This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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My subscribers are paying for nothing. That's what we're gonna look at today. In this episode, we're gonna explore the ethical dilemma of charging subscribers without fully delivering a service. So it's an interesting question we got from Rachel in Baltimore. Rachel started a subscription-based newsletter last year and she got 50 signups, great start.
But recently she's been struggling to deliver the promised value to her subscribers. I'm not sure if she just stopped writing entirely or if she kind of dropped out of the schedule, like she promised she would write two posts a week or two newsletters a week and she's only writing one. Whatever the situation is, she feels like she's delivering less than she promised, but now she's got people who are paying. So what does she do? So she's wondering about the ethical implications of continuing to charge subscribers without fully delivering the service.
This can be something that any service provider, any subscription product can get into, either on the side of delivering the service or as a consumer. What do you do if you're the small business owner in this situation? Let's consider some options and alternatives. You don't necessarily have to shut the whole thing down. There could be a way to make it work.
So let's consider those options in a way that is fair to everyone. And of course, I always want the podcast to be as helpful to you as possible. So just think about how you can apply this in your own way with your own business ideas or whatever it is you're trying to accomplish in your own goal of entrepreneurial freedom. All right, detailed question. My subscribers are paying for nothing coming right up.
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Hey, Chris, I'm Rachel from Baltimore, Maryland. Last year, I started the subscription-based newsletter and I got 50 signups. That was awesome. But recently, I faced some challenges that have made it difficult to deliver the promised value to my subscribers. I'm concerned about the ethical implications of continuing to charge people without fully delivering the service.
What's your take on this situation? How can I handle it in a way that's fair to my subscribers without just canceling everyone since I rely on the income? I'm hoping you can help me thread the needle here. - This is such an interesting question. Like I always say, when people raise ethical concerns, the fact that you're raising this concern shows that you're on the track to doing the right thing.
Like other people might just not care. So the fact that you care, like this already signals that you're trying to make the right decision. And I would just suggest that the right decision is not necessarily to abandon the project, to shut it down, to give everybody their money back. Oftentimes, you can continue the project. You can just make some adjustment along the way.
You can be honest with people. You can say, hey, I got a little bit off track, but I'm back on track now. Or you can say, I thought I was gonna deliver at this particular cadence, and it turned out that was a little bit too much for me. So here is the new schedule. You can count on me to see this new schedule through.
And some people might cancel at that point, but a lot of people might stick around. So I think it's important to give people credit and to understand that if they are paying you for something, especially if it's for information or a newsletter or some means of supporting you, then that desire to support you is often a primary goal of theirs. That's a primary motivation. That's why they do it. So just being honest, acknowledging it with your subscribers can go a long way.
You could also offer a free month. You can say, hey, I got off track, so here's an extra month. Like you paid for 12 months with this annual subscription, but I'm gonna make it 13 or whatever the case might be. And of course, another option is to do partial refunds for that time, which you weren't delivering services. I just think that you might be more successful with finding a way to keep it going as long as you think it is just a matter of getting back on track.
If you're changing entirely and you're like, I wanna do something totally different with my life, this is not a good side hustle for me, then it probably is best to wind it down. But if it's anything else, any other answer, then I tend to think there's a better way to keep it going. And there are lots of options for what that looks like. I've just heard a lot of stories of people who have this product or service they've set up and then they change over time, but people continue to pay for it and some will cancel, but some are just happy to do that. So why would you turn that off unless you have a good reason to?
That's what I think about that. Obviously, you gotta figure out what's best for you. So do what feels best, but know that there are a range of responses, a range of possibilities to consider. Rachel, wishing you well. Listeners, wherever you are out there, thank you for being part of Side Hustle School, we've been doing this for 2,818 days, 2,800 1-8, and no plans to stop, right?
Gotta keep it going seven days a week. Always happy to hear your questions and input at sidehustleschool.com for some resources. New episode, of course, every day. That's it for now. My name's Chris Guillebeau, this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
