Being brutally honest about money. Should I add a higher tier? (Patreon)

Hello my lovely lovely patrons 💛

tldr (it is a very long one):
1. would you consider upgrading your patreon support to £15 per month for executive producer credit (aka shoutouts in credits verbally from my mouth) on the new podcast series we're working on + knowing that your support directly funds the bigger and more expensive projects/videos?
2. what else would you be interested in seeing at a higher tier? e.g. physical products

If you've been following my work/money saga since coming back from maternity leave you'll be aware that my income has significantly decreased since having a baby - which obviously sucks.

I'm still able to pay for all my business expenses (including my studio and my team!) except for... paying myself (oops). Over the years I've been able to save money in my business and over the last year I've basically been paying myself from those savings - this is obviously not sustainable long term!

And so behind the scenes, annoyingly, part of my job and also day to day worries has become "how the fuck do I make more money?" - I HATE THAT THIS IS A THING I AM HAVING TO THINK ABOUT! 😩

When it comes to money stuff there are two options:

1) cutting back on expenses

2) increasing your income

I very briefly thought about number 1, but quickly realised this isn't possible (I need my studio even if it is glorified storage space 😅) and I need my team, nor do I want to. I've had a few career coaching sessions recently and I've been able to get clarity on the fact that if the choice was a) sack everyone and go back to being a one-woman-band or b) sack everything and start a whole new career entirely and I would rather do b. I've built my career and business to this point and to be honest I have no interest in going back to being my own editor, researcher, social media, metadata and analytics person. So that is a really useful thing to know about myself because then it means if I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing then I have to work on option 2: increasing the business' income.

There are two other problems I'm faced with:

1) I'm working less hours so it's expected that I would be making less and how much more work can I feasibly do to be able to pay myself?

2) the type of projects and content that are getting me the most fired up, feeling creatively fulfilled, I feel are having a more positive impact on people and are generally the ones that interest me the most in pursuing are more expensive to create (paying for experiences, more crew and on-camera talent etc.)

The solutions?

1) I'm increasing my hours. From the beginning of August I will be working 4 days per week, Mon- Thurs. I feel ready, it feels like the right time. I do feel like I'm going to miss Rowan more but it feels right. (side note: I'm never going back to work 5 days per week though, I started doing a 4 day work week before I even got pregnant and I'm never going back).

2) Patreon!

We are pushing the Patreon much more as it's something I have a lot more control over than things like brand deals. And there's a few ways we're doing that I want to let you in on and there's also a big question I want to ask you (you know what it is, it's in the title of this post lol).

• We're creating sex & relationships worksheets! - this project is underway! Me and the team are having so much fun coming up with ideas for these worksheets. It's going to be a mix of reflective, serious and genuinely useful but then also some cheeky fun and games! The current plan is to launch with a pack of 3-5 worksheets around September time and then from there it becoming a regular monthly Patreon perk (one worksheet per month). This would be available at the Content Tier (£4.50+)
• New sticker sheet! - we've also started the process of planning our first community merch special offer since the new branding and since the bookmarks in 2021! This will be available to ALL patrons and keep an eye out for a future post/poll because we have a WHOLE BANK of different illustrations with the new branding but we can only fit so many on a sticker sheet so you'll get to vote on which ones you want!
• More special offers! We're starting with the stickers and we're going to see how that goes. In the past I've done all the postage and packaging fulfilment but I just do not have the capacity to do so but moog has kindly taken that upon herself! After the stickers, depending on how it goes we'll discuss the possibility of doing more e.g. pins, bookmarks etc.
• Adding a £15 tier? okay here's where the question comes in. I feel like I'm in a really good place with my Patreon in terms of the different tiers, what the perks are, it all feels very clear and fair about what is offered at what price. I've been thinking for a while now, and it's been suggested to me many-a-time by various friends, colleagues and patreon employees about adding a higher tier. But I've never really known or had a clear idea of what I could offer at that price point that 1) feels like you are getting value from it and 2) is sustainable for me to fulfil i.e. doesn't add too much to my work load.

The Proposal/Questions

• At the £15 per month tier you are an executive producer of the bigger and more expensive projects e.g. the new podcast series we're working on and some of the more ambitious videos, and you get a verbal shout out at the end of the podcast episodes/videos.
• You know your contributions will be directly funding the creation of certain projects that wouldn't be possible otherwise.
• You would get monthly updates - in the form of proposals/reports - about what exactly we're working on, stage of production, joys and challenges, what our future ideas are and helping decide what we work on next.
• At this price it could also be possible to turn on Patreon's built in merch offering where patrons get some merch sent to them every 3 months. Options are mini prints, stickers, mugs and posters. The other thing I'd need to consider with this is Patreon's % cut for doing all the fulfilment and shipping.

What do you think? Would you sign up? If you're on the fence what would make the offer more enticing?

(absolutely no pressure to! I know everyone is in different financial situations, this is just an option for those who can afford and I am still so greatly appreciative of all my patrons!)

Well done making it to the end! Please let me know what you think in the comments below! re: the higher tier but also excited to hear your thoughts about the other things (worksheets, stickers) too!

Thank you thank you so much for all your support and making what I do possible 💛

Hannah x