As noted in my last post, to keep the algorithms happy I prepared some very short posts during July that I scheduled to post during August. Here is the second one.
Last time I promised to answer the question of why I am trying to earn money on Substack when I produce a much more expensive product called Sapienta Country Analysis Cyprus. So here it is.
Each month, for my flagship product, I produce 10,000+ words of heavily researched, independent analysis covering six sections, as well as around 30 tables and charts. The report tells you everything you need to know about Cyprus so that you can report it back to your capital or your headquarters.
There are three reasons why I am also producing this newsletter for a mere €49 voluntary per year and the Cyprus Pocket Brief for just €100 per year.
Increasing revenue when Cyprus is off the radar
First: a need to increase revenue. I have extremely high-quality, blue-chip subscribers for the Sapienta Country Analysis Cyprus. But perhaps because Cyprus is small, there just aren’t enough of them to pay a liveable wage. I have always had to do other things in addition to the monthly report.
Another reason why there is not massive demand for in-depth Cyprus analysis is that Cyprus is not in the OECD: another by-product of the Cyprus problem that few pay attention to. I have noticed that this means Cyprus often gets forgotten in those “pick-the-data-off-the OECD” round-ups of which economies are doing well.
A recent case in point is the FT article in June on the Eurozone bailout countries. It spoke of how well they were all doing this day in terms of yields—the amount the government pays for debt. There was no mention of little Cyprus, even though, as you can see from the chart at the top of this article, its yields are lower than all the other bailout countries apart from Ireland.
So, although Cyprus has been a good buy for some investor-clients, especially those who got in early before others noticed what was happening to the economy, it is simply off the radar for many of those who might otherwise need my in-depth analysis. As a friend pointed out, maybe the reason there is no competition for my monthly product is that there is not much of a market for it. (Ouch!)
Diversifying revenue in the era of Trump 2.0
A second reason is the need to diversify revenue streams in the age of Trump 2.0. Not only does it mean risks to the global economy because of all the uncertainty surrounding tariffs. It turns out that some of my Sapienta Country Analysis Cyprus subscribers depend directly, indirectly or rather heavily on the US taxpayer. So some very longstanding clients found that they simply could not renew, while others spent a long time internally working out how they could continue to buy a product that they tell me they find really useful.
A third reason is that producing 10,000 words of heavily researched material every month without fail takes a high mental and physical toll. I really don’t want to be doing this into my sixties and there is not much time to find something else.
I therefore need to find new revenue streams.
One of those attempts to find new revenue streams is keeping myself educated as a potential non-executive director on boards of financial companies. I am a holder of the CySEC Advanced Exam if your fund is looking for non-executive directors!
Another is working on building Substack. There are other things I have also tried or am working on. Some work. Some don’t. That is the nature of capitalism, I suppose.
Why do I do this instead of going out and getting a salaried job?
Mainly because I love working for myself. I have the kind of mind that means a set routine makes me feel trapped and miserable, especially when my brain has kept me awake fizzing all night, which happens at least once a week.
I have left very well paid jobs to avoid that feeling of being trapped. I am a tea addict. But as the saying goes, I would not swap working for myself for all the tea in China.
If you want my premium monthly in-depth product, check out Sapienta Country Analysis Cyprus and other deep-dive reports here or single copies here. And if you can’t afford those but want the executive summary only for just €100/year*, you can find that here on Substack, at Cyprus Pocket Brief.
Or support this publication, Sapienta Cyprus Snippets, for just €49 per year.*
*Monthly payments are a massive administrative headache, so since I can’t switch them off I have effectively banned them by setting the monthly price the same as the annual.
It may be time for another tea pow-wow