Small business owners have a harder time swallowing the paid subscription model than nearly anyone else. We all agree there needs to be WAY MORE independent small business media—that it sucks when all small biz information is selling you a product or a service—but are we willing to fund the alternative?
Revenue Rulebreaker is here to provide that. Community-backed media that covers solopreneur businesses and the world around them.
I've been commenting on daily headlines that affect our small businesses, producing well-researched stories about things like fractional work and how entrepreneurs retire, and preparing to relaunch a podcast about the money behind the demise of our tech tools. We brought in guest contributors to cover Pride from an entrepreneurial lens in June, we ran a robust series on growing your audience in May, and we explored the different lifestyles of solopreneurs.
But here at Revenue Rulebreaker, we don't just push stuff to you. You are a part of the story. This publication is backed by 350+ Legends, who are my first call when I need a source or a guest writer. They also benefit from visibility in our directory, free classified ads in our newsletter and the fact that most Legends treat each other as preferred vendors because there's an assumption of shared values. Our goal here is to keep you in business longer. The perks of Legends are designed to support that.
Right now, I need 35 new Legends to join us so we can fill our revenue gap this quarter and unlock a couple bonuses for us all. What do we unlock, you ask? We'll boost our mixer count to THREE LIVE MIXERS a year. This is a Legends favorite where people meet some of their key collaborators that help grow their business because I match people intentionally. AND I'll be upgrading our website to a more friendly theme so it's easier for you to read our stories, find upcoming events and see your Legends perks. That is not a small expense and it won't happen without this funding.
Small biz owners love to complain that people like me "charge for email" when they're blowing $100s on courses they never take, $1000s on coaching and $1000s on software. I hate that everyone has to sell their methods at all times to make a living and I hate what that's turned our information systems into. It's impossible to trust anyone's post, video or event when you know a pitch is coming on the other side. I wanted to build something where the information is the product. There's no secret agenda to sell you anything else.
I understand too that lots of entrepreneurs have gotten sucked into the bowels of Substack and then get overwhelmed by nazelgazers who want their money. That's not what we're doing here. We're building an evolving trove of reliable, urgent information you can use to build your business AND we're giving you a direct promotion channel to grow your audience through my newsletter, directory and events. It's a completely unique offer and one you will not find anywhere else.
Legends tell me it's such insane ROI to join our high value network for $99/year and I couldn't agree more. I'll be raising the price of Legends this October so it's a great time to get in if you want to lock in that lower rate too.
Help us get to the Lucky 400 mark!
Lucky 400 progress meter
Why you should join Legends now
There's three main reasons you'd want to join Legends right now.
Reason 1: You want to join our upcoming activities
We've got a ton going on this summer and fall. Here's what's coming up in the next couple months...
- August 18: Five Star Fest launches! Submit your podcast, newsletter, book, video, or freebie for a review AND compete for prizes when you review other Legends' work. The prizes are things like 1:1 podcast coaching, messaging strategy sessions, writing circles and more. Our top 3 winners will get to take their pick.
- September 22: Our Legends of the Fall Mixer is on! I will be custom matching you into the right rooms so you meet people you could collaborate with, become referral partners with or who are just good peeps to know. I make matches based on job titles, locations, audience overlap and interests.
- October 19: The Secret Santa Swap kicks off! This is a fun event we've done 2 years in a row where it's a newsletter/podcast/blog/social swap and the catch is I assign you another Legends to promote IN SECRET. And someone else promotes you back. I do the reveals every week once the promotions come out.
- You'll also get a heavy discount on our fall public event series on how to get paid to speak, selling your self-published book and how to get clients from email (running Sept 10-Nov 30)
Reason 2: You want in on our promo network
Legends isn't just money you toss over to me. You get priority access to promote your business through our channels.
- Our Legends directory is a place other Legends look for collaborators, to send referrals or to directly hire.
- Request shoutouts, collabs, recommendations and more with Legends Liaison. I plug these in our Tuesday newsletter.
- Get your 3 FREE classified ads which also run in our newsletters. Use these to sell your services, promote events or grow your audience.
- Not to mention our mixers and collabs that I host which are happening year round.
Reason 3: You want me to keep going
If you're reading all my stuff, commenting on all my posts, referring to my website over and over again, you might genuinely want to be part of this.
I hate to break it to you but projects don't continue forever without financial support. News outlets are shutting down daily. Memberships are closing. Startups are failing. I myself have shut down several projects in the last few years. I don't want to do that here, but it very much relies on the people who believe in it and vote for it to keep going WITH CASH.
And it does not take much cash. $99/year is all Legends costs—not much for you, but EXTREMELY MEANINGFUL for me. I only keep going because Legends join and stay. When that stops, I'll stop too.
What we'll unlock with this drive
We need to add 35 new Legends by August 2 and if we do, two things will happen:
1) We'll unlock an extra Legends mixer a year. This is a favorite perk so now we'll do them 3x a year. Legends mixers include live music and curated agendas to ensure you meet people you'll have common ground with. Our next one is scheduled for September 22.
2) I'll be able to upgrade our website theme over to Gazet which will make stories more browse-able, events more obvious and paid content easier to spot. It will also prepare us for our forthcoming podcast. This is a $1k investment because it includes custom development.
How to share this drive and help us hit this goal
If you feel inspired to share what we're doing here, I would really appreciate the help.
1) You can share this page with anyone you think should join Legends. I have a referral program (no sign up required). Just have them mention your name when they join!
2) I will be posting on LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky all week. You can also reshare those posts. That's a huge help too
Check out what we've been up to in Legends
Lex Roman
