Image from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-in-gray-and-white-coat-throwing-papers-from-the-folder-6539025/
Medium could use some readjustment, too
"Greed is never good."
This sentence popped out at me when ending a chapter of Linus Torvald’s book Just for Fun. I began to think that, yes that’s true, but we have to monetize everything we put time into, right? But here was a guy who- at the turn of the century, had built an operating system with only free software and didn’t want anything in exchange except for postcards. Am I the one who’s wrong?
Just after reading that, I settled down to start a Notion project I had been thinking about, to merge 2 of my templates into one and designate their own landing page on. I had seen plenty of other creators do it, and thought for sure I could earn something on them. Since of recent I haven’t gotten a single dime… Having graduated college recently, my plan was always to take my Notion side-hustle and turn it into a full-fledged business.
It seemed worthwhile after all, I had made $150 altogether in 6 months and people on X were yelling MONETIZE whereas here on Medium they kept sharing their read revenue.
There’s something I hadn’t thought of though, the fact that Notion began as a free software itself.
When 21-year-old Linus began his operating system in his Mom’s Finland apartment in 1991,
he wasn’t thinking about making money… at all, from what I read. Instead of getting a summer job to have independence and money, he decided to tie the phone lines up because he wanted to build something for fun.
When Linux, his operating system, finally took off. It wasn’t because it cost $10000 and everyone thought it must be good because it’s expensive. The reason it got popular was because of the feedback and work put back into the OS from the community!
This didn’t just start and end in 1991 though, it’s been continuing since. Distro flavors from Ubunto, Mint, Debian, Arch, and you name it have grown to be open-source communities supporting Linus’ vision for free software.
When having this realization, I decided to take a drastic move that I would’ve never thought of doing 6 months ago.
I made every single product of mine free.
The gradient covers that I put 24 hrs into, and my Notion templates that I spent time formulating… all free! Instead of trying to make money in a niche that encourages free templates and feedback, I’m going to focus on earning an income with my skills that are meant to be used in an income-generating way (web design, graphics, 3D) and continue to design free-worthy products w/ the Notion community.
While I wish that I didn’t have to make money, of course that’s how our world is. So I have to prioritize appropriately.
When we put money first, greed always follows. Whereas when we share with the community, we’re only going to experience the joy and satisfaction that comes.
Without Linus having realized in 1991 that “Greed is never good”, Linux wouldn’t be the knowledge-sharing, community-driven operating system it is today.