What are your 1-year and 5-year goals as a creator?

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this question was brought up in a Facebook group I’m in (shout-out to any 1FWers in here) and I wanted to hear answers from the Patreon community - especially since there’s such a diverse array of creators in here, not just artists.

so what are your goals within the next year AND the next five years as a creator? is there something you would like to publish, an event you would like to attend? or maybe you have specific income goals? social media goals?

here are mine, to start:

1 month goal: survive my first Comic Con.

1-year goal (by Summer 2020): successfully complete the theme I have for Inktober and turn it into a small art book, double the stock in my online shop, and ideally double the amount of Patrons I currently have [am work butt off!]

5-year goal (by Summer 2025): have routine conventions I’ve narrowed down that are successful, have steady client work after building up a strong, consistent portfolio with work centered around personal projects, have at least one art book published for Tales of Pollinedraak (my world-building project), finally be past 10k IG followers so I can actually use links! hopefully that last bit happens long before the 5-year mark, though.

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Doing this has made me realize book content is more important to me than I thought! Hm.

1 Month goal: Create a Special Offer for October, plan out marketing posts for launch of my 2nd book (yee)

1-Year goal (by Summer 2020): Launch a new website, redesign my Patreon page, successfully market and release book 2 & 3, have book 4 content finished

5-Year goal (by Summer 2025): I’m not 100% sure, but I’d love to create a childrens book, a Halloween-themed comic book, and possibly a fiction novel. I also wanna become kickass at colorful backgrounds!

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Here are mine:

One Month: I’d like shoot more selfies over the next month. I’ve been feeling kind of stagnant lately and I want to get out of that! To put it in more solid terms: I’d like to shoot selfies at least twice a week, every week.

I also want to do more cross promotion across social media and on my Patreon.

One Year: I’d like to be making $2k a month after fees. I’m about 75% of the way there most months, but I think that goal is more one year goal stuff because I lost one of my biggest promotion channels (my 44k IG) recently.

I’d also like to get my new IG as close to 10k as I can. It only took a few months last time, but now that IG is demoting posts from people it doesn’t like (but who aren’t breaking the rules), I think it’s going to take a while.

I’d like to get to 10k on Twitter as I’m finding that to be a more accepting place, for now, and it seems like if I could reach a higher following there, I could also increase my income.

I’d also like to have my house more “photogenic” so I have more options of spaces to shoot. That means creating dedicated storage spaces for art show and vendor event stuff (that’s my other job, or one of them) and using them consistently. Basically, my garage and basement need to get cleared out.

Five Years: My stretch goal right now is to be earning $3k - $5k a month. That feels like a LOT right now, but 5 years ago I never thought I’d be as successful as I am now so I’m hoping I can do it.

Along with that, I’d like to have streamlined my process a bit more in terms of being able to create more consistently which will mean having a better handle on my health. It might also mean things like automating posts more, especially on social media, even though I don’t love doing that.

I’d also like to be sponsored by or collaborating with more lingerie, hosiery, and vintage fashion brands. That’s more about social media and growing those channels, but it means content too.

My goals are mostly financial because, as of right now, I feel like I’m mostly producing a good amount of content and I’m fairly happy with the quality. Obviously improving is always on my agenda, but it’s more of a constant than something I have tangible goals for.

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Hi there! Fellow 1FW er here too!

(didn’t they put a 10 year goal up too? No way I could figure that out!).

1 month: Have all my dragons completed for launch of my DRAGON 2020 kickstarter next month (gonna be a few late nights i think this month!).

1 Year (by End of next year): Have my sequel to my first Strangehollow book completed and fulfilled (will be launching Spring 2020) and a second calendar (magical equines potentially) created and completed.

5 Year goal: Doubled my current patrons (at least hopefully!), moved house (2021 is the plan) and I have a book planned for each year, including a calendar. 5 year is a tricky one as goals have a way of evolving and I will have to be flexible if we move as it will interfere quite dramatically with doing kickstarters!

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@artbyemilyhare - they did indeed! I thought it might be a bit much here after reading a lot of responses that were just intense shrugging. I think 5 years out is enough of a thought! if anyone knows where they want to be in ten years though, feel free to dish about it, because I have no idea what I will be doing in that time.

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Yeah life throws things at you and you might be able to loosely plan for 10 years but my goodness, you probably won’t be able to do what you want!

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1 Month Goal

  • Get ahead on my work so I have all the maps done for October release and some of the November maps done too because I have a commission for 16 maps from my biggest client where the art call comes out September 28th, which means I’ll be working my ass off for them through most of October & November leaving me a lot less time to work on my Patreon pieces.

1 Year Goal

  • Through promotion of my work in general and production of my monthly exclusives, build my patronage count up another 16% to 700 patrons and a monthly average of $4,000 in Patreon revenue.

5 Year Goal

  • Bring my Patreon revenue up high enough that I can choose to pass up on major commissions and focus on my own work primarily. Right now my commissions make up 25-45% of my annual income and passing on them would involve a significant change in lifestyle. I would love to get my Patreon to the point where these commissions are down to 15-20% of my income so they are less important to my bottom line.
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oof i have a feeling this will be hard, i’m not a future planning type person (although i probably should be)

1 month: have at least three fun/original/new spooky themed outfits for halloween. also have at least filmed one music video. for art, actually start properly writing the sequel comic that i promised and then abandoned.

1 year: hit 2k in revenue per month. make at least two more comedy animatics, and be well on my way to finishing the sequel comic. hit 10k followers on instagram so i can finally put links in my bio. and also collab with at least one other cosplayer i admire.

5 years: move apts! have an entire room dedicated to crafting and shooting cosplay instead of using my bedroom. let my s.o. quit his job and be my full-time manager and photographer. travel outside the US for conventions (both art AND cosplay related). and last, it’s probably impossible but, pay off my student loans.

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1 Month: Finish financial projections, and two personal development courses I’m enrolled in.

1-Year: Double patron growth to 400+

5-Year: Three full time employees running the Patreon/YouTube channel; successful online courses launched w/ ROI; and a 2 documentaries uploaded and entered into festivals.

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I loved reading what all your goals are. thanks for sharing a bit, everyone. :sunflower:
feel free to come back here and talk a bit more if you think of a new goal you’d like to achieve, or if you want to share an important milestone that you’ve met.

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Hi, My name is Alexander, Many know me as AShamaluevMusic. I’m from Ukraine. For the last 5 years I have been creating background music for videos. At Patreon, I create background music for the video. Usually my patrons are YouTubers who need music without copyright so that they can monetize their videos. I learned about Patreon a year ago, and my goal a year ago was 5,000 patrons and an income of more than $20,000. I did not achieve my goal because I chose the wrong strategy. Now everything is fine, patrons sign up with great speed.

1 Month: Usually I don’t set a goal for a month, since I consider this a too small interval. To release 8 music tracks, 4 of which I will publish for my patrons. Exceed income of $6000 per month.

1-Year: In a year, I want to have 5,000 patrons, and $20,000 in net monthly income per month. I want 200,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel. Create about 150 music tracks, 50 of which publish for my patrons.

5-Year: I don’t look so far, as the world is changing rapidly. I would like 1 million followers on YouTube. Over $100,000 in revenue per month.

If I didn’t write something correctly, sorry for the earlier, I have a bad English)

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those are incredible goals! congrats on the successful Patreon, looks like it’s been working well for you and I know that background music for videos is in high demand for other creators (it probably will be for a while!)

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Man, this feels so weird being a NSFW photographer/model and SFW artist but I feel like my passion has shifted so here’s what I want to happen in my one year goal:

1-month: Transform my SFW Patreon page towards farming and find a location to set up the year goal.

1-year: Start a farm. A lot of farms in one. A greenhouse. Inviting butterflies, worms, bats, and cats into my new field of a home. Have tiny houses available for farm stays/artist in residency friends. Have a volunteer structure for people working hours to earn their food. Have almost all food and flowers be pick your own to ensure freshest. Compost! Low waste, high communal energy. Still do youtube and hopefully be monetized again on a new so I can have a second income stream besides Patreon.

5-year: Be established and doing well at what is stated above and help others. Perhaps expand to a larger setting. I’ve never been great with foresight, perhaps re-finding and fueling my passion for art will somehow pop out in this time frame. I do always tend to find myself drawn back in.

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5-Month: 66k written
1-Year: $1,600 a month
5-Year: Two edited and published books

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Your 1-year goal sounds incredible!

@SJReaver - I like how concise yours are. Best wishes on your 5-month goal and I’d be interested to hear your progress.

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