Merry KishVarmennettu tili

So the dust is kind of settling over here and my brain is starting to feel human again so let me take a second to summarize the past 24 hours. Yesterday's goal was to update subscribers on our new show and vision for the channel, and give the patreon a much needed shake up.

The idea was to try to increase average patronage by adding cool stuff to the higher tiers. We really want to get a better camera this year. That and add more community stuff to reward current patrons and honestly, to connect us more to the them. This work can be isolating.

The trailer was almost an afterthought. I just wanted everyone to know what was going on. We told the patrons this stuff was coming weeks ago. Our YouTube community is our largest but always gets things last. We shot the trailer Thursday. I edited it 24 hours before it went up.

Our patreon has been amazingly consistent for 4+ years, but also quite flat. We don't push it all that much but have incredibly loyal patrons. Our average tenure is above most Patreons. It's a cool group of folk and it works. So we're not used to "big days" like this.

We also produce around 3 times more docs per year than we did at the start. The budget is tight but we've gotten so much better at stretching each dollar. So basically any increase in patronage is super helpful these days. So are "eco months" where I save for big projects.

So we just had the single best day on Patreon since we started in Sep 2016. It was non-stop. Not only did we get 1100+ (!!) new Patrons, but A MASSIVE PERCENTAGE of existing patrons upped their patronage too. I literally couldn't believe what Patreon was telling me for 10 hours.

It wasn't until this morning that I really understood what had happened. Yesterday's annual sign-ups alone will pay for our new camera (what?!). But the new monthly patronage was also higher than I anticipated.

So that's money stuff right. And it's incredible and will help me hire our team more and do better things and make better work, and grow. But more than that, the response floored me. To have that much support and positivity in such a small space of time was utterly humbling.