World domination, obviously. We’re just going about it a bit roundabout.

In all seriousness, this is a fairly radical concept. Acknowledging the obvious irony that we’re merely attempting to connect people to do what people do, on their own, every single day, we’re still the first to 1) make payment mandatory and 2) bring strangers together for these intimate conversations. The goal is to connect people for their mutual benefit.

What makes this special is that the benefit in question happens to be a critical and unmet need in our society: personal growth and maturation.

Not Therapy

While, prima facie, this may resemble therapy, we’re doing everything but that. We prohibit professional services of any kind, even and especially the medical or psychological. While “Inspirations” include many psychotherapuetic modalities, I’m just as ready to include bizarre features (such as my own astrology service). Inspirations are exactly that: influences and interests that may intrigue Clients. Naturally, this list will grow and be pruned over time as we learn what’s popular. (As of now, I’ve never heard of most of these Inspirations.)

What we are attempting is to create a low-cost marketplace for those who wouldn’t seek therapy but still have problems. By using this marketplace model, the cream will rise and some people should be able to make quite the rewarding hobby for themselves, all the while more and more people are helped.

With the unfortunate and inevitable conflation with therapy, we enter into a space of legal ambiguity for some. Talking is not regulated. Talking about problems is not regulated. Talking about problems with a professional most certainly is. This is why we specify that no professional services may be offered, though this may not be sufficient in some jurisdictions. I’ll do my best for updating our Friends as further research into the preexisting laws come out, though, for the most part, we’re all protected as long as no one is practicing any professional service. This may entail avoiding certain phrases (again, more to come), but virtually all risk should be abrogated simply by acknowledging that you’re only having a conversation.

The psychological terms may be best avoided, but this is also the language in which many professional communicators think. We’ve built a rich history of modalities for talking about problems, so, if these terms speak to you or your clients, use them. Just keep in mind that you’re not offering therapy, even if you’re otherwise qualified.

Only You

There’s a reason for delving into such madness. This business was created during the latest and greatest plague: coronavirus. Just from talking with my friends and neighbors, it’s evident that there’s an everpresent atmosphere of anxiety and suffering. By my own nature, I can’t help but be motivated to change this. As but one man, however, there are so many people I’ll never be able to touch or really connect with. My own eccentricities and nature allow me to connect deeply with some, but not others. This is, coincidentally, is the power we’ll tap into.

Our unique quirks are what both alienate and endear us to others. In the proper combination, people form deep bonds that enable true and enduring growth. By enabling and incentivizing more people to talk with each other, all with distinct combinations of traits, we’re going to be able to help more people than ever before. Hell, we might just reignite the long lost art of deep, interpersonal communication.

In other words, only you have that special mix of mojo that let’s you be a good Friend. When you’re enabled to advertise who you are for what you are, you just might find yourself paired with someone who appreciates and benefits from you. No doubt, you’ve made a few of these chance encounters before in your life and I’m going to do my best to amplify that for everyone’s benefit.

Business Talk

Why money? Shouldn’t this be some kind of charity?

Incentives make the world go ’round. Good incentives bring about more of the good things, bad ones do quite the opposite. Having an incentive helps bring folks to the table that wouldn’t be there otherwise. It also allows the best people to be proportionately rewarded, bringing more of the best to the rest of us.

As a Client, you’re suddenly motivated to get your money’s worth. This means a lot less beating around the bush, even if you’re set to talk about something you’d rather not. It’s a kind of wager with yourself to go the extra mile in a conversation when you’re having second thoughts. Since all change starts from the Client, this is the most important feature of all. It certainly won’t guarantee that every Client will spill the beans in the first conversation, but it most certainly will help.

Finally, AtlasTalked takes a cut. Why? Because we need to grow to enable more people to grow. I’d also like to have some kids with straight teeth and eat a steak now and again, thank you very much.

Me 

(and a moderately unhinged rant)

I, Jeremy Evans, your humble and sardonic host, aim but to please. Such is the nature of good business and humanity alike.

I promise to have the most relatable and compassion-inducing backstories, though my garage is a bit to messy to claim to have started there. I’m currently a few thousand dollars and about six weeks of work out into this, without a soul knowing about it. I have the certainty of a cult-leader in its value, as is required when has zero proof-of-concept and bills to pay. I’d like to say I go to sleep every night dreaming of millions of smiling people connected by AtlasTalked, though right now it’s a lot more about debugging server issues. We’ll see if that changes or if they’re merely ill-fated last words.

As an online marketer, I’ve acquired just enough skills to make this marketplace and launch this business. As a relatable human, I also drink water, just like humans do. I promise that if you’re reading this, I’m far from ascending to lizard-person status as this will be whitewashed with corporate double-speak by then.

This really is a passion-project of mine with the goal to help people. Incidentally, it’s not doing a lick of that at the time I write this because the missing ingredient is you. I, heck, we, the human race, need you to step up to the plate and offer your one-of-a-kind insights to the people that need it most.

In the realest of senses, this is a collective endeavor. It’s by us, for us. The only difference between us is that I hope to make a chunk of change on every transaction, yet our interests are well-aligned: we all want more people helping each other and the best helpers to help themselves to the biggest share. My chunk of change (which, I’ll reemphasize, is currently theoretical, not unlike a black hole) is to make that process better for everyone.

If, one day, you’re reading this and I’ve developed a forked-tongue and suspicious looking eyes, know that this is just the ignition. Participating in this project is bigger than any business: it’s unshackling the common person, enabling new and better kinds of relationships, and thwarting byzantine, anachronistic ideas about how people should relate to each other. This is but one small step for our ever-burdened Atlas, but a leap forward for using the Internet to bring people together in the ways that matter.

Sincerely and seriously, thank you for your interest. I’m open to any and all feedback, including but not limited to information on my own mental state. (The more time I spend on this mad endeavor, the more it’s up for debate.) I’ve peppered this whole forum with solicitations for feedback, so let me know what you think of the big idea here.