Gary Vaynerchuk called. Why I let it go to voicemail.
Maybe he was calling to talk business. Maybe I was too busy shooting my shot to care. 🤷♀️ The latest ballsy, feel-good thing I'm doing to spark growth without jabbing anyone.
The Hot Dog Cart is a stiff middle finger kinda newsletter about how to put your health + happiness first, and thrive in this new fun + fearless YOU-shaped era of life and business. 🦄 100% human. 🌭 97.6% sweary. I double DAWG dare you to get new cart-sized editions sent straight to your inbox:
The internet isn’t built for people like me.
It’s built for the Gary V’s—the ones with ad budgets, growth hacks, and an agency full of data scientists optimizing their click-through rates.
I, on the other hand, have… vibes.
Oh, and an unshakable belief that the only way small creators like us win is through real, human support.
NO algorithms.
NO hacks.
NO gimmicks.
Just people helping people.
So this is me, that broad who won’t shut up about making this shit feel good, shooting my shot into the big, scary digital landscape, hoping that the right people—my people—catch it.
Would you help my lil’ hot dog cart give the middle bun to the capitalist food courts?
I want to get my work into more of the hands + hearts who need it… and I want it to feel good getting it there.
Instead of bribing the internet YOU with a free PDF or launching some gimmicky refer-a-friend-and-win-a-toaster situation, I’m doing what small creators aren’t supposed to do.
I’m just… asking.
NO slick sales pitch.
NO psychological warfare.
NO digital witchcraft
NO “OMG, if you share my stuff, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win everything I’ve ever created… including the diorama from my 4th grade science fair.”
Just me, your favorite Potty Mouth Princess (as my buddy
likes to call me) stepping up to the mic like, Hey, if you love what I do, would you recommend me to your readers?I know. Audacious. Borderline feral. Who does that?
Me. I do that. 👋
No algorithm can manufacture what we’ve got.
FACT: I don’t have a fancy media empire or a 10-step funnel designed to guilt you into buying a $5K mastermind that teaches you how to… I dunno, build wealth by cold DMing people who answer the question asked in your Note with the easiest, breeziest FRIENDLIEST pitch of their life?
FACT: I have a hot dog cart dream in a world of capitalist-dominated marketing strategies. And my only shot at making it work is with the support of people who get what I’m doing.
People like you.
YOU, who snickers at my off-the-wall analogies.
YOU, who belly laughs at my embarrassing shenanigans.
YOU, who silently bobbleheads along to my scathing rants, feeling seen + validated.
That kind of support? It’s everything.
There is NO INTERNET REALITY where I can game the system with ads or algorithmic witchcraft that feels like selling my soul to the internet’s dopamine economy.
So here I am, standing in front of you like an underdog protagonist in a sports movie—sweaty, scrappy, and full of chutzpah—asking:
Would you consider recommending my work to your readers?
Why this feels weirdly important.
The internet has trained us all to be skeptical of asks like this.
Usually, there’s a catch.
A discount code.
A contest.
A weird, transactional energy that makes you feel like you’re being lured into a timeshare presentation.
But that’s not ME. That’s not why I’m here.
I want to prove that small creators can make a real goddamn living without dishonest, empty, manipulative, predatory tactics.
So, this is me, shooting my shot.
High hopes, low expectations.
If you decide to, I’ll dramatically whisper “It’s happening” to myself in the mirror like I’m in a sci-fi thriller + maybe even ugly cry a little.
If you don’t, I’ll dramatically sigh out my rain-soaked treehouse window like a 19th-century poet contemplating life + then promptly get over it. Because, either way… I’m soooo grateful for YOU.
Grateful for being here, reading this, supporting me in your own way.
Grateful for every chuckle, every eye-roll, every “Oh. My. GAWD, did she just say that?”
Grateful that even if my hot dog cart-sized dream never turns into a full-fledged living, at least I get to sling my weird little ideas to people who actually care.
So, no pressure. No expectations. Just an honest ask from one kindred to another.
Would you consider recommending my work to your readers?
Here’s to manifesting this ask into your HELL YEAH pile with the force of 1,000 feral heart-eyes + aggressively appreciative jazz hands,
Dre ‘Shooting Her Shot’ Beltrami
Founder, This Digital Playground
Gangster, The Entire Internet (Since 2014)
Beer Hater, No Matter How It's Brewed (Since 1979)
Step into your YOU-SHAPED ERA: Your Barstool Is Waiting 🦄🦄🦄 >>>
P.S. If you do recommend me, let me know so I can send you an over-the-top, dramatic thank-you that may or may not involve interpretive dance. No promises, but… probably.
P.P.S. If you need instruction on how to recommend people directly through Substack, here’s a step-by-step guide (with visuals) walking you through the whole process.
The Middle Finger Reframe for Showing Up + Selling Without Feeling Like a Keebler Elf in Witness Protection
What I'm UNlearning To Be Able To Make Money In A Way That's Fun + Feels Good
Oprah Called, She Wants Her Pedestal Back (I Was Using It for Chili)
I stopped selling answers. Here's what I'm doing instead to build a thriving "hot dog cart" kinda life + business
The "Hot Dog Cart" Business Model 🌭
The Origin Story: How a Hot Dog Cart at the Hardware Store Became My Idea of Success
I love that I read this on a day that a Marketing Bro reached out to me about a post sponsorship. I gave him the details, but then he promptly asked for an example and my numbers on how many people I reach. Dude, slow down, I just started offering sponsorships literally last week, and you'd know that if you actually read my publication. Marketing Bros sure love their numbers!
I haven’t stopped recommending you since I purchased my first Dre—I don’t know, backpack something and just kept upgrading until the full on Dre for 2days because yeah, you’re THAT good at what you do.
But what kept me here and made me believe in the HDC is something so much more profound.
The HDC has people of all different industries and walks of life yet there’s one common thread—one outlaw core belief—
✨ Doing things the right way—even when it’s not the easiest way—is the only way to live.
We are the ones who do what we do as we walk in truth and deeply care about the people we are in service to— we have this innate, deep appreciation for people— our kindreds. It’s not just business; it’s a responsibility. A calling. A way of showing up in the world with integrity. And unfortunately, that’s so rare.
If people were to stop being afraid of what the world would think or better yet, care more about what they truly believe without the brainwash—formulate a thought that isn’t someone else’s but comes from the deepest parts of your resonating self, oh man would this world be a much different experience.
It would be a place where value isn’t determined by popularity, but by depth and impact. A place where the ones who truly care—the builders, the thinkers, the healers, the doers—aren’t drowned out by the loudest voices, but amplified for the work they’re here to do.
Because when people stop outsourcing their beliefs—when they stop waiting for permission to be who they already know they are—that’s when real change happens.
And that’s what the HDC is to me. A place for the ones who refuse to settle, who refuse to fake it, who refuse to let the world dictate what they know in their bones to be true.
And if more people could tap into that—if they could find the courage to strip away the layers of expectation and show up fully, unapologetically themselves—there’s no telling what kind of world we’d wake up to.
One thing’s for sure, though.
It would be a hell of a lot better than the one we’ve been given.