Is this thing still alive? (Patreon)

Tis’ the season of spooking people, and since I‘m sure nothing could be more surprising than this post… BOO! I’m back!

It’s been almost 2 years since my last post, and if you’re reading this, thank you. You supported me when there was no reason to. No posts/No rewards.

I suppose I owe you an explanation for the absence…although it’s not a great one.

The reason I’ve been gone is, I was fully focusing on making the show “Coffeezilla” the best it can be… It’s a weird mix of investigative journalism, CGI, and robot bartenders: suffice to say, it can be pretty all-consuming. 

To see people stick around in spite of my preoccupation with Youtube>Patreon has been humbling, and to those still here—

You have my sincerest THANKS. Your support laid the foundation of my work as a creator.

With that explanation done, I guess the question is, now that I’m back… why? 

Good question, here’s the answer. I think Coffeezilla is in a rut and this Patreon might be the way out. As much as the show has improved in the past 2 years, I know it could be WAY better, but somethings stopping me. 

I’ve never done sponsors, never pushed Patreon, really I just do the bare minimum ads to run the show and that’s it… unfortunately I don’t think it’s possible to go further that direction. 

I’ve pushed that model as far as I can take it, because at some point when you‘re relying on ad revenue, you’re faced with the Faustian bargain of sacrificing quality for quantity. You can finagle here and there with engineering efficiencies, or workflow optimizations, (and believe me no one has done that more than me) but eventually the same bargain faces you. You must sacrifice.

But that doesn’t work for me. I want the opposite bargain. I want to be spending MORE effort on each video not less. I want a more vibrant world within Coffeezilla, with better stories, not more stories. And I expect most viewers would want the same from creators. 

I’ve thought about this a great deal and there’s really three ways to do this sustainably: Sponsors/Merch/Patreon

Sponsorships:  +Most lucrative. -Very hard to find ethical companies to promote. Raid shadow legends on Coffeezilla? NO THANKS!

Merch: +Lucrative -least stable and relies on constant “drops”

Patreon: +Most stable and most direct relationship with audience -Least lucrative unless a top 1% creator

To me, as I thought about it, I liked Patreon the most although I’m not ruling out sponsors/merch entirely for special occasions. But the idea of working directly with my audience is fun is ideal in my view. And stability is much >>> money.  Because to be clear, the goal isn’t to to make “more” money with all of this, so much as it is to not make “way less” money while working harder. 

So that’s the idea—PatreonFTW—but before you get too excited, let’s address the obvious problem.

I can’t do big PATREON plug because I already HAVE a Patreon! And I hardly use it. So instead of starting over, going to youtube for more support, I want to take a different approach. One that will decide if Patreon is right more me.

The reason I‘m back is to do a super sneaky stealth launch or die trying.

No promises

No pitches

No looking for more patrons

Just a simple plan

I’m back to engage with the community that’s already here. 

To reward the community that’s already here. 

And to share my vision for the future of Coffeezilla.

If I like it, and you like it, we get to build something cool together and eventually take it to the masses when it feels right.

If I don’t like it, or you don’t like it, I’ll pull the plug and shut this thing down for good. 

Basically think of this Patreon as if it’s an invite-only BETA test.

Either way, it’s about time this Patreon became something, or became nothing.

Thanks for taking a chance on me. 

(Note: photo taken from the upcoming Coffeezilla Halloween special)