JACKARY PATREON 2024 REVAMP PART 1 - Why I'm Changing my Patreon (Patreon)

Hey everyone, happy 2024! As I noted in last post, I have some big changes planned for Patreon for 2024, and I'll be dropping the details over a few different posts!

In this post, Part 1, I'll be discussing WHY I'm making changes to my Patreon. In the next post, Part 2, I'll be going over what the new changes are.

I hope you'll read the whole post! But it's a lot of text, so I've provided a tl;dr version.

__________________________________________________________________________

WHY I'M CHANGING MY PATREON (the short version):

I don't have enough subscribers for Patreon to meet all of my income needs and therefore have not had the bandwidth to fully commit to it. This year, I'm going to run a more active Patreon with the goal of reaching 400 subscribers. 

If I can reach that number, I'll be able to do Patreon FULL-TIME and it will explode in new features and much more frequent content. If I can NOT reach that number this year, I will retire Patreon permanently, seek a new line of work, and turn art back into an unpaid hobby.

______________________________________________________________________________

WHY I'M CHANGING MY PATREON (the long version):

THE HALF-IN, HALF-OUT PROBLEM

I started my Patreon in September 2022, so it's been running for a little over a year. In that time, I've learned a lot about what works and doesn't work for me. Patreon became a tricky prospect for me, because it earned me enough to be very helpful in my monthly bills, but not nearly enough to cover them all.

It put me in a position where I couldn't focus too much on Patreon because I still had to make money through other means, but where I also couldn't get rid of Patreon because the income was significant enough to be essential.

Unfortunately, I ended up lost in the woods -- posting less and less over here because I was unsure how to manage my Patreon while being beholden to commission work, but also struggling with productivity on the commission side because I'm so overwhelmed with work that I became chronically disorganized. I've been bleeding Patrons every month, and it became clear to me that I either need to shut Patreon down completely, or elevate it to something greater.

______________________________________________________________________________

DO OR DIE - BETTING IT ALL ON PATREON

With a baby on the way, and a fairly disastrous year for my art career in 2023 (thanks, Elon Musk <3), I've made a choice: 2024 will be the year that decides whether I remain a full-time artist, or find a new source of income and relegate art back to being a hobby.

If things continue as they did in 2023, it's over for me as an artist. It's simply not sustainable enough, especially with a baby on the way and a wife who will be out of work for months (at minimum). Something's gotta give, so I've made a goal: Grow my Patreon enough to be able to cover my full mortgage payment each month, or call it quits.

Commissions, Gumroad, and print/sticker sales have formed the majority of my income thus far, but these three things are too unstable, unreliable, and inconsistent to bet on as income drivers when there's a baby to take care of. Gumroad used to be my golden goose, but with each Spicy Pack I release, the exciting novelty of Jackary Nudes is reduced, resulting in major diminishing returns the last few releases I've had, and commissions/stickers/prints just aren't consistent or reliable enough to bet on when I have a baby on the way.

In other words, Patreon is my best bet at a [mostly] reliable and steady art income, and if I can't get it to a level where it's covering my biggest expenses by the end of the year, I'll be finding a new line of work.

__________________________________________________________________

THE ROAD TO 400 PATRONS

I've done the math, and to be confident enough to continue doing art full-time, I would need roughly 400 Patrons, which would be enough to satisfy the $2200 mortgage payment I have every month.

Yes, I would still need to make additional income to cover the rest of our bills and spending money, but between the other sources of income listed above, it wouldn't be too hard to raise the rest outside of Patreon. The rest could be figured out, but with that fat mortgage burning a hole in the wallet each month, it would be a huge relief to know that it's covered by Patreon.

So, 400 steady Patrons. That's the goal. If I can do that, a lot of things will change. And in order to do that, I want to make my Patreon more engaging this year so I gain Patrons instead of bleed them every month.

__________________________________________________________________

400 PATRONS = FULL-TIME PATREON = NEW DRAWINGS DAILY*

Reaching 400 Patrons won't just help me financially --it will provide enough of an income to be able to focus on Patreon FULL-TIME, thus transforming my Patreon completely into something way cooler for all of you.

With 400 Patrons, and not needing to worry about commission work, I would be able to produce new artworks [nearly] EVERY DAY. And furthermore, due to not being beholden to commissioners, community features on my Patreon (such as polls, suggestions, etc) would absolutely skyrocket.

I always wanted to have that cool, fun Patreon where I can spend all my energy making it awesome and interactive for my subscribers. I've always wanted to be one of those artists who could play fast and loose and produce experimental sketches every day. I can't do either of these things when I'm torn between so many sources of income, but I can do both of them if I reach my subscriber goals and no longer have to spread my bandwidth across so many different avenues.

*Obviously I wouldn't be able to create new art DAILY, but if Patreon were my only obligation, I would start playing a lot more fast and loose with my style and be able to produce a new drawing ALMOST every day -- not counting weekends, or days where I take my time to chip away at highly-rendered pieces, which I'd still want to draw at least once or twice a month.

______________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading! In my next post I'll be detailing the actual changes to my Patreon. As of this moment I'm still typing it, so if you don't see it yet by the time you've read this, well, it's coming!