You're right about the long game and luckily I have other ways to monetize my content further besides referrals.

$50 per month are $600 per year which is okay but I know there are a lot of creators who are frustrated about their referral stats. I used to have way more... then last summer my numbers started to dip... I don't put that much effort into winning new referrals anymore. It's better to promote my own work and newsletter. However, on YouTube and Substack, I asked people to join and know they do but at the same time x are leaving... and I'm winning no one.

Cool that you're about to hit 2 yrs next month!! I wonder, what are your plans if it's not monetization in some form?