At Sovereign Magazine, we prioritize your privacy and are dedicated to protecting your personal data. The internet is increasingly only benefiting a select a few at the expense of all other users and we believe this system is fundamentally unfair.
As an independent publisher, we firmly reject participation in these practices and we have chosen to stand against it.
We have eliminated all third-party services, including advertising and traditional analytics platforms. Our decision to forgo ad revenue reflects our commitment to safeguarding your privacy and maintaining a secure online environment for our users.
Our Practices in Detail
Cookies:
We use a single cookie on our site, which is stored locally on your device when you agree to our cookie policy.
This cookie is temporary and lasts only 1 hour. It does not collect personal data but is necessary for ensuring your consent is recorded. We've set a one hour expiry limit to let you browse our site without having to constantly dismiss out cookie notice whenever you navigate to a new page.
Analytics:
While we still collect analytics to understand and improve our website’s performance, we no longer use Google Analytics due to its cross-web tracking practices.
Instead, we utilize a self-hosted, privacy-first analytics solution that does not collect or use your personal data.
The analytics data we receive is anonymized and focuses on real user monitoring (RUM) to understand how visitors experience our site. This ensures that your privacy is maintained while allowing us to improve our website.
External Links:
Once you leave our website by following an external link, certain information will be passed along, such as that you have been referred there by us. We have no control over how any third-party website will track you, and their privacy practices may differ from ours.
Affiliate Links:
We use affiliate links as a revenue stream, which is the least privacy invasive method we can practically rely on. When you follow an affiliate link for a product or service you find on our site, parameters within the link will allow an advertiser to track that you came from our website. However, no other information about you is passed along.
If you make a purchase of a product or service through our link, we may earn a commission. This helps us sustain our operations without compromising your privacy.
Your privacy is important to us, and we appreciate your support in maintaining an ad-free and data-protected environment.
Ways to support
You can help by sharing stories you read on our site or by buying us a coffee. Your support enables us to continue providing quality content without compromising on privacy.
Thinking of starting a business? Do you have an idea that you think would sell really well? Well, before you answer that question, I invite you to think a little bit, not about what you enjoy doing, or how great you think your idea is. Instead I want you to start thinking about the problem you hope to solve.
Afterall, businesses provide solutions to problems, whether that’s a service or product, customers buy because it solves a problem for them. You buy water because you’re thirsty, you hire an accountant because you need tax advice and you buy expensive clothes because you care about your image.
No ads. No tracking.
We don’t run ads or share your data. If you value independent content and real privacy, support us by sharing.
All these things solve a need or want, no matter how superficial that may be. Understanding your potential customer’s needs on a psychological level is therefore very important. Just as important is to identify the problem your potential customer has.
This process is called IDEATION and it’s an important first step which often gets overlooked!
By identifying a problem, ideally one you experienced yourself, and then identifying a customer base who experience this problem you have the 2 missing pieces of a 3 piece puzzle.
You see, the solution, or your idea, is actually the least important step. Once you identify a problem and figure out who experiences it then your solution can change and adapt to meet your customer’s needs.
This makes things workable as you are not striving to release the perfect product and as a result you can focus on CORE FEATURES first. All the while you can give your customers the chance to try it out while giving you VITAL feedback. This allows you to improve your product or service quickly. This removes the guesswork and speeds up your development.
This, by the way, is how you build an MVP (minimum viable product) and can be applied to any type of business. Whether you are launching a new clothing line, a podcast, or a new app… Implementing parts of your solution in stages by starting with the core features first gives you the freedom to adapt and change quickly, so you can focus on the important parts – marketing and sales.
So before you start your business or new venture, ask yourself these 7 questions:
What problem am I solving? – Can you describe it in 2 sentences or less?
Who experiences this problem? – Be specific, why do they experience it? Where do you they experience it? How do they experience it?
Have I experienced this problem myself? – How did you feel? What caused the problem and did you ever fix it? How?
How frequent is this problem? – Ideally, you want a problem people experience often, also don’t be afraid to rethink who your customers might actually be. I.e. Real estate websites are built for realtors (who always need to sell more real estate) and not the buyers (who make this purchase once or twice in their lifetime).
How intense is this problem? – Can your customers live with it or are they desperate for a solution? Ideally you want them to be desperate.
Does my solution fix this problem? – Be really honest with yourself. Not asking this question (or pretending it does) won’t magically make your solution more viable. Far from it, you’re likely to waste a lot of time and money before you face reality.
Are people willing to pay for it? – The crucial question, again be honest here because understanding this question will dictate so much of how you will approach your potential clients. Also, do some research and see what others are charging.
