This January will mark the 20th anniversary of my/our coverage at VandySports. Thanks to all of you for being here, especially those here since the beginning (and there are many of you!).
Here’s what we intend to provide in the coming year, and then at the end, some places I could use help from the community.
What we’ll provide
This is what I plan to do. As most of you know, I underwent open-heart surgery on May 5 and the good news is, now that I have fully recovered I have way more energy to do my job this year than I have in recent years… which is good news, because I’ve got a lot planned.
Football
I’ve spent 20 years and somewhere north of 10,000 hours working at the site; I’ve given it my best shot but it’s never been enough to earn a living without working elsewhere. What I make here is through website subscriptions and podcasts ads and I’m a contractor on each, so there’s no guaranteed salary and no benefits and I pay the extra 6.5% self-employment tax on top of that. I have no expense account for travel or anything; that all comes out of our family budget. The price is the same as it was 20 years ago (that's out of my control). As for hiring out, I simply don’t have enough support right now to justify additional help outside Sean Williams, who does a wonderful job with our recruiting.
So with that, here are ways you can help, any of which are appreciated:
www.paypal.com
6. Subscribe (for free) to our YouTube channel. If we get to 1,000, I can earn a little extra income that day. Just follow this link and hit the red “subscribe” button:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBvCKCYHsFoH1s6Oy-6E7lw
7. Add a nice rating and review of our show on Apple Podcasts or any other destination that allows ratings and reviews.
Again, I can’t thank those of you here enough for what you’ve done. I’m very much looking forward to serving you this year.
Here’s what we intend to provide in the coming year, and then at the end, some places I could use help from the community.
What we’ll provide
This is what I plan to do. As most of you know, I underwent open-heart surgery on May 5 and the good news is, now that I have fully recovered I have way more energy to do my job this year than I have in recent years… which is good news, because I’ve got a lot planned.
Football
- Wall-to-wall coverage of fall camp. (Nine practices so far, I’ve made them all.)
- Full game coverage. I should be there for all home games/postgame press conferences. I’ll watch the road games from TV.
- In-week press conferences. I plan to be at those asking questions; they’re usually every Tuesday.
- Weekly 3-2-1 feature.
- Weekly mailbag
- Podcasts, probably three a week in season, with some in the off-season ones thrown in as appropriate.
- Wall-to-wall spring practice coverage.
- The normal recruiting and prospect camp coverage that Sean Williams provides.
- Coverage of all major games and most of the minor ones. (Holidays and travel to see in-laws may cut off a few of those.) Again, I’ll attend the press conferences with these.
- Weekly 3-2-1 feature.
- Weekly mailbag feature.
- Podcasts in season, probably two a week, maybe three, with some off-season episodes as needed.
- I generally try to cover two out of three on major weekends as my family schedule permits.
- Coverage of some mid-week games; the Lipscomb and Belmont games, major mid-week opponents and some early mid-week games against no-name opponents are generally on the list of what I can do.
- Attend some of the mid-week press conferences as able.
- The weekly 3-2-1 feature.
- The mailbag.
- One or two baseball-related podcasts a week.
I’ve spent 20 years and somewhere north of 10,000 hours working at the site; I’ve given it my best shot but it’s never been enough to earn a living without working elsewhere. What I make here is through website subscriptions and podcasts ads and I’m a contractor on each, so there’s no guaranteed salary and no benefits and I pay the extra 6.5% self-employment tax on top of that. I have no expense account for travel or anything; that all comes out of our family budget. The price is the same as it was 20 years ago (that's out of my control). As for hiring out, I simply don’t have enough support right now to justify additional help outside Sean Williams, who does a wonderful job with our recruiting.
So with that, here are ways you can help, any of which are appreciated:
- Become a sponsor. I have found that it is impossible to solicit sponsorship outside of the current fan base; businesses and corporations consider the Vanderbilt market too small to bother. Basically, if those of you reading this don’t help, nobody will. I’d love to have sponsors for content for each sport, or just additional sponsors for the podcast, or if you have another idea for new content you'd like to sponsor, I’ll consider it.
- Support our sponsors. If you have need of a dentist, please visit Jody Jones. If you need a personal injury attorney, Sutherland & Belk should be your guys. And even if you don’t need them, please drop them a note telling them you appreciate their support of our podcast.
- Extend your subscription. If you’re month-to-month, please consider an annual subscription.
- Tell a friend. Word of mouth to bring in other subscribers always helps. And if you’re sharing a sub with someone else, I’d kindly ask you not to do that and ask that person to get their own sub; it cuts into what I can make.
- Tips and donations. I’ve just started a separate PalPal account for the business; if you’d like to offer something one-time or recurring, either is appreciated. (And if you’d specifically like to tip Sean, that would be great also, please let me know if you want something earmarked for him.)
Donate to DLM Sports Media, LLC
Help support DLM Sports Media, LLC by donating or sharing with your friends.
www.paypal.com
6. Subscribe (for free) to our YouTube channel. If we get to 1,000, I can earn a little extra income that day. Just follow this link and hit the red “subscribe” button:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBvCKCYHsFoH1s6Oy-6E7lw
7. Add a nice rating and review of our show on Apple Podcasts or any other destination that allows ratings and reviews.
Again, I can’t thank those of you here enough for what you’ve done. I’m very much looking forward to serving you this year.
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