Sophie (Chanko) Dare

After over a year of being on this platform, watching it grow, and going through ups and downs, it's time for another huge change on this ever-evolving platform.

(The full email from Coil:)

“As an expression of our gratitude to the early creators and supporters of Coil and Web Monetization, we introduced the Boosting Pilot Program in June 2019. The program marked one of our first experiments towards our goal of fairly compensating creators for publishing exceptional content and fostering fan bases in support of the broader Web Monetization ecosystem.

While we believe the program served this goal, it was not designed to scale beyond Coil Blogs. Now that there are more than 1,000 web monetized sites, it’s time to evolve and test new ways to reward creators across the ecosystem rather than limiting our support to any one site or platform.

Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on adding new features that reward early adopters, but in a way that works across platforms. We’re also rolling out an affiliate program that aligns with what many creators on Coil have been asking for – a program that rewards you for the followers and fans that you convert into new Coil Members. You now have early access to the affiliate program and can activate your unique affiliate link in your account.

We know this evolution may be a difficult transition for some creators on Coil Blogs. We also greatly appreciate that many of you have attracted and signed up many Coil Members prior to the creation of an affiliate program. This is why we’ve decided to continue payouts through the end of April 2021 for creators who continue to post at least two Articles or Links per month. Payout amounts will be calculated based on the average payout amount you received for each of the prior two calendar months (October 2020 and November 2020).

We also continue to invite you to explore Grant for the Web, which was founded by Coil in collaboration with Mozilla and Creative Commons. Grant for the Web is a $100 million fund to boost open, fair, and inclusive standards and

innovation in Web Monetization.

As always, we love your feedback and look forward to assisting you via support@coil.com.”

-The Coil Team

Honestly, we knew this was coming, since the Boost was meant to be an incentive for early creators, and a gift of sorts to people who were dedicated to providing Coil with quality content. But it's still a bit surprising to hear, and it really makes me wonder about the future.

Now, I almost feel unqualified to talk about these things anymore. Once I started my full-time job at the beginning of November, I've been basically inactive on here. It's been very hard just to juggle work and my personal life now, as well as planning my wedding. It makes me really sad that I'm unable to pour so much time and effort into blogging as I used to.

But, back when I was writing like it was my job, this Boost was life-changing. It gave me a huge incentive to commit to creating great content. It gave me extra savings and something to keep me occupied and creating during the pandemic. And it gave me something to show for my work – to tell prospective employers that I was being specially recognized for what I was writing. So, even though it may be disappointing that the Boost era is coming to an end, I have nothing but gratefulness towards Coil for providing it in the first place.

Plus, this affiliate thing seems pretty awesome! I have always given people information and encouraged them to become members of Coil, and now existing creators get to benefit from referring new people to the platform. That's a great incentive, and I can't wait to see how that plays out.

For now, I just want to show up as much as I can, and still read everyone's lovely content on here as much as possible. It still feels like an honor to have been an OG creator, and to everyone else still writing regularly, keep on keeping on! You're amazing!

Thanks for reading!

Well guys... long time no see!

Not sure if anyone is concerned, but yes, I am still alive and active. can't believe it's already basically been a month since I was posting on here, and it makes me sad. I've missed reading everyone's posts and creating content, and I'm absolutely going to miss the boost from posting multiple times a week. But let's get into it.

Where have I been?

Working!

After starting my new job, my whole life has been flipped on its head. I've never had a full-time, 40-hours-a-week desk job before, and I was always scared of making that jump. Living my life on a part-time work schedule really worked for me, using some savings to supplement, but mostly just living off of my smaller income and keeping my costs of living super low. I would take my days off of work to work on other life things, like grocery shopping and cooking for meal prep, doing freelance work, and creating content for this blog – and recently, shopping and prepping and planning for my wedding!

But now that all of my weekdays are spent on the phone and doing work on the computer, I feel like I have no free time to get other things done, especially anything that requires brainpower like writing. I've seriously barely touched my own computer for weeks, after spending hours every day on my work desktop.

Switching from a super basic, customer service position into a job where I'm responsible for thinking critically, meeting deadlines, and creating things from scratch is an intensely difficult mental jump, way harder than I thought it would be. I really do wish I could keep blogging, but it's been completely impossible for me while adjusting to this new lifestyle.

Now, this isn't me complaining about my new job. The thing is, this is really what I was working towards this whole time. My big-picture goal of every creative endeavor I've undertaken has been exactly this; to get a professional, full-time job doing marketing and using my creative side, and to get paid for it, both in more money and in valuable, career-starting experience.

I didn't want to continue spending my time and money slaving away at college classes that I didn't enjoy – I wanted to build up enough experience as I could 100% on my own, so that I could jump right into a job in my field, instead of waiting until I was done with a degree to get that job. And now, I've done that, but at the cost of all of the other creative side gigs I was working on.

So, this isn't a goodbye – I'll continue to stand by Coil and Web Monetization for as long as I live! It's benefitted me immensely, and it's been an incredible experience being plugged into this community. I just don't know how exactly I'll be participating on here from now own. Maybe my mental energy will come back soon, and I'll be able to post once in a while, but for now, I'm just super focused on succeeding in my new job.

If you want to see what I'm up to (and learn more about the amazing company I'm working for!), you can follow our social channels that I'm posting on!

https://www.instagram.com/spellbound_ar/

https://www.facebook.com/SpellBoundAR

Thanks for reading!

This has definitely been the most monumental month I've had to recap on Coil so far. Everything seemed to happen at once, and it's still sinking in that this is my new chapter in my life now. Here's all the fun stuff from the past 31 days!

NO MORE SCHOOL

I finished my classes for the time being! I was getting really burnt out on having to fit in online college classes with everything else I was working on – my job, internships, blogging, and my personal and social life. So, when I finished my last final in my semester of classes, I didn't sign up again, and I couldn't be happier about it. I'm sure completing my Business & Marketing degree would be beneficial, and I'm not knocking college at all, but it's not for me right now, and it's great to just forget about it and not worry about that responsibility on me.

One Year On Coil!

It was my Coil-versary too! It's crazy to think that one year ago, I decided to take the leap into blogging and (hopefully) make it my side hustle. Fast forward to now, I made it into the boost program this past February, and I've been working as hard as I could this past year to stay consistent, produce great content, and connect with the Coil community. It's paid off in more ways than I could ever imagine, including...

My New Startup Job!

...getting me a full-time marketing job!!! I was on the hunt to really jump into my career after working for free for many different internships, and when this opportunity came my way, I couldn't believe my luck. I'm so excited to start next week, stay tuned for more updates!

I SAID YES!

And finally... I got engaged! Crazy, right? We've been waiting for the right time for a while now, and it's so lovely to begin planning our new life together.

ENGAGED: The Story

This month has just been a heap of blessings, and it still doesn't feel real how lucky I am to have everything going for me right now. Hopefully, this next month brings fun wedding planning and a smooth adjustment to my new job.

Thanks for reading!

Every year for my entire life, my mom has hosted Halloween night at our house, with a group of our closest cousins. We all would dress up and have fun together, eating a hearty meal of my mom's famous chili before heading out into the subdivision to trick or treat. Then, we'd come back inside to divvy up our candy while watching It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on TV for the tenth time.

Even though trick-or-treating will look very different for kids this year, and big parties are a no-go, I thought I'd share our recipe for Halloween chili that you could make for a warm, delicious meal on a cold, spooky night, staying in at home.

1. Heat olive oil in the bottom of a large pot, then add 1 chopped onion and 3 minced cloves of garlic. Saute for a couple of minutes until softened, then add 1 pound of lean ground beef and cook until brown.

2. Add 1 can of tomato sauce, 1 can of tomato paste, 1 can of crushed tomatoes, 1 cup of beef broth, and 1 can of red kidney beans (drained). Keep the pot at a simmer.

3. Add your seasonings: at least 1 tablespoon each of cumin, chili powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes/cayenne pepper for desired spice level. Cumin is the star of the show here – keep adding and tasting until you get that great smoky chili flavor!

That's about it – simmer the pot on low for at least 20 minutes after everything is added, but the longer you let it sit, the better the flavors will be! Top with

Chili is great because you can kind of make it however you want it to be – you can add more or less tomato sauce to make it thinner or thicker, you can add bell peppers or other vegetables to the mix, and you can make it super spicy with jalapeños if you want. Play around with the recipe until you come up with a product that suits your taste buds, and dig in!

Thanks for reading!

(From the archives of @sophiecbeauty, circa 2017!)

tutorial by @jarrytheworst

tutorial by @junecrees

tutorial by @nikkietutorials

inspired by Ariana Grande's No Tears Left To Cry

inspired by Hayley Williams in Paramore's Fake Happy

tutorial by @nikkietutorials

Thanks for reading!

I've only quit a job twice in my life before. So, leaving my current workplace of two and a half years is a daunting task for me, both practically and mentally.

I think that everyone can relate to the bittersweet-ness of leaving your current job for greener pastures; it can be hard to leave behind your coworkers and the familiarity of the work you've been doing.

This is only my third job I've ever had, so it still feels like a huge part of my life. I've seen so many coworkers come and go, get promoted, or go to different departments. I've learned so much, and become confident enough in my abilities to help train new people, and give advice or pointers to people who need it. But I'm ready to move on into a more white-collar, career-starter job in my field, rather than basic customer service. You can read all about my new job here!

It's a tough mental jump to be leaving my super stable position, where I feel like I know how to do pretty much everything, and heading into a role with far more responsibility, critical thinking, and new skills to learn, not to mention a fluctuating startup environment. Especially in the world we're living in right now, I was unbelievably lucky to keep my job and my paycheck throughout the worst of the pandemic. So, it's scary walking away from something that provided stability in a very unstable time.

Regardless of my anxieties or the possibilities of what could go wrong, I know that this new job with be extremely valuable to me, and I'll be thankful for it no matter what.

There could be long hours of work, I could get confused and not know what to do, and I could clash with my CEO or coworkers.

Or, I could find a great workflow, I could thrive working from home, and I could grow, succeed, and make some pretty sweet bonuses.

I'm confident in my abilities, both in the skills I already possess, and my willingness to learn new things. So I won't sweat it when I walk out my branch doors for the last time, because

Thanks for reading!