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HeadButler.com: Ch-ch-changes
By
Published: Sep 07, 2015
Category:
Beyond Classification
ASK NOT WHAT HEAD BUTLER CAN DO FOR YOU, ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR HEAD BUTLER
The business model of HeadButler.com is Amazon. It’s that simple: Commission from sales on Amazon is the site’s only revenue. Which you can increase: Whenever you feel the urge to buy anything on Amazon, come to HeadButler.com. On the upper left side of the main screen, there’s usually a “BUY IT FROM AMAZON” button directly under the picture of whatever it is I’m featuring that day. Click on it. Now you’re in Amazon. Look up. In that vast white line, type in whatever you want to buy. Buy it. Want more stuff? Go right ahead: lawn tools, wedding rings, pet food, whatever. Everything you buy during that session gives HeadButler.com a commission of 7% to 8%. What doesn’t work: putting your selections in a shopping cart and leaving them for 24 hours. Then HeadButler.com gets nothing. Which defeats the point of this exercise, yes? Thank you.
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For 11 years, I’ve operated HeadButler.com as a service, a cause, a gift. Now it’s time for me to put on my big boy pants and run it more — a bit more — as a business. So I asked you, my readers and friends, for advice.
Now the people have spoken. Many of you. I’m very grateful for your advice.
You said: Don’t ask for donations.
You said: Don’t turn Butler into a subscription site.
You said: Don’t run away from Amazon.
You said: Get closer to Amazon. Because as much as we may be offended by their treatment of workers, convenience trumps outrage every time.
Instead of burying my business model and my relationship with Amazon on another screen, you advised me to billboard it. On the main screen. (I’ll find another place for it soon, but for now that message will remain exactly where you see it today — at the top of the site.)
As for what I write about: Some of you noticed that, in recent months, you’ve seen reviews you’ve seen before. Very astute. That was because of the crunch of publishing my book. I’m on the other side of that now. I will continue to recycle on Thursday, when I feature a Weekend Classic that connects with something happening in the world.
Finally, a word about me. Getting the book out liberated me intellectually and emotionally, and that will be reflected in what I choose to write about. I no longer see my book, for example, as about sex and marriage but about intimacy and communication — who we are to one another in a time when community is frayed and we (well, many of us) feel alone and isolated. I don’t see less strain and stress ahead. And because a Butler is one who serves, I want to do what I can to provide comfort and insight. And also, whenever possible, pleasure and fun.
My mail tells me that many/some/a few of you believe that HeadButler.com is not just helpful but important to you. That is gratifying. And if it’s true, I want it to be important to a larger readership. Whatever you can do to help it get there is greatly appreciated.
Tomorrow: an important — no, a crucial book — if you have parents, partners and/or children. That’s just about all of you, so….
