee on subscriptions you collect but not extreme. You can download and keep the email addresses of subscribers so they can become your forever property. Substack news goes to subscribers' feed and via email. 
• Direct email provider: You control, create, and select this service provider. A variety of options have been covered on this blog post from a year ago. Many provide a free version of their service to start.

Your Turn!
Do you have a newsletter? Do you offer it on one or more platforms?

I'd love to hear how it's going for you and I love to subscribe to newsletters! If you'd like to talk strategy or need a hand creating a newsletter, Let's Chat or find me on LinkedIn or Substack!

What's the Big Deal?

An author client asked for assistance to determine how to sell pdfs of stories - digital products - as frictionless as possible, preferably without the vendor asking for a customer's mailing address. 

Turns out, it's not as easy as you may think. 

There are a number of laws to consider, especially if you may have international sales, let alone considering different tax laws among 50 states of the US. (eeek!) 

Selling digital products adds yet another layer of complexity.

Keeping It Simple
This post will not go into heavy technical detail to set up your online store. I'm happy to assist you - Let's Chat! - but the intent of this post is to share a few points to ponder and a few resources available, aiming for the most simplicity to get my nonprofits, solopreneurs, and authors heading in the right direction.

Useful Terminology

• Merchant of Record (MoR): According to this Stripe article from January 2026, "refers to the entity that is legally authorized and responsible for processing customer payments—including credit and debit card transactions and digital wallet transactions—for goods or services on behalf of a business. The MoR is liable for the financial, legal, and compliance aspects of transactions, and its work includes dealing with banks, card networks, and regulatory bodies. The MoR is an important actor in ecommerce transactions and can fundamentally shape the process and experience of online payments." Using a platform that will process sales for you, especially sale of digital items, in accordance with a myriad of tax laws, nationally and internationally, is well worth the trouble—your tax accountant will thank you!
• VAT (Value-Added Tax)/GST (Goods & Services Tax): Sales tax for European (VAT) and Australian (GST) customers. Taxes are based on the location of the buyer, not seller. 
• ISO 20022: Global payment standard (initiated in 2004) effective November 2026 where a minimum of city and country will be required for online transactions. Two forms of address verification will be needed - IP (computer) address that's identified behind the scenes and billing address. 
• PDF Stamp: deters people from sharing his stories for free by putting the buyer's email on every page. Lemon Squeezy, Dodo Payments, and Payhip, when enabled, these platforms automatically "burns" or watermarks the buyer's email address (and sometimes a transaction ID) onto the corner of every single page of the PDF upon download.

Online Sales Vendor Options

• Lemon Squeezy: A full-service MoR, they handle 100% of the taxes globally on your behalf. Apple Pay and Google Pay can be used making check-out frictionless for the buyer. Fees are 5% + $0.50 - reasonable. Has additional tools like newsletter creation options. 
• Dodo Payments: A full-service MoR, they handle 100% of the taxes globally as Lemon Squeezy does. Uses a pop-up overlay intended to make check-out as streamlined as possible. Fees are 4% + $0.40.
• Paddle: A full-service MoR, they handle 100% of the taxes globally as Lemon Squeezy and Dodo Payments. Offers a "contacts us" option if you'll be selling items under $10. Fees are 5% + $0.50.
• Gumroad: A full-service MoR, they sell digital products including memberships and courses. Create a website through their platform or connect it to your own website. Fees are rather steep - 10% + $0.50.
• Payhip: You can toggle off the billing address requirement for digital products. Does NOT handle US sales tax - not a full-service MoR. For the US, Canada, and Australia, they only calculate the tax; your client would still be responsible for registering with states and filing those taxes himself making it far more work. 5% fee and PayPal/Stripe fees apply. 
• Sellfy: Sell digital products, physical products, print on demand items, and subscriptions. Your store looks like a website, and you can connect your own domain to it. Email marketing and a few additional features are available. Fees $22/mo + PayPal or Stripe fees, whichever platform you connect. Does NOT handle US sales tax or VAT/GST - seller takes full responsibility for tax collection.

Thinking Ahead - Newsletter Building
Enable an Opt In button on your sales platform which will legally allow you to add name and email of your buyer to your email list. Just because you made a sale, does not give consent to receive ongoing communications, especially per European standards. 

Get to the Point
If you'll be doing online sales and are not a nonprofit (501c3's do not require tax collection if they have gone through the IRS approval process), you have a few things to consider.

• Who will be purchasing: customers in the US only or internationally potentially?
• What are you selling: physical products that may also require shipping or digital items? (this post focuses on digital items as a unique item) Many websites enable connecting Square, PayPal, or Stripe for payments, but you still need to consider taxes/VAT/GST and how you wish to handle that.
• Will you be handling taxes on sales or is it easier to use a platform that will handle it? Be sure to look for a system that will act as your Merchant of Record (MoR).
• Enable Apple Pay and Google Pay: This makes check-out a breeze for your buyers who use those systems.
• Be sure to add PDF Stamp language to digital items you're selling: Possible language - © 2026 [Name]. All rights reserved. No part of this publication (including text, plot, and arrangement) may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without the prior written permission of the author.
• Add an Opt In button to all sales: This will enable you to build a newsletter distribution list from buyers who are already your fan!

Your Turn
Have you done any digital sales and worked through this process? Love to hear your experience, what platform you selected, and why - Let's Chat! Or find me on LinkedIn or Substack!

What Is Peer-to-Peer Fundraising?

Let's start with a basic frame of reference. Bloomerang, a donor management system, offers this guidance.

Peer-to-peer fundraising is when volunteers/supporters take an active role to encourage friends and family to also support a favorite organization. Organizations recruit supporters to widen the reach by encouraging their network to participate in a fundraising activity or event. 

Crowdfunding campaigns are similar but different.

• Crowdfunding asks supporters to share the same brand campaign created by the nonprofit with their personal network.
• Peer-to-peer fundraising enables supporters to create their own personalized page for fundraising. These pages may be based in a template format but have aspects ready to add personal stories and content.

Types of Peer-to-Peer Campaigns
Per the same Bloomerang article:

• Rolling: no time limit and no set deadline
• Time-based: can last several days or weeks, often tied to an event
• Giving Days: 24-hour duration, associated with specific giving occasions (e.g Giving Tuesday, World Hunger Day)

Starting Your Peer-to-Peer Campaign

• Determine your goals
  • Types of goals: possibly raise funds, increase brand awareness, increase social media following
  • Break down the finances: If you're aiming for $20,000 for your project, how many volunteers will you need to realistically consider achieving a portion of that goal? (if you aim for at least $400 per person, you're going to need to enlist the assistance of 50 supporters to contact their network)
• Choose a fundraising platform: There are many out there.
  • Large full-management platforms: Bloomerang, Neon One, OneCause
  • Donation landing pages: GoFundMe, GiveButter, NEDDIE, and Chuffed as examples
  • Variety of fundraising platforms available and features to look for per Bloomerang and Kindful
• Recruit your volunteers and supporters: 
  • Be realistic: Each individual can generally only raise so many funds from friends and family. Set achievable goals for your nonprofit and your team of volunteers. Give everyone a chance to succeed on your behalf!
  • Individual contact: Personalize your request. It makes a difference in volunteer assistance.
• Support your team: Provide the tools to succeed. You'll want a selection of images for your team to personalize their message—maybe share a link to a Canva design they can personalize. Host a training session to answer questions, provide answers to questions their network may have, provide key words/phrases and an initial set of stories volunteers can draw from to inspire their personal stories. 
• Celebrate your achievements: Shout-out everyone you can for whatever reason you can come up with! Keep the enthusiasm high and encouraging. 
• Thank your team of supporters: Thanks are always appreciated, especially during and immediately after your event, but even long after your event. Share how their efforts continue to make a difference and your gratitude. Thank your team leaders and new donors.
• Track campaign data: Follow the numbers - keep an eye on what worked, what didn't, and ways to approach this project next time.

Campaign Styles
Peer-to-peer campaigns can take a variety of forms.

• Online: Heavily based on social media channels, virtual-a-thons
• A-thon style: Read-a-thon, Cook-a-thon, Walk-a-thon, and more
• Matching gift drive
• Wedding or birthday drives: Facebook has a great platform for this from a list of approved nonprofits. It's not hard to get your nonprofit added to the list. 
• Golf tournaments
• Variety of ideas from Bloomerang

Is It Worth It?
Many say yes. People give to people - friends support friends. There's an element of peer pressure to peer-to-peer campaigns that does fuel donations. According to Kindsight, this style of fundraising has continued to grow since 2023. 

This type of fundraising is currently appealing to the Millenials and Gen Z crowd which value flexibility and the ability to align with their identity and values. Mobile-first platforms, speedy downloads and website access, clear donation button options, and easy payment methods are key to success according to GoFundMe. 

GoFundMe tempers the excitement with news that dollar amounts are declining on Facebook and, while a-thons may draw a crowd, the amount raised is declining. GoFundMe also indicates peer-to-peer campaigns are evolving into more community fundraising where volunteers/donors take on campaign activities more actively. ·      

​Supporters want to help you reach your fundraising goals, but they’re not always sure what to do next, when to share, or how to succeed. Providing coaching and ongoing support is one of the most critical elements of a successful community fundraising strategy.

Get to the Point
Peer-to-peer and crowdfunding fundraising options are great tools for any nonprofit organization. However, they take time to plan and prepare for. 

• Decide on your goals.
• Decide the type of campaign or fundraiser you will create.
• Decide on your timing - when to start and how long to last.
• If your goal is a dollar amount, how many volunteers/sponsors/team captains will you need to raise how much in what time to achieve your goal? Depending on your faithful group, $500 may realistically be the most to hope any team attempts to raise as friends will likely give small amounts that build. 
• Decide on a donation platform and build it with your template or initial landing page. Make sure your platform offers the option for others to create their own donation page to personalize. 
• Create a training plan and materials your team can use in the campaign on your behalf.
• Find folks willing to support your campaign plan by sharing the news with their network. If you have a really big goal, you're going to need a lot of people to share the news. 
• Be prepared to be active and involved with your team throughout the campaign to inspire, thank, and cheer for each other. This is time consuming!
• Be ready with your end-of-campaign thank you's for your team and donors, welcoming newly discovered supporters to your organization.
• Make time and ensure you have a plan to review the data after the campaign to learn what went well and ways to improve next time.

Have You Tried Peer-to-Peer or Crowdfunding Campaigns?
How have they gone? Love to hear your successes and challenges so we can learn and grow together! Let's Chat or find me on LinkedIn!

The Times, They Are A'Changing

As tech advances, marketing shifts are needed. Email remains one of the strongest ways to connect with your audience, but recent advances in AI and email servers are challenging how to get noticed. 

MailChimp reports according to a study on its behalf: 

• 95% of marketers agree email marketing has excellent ROI (return on investment)
• 4 in 5 customers prefer email over other forms of communication

Forbes shared December 31, 2025 that "email dominates as the most effective channel (72% of brands)".

What's Changed?
AI is increasingly impacting our inboxes. Pretty much all email servers have some sort of spam filter to "helpfully" set aside items you may consider junk or ads not worthy of your time. When those spam filters work, they're extremely useful and I'm glad not to see those messages. However, we've all had plenty of instances of "losing" emails our server identifies as spam that we actually want to see. It feels like it's more work clearing through multiple folders email is sifted into to either truly delete, actually read, or try to train the AI system what we want in our inbox - repeatedly - as identifying what we want to see never seems to stick.

Google shared in this January 8, 2026 blog post the impact their AI, Gemini, will have in inboxes.  The post reviews a variety of features—some may thrill you, others not so much. The generative AI options of helping you compose and edit may help some folks; summaries and search functions may be useful. As a marketer and the point of this article, there are concerns about Gmail "helpfully" re-ordering our inboxes to prioritize what it thinks has deadlines and dates (not always accurate) as well as prioritizing email from those it sees you interacting with more often. Interaction with emails is being picked up as someone you trust and relate to, someone you want to hear from. This reordering also messes with date/time order of messages you see. This omeda article from January 12, 2026 indicates Apple is going to the same email format beginning Fall 2026. 

How Do We Address These Changes?
This post was inspired by listening to a series of podcasts from Yale Keon—episodes 146, 147, and 148—which can be found here. Episode 148 is especially enlightening as she addresses email filtering and opening with the impact of AI. I definitely recommend a listen—15 minutes well spent. 

I've rounded up a number of articles with helpful suggestions as we consider getting eyes and opens on our emails. These are great if you have time for a longer read.

• cmercury offers a number of actionable bullets in their post.
• Forbes offers a number of suggestions.
• knak has an extensive review of the matter. 

Get to the Point
Let's get to some actionable highlights of ways to maximize your email reach as it will remain the best way to connect with your customers. 

• Engagement is key: Elicit open, click, and reply. Consider buttons for easy reply to your email, polls—some reason to interact with a response to indicate you want these emails. 
• Focus on priority over creativity: Create a clear call to action, deadline date reference, and no vague language. These will trigger the AI layer to alert to your important message.
• More text/less images: Rethink placing your logo at the top—try to look more like a personal friend than a brand. While gifs are fun, adding a bunch starts looking a bit spammy with less real content. 
• Personalize your domain: Invest in a service to send as [email protected]. (rough example) Google Workspace offers a reasonable monthly payment service and adds features to your gmail experience. There are other vendors who provide a domain name service you can connect to your website and email tool. It took me years to bite the bullet on this expense but now find it well worth the (currently) $8/month investment that also enables a Gemini Pro tier, more Google Drive storage, and much more. 
• Clean your email list regularly of those not engaging in 90-180 days: The more emails unopened or without engagement, the more email servers will begin to treat you like spam. I personally differ on this one. While it may help your numbers and potential (potential!) delivery rate, there's also something to be said for showing up in someone's inbox to be there when the time is right to connect further. 

How Has Your Email Engagement Been?
Are you monitoring your "open" and "click" rates from your email distribution? These aren't gospel but they do offer a bit of insight into engagement with your messages.

Any tips or tricks to share that you've used that resonate with your email list? Love to hear what's working to share with others! Let's Chat or find me on LinkedIn or Substack!

AI Slop

There is a growing backlash against so much content or even full works being created by AI and shared. Some isn't hard to spot - pretty average sounding words, little emotion.

Others are harder, from just being hard to distinguish as Human vs AI to even stealing author's names and publishing books for sale! This is being seen in just about any profession, but we'll focus on authors today. 

Labels
Some are leaning into labeling themselves to note "Guaranteed Human" or some percentage of what is human vs AI work. Others are date and time stamping posts on socials to confirm humanity, in case material may get swiped by AI or people. You may also be in a rapidly evolving field where your date/time reference helps put perspective on the post you made. 

​Stolen Property
Some authors are going through the time and expense of trademarking their name. This is a fascinating story with step-by-step cues on the process. 

Dave Malone shares an article on Jane Friedman's blog suggesting categories of AI usage to post - AI Assisted vs AI Generated. Many use AI these days - most have no problem accepting that. The thing that's useful to know is how much is AI vs Human.

Jane Friedman shared her fight in August 2023 against books posted on Goodreads and Amazon with her name as the author that she never wrote, stealing her name and reputation. She regularly updates the post as this evolves.

Amazon has developed Content Guidelines in an attempt to curb the flow of AI content. Amazon announced in September 2023 a new limit of 3 per day self-published books by the same author in an attempt to control a flood of AI content. That does not appear to have been updated or changed. 

Lean into Human Value
You are uniquely you in all your amazingness, flaws, quirks, life experiences, stories, and lousy first drafts. Your human factor is what sells. Be Human in as many ways as you can.

• Events: Show up. Network. Be a speaker and authority. You are fully human here.
• Share the process: In newsletters and on social media, share behind the scenes tales of your process which will help bring your book to life with your audience and develop your following. 
• Website and email: These are your owned property. Develop a regular, consider weekly, habit of blogging. This will give you material to populate your email news to those who subscribe or follow you or have requested your information. 
• Social media: Each platform has a different approach and vibe. Focus your energy on 2-3 at most as your go-to social spot. This is a great way to share more frequent insights or communication with followers, daily to 3x/week. These posts can be pure text, text + image (photo), or short video. It would not surprise me if we begin seeing tags at the end of posts noting "100% Human Created Content" or something similar. 

Human Branding Sells
Use AI. It's a useful tool. But be aware of how much of your work is you vs the tool. At the end of the day, it makes a difference the level of Human in your work. If you have a pro AI account, you are able to toggle an option not to make your chat public which may be extremely useful to protect your content.

This isn't intended to be an all or nothing perspective. The best option is often a blend of human and AI. It's a tool we can use to improve our words and how we share experiences. This May 2025 article encourages a blend. Even Google suggests a blend of AI and human content is successful. The article also suggests human content outperforms AI by 47%. I definitely appreciate that.

Human Branding
How much are you creating as human generated content? Are you feeling a need to label it as such?

Love to hear your thoughts - Let's Chat or find me on LinkedIn!

What is Substack?

Yes, another social media platform. We have a number of tools available in our social media arsenal: Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and even YouTube are the big ones. There are a few smaller options out there as well. 

Substack indicates it's called "a media company, a newsletter platform, and a social media network" but instead calls itself "a subscription network." They boast "more than 50 million active subscriptions, including 5 million paid subscriptions." As a point of reference, LinkedIn boasts over 1 billion subscribers approximately 340 million actually using it monthly. 

Who is the Audience?
The market is similar to LinkedIn but more broad. With their additional focus on podcast options and videos, that sets them up as TikTok and podcast platform competition as well. (Spotify, Amazon, and Apple are big podcast mediums)

What Makes It Different?
Substack's big difference from the rest is a paid subscription option. Readers can choose to pay for your content to read exclusive content or the ability to comment on posts which isn't available for free. Free content is perfectly acceptable as well and encouraged, certainly as you build your subscriber base!

Substack more sees the paid content as a way to build community - folks pay for the trust, recognition, and community of fellow commenters. You can choose (and adjust as you go) what folks will pay for your content, anywhere from $5-$75/mo, with an audience size of at least 50 on up. 

Substack is also based on the idea that subscribers are yours, the creator. You have access to and can download names + email addresses of your subscribers which you can then add to your personal email list off platform. Substack naturally encourages you to instead import your off-platform email list to Substack. However, if you're looking for an option to own names + email addresses for your personal email newsletter, this is the perfect way to have connections "off rented land." (not beholden to the whim of the social media platform) You may choose to simply hang onto the contact info should your access to Substack suddenly go away. If you have folks that you email that don't go on Substack, keep your personal email list going to them. 

As with LinkedIn, Substack publications are being indexed by Google and can be found on searches, broadening your reach on search functions. 

Key Differences Using Substack:

• Opportunity to be paid for writing, podcasts, or videos - far easier to achieve than any other platform.
• Names + emails you can keep - I don't know of any other social platform that enables that. 

Is It Easy to Use?
There is a bit of a learning curve for this one. 

Substack does have a wealth of Resources available to guide you with many links to blog posts and more to get you started. Hitting that link walks you through "How to Start," but you'll see a number of additional resources in the tab's dropdown menu. 

YouTube has a number of folks providing videos and information about how to get started on Substack. There are certainly Substack accounts happy to help you through the process - do a search once you create an account. 

Setting up the very basics is easy and similar to setting up your LinkedIn or other social profiles - banner image, personal image, name, and short bio. Once this is set, you can start reading and post content. 

Types of Content
There are 2 types:

• Notes: short content, text/image/link as you do on most social media platforms
• Posts: long content like blog posts or newsletters. Getting set up with your "newsletter" is its own separate set up as it is on LinkedIn. Basically each post is like an article or blog post. Not long or hard, but separate and additional. 

How to Connect with Others
Substack has a few ways to "follow" creators. The two basics are "follow" and "subscribe," but there are a couple of nuances as well. This is a fabulous Substack article describing the differences in more detail. 

• Follow:  you can see the short notes someone posts but not their longer content or receive email notification of new posts.
• Subscribe: paid vs free. Either way, you are on the creator's list for full content with notifications via email and the app of new posts. 
• Pledge: folks can pre-commit to pay for your content, ready when you do set up a paid option

Great - An Additional Social Option When I'm Stretched Thin
Not wrong. I'm a firm believer in focus for your energy, time, and sanity. But don't forget to simply repost or reuse your content to multiple platforms.

• Website blog: Start here as it's your property, not relying on the whims of the social platforms. This should be the basis or Ground Zero for your content.
• LinkedIn newsletter/articles: copy/paste your blog post with a little formatting time invested.
• Substack: copy/paste your blog post just as you did on LinkedIn.
• Facebook & Instagram: share a short message encouraging folks head to your original website blog post where you hopefully have a pop-up or buttons to subscribe to your email newsletter. Use the Meta platform to post the same message on both platforms. 
• X/Twitter: copy/paste what you posted on Facebook and the rest - link to your website blog post. 

Is Substack in Your Marketing Plan?
I hear a number of LinkedIn users are also heading to Substack as the audience and format feels similar. The benefits of Substack are pretty tempting. I anticipate a lot of growth on Substack in 2026 between the paid subscriber benefit and access to names + email addresses. There are too many stories of creators getting shut down, even temporarily, for no obvious reason on any other social media, having to rebuild completely from the ground up once service may be returned. 

• Solopreneurs/freelances: Depending on where your ideal client hangs out, Substack may be a great format for you.
• Authors: If you're a nonfiction author, Substack may be a great option for you as with LinkedIn! Fiction authors may find more connection on TikTok (BookTok), Instagram (still growing in reach), or Facebook.
• Nonprofits: This may be a great option for your newsletters if you don't want the hassle or cost of a website for a blog. Nonprofits ARE beginning to find Substack as another option to share news. 

Where Are You?
What socials do you focus on? Let me know - love to follow you and cheer for each other! Have you given Substack a try yet?

Let's Chat or find me on LinkedIn! I'm on Substack but JUST getting started.  

'Twas the Night Before Break

Enjoy the full post by Robert Rose as shared on Content Marketing Institute! The video is fun but the words are what struck me. 





What Matters
The words that struck me in Robert's poem are this stanza:
"But as I looked round at the mess he’d left there,
A small folded note drifted softly through the air.
In Santa’s own scrawl were these words, warm and true:
'In chaos and metrics, remember what you do.
A story still matters; a connection still stays.
The work that is human outlives all the craze.'"

"The Work that is Human Outlives all the Craze"
Words I choose to believe and live by. This seems even more critical as the talk and noise has increased about AI - will it help, will it hurt, how painful will this adjustment be in an "AI Revolution."

These are words to cherish and hold dear for my nonprofits, fellow entrepreneurs, and authors. You, the person or organization - in your beauty, flaws, and all - are what makes living worthwhile and will make the difference in the end in the job market and appeals. 

AI can only do so much. AI needs human brains and insights to be worth anything, much as we're hearing otherwise. I envision a time coming where society will take a stand to define some boundaries around AI. 

Any human I chat with, including those who are proficient with AI, are quick to point out we must remain Human First in our approach to AI. You can hear more about this concept on a May 6, 2025 episode of The Artificial Intelligence Show podcast. 

Being Human Sells
I'm finding my client opportunities and best conversations are those I have in person or via zoom where I'm able to chat and interact with people. Words on blogs, profiles, or socials go only so far to help you decide on someone you wish to do business with, whether for your services, ideas, or connections. You really need to speak with someone to determine compatibility. 

My nonprofits are finding the same. More donations and memberships happen when they're affiliated with events and interacting with people. 

Storytelling is Key
Storytelling is a very human talent.

• Your conversations at events - you're sharing stories. 
• Your website and social media
  • You're sharing stories of impact if you're a nonprofit.
  • Referrals and recommendations share your impact as a solopreneur.
  • You're selling stories if you're an author. 

For better or worse, AI is improving at storytelling and images, making it harder to tell if a story is human or AI generated. More are considering the benefits of labeling work by percentage of AI or human creation. Studies note while it may be difficult to spot AI vs human created content, "moral disgust" impacts human responses per this study in ScienceDirect. 

Per this March 2025 blog post on Stryng: 
"52% of readers felt less connected to content once they realized AI was involved, and 26% linked AI-created web content with a lack of personal touch.

Consumers also prefer honesty. About 60% support disclosure of AI content, which helps build trust. These preferences highlight how much emotional tone and transparency matter." (emphasis as noted in original post)

How Do YOU Make a Difference
​I have no problem with AI and use it regularly - as a tool or thought partner. All work is mine and original. That is also the type of content that resonates with me. I appreciate it most when I meet and talk with creators to get to know them personally. 

I've been working through a number of certification courses through AI Academy by SmarterX and Paul Roetzer's team. They suggest there are 3 levels of AI use:

• Automation - what is basic enough you could delegate to a tool with slight oversight or review
• Augmentation - thought partner assistant, co-you
• Acceleration - how can you go beyond a 10% improvement to a 10x change

You Matter
Every step of AI use relies on human input and guidance - the human behind the machine. Each of us feels better getting to know the person behind any cause or endeavor. 

We need YOU to show up. To return to Robert Rose - "The work that is human outlives all the craze." 

Your Biggest Cheerleader!
If you'd like to talk strategy as we enter an AI-infused world, Let's Chat! I'd love to help ensure you can share your message and services with the world. You can also find me on LinkedIn.