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IMPORTANT POLL: On Going Full Time (Patreon)

Published:
2017-04-23 21:06:52
Imported:
2021-08

Content

First of all, Hooray! I'd like to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for helping me to reach the milestone of $500 per video! This means I'm going to do Journey Episodes on  Pokemon Origins on top of the regular ones! On top of Calling it now... On top of the full reviews I still want to do... Okay, time out.

It seems the site is reaching a necessary turning point and being pretty much  both my employers, shareholders AND audience, I need everyone's input on where to go from here. (I also want to put this out before David31 leaves as I'd appreciate his perspective)

Doing weekly episodes of Journey has been astoundingly helpful for me, my workflow and brand expansion. The regular content has helped the channel to grow to what it is today and it helped me pull myself out of the slump I was in pretty much since I came back from my mission. It also helped me to realize what my potential is in regards to writing thanks to the "watch me script" sessions. I've gone from taking two weeks to write a half hour review to being able to write a decent 12-minute episode in HALF A DAY. That's insane, and again I couldn't have reached that point without you guys.

Now, here's where it gets tricky. I am fully aware that I am not the best at keeping my "campaign promises". In fact, aside from the Journey Eps and the art commissions I downright suck at it. I've justified it by saying I am technically still working on them, which I am, but if I'm honest with myself the full reviews and to a lesser extent Calling It Now have gone from Persona 5 to Half Life 3 in terms of delays (worse now that P5 is actually out).

I'm pretty ashamed of this, I want to make it better, but as many of you have acknowledged in countless polls before, I don't want to overwhelm myself either. The main factor in all of it is time, and this above all is what I want to discuss and poll you for today.

At the moment, I still have to squeeze these videos into my spare time, in between freelance work, caring for a demon three-year-old, and forced relaxation time for my mental health. If I'm honest with myself, I don't think Calling It Now or any full reviews will get done in the current situation. I 'm also worried about Pokemon Journey Origins.

So, after much discussion with Jess and others, I've broken down some options. You can see them below. For those concerned about me overwhelming myself on the higher ends, don't. If I went full time with a schedule, thanks to how much I've grown in terms of script writing speed, workflow and staff (Jess can now ease my editing load). I would be LESS stressed thanks to a strict and much less hectic schedule 8 hours a day could afford. I'd also be able to expand my brand a lot more and have more time to research and improve my assets overall.

However, unless all of you continued to pay a full pledge twice a week (which I DO NOT WANT, I of all people know how tight money can be), money is still going to be extremely tight and I will most likely need government assistance. I would be trading one stress load for another. Also remember that there is no perfect, stress-free solution for me here. I just want to find the option with the highest quality of life and the most potential for growth.

Thanks for taking the time to read through this huge post and I find myself constantly amazed at the support you guys give me. please help me find the best way to give back.

Comments

Amy Reynolds

Go for it, Suede! I'm honored to be a patron of yours and if my support can help you go full time with something you clearly love and are even more clearly REALLY GOOD AT, then that would be a total delight! Remember to keep taking care of yourself (and your kid and wife!) and God bless!

Anonymous

I'd absolutely love to see you start living the dream of going full time, but honestly from here at least it seems like doing the purge might be best for right now. I admire the ambition behind all of the things you want to do, and I'd really like to see them, if not now, then down the line sometime. Still, hope whatever you decide ends up working out for you!

Anonymous

I say keep it honest, as much as I enjoy the content you provide I would feel no small amount of guilt knowing that going into this next tier of rewards may require you to go into government assistance. At the end of the day only you and your family can decide what is going to work best for your situation. My unprofessional advice, if it works for you, would be to keep the content in general at the same pace it is now and maybe rework the reward tiers to something that might be more manageable for you. I at least would personally feel better knowing that you are in a more secure situation before really trying to expand on content. You are good at this and you enjoy what you do, so after this gets sorted I hope things continue to get bigger and better for your channel. Good luck Sir Suede!

Will Herrmann

I don't see the benefit of doing one paid and one unpaid video per week since viewers can already limit the amount they give. If patrons can only give $10 a week, then they can either give $10 a video and set that as the max, or give $5 per video. There isn't really anything to be gained by limiting that choice for us, and I would be concerned that there is less incentive for you to make the free videos.

Will Herrmann
>>4836121

I agree with this. I would love to see you go full time, but based on your description, it sounds like that's something you aren't sure you are ready for. I would rather you do what is best now and then go full time in the future when it is more financially feasible.

Anonymous

First off, the only way that you would be getting a different fund from me is if my own financial situation either tanks or explodes. I wish I could offer more, but I wanted to budget as much as I could possibly do and make sure you were getting everything I could offer every month/video. So at least you can be assured that at least in my case, no matter the end decision, as long as you are doing what you love and doing your incredibly delightful content, I am with you. If funding has helped you get into a better place again, then by God, I have done what I set out to do. :) For my own personal decision, I would want you to be honest with yourself and your patrons. I recommend that you set yourself realistic goals, but if going full time for a while will not only improve your work, but also your health, then I say go for it. Frankly, for me, as I have worried in the past, that is what I am focusing on the most: you having the chance to do what you love full time, and/or to find joy in what you do for a living. Whether what you do is a part-time and more easygoing job plus videos, or whether it is videos full stop. Live your dream, I say. I have all the perks I need in seeing you having new Patrons every single month, and hope that you *keep* getting more and more as the time goes on. I suppose the only way I could mark down my vote would be to go with two of the above: do the honesty purge, but at the same time, consider the possibility of full time if it brings you joy and is something that you can do. You can always change the perks upward if and when things recover, both your mental health and the physical part(s) of it.

Planclops23

Whichever you choose, I must say that I really appreciate your transparency with us! For me, I don't really care about the perks so much as just helping you create content and support for your family. You are certainly handling the situation better than me, trying to balance graduate school, work, and my passions. XD

De

Years ago I ended up quitting my full time job to write a novel. I'd saved up a reasonable chunk of money and figured I could get the book done in about a year. Unfortunately, I'd also been having really horrible dizzy spells and gradually losing my hearing and a month after I quit I was diagnosed with some relatively serious illnesses (Lyme disease that didn't get treated in time and just wreaked havoc). I was super depressed because I ended up spending the money I'd saved to become self employed on endless medical bills. So I generally warn people against quitting stable employment just because health issues are so awful. However, I couldn't have kept that job with my dizziness and hearing impairment anyway and the pay was absolute crap. I realized that it actually didn't take all that much to get back to making comparable money to what I was doing before just via dogsitting for my neighbors. So... make sure you have lots of savings before you quit but don't let your sense of responsibility tie you to a job you hate either. I didn't realize until after I quit just how unequal my relationship wit my previous employer had been. They needed me way more than I needed them and they still wouldn't pay me enough to survive on.

Anonymous

I'm not sure, you could try full time, see how it goes and if it doesn't work go back to part time. But don't do it unless you have a backup plan and you're totally sure of yourself.

Anonymous

Thank you for the shout out Suede, but rest assured my opinion is worth next to nothing in the grand scheme of things. Also I have just noticed something horrifying about how you/Patreon charge for content. At first I thought the fee I was being charged was one flat fee a month, but I just realized that Patreon charges monthly per created content. So you've made 5 videos in the course of the month at $10.0 USD a piece, at the current rate of exchange that's £40.00 GBP. That is really far much more then I was willing to shell out originally and because of that it has effected my decision in the poll to select 'Honesty Purge', if you can't maintain certain perks, then remove them. This sort of reflects my feelings in general. I'm going to come out and say it; I really dislike Patreon, and this experience has made me decide that ASAP I'll end all association with this blatant form of e-begging. If you wish to continue using Patreon yourself though that's fine, that's your choice (And I'll be willing to part with £40.00 on May 1st, but that's it, I don't think I can afford to pay £40.00 every month as I'm on benefits) but overall I'm just of the opinion that if you can't afford to do something on your own, then it's best not to do it at all. Anyway I do apologize for all the confusion and any upset that I may have caused you or any of your fellow Patreons.

Anonymous
>>4837529

You uh, you DO know that you can set a capstone of how much you pay per month right?

Anonymous

I voted for being honest, personally. Also I don't know if you got it, Suede, but I sent you a PM regarding my donation level that I'd like to have changed if at all possible, it details that I'd like my shoutout to say *Sigh* instead of the listed name, although I do like the avatar that you've chosen so I'm fine with keeping that as it is for now.

Anonymous

I think you may want to do a restructure of your Patreon pledges/perks, eliminating those that would be too difficult in the short term. However, you may also want to put in a kind of grandfather clause for things you're currently working on or still plan to do; but at a more leisurely pace. Honestly, I would love to support you more, but I think I'm about at my cap with Patreon funding without having to pull the plug or alter donations elsewhere at the moment. ^-^; Still enjoying the ride and do look forward to whatever it is you decide! God bless you and your family, you have my money and my prayers :)

Anonymous

You’ve probably already thought of this but before changing anything work related I would check how much you actually made in March & April (maybe even wait for May & June) against how much you’re been pledged to receive. Its one thing for the page to show c$2,100 for four videos but if you only getting $1,500 it could really mess up your calculations. On that note it’s worth considering how badly the exchange rates could affect you in the long term. For example I believe my pledge currently goes from GBP to USD to NZD, which leave a lot of leeway for the amount you receive to change even if I keep the amount I send the same. You also mention that your support has grown significantly since you started doing the Pokemon Journey episodes, and while that is mostly caused by your style, wit and charisma there is a possibility some of it is linked to that fact you’re reviewing Pokemon rather than the somewhat more obscure anime you did before. If you are still planning on stopping the Journey on your birthday like you said originally I’d suggest trying to do one Calling It Now & one Journey per week for the last two months leading up to that date, replacing Journey with Origins for a month after as a kind of Finale, before finally moving over to just Calling It Now with some full length reviews. With any luck this should let your fans see get to know if they like the second series, and may prevent drop-off once Pokemon goes back to being an occasional movie rather guaranteed every week. Sorry if I come across as overly negative, I really do hope you find the best solution for you and your family and am interested to see what you decide.

Merv PH

I vote you should go full time, but you still need to consider what other videos you do. You need to think about Pokemon as you anchor series that will keep bringing in people, and then you gotta offer a different kind of video down the line.

Neo Ultra Mike

Are you still planning on just going with the first 52 episodes of Pokemon or are going to continue with the show because I would get up to that Milestone and then focus on doing the Origins review. Yeah that would be a few months but I'm sure your fans wouldn't mind as sometimes it takes awhile to get to the video that hit the goal if you have other things on your schedule (Phelous hit his "review Cabin Fever Remake" goal months ago but only got around to reviewing that movie now) and this seems like another one of those cases.