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Is anyone here self employed or the owner of a business? (Patreon)

Published:
2021-11-28 03:09:51
Edited:
2021-11-28 03:14:23
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

I know this is a weird post given my account. But I don’t have anyone in my personal life to ask… if anyone currently or previously worked for themselves, do you have any tips on keeping your business successful? I’m kind of terrified right now. I’ll do everything I can, but being at the mercy of social media platforms for exposure, I’m wringing my hands wondering how to make this work.

Comments

Neachelle Olver

Yeah I started my company at the start of Covid It’s been a learning curve but you’re welcome to ask away

The Reddot

My biggest question is how to keep myself out there. I get exposure through social media but how the algorithms treat traditional artists is pretty shitty. Do you have any tips on advertising or customer retention?

Rick

No, but I can share some general advice. If you can work with someone to help with marketing...get a business plan together with goals, etc., that will help. Not see if you have something like that already, but it would help take some guesswork and uncertainty out of your efforts. Focusing on what you want to do, what channels, audience, frequency, potential return on investment (ROI).

Kat Alyst

Yes, I've been solely self employed and various degrees of mixing part time w2 work with 1099. I recently helped another performing artist get a Patreon on going during covid so I have a bit of experience here as well. Feel free to DM me!

The Reddot

I have a outline on a business plan but it’s hard to keep to the plan when platforms keep changing their algorithms.

Rodrigo Restrepo

You should check these two: 1. The Futur (YT and IG) is a good designer with pretty good content about freelancing and might be helpful. 2. @thejaimebrindle on IG makes short reels with many good tips in freelancing. Check his feed!

91 and Counting, Oct. 23 2023

I am currently helping my wife get her Etsy business off the ground. It's a slow grind at this point, 3 months in. I don't really have any advice other than to keep broadcasting your business out there. Also, ad purchases seem to be the key. We upped our ad spend, and suddenly the sales started coming in. Right now the goal is to not lose all our profit to ad spend and fees (we're losing BTW).

J.R. Murdock

Have you considered doing a kickstarter collecting some of your work for ebooks and print editions? Addons for a campaign can do well also. If done properly, KS can be quite a boon.

The Reddot

I have a $1k budget for advertising. It’s a big (for me) but is scary to spend ya know?

The Reddot

I have! I am working on finding a publisher for books, but I’m new and asking around to existing artists

J.R. Murdock

For KS, you'd be going on your own and reap more profits. Best to price out a layout artist to help with that part. Also check out 20BooksTo50K. There is a lot of help in that Facebook group when it comes to advertising and budgets. Again, it's mostly for indie authors, and some in there make quite a nice living from their art.

Hexis

Not self employed, but I know there’s orgs that offer free business counseling to those starting out (such as SCORE). They’re mostly retired business owners who help review business plans, etc.

91 and Counting, Oct. 23 2023

I like the Kickstarter idea, for someone with art that makes a lot of sense. Especially if you have a large following. Robert Evans recently did a Kickstarter to write a book sequel that blew through his goals in less than a week. I know a few other creative have done so as well. Nathan W Pyle did one for a game, and his first book I think. Forgotten Weapons on YouTube has funded 2 books that way.

The Reddot

I love Robert! Also Nathan is a total inspiration, I’ll have to really get serious on this

The Reddot

I’ll absolutely look them up, thank you

The Reddot

I follow Robert on Twitter and BTB on Reddit. I’ll have to go back in and follow the rest

Scott Bales

I’ve been a freelance photographer for some time, and being an artist these days isn’t easy (as you well know). Echo the advice above about a business plan. You’re probably behind on this through no fault of your own - you were forced into moving more quickly than you wanted to.

Scott Bales

I advise leveraging any free exposure you can get, but that doesn’t mean giving your work away for free. I’ve discovered many artists through collaborations they’ve done with other artists whom I follow. Don’t jump into merchandising too quickly. Selling items only makes money when you have volume. If you’re not manufacturing in volume, you’ll have to overcharge to recoup costs. If you do a large run and can’t sell, you’re losing money.

The Reddot

That is true, but also….idk if I’d ever make the push to it if I wasn’t forced. I’m nervous but I’m not going to let that stop me

The Reddot

I’ve pretty much stuck with the motto, “if I don’t want it, I’m not going to produce it”. A book is different but I haven’t made merch for the sake of merch

Tim Davidson

So, I was a business owner for 10 years and I agree with the business plan. With that being said, the creative world is very different. In reading one of my favorite authors, J. Michael Straczynski or JMS as he is mostly known, being a successful creative is about a LOT of hustle. JMS seems to have tons of projects in the air at any given time. Currently he is working on two different Babylon 5 projects, a pilot for a TV show based upon the One Second Later series, a new comic book in a universe he created, and working on lots of work on Harlan Ellison’s estate. He has a book (which I have not read but this man can flat-out WRITE), called Becoming a Writer and Staying a Writer that might help.

Ria Rodriguez

There's a lot of great advice going on up there! ^ I've had a few businesses and my best advice to you is to find an amazing accountant! Keep a spreadsheet that has 1 tab that's your any supplies you use to create your product. Pencils, pens, monthly subscriptions (like Adobe creative suite), ink for printers that kinda stuff. Then another tab for support stuff, advertising, mileage and gas, especially if you're going to conventions! Even hotels and food if you travel to conventions. If you print flyers to give out, that kinda stuff. Most of it is tax write off, and helps to balance the self employment tax. Oh! Dedicate a room in your home as your office, then figure out the square footage for that room. Your accountant can help you write off a portion of your rent or mortgage. If you do get into selling things, make sure your profit margins are high enough to cover your expenses and be sure to pay your states sales tax. They get cranky about that. I could get more into all of this. Feel free to DM me if you feel this is helpful!

Andrew Stiegmann

From my experience with a small 4 person company I can tell you that one thing we did was to identify key performance indicators that you could measure and see change in time. This helped us know if we were going in the right way and served as a bellwether for way finding and decision making. Consider metrics like numbers of followers, or revenue from store, or other measurable metrics that relate to keeping you going business wise. It was a super helpful things of us to do and know we were trending

Nate El

If there is anyway to get a longer term contract or steadier source of income to anchor your business, that has been super helpful for me clients. Some make near as much selling merch like T shirts and mugs, as they do selling beverages and food.

Jana Groenendijk

I don't have any advice on the business side, since I'm not in the same country as you, but from a fan POV, I can tell you I'd love to buy your merch. Like a book with all the comics untill now would be amazing.

Carl Slimp

Could I suggest checking out the podcast comiclab? Just the niche you might be looking for

Bhargav Khambholja

Lots of great advice here. Mine is to track all your costs and receipts. Someone else already said it, bit it seems like the art/social media works is different. But business is business. Keep you person and business expenses separate. Checking out at a store and have both professional and personal purchases? Make them separate when possible. Get a tax ID, register an LLC., and make sure you isolate your business so if anything goes sideways, your personal assets aren't touchable.

Dave S

My business is B2B, so it's a little different than what you do but I have some thoughts anyway. Think about alternative revenue streams other than just money from social media platform. That may include reaching out to businesses for advertising opportunities or contract work. Others have mentioned subscriptions, merch, and other types of social media. If you want to make a business out of your personal brand, then be prepared to be out there all the time. Stream your creative sessions on Twitch, have an editor create them into YouTube videos that sort of thing. Listen to them on this, not me. consumer is not my forte From a general Business point of view, I would recommend thinking about the ways you spend your budget in terms of income statement dollars versus balance sheet dollars. What I mean by that is if you spend your budget on advertising expense, you have an immediate ROI. You can also invest your budget into assets that would stay with you and potentially have a longer-term ROI ( eg branding, website). Both are necessary, just make sure that you track how you're spending your budget.

Anthony Sinatra II

I would buy a graphic novel or even a collection of your comics if thats a possibility to diversify your income sources. Iirc the guy doing Pet Foolery is working on a Pixie and Brutus graphic novel.

Heidi

I don’t have any advice, but I’m so excited to see all the awesome advice everyone has shared! You got this. ❤️

The Reddot

Keeping receipts has been very important to me this year. I did a lot of upgrades with computers/hardware as well as using a room we usually rent out for a tenant as an office—purely as an workspace. I’m trying to find an accountant now to help with our taxes to meditate through all the at

Aaron Ingold

A lot of good advice above... the first thing that jumped out at me was to treat it like a job/business. Set aside time each day to work at it. Even if you aren't inspired to work. Work at it. If it sucks and you don't like it at the end, that's fine... we all have wasted days at work. But a lot of creative types I've talked to don't always have that discipline and without producing lose popularity. You make great work (which is why I'm a Patreon), but remember that this is now your job. :-) You'll do well though.

Dave Reed, Book Shaman®

K.I.S.S., baby. Don't try to get too fancy too soon. Less is more. Time box your high leverage activities to avoid putting all your eggs in one basket. Remember the core of what brought your audience in the first place and build on that. Experiment small, but experiment a lot with 10% ideas. Don't try to be "on" all the time. Give yourself time to recharge. Consider an S Corp or other tax vehicle (assuming you're in the US). Pay your taxes first (separate account somewhere you can't see it easily), yourself second, and pay your business reserve fund third—everything else after that gets reinvested in the corp. Read Seth Godin's blog every day (subscribing to the email is easiest for me). Be very careful who you pay for what unless you can afford to lose the money. Remember that all free advice is worth what you paid for it, and most advice you pay for isn't worth what you paid for it. 😉 Get mentors: peer mentors who are where you are, people who are ahead of where you are but started where you were, and people who don't have a vested interest in what you choose. Have fun as much as you can, but grind when you have to. Resistance is a bizatch, but it's worth fighting her to get to the Muse.

Open Seat Network

This is actually what I do for a living: business consulting for influencers and content creators. There are some decent suggestions in here, but I won't sit here and try to sell you services lol -- If you need some direct help though feel free to DM me about what you have questions about and I will help a bit before charging lol

Mark Halliar

Have you thought of creating prints and selling them at your local markets or even asking a local comic book shop to allow you to do that? We have a weekly summer market and there’s a caricature artist who sells prints all summer long (and he’s not nearly as talented as you).