Privacy policy.
Last updated: June 5, 2026
The short version
What we do, in plain English.
We collect very little, we don’t sell anything to anyone, and we’d rather be straightforward than legal. The basics:
- ✓We don’t sell your data. Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to anyone.
- ✓No targeted ads. The only paid placements are Premium and Featured business listings — clearly labeled, always disclosed.
- ✓We collect the minimum. Your email if you subscribe. Your contact info if you claim a business. Standard analytics so we know what’s working.
- ✓You can leave anytime. Unsubscribe with one click. Close your account whenever. Ask us to correct anything we’ve got wrong — we’ll fix it.
What we collect.
From newsletter readers
If you subscribe to the Friday letter, we store your email address in our own database and use Mailgun to deliver each issue. That’s it.
From people who contact us
When you fill out a form (Submit an event, Suggest a story, the contact page) or email us directly, we receive what you send: usually your name, email, and the content of your message. We use it to reply.
From businesses with claimed listings
If you claim or upgrade a business listing, we collect your business name, your name, your email, your phone, and whatever you choose to include in your profile (description, photos, hours, etc.). For paid plans, our payment processor (Stripe) handles billing — we never see or store your full card number.
Automatically (analytics)
Like most websites, we collect anonymous usage data: which pages you visit, roughly where you’re connecting from (city-level), what browser you use, how long you stay. We use this to improve the site. We don’t tie this data to your identity.
Cookies
We use a small number of cookies — for keeping you signed in if you’re a business owner, for remembering settings, and for basic analytics. We don’t use tracking cookies for advertising.
How we use it.
To run the site. To send you the Friday letter if you’ve subscribed. To respond to your messages. To help businesses manage their listings. To understand what’s working and what isn’t. To prevent spam and fraud. Nothing weirder than that.
Who we share it with.
The shortest list we can manage. Our service providers:
- ·Vercel — hosting and infrastructure
- ·Stripe — payment processing for paid business listings
- ·Mailgun — delivers the Friday letter and transactional emails
- ·Cloudflare R2 — secure backup storage for our database
- ·Google Analytics — basic site traffic data
We never sell, rent, trade, or share your personal data with marketers, advertisers, data brokers, or anyone else. If we’re ever legally required to disclose information, we’ll do the minimum required by law and notify you when we can.
How we make money. And how we don’t.
LKN Life makes money one way: businesses pay for Premium ($29/mo) or Featured ($79/mo) listings. Featured listings always carry a visible “Featured” label and appear at the top of search results — but they’re never disguised as editorial recommendations or organic results.
We don’t take commissions on jobs. We don’t run pay-per-click ads. We don’t accept sponsorships of editorial content. We don’t take referral fees. The Field Guides and Locals Know stories are written without any financial relationship to the people they cover.
Your rights.
You can:
- ·Unsubscribe from the Friday letter with one click — every email has the link
- ·Update your information whenever it changes
- ·Close your business account anytime from your dashboard. This removes your login, uploaded photos, and any profile content you’ve written. The directory listing itself remains — it’s based on public business information and is part of our editorial record.
- ·Ask us to correct inaccurate information — email hello@lknlife.co. If something we’ve published about your business is wrong, we want to know and we’ll fix it.
California residents have specific rights under CCPA — to know what personal data we hold about them, and to request its deletion. We honor these rights for everyone, regardless of where you live. Note that our directory listings are based on public business information and editorial research; the right to deletion applies to personal account data (your email, password, uploaded content), not to the fact that a business exists and operates in the Lake Norman area.
Children’s privacy.
LKN Life is not directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect data from them. If you’re a parent and you believe your child has submitted information to us, email hello@lknlife.co and we’ll remove it.
Changes to this policy.
We may update this policy as the site evolves. When we do, we’ll update the “Last updated” date at the top. For meaningful changes, we’ll mention it in the Friday letter.
How to reach us.
Questions about your data or this policy? Email hello@lknlife.co — that’s the general inbox both founders read.
Pull up a chair.
— Lori & Connor