Are you a creative person looking for a way to make some extra money but lack the technical ability to build websites, or have any spare funds to build a platform to work from?
If so, Patreon.com might be perfect for you.
Patreon allows users to get paid for sharing their content online without the need to pay out for expensive web hosting costs and softwares.
Ideal for creative people like:
- Writers
- Artists
- Musicians
- Photographers
- Singers
- Video Creators
- Animators
- Podcasters
- Digital artists
But the list doesn’t stop there, there are people using patreon to teach specific subjects, run online magazines and even fund restoration projects.
Make Pounds With Patreon.com
Patreon.com is a middleman website which takes payment to access people’s creative content.
Just a short few years ago, if you wanted to take payment on a monthly basis for your content, you would have had to build your own website, install a membership plugin or script and set up a merchant account like Paypal to take payment and install payment buttons.
It is easy to do if you know what you are doing, but a real headache and nightmare for those who don’t.
If you didn’t know what you were doing, you would have had to pay someone to build one or buy one of the popular platforms at that time like Membergate. A membership system like Membergate with a built in payment gateway used to cost hundreds of pounds, sometimes thousands.
Fortunately, Patreon have made things a lot easier and cheaper for the average online content creator.
Patreon.com Is Super Easy To Use
Patreon does two things, it allows an establish content creator to take donations or monthly subscriptions to fund content which they already share on other websites like YouTube, or creators can use Patreon’s own website to release content through several paid tiers.
They have developed a system where you can set many levels of access at different prices.
For example; let’s say that you create funny prank videos, you may decide to have 3 tiers set at different prices.
Tier 1 is set at $1 – Patreon.com uses US dollars as its currency – and for that you get access to one video a month. Tier 2 is set at $5 a month where you get access to 5 videos and tier 3 is set at $10 a month which gives access to 10 or more videos.
When you create a video and upload it to Patreon you will set it to the desired price tier. One video would be set to tier 1 so that everyone who has paid $1 or more can access it.
Other videos which you upload to Patreon would be set to the other paid tiers so that only those who have paid $5 or $10 can access them. Those in the lower price tiers cannot access content which they have not paid for.
Patreon is not just for video creators.There are many different people creating very different content who use Patreon to manage subscriptions or help fund their lifestyle.
Writers use Patreon.com to get paid to carry on writing fiction, podcasters use it to fund doing weekly or monthly podcasts. Anyone with a creative or educational bent can use the platform to make money.
Using Patreon could be a fantastic way to generate much needed extra money each month to cover those essential bills like your rent and mortgage.
Further Reading: Brexit Proof Your Rent & Mortgage Repayments. 5 Ways To Generate An Extra £600 Or More Each Month
Is Patreon.com Free To Use?
No.
There is a cost to using Patreon as you would expect, but there are no upfront costs to setting up an account.
They take a cut from the money you earn. This is for using their service, but it is worth it as you are leveraging their storage, their website and their technical help plus they process all of the financial transactions fo you.
It is saving you the headache and hassle of having your own hosting costs, having to build or have built your own website, having to manage payments and work with coders or designer when you are having website or technical issues.
Fund Your Fun With Patreon.com
Many popular YouTubers are turning to Patreon to help fund their lifestyles since YouTube updated it services offering people the opportunity to have ad free viewing.
A lot of YouTubers were making good money from the Google AdSense ads which were shown around their videos. But since the new ad free service began their income may have dropped and so they now ask fans to support them by donating money or paying a monthly subscription via Patreon.
Many internet users also use adblocker software which stop ads showing on websites and this too can reduce the earnings many popular YouTubers were enjoying.
Patreon.com has been a godsend for them. Now they can earn money and still carry on with the lifestyle they enjoy. Some YouTubers travel the world living off their online income doing video updates of what they have been doing and where they have been travelling to.
Patreon is perfect for that as they can generate money without the hassle of having to manage a membership website.
They can still add videos to YouTube and generate money from Google AdSense as a member of the YouTube Partner Program but they can also add special members only videos to Patreon for paying fans.
While writing this I have seen Patreon being used by:
- A woman using it to fund a monthly knitting magazine,
- A guy funding his psychology lecture videos & podcasts,
- Several animators funding their video creations,
- A DJ funding his music podcasts,
- Several fiction writers funding their writing careers,
- A guy recording videos of a motorbike restoration,
- Lifestyle and holiday vloggers funding their lifestyles,
- A bestselling author to fund his podcasts,
- Video prankers funding their weekly prank videos.
- Women sharing ‘sexy’ but not pornographic pics and videos (They use Onlyfans for that which is a similar system to Patreon)
Can Anyone Set Up A Patreon.com Account?
Yes, absolutely.
Patreon requires very little technical skill other than basic computer skills. There is no coding to mess around with. No plugins need adding and no website needs to be built.
Once you have set up your account you can be sharing your profile and taking payment for your content. That is if you have a following to start with.
It is no magic money bean. You need to get your Patreon account out and seen by loads of people otherwise you will not find paying fans.
Monetise Your Social Media Profiles With Patreon.com
Patreon is perfect for those who have a huge YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook following.
Share your new Patreon.com profile with your fans and followers. Loyal fans who love your work will not want you to stop and so some of them will pay to keep it coming.
If however you do not have a following then it will take longer to start earning money but using social media you can grow your following as you grow your Patreon profile. There is no reason why a complete fan free newbie cannot make a huge success from using Patreon.
Like everything in life, it takes work and it takes commitment.
If you start a Patreon.com account and work on it for a few weeks or even a couple of months but give up when you see little or no traction then you will not get anywhere.
Success generally comes overtime and it requires patience, persistence and work. As the saying goes…
“Patience, The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit.”
If you need any inspiration to keep at itthen these final few screenshots should help.
Seanan McGuire. Fiction writer making over $11,000.
Knitty. Creative knitting magazine making over $19,000.
David Firth. Making over $11,000 doing… I am not quite sure!
Dr Jordan B Peterson. Bi-monthly psychology Q&A’s and lectures making over $56,000
If the above isn’t enough to whet your appetite and inspire you to consider using Patreon.com, I don’t know what will.
If you want to learn how to make money, save money and generally manage your money better as well as join a growing community of fellow Smashers with the opportunity to enter competitions and challenges with prizes then join the SmarterCash forum here: (Coming Soon)
