Writing (with a side of painting/art) is my full-time job, and I think of writing as my job and Patreon as a side-gig because while it’s related to the former, it requires a different skillset and time away from that first job (which provides most of my income). Patreon is… um… like a padding I use to even out the inevitable highs-and-lows of a royalty-based job.
My typical day, after I take care of being-a-mom stuff, is to write in the morning until lunch. I’ll take breaks every thousand words to get up and move around. At lunch, I take a break. Afternoons I either handle administrivia or I get in little more work. Evenings are for family and exercise. (Exercise is important to a lot of people’s creative process, I’m definitely one of them.)
I try not to get too hung up on tools because the moment you start relying on something it can prevent you from working if you don’t have it. So fancy tools I tend to save for analysis or business stuff… writing, I will do on any device I have, with any form of word processor from the most basic to the most fancy. My first short stories I wrote from a UNIX command line file editor.
I usually schedule my Patreon content at the beginning of the week so I don’t have to worry about it. I like ‘fire and forget’ type strategies… they help with stress.
Firstly, I love your word, administrivia! I think a lot of creative business people feel that way… like there are all these little pieces to collect, manage, and tackle. Also getting up to move every 1,000 words is genius. It can be hard to force oneself up and about when in the middle of focused work, but it’s great to stretch. Thanks so much for your response!
Hello! My name’s Erica and I write and edit for Patreon’s blog. I love your response on being a full-time artists. Would it be possible to use your response in one of our articles?
I work a full-time job as a Director for a small non-profit M-Th. I am a landscape photographer and I create a podcast for and about other landscape photographers. I record a weekly podcast as my Patreon creation. My podcasts are all recorded with another guest somewhere else in the world, so we record on Fridays, evenings, and on weekends. I often sacrifice sleep, TV, or other activities to make this happen. I record bonus content for patrons and give out minor merch as a reward too.
Right now, I spend upwards of 5-15 hours a week working on my podcast and am currently getting about $1000 / mo from Patreon.
I use a lot of shortcuts in my process:
I’ve set up a lot of email templates on Evernote.
I re-use the same type of wording for each podcast’s liner notes.
I use Acuity Scheduling to get guests to schedule with me.
My priorities are to get guests and make the recording happen, and to produce it. My 2nd priority is to attend to my patrons on Patreon either by writing thank you letters, sending merch, or creating content there, which is very hard to keep up with.
Thanks for sharing Matt! I’ll have to check with our writer, but if we decide to - would you be OK with us quoting you in our story for the blog? I think it’s really interesting that you work on your podcast part-time while still working a full-time job and that your perspective would be beneficial to other creators.
I noticed that a lot of creators work full-time or part-time, do any of you consider running your Patreon as a ‘side-hustle’? I’d like to give advice to those creators who are trying to figure out how to work full-time while also making space to create
Thank you to everyone who gave us quotes for our work-life balance series! We ended up writing THREE articles that give creators advice, whether they’re working full-time, part-time, or pursuing their creative endeavors as a side hustle! Here’s a post that links to all the articles:
Give it a read, and thanks so much for sharing your story with us!
