A Big Life Update and Patreon Questions (Patreon)

Hi all,

This post is going to be about what's going on with me since getting fired from my day job and end with talking about possible Patreon changes.

As some of you know, about a month ago I was fired from my full-time video production gig. I was working for a small production company in Bellevue with an incredibly toxic work environment and incredibly difficult management. I didn't realize till after I got fired how abusive the environment was, and it's made it extremely difficult to muster any enthusiasm about getting another job in video production. In truth, it's made it hard to find enthusiasm for jumping back into any sort of corporate work.

So I initially looked at the firing as a sort of blessing. It's hard to make changes in your life, hard to find a new job, and really hard to do so during a pandemic. I thought I would see how things went, and regroup.

A few weeks later I checked back in with Valve, the video game company. They had reached out to me the previous year as fans of the channel and asked me to come in, do a tour, and talk about maybe working together. At the time, though flattered and interested, I couldn't agree to the terms they asked, as they wanted me to work on a DOTA convention project during my nights and weekends, and that was going to be way too stressful for me to attempt.

So since I didn't have a job, I thought I would reach out to them again and see what was up. They were enthusiastic and I started down the path of interviewing with them. 

Valve is a very unique company that doesn't really follow many rules or adhere to a lot of what you would normally think of when it comes to a "corporate" structure. They didn't really know what job I was going to do there, but that was OK because everyone changes jobs all the time. 

I went through 4 rounds of interviews, each one with a unique problem (this was all over Zoom, btw). In the first one, I was asked to come up with a scoring system for Left for Dead. This was incredibly out of my wheelhouse, but I gave it my best shot. In the second I was asked to design an app for a theoretical ski lodge. Again, out of my element, but I did my best and I think I actually did really well. 

Throughout all of this, it was a really one-sided experience. When I asked for input about my choices in the interviews, I was met with "well what do YOU think about your choice here". 

Finally, I met back up with the first person who wanted to work with me, and was told Valve wouldn't be hiring me because my interviews didn't show I was good at "collaboration". 

I was both disappointed and angry. At myself, for failing to live up to the standard I needed to in order to get one of the only jobs I was actually interested in, and at them for reaching out to me, putting me through all that, and then turning me down.

For a few weeks after that, I coped. I got really deep into modular stuff. It was fun, I was happy. I was fine.

This week, though, has been especially hard. I don't know what it is. I'm stuck between knowing that I need to work but also being paralyzed by the thought of working for someone else.

I've also realized just how much of what I've been doing for YouTube provides as value for the companies that I feature, and how little of that comes back to the creator. I think I would love to be able to do this full time, but I haven't figured out how the hell to make that work. I can get gear, do a video, and then sell it, but that's honestly not really a sustainable model. 

So I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I'm happy, but I need direction. I'm worried, but only because I haven't seen the right way to make what I really want to happen a reality.

So that brings us to Patreon, and some stuff I want your input on.

First off, I know I haven't been as active uploading the music from the videos here. I'll be getting stuff up next week when the Hermod video drops.

Second, I'll be posting about Patreon Q+A again soon so we can do another round of that. I'd also like to do another round of mastering your tracks, so if you have anything you might want for that, get it ready.

Finally, let's talk about tiers.

About a year ago, Patreon emailed me and was like "hey you should make your 1$ tier a 2$ tier" and I was like, ok Jack Conte, sure. Whatever you say. I'm fine with how things are.

But with Patreon being my sole income at the moment, I've revisited the idea again. 

• 1$ Patrons: would you be comfortable with being 2$ patrons instead? Would it make or break it for you?

A good suggestion from the Discord was offering higher tiers for Patrons with bonus perks. 

• What kind of perks would you love to see at tiers higher than 10$ a month? Things like private lessons, mixing advice, etc. No bad suggestions.

Finally, any other thoughts or feelings you have about this Patreon, I'm all ears. Lay it one me. This is about you as much as it is about me.

Thank you so much for being here. It means a lot.

-jeremy

and riker

and mia