Hi everyone, I'm about to start a blog about self esteem and confidence, having gone through a huge process over the last 10 years of learning to truly love myself and be confident in who I am, after being bullied and made to feel I was rotten and wrong to exist in school. I feel like I have a lot to contribute, and being able to help people through my insights is something that has, for a long time, been a dream of mine, and if at all possible I would like to make that site in the future my main source of income. Part of the reason for me wanting to do this is that growing up I never had that "one-stop-shop" for a lot of these things, and I feel like the process would have been much easier if I did.
Before I get into it, I first want to really recommend therapy for anyone who can afford it. My experience in therapy had a lot to do with getting to where I am today, and in a blog I can only give general concepts, whereas therapy can go deeply into your own specific stories and what causes your low self esteem, and thus solve it deeply and effeciently.
Okay, with that out of the way, I have 3 questions that I would really appreciate this great community's input on:
Number 1, and most important: What parts of this huge thing called confidence and self esteem are you most struggling with and would most like advice on? I'm trying to check the general pulse of what are the more hot-button topics I can help people solve. I will also try to respond to people posting here in hopes of helping them solve those issues.
The second and third questions are about the business aspects of it, and while I would like advice on that as well it isn't nearly as important as what the actual content would be. Regardless, any and all input would be greatly appreciated.
Number 2 has to do with the name of the site. I currently have several potential titles: "Construct Confidence", "Create Confidence", "Establish Self Esteem", "Build Confidence", "Become Confident". These are all very straightforward and I think that's what I want the name to be, as I don't want a name that's too "gimmicky". If you could tell me which ones you like more (or suggest your own names) I would really appreciate it.
Number 3 is about the necessary evil of monetization. I have several ideas on how to make a living off of this website, but I would like to hear what you people think is the most plausible, both what you would pay for and what wouldn't seem unfair to you as a paid service:
1. A "members-only" forum with a small 5-10$ monthly fee, where the community (myself included) helps each other. The fact that it's paid would make it much easier to filter for trolls or people coming into the community with the goal of harming others, and would ensure the community stays a quality community.
2. Patreon, where people paying get extra content (but what would that content be? I don't want too much to be behind a paywall)
3. Affiliate marketing of products that I feel personally helped me
4. A paid pre-taped course where I guide people through the process of becoming confident, with the steps I have gone through.
5. Paid 50$ or so 1-hour skype sessions where I help people with their specific problems (As much as I can without being a certified therapist or indeed qualified enough for certain issues).
I am personally leaning towards a combination of 1, 2, and 3, with 4 and 5 being something I'm on the fence about (as how can I make a course people will buy and yet not withhold meaningful content from casual readers for 4, and 5 requires an immense time investment as well as being a tad too close to therapy which I am not qualified to give for my liking, even though I do have good experience with actually helping people in that format). The thing is, I'm not sure 1+2+3 would be enough to make a living off of, with 4 and 5 being much more obvious ways to make money.
I want to thank in advance anyone who takes the time to comment and help. As you can probably tell this topic is very important to me, so your time and help are greatly appreciated.
Oh, and before I forget, I would really appreciate if people here could point me to other similar communities where I can get similar feedback.