Privacy Policy

This site, paulswaney.com, is published by Paul W. Swaney III and Swaney Group Capital, based in St. Petersburg, Florida. It exists to share Paul’s writing, speaking work and the LeverUp podcast, and to let people get in touch.

For anything in this policy, write to Info@swaneygroup.com.

We keep this short because we collect very little.

Information you give us

• Contact form. When you use the form on the connect page, we receive your name, email address, the type of enquiry you selected, and whatever you write in the message field.
• Newsletter. If you subscribe, we receive the email address you enter.
• Anything else you send us. If you email or message us directly, we hold that correspondence.

Information collected automatically

• Hosting logs. Our host records standard technical data for every request: IP address, browser and device type, the page requested, referring page and timestamp. This is ordinary web-server logging, used to keep the site running and secure.
• Embedded players. Podcast and video embeds are served by YouTube and Spotify, which collect their own data — see cookies and embedded content below.

We do not run advertising on this site, we do not sell or rent personal information, and we do not ask for sensitive information such as government identifiers or payment details.

• To answer your enquiry and, where relevant, discuss speaking or working together.
• To send the newsletter you asked for.
• To operate, secure and improve the site, including diagnosing technical problems.
• To meet legal obligations, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims if that ever becomes necessary.

We do not use contact-form submissions to add you to the newsletter. Those are separate: you have to subscribe yourself.

We use a small number of established vendors to run the site. Each processes data only to provide its service to us, under its own privacy terms.

• Vercel — hosting and content delivery, including server logs and media storage.
• Neon — the managed Postgres database where contact-form submissions and site content are stored.
• Beehiiv — the email platform that stores newsletter subscriber addresses and sends the newsletter.
• YouTube (Google) and Spotify — the embedded players on the podcast pages.

Beyond these, we share personal information only when you ask us to, or when we are legally required to.

The site itself does not set advertising or tracking cookies, and there is no cookie banner because there is nothing to consent to on our side.

Embedded YouTube and Spotify players are different. When a page containing one loads, or when you press play, those services may set their own cookies and collect usage data under their own privacy policies — we have no control over and no access to that data. If you would rather avoid it, most browsers let you block third-party cookies, and you can listen to the podcast directly on the platform of your choice instead.

• Contact enquiries are kept for as long as they are useful to the conversation and our business records — typically no more than three years — then deleted.
• Newsletter subscriptions are kept until you unsubscribe, after which Beehiiv retains a minimal record so we do not email you again by mistake.
• Hosting logsare kept on our host’s standard short retention schedule.

Data is transmitted over HTTPS and stored with reputable providers using access controls and encryption at rest. That said, no website or database is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Please do not send confidential or sensitive material through the contact form.

• Unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time using the link at the bottom of every email. It takes effect immediately.
• Ask what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email Info@swaneygroup.com and we will respond within a reasonable time, normally 30 days.

Depending on where you live — for example California, or a country covered by the GDPR — you may have additional statutory rights, including the right to a copy of your data, to object to certain processing, and to complain to your local data-protection authority. We honor those requests regardless of where you are; ask and we will handle it. We will never treat you differently for exercising a privacy right.

The site is operated from the United States. If you contact us from elsewhere, your information will be processed in the United States.

This site is intended for business audiences and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has sent us information, email Info@swaneygroup.com and we will delete it.

We link out to other sites — event organizers, publishers, podcast platforms, swaneygroup.com and social profiles. Once you follow a link, this policy no longer applies; the site you land on has its own.

If we change how the site handles personal information, we will update this page and move the effective date at the top. Material changes will be described plainly here rather than buried. Continuing to use the site after an update means the revised policy applies.

Questions, requests or complaints about privacy go to Info@swaneygroup.com, or write to Paul W. Swaney III, c/o Swaney Group Capital, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.

For anything else, use the connect page.