Most of you probably know who we are, or you wouldn’t be here, but for more info you can read about us here
We’ve decided that the timing is right for us to launch Sailing Dark Angel on Patreon.
But why?
First and foremost, if you don’t know what Patreon is, then you might want to read about it here. Trust me, the rest of this post will make a lot more sense!
For those of you who have been following us for some time, you might notice that there is a large gap between the initial startup of our channel, with boat shows, Leopard cat tours and broker interviews and our recent relaunch with the search, purchase and shake-down of ‘Dark Angel’. This occurred because part of our preparation for this lifestyle was to move our corporate training program online. We took 14 months off to move our corporate training program onto the cloud, creating a comprehensive online platform, just in time to watch the industry that was our primary source of income collapse into C-19 chaos. At the time we wrote this, inventory shortages continue to plague the industry.
Wait, let’s back up.
We started our YouTube channel in July 2019. Our reasons were simple: we wanted a creative outlet, we wanted a way to give back for all that we learned and all the entertainment we received from YouTube sailing channels, and we wanted to document our adventures to share with friends and family, who think we are insane by the way, and for our own reflection when we’ve become too old and feeble to sail. All of this already feels surreal. Without our videos, was it really us who did all of that?
We lost our initial subscribers when we took time off to create our commercial platform. Totally understandable since we didn’t post or promote anything for 14 months. We expected that, but we weren’t prepared for just how hard it would be to come back and for how much competition has entered this genre. We are more determined than ever to continue to improve the quality of our videos and to stay true to the story as it’s happening. YouTube, on the other hand, rewards sameness. In YouTube land you should look like every other channel. Create what other channels create, and cater to the algorithm. That’s just not us. We like to create longer underwater sequences, natural interaction with each other and very little scripted content. We are honest in our struggles and our product reviews and we are more interested in you, the people watching our content, than YT gurus. As a result our growth is starting slow.
We started planning this lifestyle with a sustainable 6 figure income and huge ideas for the boat we’d buy and the way we’d contribute. Alas, our 6 figures became no figures. No worries. We are creators. We will create. A year of YT production and 40 videos into our relaunch we’ve learned a lot about the YouTube video creation industry. YT doesn’t pay small creators, so getting started means lots of money in the bank to live on. We planned for our funds to last a year after purchasing the boat. That year is complete. We’ve not been idle though. We’ve created a growing clothing and accessories line here, and, we think, some good video content. Now, with funds running out and our former industry still reeling, we are reaching out to you to help us keep creating content. Video production is now our full-time job. With $thousands invested in computers, camera gear and equipment we are completely committed to sharing with you our ongoing adventure.
With a lot of our initial plans derailed, we are not giving up. We have a new, clear path forward and we want to bring you along. This world is startlingly different from land-based living. It’s a culture shock on so many levels, and the day to day struggles for the things we had taken for granted are real. We want to share all of that. This time last year we had less than 200 subscribers on YouTube and most of our social media pages didn’t even exist yet. Now we have 4 times as many followers and enough reach on social media that we’ve been flagged as influencers and forced to upgrade our identities to the gods of Facebook. We’re not slowing down!
YouTube changed its policies recently, so we can easily get demonetized for some of our content. We try to obey YouTube’s new guidelines of eliminating ‘offensive’ material from our videos- such as swearing and skin, but the bots demonetize automatically and that makes even the small income offered by YouTube very unreliable. We’ve been watching the YT progression for some time and we are concerned about our ability to keep our content alive, and our ability to tell our story in real terms. Other avenues needed to be explored. We call ourselves a YouTube channel, but the reality is Sailing Dark Angel is creative content and YouTube is but one platform for sharing. With Patreon we have other outlets for releasing our content, with fewer restrictions and more flexibility. We have already uploaded some non-YouTube-safe content and that library will grow immensely now that we have that freedom. We’re uploading to Vimeo as well, so that you have options.
And now to the point, Patreon.
To say we’re excited and motivated by the opportunity to create full-time is an understatement. We’re more committed to our YouTube channel now than ever. It’s not just a sideline project anymore. We’ve decided to make it our full-time job. it’s a huge part of our lives and hopefully a potential source of income. It’s our real job, and one that we love. Documenting our adventures and providing entertainment and inspiration for our viewers is indescribably rewarding. We understand that this lifestyle was our choice, but to be clear, we now work for you; to entertain, inform and inspire You! We’re planning ahead and are very excited for what’s to come in the future! It’s going to be pretty awesome, and now that we have a clear path forward, we have decided it is the right time to launch Sailing Dark Angel on the Patreon platform.
YouTube have made it almost impossible for small creators to earn money using their platform. Unless you’re one of the elite few that have hundreds of thousands, or more, subscribers, earning any meaningful amount is not possible. (Fellow YouTubers Sailing Kittiwake did a breakdown of their earnings, and why Patreon works so well for them.)
We’re acutely aware that we’re living a dream lifestyle and can’t really complain that we’re not getting paid well from one of the worlds’ giant mega-companies. So let’s put this in context. We have invested a lot of money into camera gear, computers, software and a lot of other necessary equipment. A single GoPro 10 is over $400, and so far we’ve not earned any of that money back. Our savings goes into ongoing costs, boat maintenance, power generation, the forever search for internet, subscriptions to services such as TubeBuddy, Vimeo, Envato, Adobe, marketing, etc. We talked to many other YouTubers at the Annapolis boat show last fall, who face the same issues.
Patreon might allow us to recover some of our initial investment, but more importantly it will allow us to continue to invest in our channel. It’s as simple as that.
Why should I become a Patron?
First and foremost, you don’t have to. In fact, the vast majority of our followers won’t become Patrons, and we’re good with that. We really appreciate the support we get from our followers and that won’t change! We’re doing this for you.
Our videos will continue to be published on YouTube, so no worries if Patreon isn’t for you. You can still support us just by watching our videos, leaving comments and telling your friends about our channel, or even by buying us a coffee a beer, or maybe even a rum on our website. This type of engagement really helps our channel to grow, so thank you. We really appreciate your support!
We absolutely want to provide real value for the money for our Patrons, while at the same time, still keeping our YouTube videos free for everyone. With that in mind, we’ve come up with some pretty sweet perks for our Patrons! Benefits like additional content and updates, access to our Grotto chat , our real-time tracker, your name on the credits of our videos, live chats, deleted scenes & bloopers, polls, behind-the-scenes access, some really cool swag, including exclusive Patron-only gear, and priority in responding to correspondence, as well as a whole lot more. The top tier, Navigator, even offers exclusive, extended, uncensored content and Q&A sessions so we can answer all your questions and declare our thanks and love for you! Does that sound good to you?
Interested in becoming a Patron? Click here!
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope this answers any questions you may have about why we’ve made this decision.
Lotsa love,
Lisa & Dave
