What Sharing Saturday is all about

There are two parts to this story.

Part one

Recently I made the much thought-out, and extremely uncomfortable, decision to leave Facebook and Instagram, and remove my books from Amazon.

When I did this, I intentionally walked away from sending traffic to billionaires.

I also walked away from several people and communities I genuinely miss.

Communities where mutual support and shared understanding were more important than likes, shares, and algorithms.

I'm 51. I remember life before the internet. I also remember the internet before social media.

We used to visit each other's websites.

We subscribed to blogs.

We left comments on blog posts.

We browsed websites and left reviews.

We discovered interesting people because another website linked to them.

Now we do almost all of that on a handful of giant social media platforms.

We send all our traffic there. We share our stories there. Our conversations happen there.

And one day we realize that we don't actually own the place where we've spent years building community.

I'm ready to bring some of that old internet spirit back.

I want to visit people's websites again.

Part two

One of the entrepreneurs I regularly interacted with on Facebook emailed me a little while ago.

She offered to feature me on her website and in her Amazon storefront.

She earns a small affiliate commission, and I would make a small royalty from any book sales.

I thanked her, but explained that I was in the process of leaving Amazon. I wished her every success and assumed that would be the end of the conversation.

Instead, she replied:

"I still want to feature you on my website."

And I was the email version of speechless.

Because there it was.

Exactly what I'd been missing.

Someone choosing to lift up another small creator, even when there was nothing in it for them.

Not because an algorithm rewarded it.

Not because it would go viral.

Just because they wanted to.

I didn't just want to accept her generous offer. I wanted to pay it forward.

So Sharing Saturday was born.

Each Saturday, I'll introduce you to a creator, entrepreneur, artist, or small business that I think deserves a little more attention.

We'll visit their websites.

We'll celebrate what they're making.

We'll support each other.

And yes, the very first Sharing Saturday features the wonderful entrepreneur who inspired the whole idea.

I hope you'll join me.