Throwback Thursday -> 100 subscribers! (Patreon)

What's up rockstars?!

Today I happened upon a very old Patreon post back from December 10, 2017 that I thought you might like to read today.

I recall that time period really well actually! My first handful of posts here were literally to no one. Didn't  have any patrons at all so I eventually asked my wife to become one just so people would see someone else there. It was the WEIRDEST thing to make posts that no one viewed, but I wanted to show activity and have stuff for when people *hopefully* joined up.

It's amazing to me when reading the update to see what's changed, but also what has stayed the same. I've always been focused on community, and I'm proud to now look back and see that I made some calls on what works and what doesn't. Change is difficult and quite frankly it makes me nervous. But it can be a wonderful thing too.

It makes me wonder what I'll be looking back at in 3  years time here. I might not know what the changes will be, but I do know what will stay the same. ;)

Thanks for making up such an awesome community!

December 10, 2017, at 7:26pm because I was just that excited:

100 Subscriber Channel Update!

Hey guys, just a quick update. First of all I hit 100 subscribers which is a big deal for me! If you are seeing this and your part of it, welcome to the founders club :D

I wanted to take a moment to really speak about my goals here. There will be a video coming up at some point, perhaps I can film it tonight but I am quite busy spending time with family and trying to pump out these miniature painting videos.

And that's a good segue into the meat of this update. My original goal of a Youtube channel was to simply film and speak to things I am passionate about. I'm a very opinionated person off camera and felt I could add my thoughts to the internet, and if people enjoyed it then great.

The problem I came across is that it takes time to get comfortable in front of a camera and it takes time to research, write and film these. All of that time takes away from my already limited free time. Instead, I decided to combine what I was doing anyway and convert that into content. This began with simple Let's Plays but everyone and their grandmother (I'm sure quite literally) does that and combines it with Twitch, which I'm unable to really do with 4 loud children.

It's at this point my wife mentioned that I should film myself painting miniatures. I've never thought of myself as anything but an acceptable painter, but she said that's actually a good thing (is that a complement?) since many people get frustrated with "professional" tutorials. Upon uploading a couple it became clear these would be my most successful.

To date I have spent $259.34 in pure Youtube overhead - that is, items I'd never buy and is only for the purpose of creating content such as a microphone, light ring, stand, software, memory card, etc. If you toss in the other stuff I've purchase for the channel (such as better brushes, paints, etc. the total jumps to $498.66. Even with this there's always more to do. I still want to get a real camera to record (currently my wife's Canon T3i will only shoot 12 minutes of footage each take and has no auto focus in video mode), acoustic panels, a better stand, additional lighting, etc.

So that's where I'm at, where am I headed? Well, first of all I am doubling down on the miniature painting. It's true what they say, the more you do it the better you get. I actually wish to expand ever so slightly into general board game content - that is, reviews, opinion pieces, news, etc. but really all of that, if it becomes a thing, will be on top of what I hope will be weekly miniature painting at a minimum. I'd love to start posting 2 paintings a week but that's not something I believe I can ever commit to. I'm a one man army here. I research and buy the equipment, paint the minis, film and edit the footage. All of this on top of a full time career.

The best part I can think of for being a small Youtuber is being able to actually have a conversation and celebrating small victories. I can assure you my wife is tired of me updating her daily on my subscriber count or the views a certain video has, or how close I am to that holy grail of 10k channel views.

And when you guys comment and engage with me? I almost always drop what I'm doing (yes even at my job) to respond and interact. Painting miniatures is not some reaction video channel, it's not a daily vlogging channel and it's not a prank channel or channel filled with cat footage. It's me putting hours of work into a single piece of "art" and sharing it with others that enjoy that sort of thing.

Regardless of how big I ever get, know that that's my passion and the people I can share it with are the highlights of that passion. Thanks for coming with me on this journey!