Life Update (good) and overhaul to Patreon in the next few months (better) (Patreon)

Alright so as of today I have made some pretty big life choices for myself. For starters, and this is very much thanks to the support you guys have given me, but I am within months of being a first time home owner. Not a mortgage, ownership. Buying this thing full stop in cash.

I have an agreed price with my father to buy this home off of him and as of today i messaged him saying i have enough. I just need to save more money so this purchase won’t bankrupt me. But this also leads into my next big decision.

I’m quitting my dayjob after the purchase finalizes and I’m going to try and make this drawing thing a full time job. A few years ago the idea was crazy to me, but having crunched the numbers from my earnings last year, I think that not only is it feasible, but i might be able to make more than I am currently at my dayjob.

To summarize, my income is split between my factory job and the money I make from patreon and private commissions. At the moment those are my primary sources. Last year, i made almost half of the amount my dayjob paid me by doing art (private coms and patreon combined) and that was only in my spare time after work. So i got to crunching the numbers and i think if I can scale this patreon up and take on more commissions, I can earn more than I currently do.

My dayjob pay basically capped at $20 per hour. I get about a 40 cent pay raise and some more vacation each year but that’s about it. So that’s roughly an $800 per week income capped with no real way to make that go up the longer I stay (unless i take a job which will require more of a manger type role which I don’t want).

By contrast, this patreon income is not capped. The larger my audience grows, the more support I can get. I’ve already tested this a bit last year while i was injured and when i was on unemployment a few months ago. What i meed to do is scale things up on here and set some goals and I think this can work.

So

Here’s my goal for this patreon. I want to hit 1000 patrons at a $5 tier or higher within the next year. That 5k+ per month (pre tax and fees of course) would roughly equal what i am currently making at my dayjob plus the benefits package. That is ambitious, but here’s how I think i can do it.

I’m going to introduce some new tiers with new benefits next month. All the tiers will also be getting new barbershop adjacent theming to them.

$5 tier - barbershop window browsers - you get to participate in polls and raffles

$10 tier - going in for a quick trim - this tier will give you a “your character here” drawing (like the raffle). It’s one shot, torso and up, any pose and character of your choice. Slots for this will be limited. I’m thinking 20. These won’t take long to make so i’ll knock them out fast

$50 tier - getting a good shearing - you get a 2 panel (before and after) comic of your chosen character before and after receiving a haircut (from heidi or someone else). Max of 2 characters per panel, in color. Slots limited. 1-2 for now

$70 tier - surrender that hair to the barber! - same one I had before. Comic page, 3 panels, max of 2 characters per panel, in color. Scene of your choice. Only 1 slot per month for now.

Until i finally get away from my dayjob, sometime in the next 3-6 months, i’ll be keeping slots low, but these tiers will be here to stay from now now. i can increase the monthly slots later on as i think i can take more work.

I will also be working on longer form projects throughout the months as well of course. Raffles for weekend art will continue (you guys seem to want comics back so i’ll get those back). And of course i’ll continue coloring multiverse marines as the weeks go by. Once i commit to doing this full time, i plan to split my days doing half private commissions, and the other half working on stuff for patreon. This way, I can get larger projects done in a more timely manner.