Here's a blog I've been holding back for quite some time. You may have noticed a dip in my output over the last month or so. I'm going to be as honest as I possibly can be about that. I've been waiting for the time and place to have an effective way to communicate it.
The easy explanation is the recent addition to my family. That has been challenging for certain, but to sum it up to that life event would not tell the whole truth.
Very soon after that post, one of the people I have written about in this space, one of the unethical leaders, sent a threatening letter (via lawyer), asserting that I had written false things about him. When pressed about what in particular this person found "false" about what I had written, I received no response.
Under legal advice, I am not revealing who it is. I have every reason to believe that the letter was meant to do exactly what it (temporarily) accomplished, get me scared and on the defensive. It had no basis in fact.
The raw truth I was confronting was that in the second year of this entrepreneurial venture, I did not have the resources to fend off even a frivolous lawsuit. Even if I did (some friends offered to organize a legal defense fund) it wouldn't entirely be great for business.
Several times over the course of launching Chris DeSantis Coaching, I have lost out on potential opportunities due to my outspoken blogs. Sometimes I am told explicitly, as one college coach told me flatly that while I hadn't written anything he objected to yet, he feared I would do so in the future.
Other times it gets coded a bit more, but it lands about the same. As I wrote to another friend last week- these instances are bad for my bank account but great for conscience.
Finally, there have been times when I have purposefully and quite intentionally detonated potential avenues for marketing what I'm doing.
ASCA, the world's largest swim coaching organization, would have been a natural way to market Chris DeSantis Coaching. As I view ASCA's leader, John Leonard, as insanely corrupt don't think I could sleep at night if I did that.
At this point I'm rambling; I'm getting to an announcement. I plan to ramp back up in content, both in terms of blogs and podcasts. I will continue to fight the good fight, while also writing about Positive Psychology and other swimming topics.
What will change? I have made made it possible to sponsor that content. Let me be clear: nothing is going behind a paywall. You, as a reader or listener, will simply have an opportunity to privately pay for this content at the level that you wish to.
It is a recognition that my "business" will continue to be what I currently do: coaching and working with teams to incorporate Positive Psychology into their daily process. The writing (and podcasting) that I will also become part of my "business" and not simply a means to draw eyes to what I'm doing.
Finally, a thank you in advance to those who have suggested this idea, and those who will support this page into the future. It has been incredibly rewarding to me to come back into the space over the last couple years, and I hope to continue doing so for a long time.
Chris