Q&A: “I stopped delivering for my Patreon…”

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Today is confession time on Side Hustle School special episode here. We're gonna hear from someone who has committed a terrible crime. In fact, they've been on the run for many years. We're recently featured on America's Most Wanted. But having had a change of heart, they came to me and said, "Hey, I wanna come clean." And which I said, "Well, true crime is a very popular podcast genre.

"Maybe we can move into that and get more downloads." Actually, I'm now realizing that I have some of these notes wrong. Sorry, sometimes this happens. What they're confessing to is not a terrible crime. In fact, it is that they have a Patreon account with lots of loyal backers and they, our caller, has stopped delivering for those listeners. Hmm, okay.

So maybe not quite America's Most Wanted level, but it is nonetheless a dilemma. So the listener doesn't want us to use his name. We're just gonna play the recording as it came in and we'll see what seems to make the most sense. I'll be curious to know about your answer, but I'll provide mine after the listener's question and this message from our sponsor. [Music]

I enjoy the show and hope you can help with an unusual problem.

This is awkward, so please don't use my name. I'm an independent musician with a Patreon that a bunch of my fans signed up for. The money is around 1500 to 2000 a month. Not huge, but it pays most of my rent. I started it during the pandemic when I wasn't able to tour.

It was great at first. I loved offering live streams, Q and A's, and special bonus content for my supporters. Some people stop paying after a few months, but a core group has been steady month after month. So what's the problem? The problem is I've stopped delivering.

After a while, I couldn't think of anything else to say during Q and A sessions and I'm a musician, not a writer. So I never really loved writing a bunch of posts, but now it's been three months with nothing delivered and I feel guilty. Part of me thinks the answer is that I either need to suck it up and get back to work or just close down the whole Patreon, but I'll be totally honest. I need the money. What would you suggest?

[Music]

All right, John, thanks for the call. Just kidding, caller's name is not John. Or it could be, we're gonna keep them anonymous. So I haven't actually heard this question before, but even though I haven't heard it before, it's not totally uncommon to be in a position like this. There are a lot of failed Kickstarter projects in which people have paid a lot of money only to not receive what was promised.

So that's probably the closest comparison I can think of. This is a little bit different because with a Patreon campaign, people aren't just trying to get a specific product. They haven't paid $100 for a gadget. They're paying in large part because they wanna support the artist. So I think that's key.

Like understanding that these are your true fans. You know, these are your true fans. They want you to succeed. They don't have to be your backers or supporters. So why not be honest with them as well?

Like you're coming clean here, you know, to me and to our listeners, but why not be honest with your fans? Because, you know, why not just tell them like, hey, I've been struggling, you know, for whatever reason, I've been procrastinating, whatever the answer is. Why not just tell them that? And then, you know, obviously you can give them a chance to cancel their pledges, which by the way, they can already do that on their own if they want. So the fact that they haven't canceled their pledges kind of shows that they are committed or maybe they just forgot about it, but you know, either way they can cancel at any point.

So you might find a simple explanation along with a clear promise about when you do think you can get back on track. I think that could go a long way towards keeping them around. Either way, I think you'll feel better after doing that because even if they do cancel the pledge, they can still be your fan. You know, they can still, you know, join in for the next thing, whatever that is. But of course, if you never communicate with them, then that's not so great.

I also think it's good that you're willing to express this concern. It sounds like you're kind of working up to facing it. So facing your fears or facing, you know, that thing you've been putting off is almost always a good idea. I struggle with that sometimes myself, so I do get it. But it seems that's probably the best course of action.

So good luck. Listeners, let me know what you're working on, or if you've got other feedback here for our caller, sidehustleschool.com/questions, we'll continue to feature them. Got a new episode every single day. You can subscribe, follow, wherever you get your podcasts. My name's Chris Guillebeau.

This is Side Hustle School. [Music]

From the Onward Project.