I’m going to be entirely honest with you.. There’s not much money in Blogging and Vlogging, especially at my level. You might have seen some adverts on the blog, I get a few pence if you click on those. There are adverts on my YouTube videos too, and again, similar deal. I sometimes get asked to post sponsored posts on here too, which have kinda helped keep things ticking over. However with COVID and there being so many blogs now, those are fading away.
Don’t get me wrong.. I’m not destitute. Work has really picked up lately, and I’ve been sat smashing out work all day, and sometimes all night too. However, blogging and vlogging doesn’t really ‘pay’. That’s cool, I’m not really in this for the money. I DREAD to think the amount of time I’ve spent on here, and on my YouTube channel. It’s an INSANE amount of time.
What I want to do though, is make BETTER content. I want to make videos and write stuff about shiny new tech, and take you on exciting adventures. I could absolutely chase sponsorship deals, and work with brands to get lots of free stuff sent to me. However, when you do that, they don’t always like you REALLY honestly reviewing their product or service. I’ve always tried to be brutally honest when I review something because I know my words could persuade someone to spend their ACTUAL money. I’d hate for someone to waste REAL money on something I’ve been given for free.
Most brands are pretty cool with you doing honest reviews – it ventures into the land of ‘paid advertorial’ if you’re bigging up a product because you’re asked to, not because it’s good. I’d like to be able to share my honest opinions with no sway of brands or PR people.
I have counteracted this by spending my own money on stuff. The earliest posts on this blog were me reviewing stuff I’d purchased. A lot of the theme park content, that’s been funded by me – whilst I might be able to swing a few fastracks, or get a small discount on accommodation, generally, theme parks aren’t crazy on freebies. There are much bigger bloggers, vloggers and ‘Influencers’ than me.
In my pursuit of wanting to keep bringing you fresh content, I’ve set up a Patreon.
Basically, a Patreon is a way of pledging support to the blog, and my vlogs. You can pledge a relatively modest amount (from £3), or slightly more – you can either do it once, or continue each month, and that money will come to me (with Patreon creaming off a tiny amount). Any pledges from that will go straight into more content – I’ve got a GREAT vlogging setup now, but I will use pledges to fund more techy shiny to write about, more days out doing weird and wonderful things.
I’m not asking you to hand over your money to help me, and HOPEFULLY you’ll see more vlogs and blogs. You do, depending on what you pledge, get some stuff in return. Those who pledge higher will get access to all of my content FIRST, they’ll see rough cuts of vlogs, see the words I write here, and lots of little extras (not like that!) before anyone else. Heck I’ll even give them some love and a shout out on future videos. There’s behind the scenes stuff, discussion of upcoming projects and ideas. Basically all of my creative output will be seen by my Tier 2 and 3 Patreons first.
Anyone who pledges will be invited to a Patreon Only area of my Discord, where we’ll be having some special live streams of games, and quizzes, there will be a little behind the scenes stuff too. The more it grows, the more I’ll add. It’s all very organic at this stage. I’m also planning on sharing stuff that is ‘not quite there’, blogs and vlogs that haven’t quite made it to the point of being published.
It’s working too.. Those who’ve signed up already funded the shiny new Echo Auto – which I’ve made a video about, and it’s doing quite well. I’ve got a few ideas what I’ll spend the pledges on this month, hopefully I’ll be able to crank out some content that will chime with you.
Bottom line is – I’m still gonna be here, bashing out blogs, and filming vlogs no matter what. I’ve funded my silly endeavours for years now, and I will continue to do so, regardless.. But if just a few of you who like my stuff and have a few quid spare could help me along the way. That’d be awesome. Even if you want to do it for a month, and then cancel it, that’s cool. Hopefully you’ll get some value no matter what pledge you make.
Plus, it’s the BEST time to join Patreon. Going forward you get charged on the 1st of each month. The billing isn’t done pro rata, so if you sign up at the middle of the month, you’ll pay your pledge on the day, on the 1st of the next month (if you choose NOT to cancel) you’ll be billed again. So signing up at the beginning of the month means you get most bang for your buck!
