Well, instead of my usual topics for discussion this week, I am writing a blog post to highlight the imminent launching of other services I plan to provide. If you stumble upon my blog through my website, then you of course already know the nature of it's purpose. If you're reading my blog directly or from an RSS feed though, some of this will be news.
In the very near future, I shall be launching and promoting my personal domain. Actually, I've already began doing this to an extent but as my website is not complete, I haven't been talking much about it. I've spent the last few months trying to get the content finished but it has been a challenge finding the time. People are more than welcome to stop by and take a look though, add it to your bookmarks and check back often because it will get finished:
MinisterButler.com
Next, you will notice that in the body of my blog messages, I have inserted a small button icon advertising my status as an BitWine Advisor. This is in line with my attempt to get back into one of the things I enjoy most, counselling and helping people. If you click on that button, it will send you to my BitWine profile where you will be given the opportunity to start chatting with me.
BitWine is partnered with Skype, so the possibilities are really great for the type of service I wish to provide. I can stay within the realm of text chats or I can transfer to Skype for audio as well as offer a direct phone conversation. The site even comes with a scheduler so I and others can schedule appointments for sessions. As a point of note, I'm also listed on the Keen.com Advisor network but I am not heavily promoting my phone service at this time as the BitWine approach makes life somewhat easier for me.
All of this has been VERY slow going for me as sometimes I tend to overload myself with ideas and have to let them kind of stream out in whatever order they want. I plan on providing written works of encouragement and guidance as well but these are going to be even more time consuming. Some of these materials will be free downloads and others will be in the form of downloadable ebooks and actual booklets, both for a small fee.
This brings me to one of the struggles I've had to deal with in pursuing all of this. Even when I was a Pastor, the idea of getting paid for my interpretations of scripture seemed a bit wrong. I'll grant you that being there for people as a counselor and spending hours putting sermons and lessons together does take it's share of toll on the mind and sometimes even the body.
So, I have decided to have an equal balance of free material and paid material. People will get a vast majority of my "core" teachings for free, only paying for the more in depth works. The same holds true for my BitWine counseling, one reason I chose to go with them. The services allows me to control the "meter" so to speak. This means you do not get charged for simply starting a chat with me, gives people a chance to feel me out and allows me to stop the charging process if I need to go into an indepth explanation of something I feel doesn't warrant the caller paying money for during the course of the conversation.
It is my hope that by doing this, I can show people that I am not in this for money and my rates will reflect that compared to similar people offering similar services. I hold a full time job on top of my spiritual pursuits, so I do not feel the need to bleed people's pocket books. My ebooks will never cost more than 5.00 and any printed material I end up publishing will be equally as fairly priced as I plan to do all of the publishing myself.
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