Planning for the future of SmutCube (Patreon)

Over the past year the SmutCube Patreon has been substantially more successful than I ever anticipated. Last April I was making less than $100 a month; to my surprise that number has grown 16 fold over the past 12 months and I'm quickly approaching the $2,000 milestone which is when I advertised that I would be able to support myself financially off Patreon alone. So, thank you to all my supporters who are making this dream a reality. I hope that once I can do this full time I can really start making strides in progress both in personal skill and output. 

Once I reach $2000/month I fully intend to commit to a 40 hour a week schedule and you should expect the weekly updates to make much more progress. Monthly public releases should finally be the rule instead of the exception. However, I feel that I should be completely transparent that $2000 a month won't be enough for me to live off of exclusively.

When I came up with that figure I simply took my pay check and doubled it without considering two huge expenses: taxes and health insurance. After considering taxes, $2000 a month would be more like $1320. With health insurance that number could be knocked down to around $1000, or half of my current take home pay. There's also the consideration of paying free lancers for work I simply lack the talent or ability to do such as voice actors or 3D artists. I currently can't afford a 50% cut in pay for an indefinite amount of time, so the $2000/month mark for being financially self sufficient was overly optimistic on my part.

However, like I said, I intend to commit to working 40 hours a week once I hit $2000 a month.  I may even be posting a work schedule so you'll know exactly when I'm working. Essentially,  I'll be working two full time jobs for a finite period of time (not more than 18 months). During that time I'll be saving up money with the goal of moving to a country with public health care and a lower cost of living where $2000/month before tax will be enough to support me. If SmutCube continues to grow in that time I may be able to move earlier than expected, but at the very latest, Q4 2020 looks very reasonable if the Patreon can sustain around $2,000 a month.

Also, since this Patreon is 3/4 of the way there I'm also considering bumping up my schedule to a committed 30 hours (3/4 of 40 hours) over the summer once I'm out of university in May. This might provide an extra push that will get me over the $2000 mark. If I decide to do this I'll make sure to let you guys know.