#138 - Unfortunate Monetization

 Hello everybody! Guess this is my official way of stating I'm no longer active here.

This blog was a lot of fun, and hopefully I do, in fact, keep it going, but with how these past few months have been, it seems unlikely.

Not too long ago, people actually started paying to become Patreon members. Granted, they both immediately cancelled, but that showed me something. Over the span of 8+ years, I barely used Patreon. It was sad, really. So one day I sat down and cleaned things up. I got my account on there up-to-speed with my current life state and began posting on there semi-frequently.

That leads to the eventual downfall on here...

Since I've started writing blog posts, essentially, over there, I'm not very interested in writing on here. There's a moderate amount of overlap, and to make sure there is actual value to the things people are paying for, I want to keep it off of here.

It is a bummer since I don't like paywalling content, but maybe now I'm starting to reach "desperate" levels online, trying to monetize whatever I can.

But I don't think you can blame me.

4088.

I started YouTube 4088 days ago.

11 years, 2 months, 9 days.

In my time since I started YouTube, I've also released 3 games, wrote 1 novel, published around two dozen songs as part of various projects, and have made a few 2D animations. After all that time and energy spent into these creative projects, how much money have I actually earned in the past 4088 days?

Around $40 that I could spend.

$40 in 11 years, 2 months, 9 days.

Yes, there is another $13 from my second game, $42 from my third game, and $2 from AdSense, but that's all withheld for not meeting minimum payment thresholds.

$40 in 11 years is not sustainable. It's not even a full tank of gas, if I were to ever drive regularly.

After all this time, why do I still chug along, one stream at a time? One project at a time?

Only by the grace of God has there always been enough money to keep making content on top of just living life. I acknowledge that I have been given such a high degree of creativity. I also believe it would go to waste if I spent most of my days in some boring corporate job.

Anyway, we'll see how life continues to treat me. Even though I continue to act on stream as if everything is fine for me to keep doing what I'm doing, do understand that the threat of being snuffed out looms around the corner of every morning.

My electric scooter can get me around 40 miles on a full charge.

Thank you all for reading. Bye.

Oh right, I met a nice woman last Tuesday, August 4th, when I visited the beach.

Maybe I have one more "Until Next Time" in me?