Regarding downgrading/tiers & sneak peek! (Patreon)

sul sul friends!

I wanted to give you all a sneak peak of what I have in store for you this week and provide some transparency about the tiers/my current situation. Feel free to skip the rant and jump to the important deets!

---RANT START---

I am almost one year out from getting laid off from my engineering job and I am so, so humbled and grateful for each and everyone of you! 

Coming from a very low-income background, I put myself through college and eventually received my masters in electrical engineering. Even though I ended up studying engineering, my dream of working for Pixar was what originally made me interested in pursuing a higher education. Making CC was a side hobby, but was (and is) truly my passion. Near the end of my time as an engineer I was so unhappy and even looked into going back to school to be a game developer. After looking into it, I decided it wasn't possible financially to switch careers and gave up on it being an option.

When I got laid off, it was sort of a blessing in disguise and I took it as a chance to see if I could make my dream happen. I had enough in savings to spend six months to give this a shot at being a full-time career and because of each and every one of you, I am still going!

In full transparency, I was making over $120k as an engineer at the time I was laid off. This was in addition to medical benefits, a 401k, pension, and stock options. I lost all of that, but my bills didn't change. I still have $70k in student loans, my car loan that I took out before getting laid off, rent, etc etc boring adult stuff. But the absolute joy and love I have for making cc, and more importantly this community, is absolutely worth loosing all of that.

I understand the perspective of people who look at the number of supporters, multiply by a tier level, and see a huge number. It is a lot and more than many people have, and I am so lucky, grateful, and humbled by it. Your support is putting a roof over my head and food on the table. However, I am still far from being where I was financially a year ago even with the support I currently have. I am only making ~50% of what I was a year ago, have no benefits, and the same bills so I am *barley* scraping by.

Patreon says they take 8%, but with all their hidden fees it comes out to ~30% and this is before the additional 4% taken by paypal. I still also have to pay ~35% taxes after Patreon and PayPal have taken their cut. My website costs me $300 a month in addition to my other costs such as programs that I use to make CC. I am not saying this to complain, just to give more transparency on my current situation. Because of this, I have removed my lowest $1 and $3 tiers. It was really my only way of making this viable for my future going forward and I really hope you all understand.

---RANT END---

Tier Info & Tips:

NOTE - For all existing patrons, the tier change will not affect you and you don't need to do anything! And don't feel obligated to increase your pledge either :) I just wanted to be transparent with you all! Also, the below information is for everyone. If you ever need to downgrade your membership follow the steps below! 💕

Everyone at the lower tiers ($1 and $3) are grandfathered in forever. If for some reason your membership lapses and it won't let you re-subscribe at your previous level you have 2 options:

1) Re-subscribe at a custom tier level

2) DM me & I will get you back in at that tier level.

The way I set up my patreon, all of my posts/benefits are unlocked even if you subscribe using a custom tier level. The lowest Patreon will let you put in is $1. I *think* the only downside of this custom pledge approach is that it won't automatically give you the patreon discord role. So if that happens just shoot me a DM and I can add you manually.

To do a custom pledge, you just click the option shown below, and if you have any questions let me know!

Sneak Peek

I have been working on an update to the Photographic Memory mod that adds all the features of the Ink For Yourself Journal. This includes custom moodlets, improved descriptions & tooltips, storage options, & compatibility to store photos as journal entries.

In addition, I added a TON of new options which I am so excited about!! I added a bunch of canvas sizes, calendars, and... polaroids! All of the options are compatible with landscape/portrait photos and resize/scale accordingly. I also added features such as improving photo quality and the ability to remove the gnome and fingerprints on photos.

The canvas sizes come in squares and aspect ratios other than the traditional sizes! Gallery walls here we come!!

Also... I enabled the ability to use any photo for cross stiches and canvases!

Hoping to wrap this up in the next day or two! Here is a little preview:

As a parting note, I truly give this my all to make being a patron valuable for you and provide as much as I absolutely can. I hope I bring you as much happiness as you all bring me!!

❤ rava