The idea of small business
It's what makes the economy go round.
Since I’m doing the radio silence thing for a few days as part of what turns out to be pre-election R and R, I’m prewriting something as a promotion. That doesn’t mean “don’t pay attention,” it just means it won’t be a real long post.
This story began with my book. About a year after it was published, I was asked for a paper copy that I sent out to Tennessee. Because of that I was introduced to a website called ammo.com, which sells ammunition (as the name would suggest) but also has a Resistance Library that I found interesting as a somewhat libertarian political leaner. And one of its writers is a gentleman by the name of Sam Jacobs, who is described thusly:
Jacobs is the lead writer and chief historian with Ammo.com, and is the driving intellectual force behind the content in the Resistance Library. He is proud to see his work name-checked in places like Bloomberg, USA Today and National Review, but he is far more proud to see his work republished on websites like ZeroHedge, Lew Rockwell and Sons of Liberty Media. You can catch him on Quora and Parler as well as on our very own Resistance Library podcast.
So it sounds like Sam is a busy guy, but he has time for a side hustle that’s called 2nd Amendment Shirts. I like the intro:
The right of the people to keep and wear sweet pro-Second Amendment T-shirts shall not be infringed!
You’re not a “gun nut.” You are a firearms enthusiast, who understands that tyranny can only fester under a government which has successfully converted citizens into its subjects. You appreciate that a 9mm pistol and a 5.56 rifle can do nothing against howitzers and drones – but you’re also well aware that somewhere, someone is giving orders to those howitzers and drones - and you can get at them. After all, a police state can only exist when people live in constant fear of having their doors kicked down during the dead of night. A police state cannot exist when jackbooted thugs are too afraid to start indiscriminately kicking down doors.
Let’s be honest: A lot of people will hate you the instant they see you wearing a 2A T-shirt. Fortunately, those people are spineless twerps who would no sooner confront you in public than they would tell their wives’ boyfriends to please keep it down. They can post mean things about you on Twitter and imagine you are whichever couch pillow they like punching each night, but the lion does not concern himself with the opinions of sheep.
Yeah, that’s a bit mean but sometimes you just have to say it. If nothing else, going to the website gives one his recommended daily allowance of snark. It may also help pay for the shirt he owes me now. :)
But thanks to Sam I can bounce off to another point. Even with the current administration, we are still in America, land of the free. Because of that, we are still part of a capitalist society where I have a lot of friends, relatives, and acquaintances who have small or even microbusinesses selling all sorts of wares - my daughter by another father has made soap for sale, my small group leader is a potter, another beloved small group member who has moved away close to my old neck of the woods sells barbeque seasoning, and so on. I used to have a staple post where I would feature Made in U.S.A. items each holiday season because I believe they need the support - now I can fish the last one out of my Substack archives.
(I’m sure they will come out with another one later toward Christmas.)
The point is that all of them need help with marketing, and so do I. What I make is thought pieces that are designed to spur the reader into action, whether politically or spiritually. And at some future time, there may be incentives for you to be a paying subscriber but I’m not to that point yet - by the way, I’ll make it easy to be a free one:
I’m just taking a moment to tell you where I’m at without actually telling you where I’m at. (I’m supposed to be relaxing, remember?) So enjoy your weekend and I will be back with a new Substack on Wednesday if I don’t get lost in the forest.
Oh, and by the way, if you’re a reader with a small business or side hustle comment with a link to yours. It’s the little speech bubble next to the heart up top.