So, let's talk about the elephant in the room, shall we?

Hi, Just wanted to say a few words, and ask you to sign up for my magazine. I appreciate you. I think you might appreciate it.

I'm making some big changes to OGLS this spring and summer season.

So, let's talk about the elephant in the room, shall we?

(also, if you haven't read yesterday's email, please go read that now before reading this because it will make this one make much more sense to you)

Yes, I use AI to edit my articles and blurbs and generate illustrative images for my magazine. No, it is not "pure AI". My method is simple.

I write the original article or blurb, then copy it into AI for editing, formatting and expansion. And here's the cool part, I EXPAND on my ideas and 50+ years of outdoor and off grid living and survival experience by using AI to flesh out those ideas so I don't have to write everything.

I guide the AI and use it just like other industry professionals use Photoshop, Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat to do desktop publishing.

I have been using the publishing industry utility tools for 30 years, and now I use AI to help me do more faster.

My writing/editing workflow is simple:

No...contrary to a lot of uninformed comments online, I do not just copy and paste "AI slop" into my magazine or blog.

I have been a respected writer in my field and have made a living as a blogger for 15 years, long before generative AI ever existed like it does now.

I write the ORIGINAL content.
I plug it into AI to edit and format
Then I rewrite the content again, expanding on the ideas
Then I plug it back into AI to rewrite.
I do this multiple times, rinse and repeat until I get something I like.
Then I proof it and factcheck for accuracy and quality
Then I edit it once more for my style.
Then I publish.

That's my basic workflow. No, it's not "all AI".

My 50+ years of experience goes into every article, even if AI writes a large percentage of it. Even though I use AI to edit it, doesn't mean it's not good information. That is what's called a logical fallacy.

But don't take my word for it. Read my magazine yourself.

Oh, one more thing. I only just started using AI about 3-4 years ago? I think that's when I first started using AI.

Regardless, please don't believe everything you read online that's posted by people who have no skin in the game and who clearly have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to my magazine me or my experience. There are a lot of people I banned from the Off Grid Living & Survival group over the years, toxic people that don't like that they got banned and they are saying a lot of untrue things about me and my business and magazine. Do not believe it as face value. There's more to the story than those people who were banned are saying. They enjoy hurting people, they are cruel toxic people who lie and spread false rumors and false accusations out of spite and pure cruelty just to try to shut me down.

Do not listen to them. I have 15 years in this niche and a lifetime of off grid living and survival and outdoor adventure experience. This is not a joke to me.

I am an "off gridder". I grew up off grid. I lived off grid, hunted, fished, hiked, camped, built shelters, bow-drill fires, started fires in the rain, set trap lines and snares, pit-traps, deadfalls and trotlines. I've hunted almost every big and small game animal in the south. My dad (Army Special Forces Green Beret) trained me in survival and military tactics and strategy from a young age, all the way into my young adult life. My life growing up was a survival boot camp.

The skills I learned over those years I took to the great outdoors on my off grid adventures and treasure hunting expeditions all over the USA. I've survived in places and situations that most people have never been in, much less could they have survived it.

I don't claim to be an "expert". I never have. But I have 100X more experience and knowledge about survival and off grid living than 99% of people out there and I have shared that knowledge helping people for over 15 years now across 3 different off grid brands.

So let's address why I'm not off grid now.

Honestly... I kind of suck with money.

That, and going off grid costs A LOT of money.

I'm going to share something with you that is deeply personal. Every word is true.

When I did have money, I was going through a very rough time in my life, alcoholism and women and partying. I just didn't care. I was not in a good place back then. Going off grid wasn't on my list of things to do even though I wanted to and could have back then, I was dealing with too much other personal turmoil to focus on going off grid.

That's it. There it is.

It's not that I don't know how to invest or save or make money. It's not that I don't know how to go off grid. It's that I choose not to because of life and family stuff. I'm also not very responsible...mostly because I gave up 10 years ago (because of all the family and personal battles I was fighting) and I let myself go after pushing my family away due to my anger and toxicity that I brought with me from my upbringing. (my ex and daughter didn't deserve that, so I spent the last 10-13 years punishing myself for pushing them away; I say 10 to 13 years because I broke up with my ex after the biggest argument we ever got in (no I was never physically abusive, I wasn't raised that way and I hate violence). After I broke up with my ex we then spent 2 years after that resenting and fighting her for custody (not through the courts, which I should have, but I didn't want to fight). That's when I went off the rails and just said "f*** it" and that was the beginning of a long self destructive period in my life.

I was raised in a highly toxic physically, mentally and emotionally abusive household growing up. My dad was violently abusive. My mother was emotionally and mentally abusive and manipulative. She'd guilt trip and blame and manipulate and lie while my dad beat and abused me physically and violently for 17 years until I was big enough I finally had enough and fought back. He ended up disabled for life and I've lived with the guilt of that since I was 17. It was an accident. My dad hit me in the face because I dropped the milk in the kitchen and it busted all over the kitchen floor. I hit him back and it was on. We wrestle and punched and I guess his training me so hard for so many years kicked in. I pushed him off me and used his 425 pounds against him. I let him go and turned to finish putting away the groceries when I hear mom scream. I turned around and dad was laying on the floor groaning. There was a big streak in the milk on the floor where his foot had slipped when we were fighting. I don't remember much after that moment because it all blurs together and the years of guilt has probably erased what happened next. But after that fight I had enough and I moved out.

My point is, that moment (among many others) were turning points in my life growing up in a highly restrictive abusive and extremely toxic environment. When I tried to start my own family, I brought with me that anger and toxicity from my childhood and young adult life into my own family, and I lost my family because of it.

10 years ago is when I gave up and started a long downward spiral. I tried a few times to correct or stop spiraling, but it didn't help. I was homeless multiple times, built multiple successful businesses over the last 25 years, only to shut them down or sell them for peanuts and end up in a feast and famine pattern that I couldn't break through.

Until now. (I think). I think this time is different because I got my motivation back. I've been missing that for over 10 years. My drive is back. That feeling I get when I think of my daughter and our future excites me and I can't wait to do what I do to build a better life for her.

I'm ashamed of wallowing in my own self pity and self destructive behavior for as long as I did. I'm putting this out there publicly in the hopes people can see that I am truly trying to make everything better.

Something deep inside me changed recently while going through this house ordeal. Fighting for my inheritance has forced me to face some extremely uncomfortable and embarrassing truths about myself. I can't behave that way anymore. It's not who I am and it's not who I want to be. This family house ordeal woke me up to my mistakes. I was so desperate to save my inheritance and have some kind of closeure from a young life of pain and suffering and abuse I was blinded by my own defenses I had put up and thought I could just bulldose my way out of it and power through it with hyper focus on the end goal. I leveraged my magazine and brand and reputation against a toxic world I allowed myself to be dragged back into. I was dragged back into that same toxic world I left 25 years ago and allowed myself to be controlled by my anger and resentment again because those defensive mechanisms that allowed me to survive my childhood and leave that hellhouse, now resurfaced and it bled through into my business and that was unprofessional and not what any of you deserved. I am deeply ashamed of how I acted and for my behavior recently. I refuse to be stuck in a toxic world I cut ties with 2.5 decades ago, that I thought I'd never have to deal with again, it dragged me back down. And I refuse to drag you guys down with me anymore. I am so sorry!

Worse, I had already given up on everything 10 years ago. It put me in a much more dark and angry place.

I lashed out unfairly to a lot of people, and when I realized I was doing it I stopped.

But it was too late....maybe. The damage was done...but I'm hoping it can be undone.

You guys didn't deserve any of that. I'm deeply humiliated by my begging and my actions lately. I shouldn't have and I am sorry.

If you read my email I sent yesterday then you know what I'm referring to. If not, go check your email and read it. I apologize. Truly, I am sorry and embarrassed for my behavior for a long long time now. When I gave up I simply stopped caring anymore, and that pushed everyone and everything I cared about away.

My point is, I'm changing myself. I'm making some big changes to how I do things moving forward. I hope this isn't just another up and down again. This is a new path and a new and better change.

In the meantime I'm still homeless. I'm still sleeping in my Jeep, and it's very difficult. I'm working on a large project now that, if I play my cards right, I'll never have to worry about money again. I'm still fighting for my inheritance, and that money will go to pay off all my personal debt. I have no other debts other than medical bills.

Once that's done, I can hold back a little bit of money for a small chunk of land and start building my off grid home for me and my daughter, and invest the rest.

I am working. I have a job. My magazine is my job. My blog is my job. The group is my job. Writing this newsletter is my job. And working 12+ hours a day on my project is a job.

I don't make much money. My labor is my value and all that is going into what I am building.

I spent 15 years building my off grid brand and audience. I hope what I have shared with you today has given you some insight and allowed you to see things from my perspective, and maybe answered some questions you had.

If you'd like to try my magazine, I will make you this promise. No matter what, I will always publish this magazine, and if I ever decide to sell the brand for any reason whoever I sell to will have to agree to keep publishing it or I won't sell the magazine.

How's that? Does all that answer some of your questions? Does that make it easier for you to sign up?

I promise you, if you get the magazine you will not be disappointed. It's much better than you think it is. I promise!

And no...it's not all AI. It's all written and edit by me and 8 other people, freelancers, off gridders, gardeners, and it has interviews with people doing what you want to do. Go off grid. But subscribe to my magazine first. I'm telling you, I know you're going to love it.

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Eric Wichman
Founder/Owner
Off Grid Living & Survival

HAPPY OFF GRIDDING!

MAY ALL YOUR OFF GRID DREAMS COME TRUE!

P.S. Yes, this is part damage control. But every word is true and honest. This is me. This is who I am. I am trying to be a better person. If you've read this far, thank you, if you decide to sign up for my magazine, thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Subscribe now and get all back issues FREE! NEW ISSUE COMING SOON! https://www.offgridlivingsurvival.com/off-grid-living-survival-magazine/

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