Pay it Forward Pledge

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I believe it’s time I change the way I operate.
In the past 12 years I started a few businesses and open-source frameworks… bootstrap-commerce, Shoestrap, Maera, Kirki, a bunch of others that nobody has ever heard of. I always do the same thing; I build something that I feel will help people, I open-source it and then after a couple of years I try to monetize it by building addons, extrensions etc., for the free thing that I built. It has worked for others so why would it not work for me, right?
Well, the thing is… it doesn’t work for me. It never did. Maybe that’s because I’m no good at promoting what I build. Maybe it’s because I refuse to spend a single cent on advertising. Or maybe it’s the fact that I go at it alone. The reason doesn’t matter… what matters is that it doesn’t work for me, and I’ve spent too much time and energy trying to make it work.
After a decade I have decided to change the way I operate.

I hereby pledge to share and release everything I build openly.

All my products will cost you $0.
when you download something I’ve built, it has already been paid for. The cost will be covered initially by me with the time I’ve spent to built them, and if you want to donate something and pay it forward for the next person who downloads that product, feel free to do so. That way you spread some goodness and help me sustain these products, evolve them, and build greater things that will benefit more people.
To that end, I have created a GitHub Sponsors page and a link to that page will be added to all my future products.
Hopefully, at some point, the time I spend to build the things I build, do the things I do for the community, and help the people I help, will be offset by your contributions.
Any premium products I already have will be open on GitHub for everyone to get and use.
The only exception to that are a couple of projects where I use ACF-Pro. Obviously I can’t give that because it’s not mine to give, but that’s just a temporary exception to the rule due to technical difficulties. A solution will be provided to that in time for those that already have a license to one of these products.

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