One Year on Patreon - Thank You!!! (Patreon)

I'll attempt to keep this succinct, but knowing me, it won't be. So TL;DR: Thank you all so very much for your support.

On December 28th, 2020, I became an independent creator. I had been thinking about giving it a try for a while, but with the pandemic and finances and generalized anxiety about "making good stuff," I didn't think it would go super well. Regardless, I planned things out and figured out the absolute minimum I would need to make on YouTube and Twitch and Patreon and sponsorships in order to pay for rent/health insurance/food/the occasional video game, and I took the leap.

By the end of January, I hit the minimum I needed to survive. I hit it just with Patreon.

I could actively turn down offers from companies I didn't like and ideas I thought were terrible without worrying about not being able to pay rent. 

I could make a 10 minute sad horror video, knowing that it might not appeal to most of my audience.

I could devote months of work on a silly ABBA cover album with the knowledge that those videos wouldn't make me much ad revenue from the copyright claims.

I could PAY COLLABORATORS with REAL MONEY instead of just offering to buy them dinner sometime.

But I think the most incredible thing that you all have gifted me with is time. Time to work with others on their projects. Time to do random voice acting work. Time to write for video games and shows. And maybe most importantly: Time to feel like shit. 

There have been some moments this year that have been pretty rough, on a worldwide and personal level. I've felt burnt out and like my videos suck and like I'll never be able to make anything of value, and in those moments, I've been able to do something else for a bit and refresh. When I've worked for companies before—even the ones that "care" about their employees' mental health—there's still that constant content grind and the omnipresent feeling that your worth is reliant on your productivity. To be honest, I still feel that way a lot. 

But this year, I've gotten a little bit better at allowing myself to have a day where I can't do anything. In the past, those days have turned into downward spirals that are nearly impossible to dig out of, but now I feel like I can take a break when I need it. I'm not perfect at it—I joke a lot with Karen about how I need to unionize my brain so I can stop working after 6pm—but I'm getting better. And the only reason I'm getting better at it is thanks to all of your support.

So thanks. Thank you. Thank you very very very very much. You've allowed me to make some silly videos this year and not worry too much about whether people will like them. That said, I really hope you liked them!

I hope you all have an incredible start to the new year. Thanks for everything, and I'm excited to get started on new things in 2022!