Texting Community Full Update - 8/25/2022

Hey everyone!

If you're seeing this, this is because you are the top 25% most active in the community. I unfortunately cannot afford a text to send to everyone, so please share this with others so this message can reach everyone.

I first want to apologize for leaving everyone in the dark. I tried reaching all of you before I had to stop the community; however, I just didn't have the opportunity. I made a few posts on my Instagram, but I learned that not a lot of Community members saw the posts I made. I am extremely sorry for having to leave everyone in the dark. You all have trusted me with so much and I feel like I let you all down. In this post, I'll be explaining what happened and why the community was down and what the future looks like. I have been praying for you all endlessly and have been working tirelessly to provide you something to accommodate what I am doing. 

So What Happened?

When the texting community stopped abruptly, it was because the platform had changed it's billing structure; therefore, leaving me with no communication to you guys. I was informed that the billing change would happen, but I didn't expect it to be what it was, so I continued sending out daily Verses as normal. I believe that God was doing so much within this platform, I just figured everything would work out in the end. 

When I spoke with the platform hosts, I learned that the fees would change to  $15k-$25k a month. As you guys know, I was very transparent with the billing. I was being charged about $1,100.00 a month which was already tough for me at the time. The drastic change in pricing was because they were changing the fees structure to per text instead of per month. This was broken down as the following:

$399.99 per month + $.02 per text sent (20k members * .025 = $500 per text sent * 30 days of the month = $15,000.00) - if more texts were sent, this price would drastically change.

I have been able to talk with the platform hosts and change these fees to the following:

$199.99 per month + .015 per text sent (20k members * .015 = $300 per text sent) I will no longer be doing a text everyday. Please see below what the future will look like. 

As you guys know, I had 0 interest to profit from this community. I was actually putting in nearly 8 hours a day trying to engage with each and everyone of you and paying out of pocket due to lack of donations most months. I knew what God was doing in this platform and I heard of all of the incredible stories, so I just wanted to continue pursuing what God was doing through me and this platform. It was a complete blessing to help so many people through mental health issues, struggling with faith, saving people through suicides and so much more.

 

What's the Future Going to Look Like?

Right now, I have a lot of ideas, but no true direction. I have been praying on this endlessly and I am waiting to pursue wherever God calls me. As you guys know, Live Him (Live for Him) is a faith apparel company that is driven to spread more awareness to mental health. This has been my passion for three years. When I started this texting community, I truly felt like this really helped me carry out the vision I saw within Live Him. Through Live Him, I have had so many opportunities to help and serve God's people and this is what I will continue to strive to do. 

To begin, I will no longer be doing a text per day. I am going to see what is the best option moving forward, but I plan on doing the Verse of the Day right here on this blog. I will also be doing a Verse of the Day on my Twitter and Tik Tok (more to come on this). I have a few ideas moving forward to make this more engaging rather than just coming to the blog and reading a quick Verse. What made the texting platform so great, was the fact that every single person who received the daily Verse - was forced to open up the text to read it. I understand how hard it is to deal with mental health, so I knew the power of a simple text. 

Right before the texting community ended, I was just about to start helping you all build your own platforms to carry out His Word in your own creative way. I unfortunately didn't get the opportunity to do this. If you have any interest at all to create content for the Lord and His people, please let me know by emailing me at info@livehim.store

Lastly, I have been looking at building an app to continue the Verse of the Day. If you have any developer experience and you believe you could help me complete this, please email me at info@livehim.store. 

Overall,

I will continue to pursue wherever God leads me. Right now, it feels like He is still calling me to serve you all and any Live Him supporters. The platform costs are going to be very extreme and I don't know what the future will look like with that, but if you feel compelled to help keep this platform running at all please consider clicking here to donate: https://linktr.ee/livehim. There is so much greatness going on through this community and I am very excited to see what God has in store for us all! 

I have opened up a comment section below. I'd love to see you all take the time to pray for each other and share thoughts and ideas. If you guys are looking for more faith content, please consider following me on my Instagram - @TheLiveHim

 

Praying for you all endlessly. 

Austin - Owner of Live Him

18 comments

  • thank you so much for all you’ve done and do. Your verses always seem to come when I needed them most. God richly blesses your work and Im confident He’ll open doors for this for the future.
    Stay encouraged!!

    Emily Doolittle
  • This content has been a blessing. Let us know how we can help.

    Amy Walz
  • No worries! I have been apart of this for I don’t know how long! And it has helped me so much! I’m praying for you! Thank you for doing you! Never stop spreading the word even if you can’t do the text! :) God bless! Much love towards you!

    Kate
  • I appreciate all of the feedback everyone. Going forward, this is the link for the Verse of the Day. I’m thinking of sending a reminder text every week (this would be about $75 per week, which is very affordable). https://livehim.store/blogs/verse-of-the-day/verse-of-the-day – You can also navigate by going through the linktr.ee or the navigation buttons at the very top of this site.

    Thank you so much for the kind feedback again. I really appreciate you all!

    Austin (Live Him)
  • Thank you for taking time to explain and I hope there’s a creative work around for the massive expense. Just like you said, it’s very true, the platform was great because it forced you to open the text and read it. Praying for you as you’ve prayed for all of us. To everyone who sees this message, may they know they’re not alone, I’m praying for them, and to continue to hold onto God’s mighty, merciful and UNCHANGING hand! Blessings to ALL in this community!!🙏

    Jaru

Leave a comment


18 comments

  • thank you so much for all you’ve done and do. Your verses always seem to come when I needed them most. God richly blesses your work and Im confident He’ll open doors for this for the future.
    Stay encouraged!!

    Emily Doolittle
  • This content has been a blessing. Let us know how we can help.

    Amy Walz
  • No worries! I have been apart of this for I don’t know how long! And it has helped me so much! I’m praying for you! Thank you for doing you! Never stop spreading the word even if you can’t do the text! :) God bless! Much love towards you!

    Kate
  • I appreciate all of the feedback everyone. Going forward, this is the link for the Verse of the Day. I’m thinking of sending a reminder text every week (this would be about $75 per week, which is very affordable). https://livehim.store/blogs/verse-of-the-day/verse-of-the-day – You can also navigate by going through the linktr.ee or the navigation buttons at the very top of this site.

    Thank you so much for the kind feedback again. I really appreciate you all!

    Austin (Live Him)
  • Thank you for taking time to explain and I hope there’s a creative work around for the massive expense. Just like you said, it’s very true, the platform was great because it forced you to open the text and read it. Praying for you as you’ve prayed for all of us. To everyone who sees this message, may they know they’re not alone, I’m praying for them, and to continue to hold onto God’s mighty, merciful and UNCHANGING hand! Blessings to ALL in this community!!🙏

    Jaru
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