Do you need a big following to get donations on Patreon?

offbeatbryce

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I was thinking of starting a Patreon page so I could get some cash to help fund my videos. Do I need a big following or can I earn say a decent amount of income. All I'm looking for currently is anywhere from 20-40 a month.
 
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TheSwedishTraveler

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I guess it has some importance, as it could be seen as greedy if you don´t have a lot of followers and put up a Patreon
 

AmberAndGolden

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I would say don't just randomly start a patreon with not many subscribers, unless you have a SPECIFIC project in mind that you can showcase, I've seen a few around like that (like a kickstarter, but not.. on kickstarter)
It can look kind of greedy and asking a bit much to ask for money from your subscribers if you don't have many, It's usually a better idea to have at least a bit of a following, and LOYAL subscribers too to set one up, otherwise you probably won't get any patreons from it anyway.
 

PositivelyBrainwashed

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I got my first Patron at 6k subs. At the moment I have 4 and earning $18. And I don't even have a proper intro video for you it... So you definitely can with low sub counts depending on what value you provide. I suggest you model your Patreon page like Peter Hollen's. http://www.patreon.com/peterhollens And if you make an intro like his, you'll do quite well.
 

Kush Patel

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If it's for a project, use kickstarter or gofundme. Then you know where the money is going. Patreon is more for general expenses.
 

ChrisLegend

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Depends on how much your subscribers interact with you and how much of a brand you've established. I imagine some can do it well at a few thousand and others may need tens of thousands!
 

Lightsen

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if you have a small but dedicated fan base then it will work for you, think of why someone might donate, are the incentives good? do they know what their money is going towards?
all questions to consider, but you can certainly make a patreon at any stage, as long as the will to pledge is there.
 

ItsBecky

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I have a patreon account set up, and I have a link on my profile, but I don't promote it at all, as I am not currently big enough and I would feel greedy and I presumed no one would donate HOWEVER, I have currently got someone pledging $10 per video to me, (I still post my videos and have a couple of rewards on there) it turns out they are a massive fan of mine! it's really surreal especially as they actually live locally to me so I have no idea how to feel about that fact right now. You get the option to charge your patrons whenever you upload a video or post but I haven't done that yet at all, as I feel bad if I charge this one person, I don't quite know how it works I think you just choose when to charge them, rather then just a monthly recurring thing, so if you wanted to be really mean you can just charge them every single time you post even if it's everyday. I just feel too mean to charge him at all at the moment.
 

PositivelyBrainwashed

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I have a patreon account set up, and I have a link on my profile, but I don't promote it at all, as I am not currently big enough and I would feel greedy and I presumed no one would donate HOWEVER, I have currently got someone pledging $10 per video to me, (I still post my videos and have a couple of rewards on there) it turns out they are a massive fan of mine! it's really surreal especially as they actually live locally to me so I have no idea how to feel about that fact right now. You get the option to charge your patrons whenever you upload a video or post but I haven't done that yet at all, as I feel bad if I charge this one person, I don't quite know how it works I think you just choose when to charge them, rather then just a monthly recurring thing, so if you wanted to be really mean you can just charge them every single time you post even if it's everyday. I just feel too mean to charge him at all at the moment.
If you're going to charge people per post, you should tell people on their Patreon page that they can set a budget when they sign up on the maximum they can get charged per month.