This community support model was heavily inspired by Blindboy. His regular listeners will recognise the terminology. And because I want to do everything to avoid a paywall of any kind, I decided I want to introduce a community support model here too. It’s a great model and it deserves to spread.
If Handpicked brings you joy, saves you time, keeps you informed, or just makes your inbox more interesting — consider supporting it directly. It’s €5 a month, which equals a coffee and a half from you to me for at least four newsletters monthly, along with additional content on the website and social media.
Your support will make this venture stronger, more sustainable and independent.
This is my full-time job
It’s not a side project or marketing for something else. Handpicked is how I earn a living. It pays my groceries and rent, it pays for all the tools and tech that I use and subscriptions to all the media. Handpicked also pays for the hours I spend reading and curating so you don’t have to.
I do work with sponsors, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise
You’ll see one in most issues. But a sponsor only buys a slot in this newsletter — they will never buy my opinion. They don’t get a say in what’s in it, and they can’t tell me what to include, when to include it, or who to leave out. They’re here on my terms.
The more the support comes directly from you, the reader, the longer that stays true. Nobody can fire me for writing that a company (or Berlin!) is badly run, that a recruiter is wasting your time or if I add a link to an article someone didn’t like.
So: if you met me in person, would you buy me an americano and a half?
You can do that once a month instead for €5. That’s all I’m asking.
And if you can’t afford it then don’t. Read it for free. Someone who can afford it is paying for you to read it for free. Everybody gets exactly the same newsletter.
You get nothing else for paying
There are no bonus sections, no members-only editions, no earlier access to events or discounts. There is nothing behind a paywall. I’m never going to write or organise something and keep it from you because you didn’t pay €5. That’s the whole point of doing it this way.
Berlin and Careers are two separate newsletters
Monday’s Handpicked Berlin and Thursday’s Handpicked Careers run as two separate publications on Beehiiv, the platform I send them with — so support runs per newsletter. Beehiiv handles the payment, the receipts and the cancelling.
Support the one you actually read. If you read both and want to support both, that’s €10. Either way, both newsletters stay free for everyone.
You can cancel any time, from the same place you started. Thank you!
Igor