Look, this isn’t about me being greedy or somehow being above anyone else, it’s about providing a better life for my family and not being taken advantage of or under selling myself. I would never try to do something like this to someone else. It’s the equivalent of cold calling.

Thankfully, there have also been many companies or people who want to partner on something and offer to pay the fair market value for my time and platform. I’m so grateful for these opportunities. Unfortunately, they are far outweighed by the number of requests that are of no benefit to me, my family or the Autism community as a whole.

I reply to every single request and politely explain how this works, what it will cost and why. Most of the time, it never pans out and it’s incredibly frustrating.

I literally do this entire thing on my own. I don’t have a staff or PR agency to help me with marketing or sponsorships. I don’t have a team of writers or social media managers helping me grow, communicate with my readers/listeners/followers and properly monitize things. Everything I’ve built, I built on my own, with the help of my many amazing readers and followers. People visit, read, and share something, helping me to reach even more people. I can’t explain how thankful I am for each and every one of you. ☺

It would be amazing to get an email from a legitimate entity, who’s writing because they value what I do and would like to help me continue helping others. I would love to hear from someone who’s recognizing the value of what I’ve built, as well as my mission, and offer to help. I’m not looking for something for nothing either. I want to work for that partnership and earn whatever it is they’re willing to do. These opportunities are real and they do happen but not consistently enough to allow me to replace our car that desperately needs to be replaced. It’s not enough to help get my family out of a bad neighborhood. It’s not enough to get us to a place I’m able to exhale and better meet the needs of my wife or kids.

If you’re someone who’s trying to make a positive impact on the community or a company that wants to help members of the Autism or Special Needs community, I’d love to help you if I can and I’ll do so at no cost because it’s the right thing to do.

If your a person or company looking to get links embedded or guest posts published, stop looking for freebies. Stop expecting me or anyone else for that matter, to do for free what you’re getting paid to do. I’m happy to work out deals on an individual basis and come up with a solution that is mutually benificial.

My current advertising policy is linked at the top of this page in the main menu bar. The fee’s are incredibly low and I’ll probably update them to reflect the actual value of my platform.

I need help, support and sponsors in order for my family to survive. I need help, support and sponsors in order to keep helping others and do things like relaunch the My Autism Help Forums. I need people to stop expecting me to do things for free, when their getting paid or are in a position to pay.

It’s frustrating, demoralizing and unproductive.

</end_rant> ☺