On my road to financial security, the two main objectives I set myself for this year were to secure and grow the income streams I already have (job, interests, blogging, investments) and to find new ways to diversify my revenue. With this in mind, I'm happy to announce that I just created a Buy Me A Coffee account. But, oddly enough, it was not an easy decision to make, and it took a lot of thinking, let me tell you why.
Joining a platform like BMC, Patreon or Ko-fi has been on my mind for a while, but I've long been stuck because of the infamous impostor syndrome that I know a lot of us suffer from, asking myself over and over: Am I -or is my work- really worth someone's money over someone else's work? Is what I've been doing for free and for fun for so long worth "asking" money for? Would someone even consider paying to see what I'm creating? This is something that I've been fighting all my life, as a student (am I really good enough to make decisions in this group project?), as web developer (am I good enough to recommend a solution to the client, or to train the new guy?), as a video editor (I love editing but have no professional background, how can I ask people to pay me for it?) and now as a blog author (I'm not an expert in anything, nor a professional writer, who am I to tell to other people how to live their lives?). Especially in the state the world is today and the crisis we've been living, I have some money issues, but so do millions of other people out there, who suffer way more than me. Am I really offering something of value? Am I that good?
And joining a platform like BMC is very different from creating a product, like a course or a book, and putting it up for sale. This process is "normal", or at least normalized in our society, and it's expected to receive a payment in exchange for an item of value you offer. The value is set, thought of in advance and advertised from the beginning. BMC is really more of a "I like what you're doing, here's a tip" kind of business, and this, somehow, messes up with my head. Am I worth it? Having a video with more than 16k views on Youtube with a 100 subs channel, or having articles here with a thousand views when I have less than 200 followers make me think that I can create good quality content. But is it really good enough to be monetized? After a while, my thinking finally brought me to two realizations:
1. I am already monetizing my content. By going all in on Publish0x for blogging, I am monetizing my writing every day. I share tips, tricks, tools and knowledge on a variety of topics here, and people reward me for it (and I refuse to believe that 100% of the people giving those tips are doing so just to get their own share of it 😅). By being a Brave Creator, I am also already giving people the opportunity of tipping me for my videos or my tweets. And, if I had enough subscribers on Youtube, I would definitely monetize my videos there. But, while all of these do involve me getting money for my content, they all have one important thing in common: they do not involve my followers/readers/viewers actually paying. They're rewarding me with "magic money", someone else's money, and that's very different, they're not risking anything or committing to anything. And that brings me to my second realization, the one that truly convinced me.
2. Setting up a BMC does not commit anyone to anything. On Patreon, subscriptions have to be monthly, which commits both the follower (who has to pay regularly) and the creator (who has to create quality content regularly). Everyone can't afford that, on both ends. However, Buy Me a Coffee was created with a "one time tip" business model in mind. You also have the "Patreon-style" option of offering a monthly subscription if you want to, but supporting a creator is as easy as a one time $1 payment. If I enjoyed someone's video on Youtube, I can choose to reward them with the amount I want, whenever I want, and how many times I want. Sure, for creators, this makes it a very unpredictable, thus unreliable income source, but removing the commitment aspect of it also removes a lot of the pressure that goes with paid subscriptions.
So, to answer my original question: is my content worth my subscribers' money? Well, that will be for them to decide. And it makes the potential tips even more significant.
If I create content that people deem good enough to reward, then I get paid, and I can say goodbye to the impostor syndrome because it would be their choice.
If I create content that people deem not good enough to reward, then I don't get paid, and I can also say goodbye to the impostor syndrome, because no one committed to anything.
It's a win-win situation, and that's why I went for it.
I will also be using this BMC page to offer some of the digital products I've been working on. For various reasons that I won't detail now, I won't be opening an Etsy shop as soon as I'd hoped, so I will be using this new platform instead to share some video and personal finance digital products (guides, helpers, templates, spreadsheets...). These are called "extras" on BMC, and the first one I added is a printable savings tracker that was originally supposed to go on Etsy. I uploaded it there instead as a first incentive, and you can already download it for free if you want, or choose to pay whatever amount you deem fair. More files will follow, and I will keep creating better and better content, as I intend to make sure I deserve whatever people will choose to pay me. I did not set up a monthly subscription system (yet), as I am not a full-time creator and I can't commit to regular updates, either in digital products or in videos.
Before I finish, just a quick note on the payment aspect of BMC if you're interested in joining:
- it's 100% free to join,
- you can connect it to PayPal and/or Stripe, and you receive the payments in your accounts directly, the money is never stored on the website,
- tippers don't have to create an account, they can pay directly with PayPal or by card,
- the platform takes a 5% commission on each tip, which you can choose to have the tippers pay upfront or to have it taken from the tip afterwards (I chose the second option since, again, I'm in a no commitment strategy, and I don't want to ask anyone to pay more than they originally would have).
I will probably write a full post on it in a few days/weeks, once I'm more familiar with all the different features they offer.
To conclude, here is my reminder for all of you creators out there: no matter your follower count, no matter how it makes you feel, when you put time and work into creating content, you deserve to be rewarded for it. BMC is not the only option, but it seems like a very good one for now, at least in my situation.
Until next time, stay creative! See you!
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Any kind of support, even a simple "like", is truly appreciated and helps me grow and create more quality content for you to enjoy.
Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/piliz
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PierreLizetVideo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PierreLizet
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pierre__lizet
Enjoy one free random stock (no deposit required) by signing up here: https://join.robinhood.com/nathaln-81f11a
And if you are new to Publish0x, it is a blogging platform where you get paid for reading articles! You can join using this link to support me: https://www.publish0x.com?a=Vyb8NjLevA
Thumbnail credits: Photo by Mitchell Hollander on Unsplash
