Not to put too fine a point on it: I’ve launched a Patreon!
You may or may not have picked up on the fact that this was never actually part of my original business plan for the Task Mistress. When it came up a few weeks ago, though, I was struck with how obvious it is, and how it should have been something I set up from the start.
Lesson learned: be open to change, and also possibilities.
It’s not as if I did not know Patreon exists, or that it might be a great option for this particular business. So what changed?
The world changed, my friend. The whole world!
What do I mean by that?
I mean that the online business sphere has been in a constant state of flux since about 1969 (only coincidentally the year I was born; it’s actually the founding date of CompuServe!…wow now I feel old…). I won’t bore you with an overview of the history of the internet, but I will point out that as I write this, the large language model (artificial intelligence) service GPT4 has just been released. The world is changing as a massive, exponential pace and no one is going to be able to keep up with it.
Which means that major feature of this brand new world is the ubiquity of knowledge and information. We already have a firehose pointed at our faces everyday as it is, but at the point where you can go into an AI interface like chatGPT3 or Sudowrite and simply ask for a plot outline for a book or several different versions of a socmed post text or even “please tell me how to best structure my daily schedule with the following variables…” then, honestly, what are people even here for?
Yes, I’m getting deep in response to the simple question, “but why Patreon, KimBoo?” I need to go deep because the answer is “because the game has changed from selling what I know to selling the interactive experience that I, personally, as a human being, can offer clients/customers.”
For instance, I sell a toolkit on how to start, produce, and distribute a podcast, based on my own hard-won experience. However, we are already at the point where you can go to chatGPT3 with the following prompt and be provided with a complete set of instructions: “I want to set up a new podcast but I don’t know the technical aspects of doing so. I need to know what equipment and software to use, how to distribute it, and the best practices of marketing it. I can only spend $500 on set up costs. What do I need to do?”
Go ahead and type that into any AI interface of your choosing, and you will get something very close to the toolkit I created with my own blood, sweat, and tears. (You’re welcome!) Soon most major search engines like Google and Bing will have this feature available. The whole world will be at your fingertips!
Where does that leave people like me? People like you?
The same place we’ve always been: a human who can interact with other humans. Ye olde “personal touch,” as they say. The future (the present!) is about what we can provide as individuals to each other.
What I offer patrons is access to me, both in group sessions and 1:1 (depending on the tier you sign up for). I can get to know you as a whole person with dreams and goals and roadblocks. I can see the big picture of what you are struggling with, and help you figure out solutions based on that knowledge.
You can ask simple, straightforward questions of an AI and get simple, straightforward answers. The complexity of being a whole human being with a past and a present and goals for the future is lost. Yes, maybe AI will soon advance to that level — my motto when it comes to technology is “never say never!” — but for now, that’s what I can do for you.
In return, you can help me pay rent and feed my dog! The dog in question:
How can you say no to a face like that? (I hope you can’t! Because I have a “Keely Retirement Fund” tier that is simply a few bucks a month you can throw in to help keep her fed on the fancy food stuff and lots of treats!)
I will likely be adding more services as demand grows, so now is definitely good time to get in on the “ground floor” so to speak. Anyone who joins my Patreon now and remains a member going forward will be locked into the price they get, no matter how I might raise prices for those tiers in the future!
Even if you decide not to join my Patreon right now, I want to thank you for your support. Subscribing to my newsletter and buying my products definitely helps me get the word out about Personal Projects Management™ and the value of holistic productivity!