I have had a bunch of little websites that didn't do much of anything. Some problems that have plagued my projects (especially health-related ones):
1) Credibility.
I am getting well when the world says that cannot be done. Most people don't want to believe this at all. So I get called crazy, a charlatan, etc.
2) Inherent monetization challenges in the problem space.
I am convinced that part of what is wrong with modern medicine is that money gets made off of treatment, not off of positive health outcomes. This is a conflict of interest for healthcare providers who have no motive to actually get you well and lots of motive to give you just enough improvement to keep you willing to keep paying for more.
3) I'm a woman.
This has made it hard for me to network, etc. A lot of men who know what I want to learn either will talk to me to hit on me or won't talk to me because they don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. Trying to make connections has been really hard.
4. I know how to get well, I don't know how to do business.
I know how to accomplish a thing, but I don't know how to accomplish all the stuff that goes into turning that into a money-making venture.
5. I'm very eye catching.
I have a long history of attracting a LOT of attention. I have really struggled with figuring out how to get the attention off of ME and onto MY WORK. It is getting better, but this has really been frustrating.
There are no doubt other issues, but those are a few things off the top of my head.
> I'm a woman ... I don't know how to do business ... I'm very eye catching
I'd start by scrubbing your profiles. The first thing I read about you was about being homeless, peeing on a tree, and unicorn farts. Maybe it is satire but you should make it easy for the people doing business with you sort fact from fiction.
I am routinely told it cannot be done for my condition, the health of the "health and wellness" industry not withstanding.
And you are, ironically, proving my point that a lot of attention ends up on me, and not in a good way, rather than on my work.
My life is a case of "fact is stranger than fiction." I am confident that trying to lie about it in order to make it more palatable would only compound the problem. I am making progress, in spite of continued comments of this sort.
"And you are, ironically, proving my point that a lot of attention ends up on me, and not in a good way, rather than on my work."
Your two comments here have talked about you and not about your work. You might be able to get attention focused on your work by linking to it and talking about it more specifically? All the other top level comments I read on this post included details about the project and often a link/name.
It is an announcement of a couple of Reddits I have started. It is probably the least worst thing I can link to, given how terribly it tends to go to link to my health projects.
I have had several health sites and kept killing them because they weren't accomplishing much and it was a constant shit show for me. I tend to dislike linking to my health sites on HN because there are a lot of people who will just be incredibly ugly about it and other people tend to not call them on it.
An inherent problem is that I am getting myself well, so talking about me is kind of unavoidable. I do have a son who has the same condition who is also getting well. Out of respect for his privacy, I tend to talk somewhat less about him. There are no large scale studies of what I am doing.
I still don't know how to monetize it effectively. I have a tip jar and there are a few affiliate links on at least one of my health sites, but I have not put Google AdSense on it because of the sorts of ads it would likely attract. Most likely, it would attract ads for "miracle cures," just buy my supplement. It wouldn't be responsible to allow that on the site.
I am unwilling to become a "consultant." I have known others in the alternative med space who have gone that route. I am convinced that is the same model that causes an inherent conflict of interest for doctors. Doctors prescribe medication to get short term results with long term costs. Although there is always a handout included with a long list of side effects, they take credit for the short term benefits and blame the long term costs on your underlying medical condition, not on the fact that you have been taking their drugs for years.
I have been getting well doing the opposite: I trade short term costs for long terms gains. It is a hard ask to tell people to put themselves through hell for long term gains. It needs to be voluntary and the locus of control needs to be with them, not with some outsider. Providing a mental model, detailed information on specific things that help with certain issues and an example to follow is the best answer I have.
I still wrestle with how much to just talk about what I do and how much to back it up with links to research. My typical process when I run into a problem is to discuss it with my son, ask him to look up info related to a particular organ or bodily process or whatever and when we feel we have identified a pertinent issue, look up what nutrients are involved. Then research which foods have those nutrients.
It is possible this will never catch on. I have been working on getting well for about 16+ years and I have had blogs on various topics and been an active participant on various forums for a lot of years as well. I get told I am being irresponsible for trying to talk about what has been helpful to me. Meanwhile, people are dying and the doctors don't have answers. I get stuck between a choice of being accused of being irresponsible while I attempt to help or covering my ass, saying "not my problem" and letting people die who don't have a real solution. So far, I keep erring on the side of trying to find a way to effectively and safely communicate what I know in hopes of helping people in an essentially hopeless situation.
Have you tried the Patreon model? Ebook or courseware might work if you have loads of original content, but Patreon could be appropriate if you're figuring things out and sharing personal research and practices.
I do have a Patreon, but people who actually have CF have no money to spare as it is both debilitating and incredibly expensive (see http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-wrong-me...). Other people often tell me this is not pertinent to their lives. I think it has broader applications, but it has been really hard to try to figure out how to convince people of that.
1) Credibility.
I am getting well when the world says that cannot be done. Most people don't want to believe this at all. So I get called crazy, a charlatan, etc.
2) Inherent monetization challenges in the problem space.
I am convinced that part of what is wrong with modern medicine is that money gets made off of treatment, not off of positive health outcomes. This is a conflict of interest for healthcare providers who have no motive to actually get you well and lots of motive to give you just enough improvement to keep you willing to keep paying for more.
3) I'm a woman.
This has made it hard for me to network, etc. A lot of men who know what I want to learn either will talk to me to hit on me or won't talk to me because they don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. Trying to make connections has been really hard.
4. I know how to get well, I don't know how to do business.
I know how to accomplish a thing, but I don't know how to accomplish all the stuff that goes into turning that into a money-making venture.
5. I'm very eye catching.
I have a long history of attracting a LOT of attention. I have really struggled with figuring out how to get the attention off of ME and onto MY WORK. It is getting better, but this has really been frustrating.
There are no doubt other issues, but those are a few things off the top of my head.