The 40 Year-Old Business Virgin

What in the world have I done?!

I never wanted to be a business person. To me, modern economic systems always seemed a bit sleazy; a game of trying to get over on other people by always getting more than you gave.

This viewpoint is naive, but when you’ve been socialized in a pseudo-capitalist society built on exploitation of others, you tend to be skeptical of anything that might generate material wealth.

But here I am, a business owner at 41 years old (it was my birthday last week) and I don’t quite know how I feel about it.

On the one hand, there’s a lot to like about the potential of being an entrepreneur. I’ve always felt much more comfortable doing things my own way and only having to answer to the results I generate rather than the judgement of “superiors”. As of now, I’m the sole member of my first LLC and that suits me just fine. I have weekly business meetings by myself, I set my own budget, decide my priorities, and produce my own content.

More emotionally/spiritually I feel really good about putting my talents and experiences to use in a way that has the potential to provide monetary compensation closer to what I believe my value in society is.

I’ve loved my career as an academic, for the most part, but I, like many Blackacademics, are underpaid for the value we bring to the institutions. We’re also constrained by institutional structures that limit our ability to create, mentor, and live into our fullest selves.

No, this isn’t a resignation post. I’m not leaving my academic job; the time freedom is too good and I don’t have any other source of income. But there’s a reason I felt the need to seek more fulfillment in what began as a creative outlet and is now a fully realized business.

And it’s that need to feel fulfilled beyond the academy that helps push through my fears/anxieties of failure. The excitement of building this business and the hope of it becoming profitable outweigh my worries of it failing. But if I’m really honest with myself, I’m not that afraid of failing.

Since launching my YouTube channel in July of 2023, I’ve made about $13.00 from affiliate marketing. I’m a long way from becoming monetized on my channel content and I haven’t yet developed any paid digital products. Not a lot of monetary payoff, but somehow I’m more optimistic with each day.

And that’s because, the money that I hope will come is just icing on the cake. I’m not in this for the icing, or rather, not only the icing. I started all of this because I wanted to create value for others by sharing my insights and experiences. And it just so happens that I think those insights and experiences are things I can make money off of. Self-exploitation?

Don’t get me wrong, this shit is work! When I’m not doing academic work, all of my free time during the day/week — I don’t work on weekends and my wife had to check me on spending too much time working on the business in the evenings — is spent on the business. But I’m learning a lot that interests me and, most importantly, I’m so proud of the things I’m creating. The money will come.

My ten years on the tenure-track, mostly in West Virginia and now in Michigan, has been a process of learning to own my expertise, insight, and contributions. The transition from doing my best to keep up with “the field” somewhere along the line turn into taking ownership of the direction I wanted the field to go. Suddenly I had some things to say and do that I really believed mattered.

But all of what I believe mattered couldn’t be contained in academic work. Thus I had to find an outlet for those things and I think I have.

I truly believe that I am on to something with the content I’m creating. Something that both doesn’t really exist and that I think people are interested to know more about. What is that something? Here’s some of what I wrote this week as I was contemplating my business strategy:

OutThereJCH LLC will provide educational and entertainment content and experiences that help people form deep and sustainable connections with the environment, primarily through the lenses of wild food and the Black American experience.

OTJ’s primary customer base are people interested in establishing and/or growing their connection to the outdoors, nature, food, and society through Black and Indigenous ways of knowing and being.

I’m sure the above will change as I engage deeper into cycles of putting myself and products out there, getting feedback, tweaking, and then putting myself and products back out there. There's a joy in this process that I didn’t know I needed in my life. The money will come.

In its purest form, I suppose this is part of what some people call the American Dream; the chance to create something that others engage with that generates material wealth for the creator.

I’d really like to get paid for all this good stuff I’m putting out there; sooner rather than later, but I know to sustain this business, I have to be focused and committed to building a foundation that can grown sustainably and with as little of the trappings of exploitative capitalism. Is that even possible?

I want OutThereJCH LLC to become a profitable company and I think it will be that in the next five years. I’m committed to that at least. Five years of grinding and then I’ll assess. If it ends up that the best thing for me to do is shut it all down then so be it. No matter the outcome, I know I’ll be proud of the things I’ve put out into the world, and that kind of contentment is something money can’t buy.

New on YouTube

Part 1 of a new 4 part series on the channel for the beginner home chef. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I wish I knew about cooking when I started out in graduate school, so I decide to create a guide for those looking to get more out of their home cooking experience.

Wild Food Update

This week I’m planning on making CORNED VENISON. I got the recipe from Hank Shaw, one of my favorite wild food content creators. Hank was one of the first people who gave me the confidence to lean into being an adult-onset hunter, and I’ve never been disappointed with his recipes.

I’ll for sure document the process for the channel and keep you updated here in the newsletter. Stay tuned!

Also, check out last week’s post on my 2024 Wild Food Calendar

Business Update

So the new series — THE 40 YEAR-OLD BUSINESS VIRGIN — drops this Wednesday on my YouTube Channel. I’m really excited to document the process of building a business in real time, and hopefully encouraging those who’ve been thinking about doing the same to get started.

There’s a lot to think through and execute, which I’ll outline in the coming weeks and months. I’ve officially registered my LLC and opened a business bank account, and those two steps have really brought the reality of being a business owner into focus.

In terms of making money, I plan to launch a paid membership to the newsletter in early February. Included in this member, in addition to having access to the regular content here, I’ll be posting twice a month on topics that are perhaps more personal and more detailed when it comes to my life and experiences.

Membership will be $10/month which will get you two extra exclusive posts per month, plus discounts on my forthcoming ebook, A Guide to Wild Food Harvesting. Becoming a paid member is a great way to support this newsletter and help grow the opportunities I can offer you the reader.

Remember when I mentioned I had stories about my interactions with Steven Rinella and the MeatEater folks? Yeah, that’s going the topic of the first member post. Here’s a preview of the energy I’m bringing:

Question for you

Thanks for reading! TELL A FRIEND TO SIGN UP!

I’ll talk to y’all next Sunday.

Cheers,

Jonathan