If attention is so valuable, why not just pay people for it all the time?
On the surface, it sounds efficient. A win-win.
In fact years ago, people imagined a future where your inbox would be full of “postage due” emails—advertisers would literally pay you to open their message. Some versions of this model still exist today. The idea is that your time and attention are so valuable, you should be compensated directly for it.
The problem? It changes the nature of the exchange.
When you pay someone to read your message, you’re not earning their attention—you’re renting it. And the kind of person who rents out their attention for a nickel probably isn’t the kind of person most advertisers are trying to reach.
That’s not a judgment. It’s just how incentives work.
If you’re trying to build a brand that people trust, admire, or want to be part of, showing up in someone’s inbox as a paid distraction doesn’t get you there. It gets you numbers, maybe—but not connection.
And if you’re building a business around trust, especially one rooted in creativity, teaching, or community… connection is the entire game.
Attention Alone Isn’t the Goal
A lot of platforms have built their business around attention capture.
Clickbait headlines, autoplay videos, infinite scroll. The race is always to get a second more of your time.
But as creators and entrepreneurs, we’re playing a different game. We’re not just trying to be seen—we’re trying to be remembered.
There’s a big difference between grabbing attention and earning it.
When people choose to follow your work… when they share it with others, come back to it later, or even pay for more—what they’re giving you isn’t just attention. It’s trust.
And trust isn’t something you can buy at scale.
It’s something you build, a little at a time.
When Getting Paid Gets in the Way
There’s nothing wrong with getting paid for your work. That’s the goal.
But there’s a difference between building a sustainable model that respects your audience—and chasing every possible short-term monetization lever just because it’s available.
Affiliate links, referral bonuses, sponsorships… these can all be part of the mix. But they come with trade-offs.
The more your audience feels like they’re being sold to, the harder it is to maintain the trust you’ve worked so hard to build.
That’s why so many creators struggle to balance business models with creative integrity. Because attention monetized carelessly becomes noise. And once you lose trust, it’s hard to earn it back.
Invest in Relationships, Not Just Reach
The most sustainable media models today don’t rely on attention arbitrage. They rely on real connection.
And that connection is built over time, through:
- Work that speaks to a clear audience.
- Consistent, generous publishing.
- A sense of shared values and belonging.
Some creators will always chase clicks. But the ones who build something lasting—something that truly supports their art and business—are the ones who treat attention like the starting point, not the product.
They use it as a doorway to trust.
And trust is what creates all the leverage that matters.
A Thought to Sit With
You don’t need to win the attention war.
You just need to be the person people trust to show up with something worth listening to—again and again.
That doesn’t mean you have to be everywhere. It doesn’t mean you need to chase every growth hack or trend.
It means building a system, at your pace, that respects your audience and your work.
And if you do that well, you’ll find something better than viral reach.
You’ll find your people.
And that’s a far more valuable asset than anyone clicking through for a nickel.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it with someone else–the buttons below can help.
Thank you!
