failwhale34
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Let's Move Forward (Important Updates)
🕑 Added 2022-12-13 04:40:56 +0000 UTCHey everyone! I hope you are all well during the holidays.
This update will be lengthy and crucial for the Patreon page moving forward. It will be in two parts: a general update and a personal explanation. Second, I have laid out a roadmap of clear guidance and expectations from today until the end of the roadmap at the bottom of this post.
I have no excuses. My behaviour has been unacceptable between the staggered uploads and lack of communication, and I will go more in-depth later on here. Still, my primary purpose in this post is to open up about this conversation, provide an understanding to my Patreon family, who have been supporting me and are concerned, and update expectations moving forward.
Explanation:
Over the past few weeks, I have been struggling and have self-sabotaged myself to an extent and ended up in a severe rut, resulting in me being less responsive than usual. I won't go into details that contributed to this ultimately - because it does not matter.
While I may feel stuck and anxious, I have, too, been complacent. My previous attempts faded, and I have regressed recently and am correctly experiencing the consequences. The right time to make this post isn't after a significant video drop to "catch up"; it's right now. Leaving you all guessing if I'm not well, or I'm dead, or something (as expected) like life throwing a whammy isn't right. This logic and my actions only fueled my issues further.
Sound change cannot happen overnight but implementing this roadmap and opening up the conversation with your feedback is a step in the right direction.
(One suggestion I'm implementing that one of the Whale Army has recommended is not recording the day of a post. I know now that buffer time is crucial, and I'll need ample time to implement a recording schedule about one to two weeks ahead of the latest uploads. This way, I can manage myself better and ensure you receive content accordingly, and I do not spiral.)
While I understand that it can come across like I don't care - I greatly appreciate all of you. I'm sorry for my shortcomings as one of your favourite entertainers. Regardless of whatever I'm experiencing - this is my job, and you are my Patreon family. Being communicative and transparent with you all on what's going on is the least I can do.
And I assure you, this will be the last of "these" types of posts from me.
A personal note:
Over the past few years (especially two), I have yet to be able to maintain the bandwidth I used to have when I started my YouTube journey in March 2015. This change in capacity is just the reality, and I accept this now. It may stem from clinging to old highs, and I'm still determining this.
Over the past two weeks, I have given an honest look at myself and been answering some hard questions. What do I like and don't like? How can I optimize my workflow? Should I be editing more because I enjoy it? How can I better align my life, work, and goals to be as frictionless as possible? Why am I afraid to cancel or start a new idea?
I learned that I often try overcompensating for being behind by stacking four to five-hour-long reactions in a day + editing them. I better understand what is necessary to be in a headspace to achieve these goals and provide quality and consistent entertainment. My current bandwidth is around 3 hours of recording + 3 hours of packaging content for Patreon, and trying to take on more than that is unrealistic and unsustainable.
This period of reflection has led me to this post.
Ending note:
Thank you, guys, for showing me support in the past and present. I love all of you. After reading this, you can keep me accountable as this roadmap begins, and I intend to see this through. I'll read over the comments and respond with any feedback you have. All I can do is work at being better daily and intentionally work towards reaching our goals and being the best entertainer I can be.
Now that there's a clear expectation and roadmap let's move forward.
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ROAD MAP
December 12th to January 16th
- Finish Farscape and Peace Keeper Wars
- Finish Stargate SG-1
- Finish Buffy
- Select new shows and post Patron polls to decide new content
- Find an additional video editor
- Bi-weekly meetings with current editor and advisor.
- Quarterly content strategizing and Patreon polls in advance.
January 14th - Feb 27th
- Start recording movies and making a back catalogue, then begin posting
- Start recording new series and making a back catalogue, then begin posting
- Begin posting weekly Patreon schedule, and it is accurate.
- Finish Stargate SG-1 on Fail Whales
- Finish Buffy on Fail Whales
March 2nd, 2023 goals:
- Executing consistently on expectations
- Have a fresh balance of older and newer content (TV shows and Movies)
- Begin working on new ideas
Comments
Failwhale34
Hey Briony, thank you for sharing that, it means a lot. Been moving in a positive direction the last couple weeks since this post but still got a lot more to go. Will do, and thank you again for the comment and support ❤️
Failwhale34
Magus, thank you for the feedback! Updated. Going to see if there’s a way to have it pinned for a few reasons you mentioned. I appreciate it fam as well as your continued support here over 🙏🏽
Magus
This post clearly had a lot of thought put into it and is very appreciated. Though you do know not everything has to be locked behind a subscription. You can make posts that are open to the public. Like in this case It sounds like I wasn't the only one who took a break from the channel figuring I could come back in a few months and have some stuff to binge. You can follow people on patreon but the paid content posts are hidden. So if if a handful of people who had unsubbed also followed you they might have seen this update and been encouraged to come back. Instead it will be buried and unseen by most of those people. I saw this because I checked back in every so often to see how far we were in shows to know if there would be a decent amount to watch when I returned. One of the other channels I was following kinda did they same. Put super important channel updates behind a paywall then I had to pay for a month to find out these important updates were him just dropping 6 shows that I liked because his newer audience is more interested in family/drama shows.
Briony Addey
Dude, just wanted to add some encouraging words.... Self-employment is so tough. I used to work in a youth charity with 18-30 year olds working to become self-employed, and with older people in self-employment/ small business, and for the self-employed who mentored them, and self-regulation and self-care are always so tricky. I just wanted you to know this isn't all necessarily a 'you' thing, it's also just a difficult path to walk. Of course we always have to work on ourselves, but I think asking the question 'how can I restructure/look at my processes to best suit who I am and how I work best?' is really smart, as it puts the emphasis on the work as this interaction between who we are, the processes, and the desired outcome. Wishing you all the best with finding the right balance in your life and the processes and people to make it work for you and your viewers. Please take care of yourself, and I hope you are able to find balance and fulfilment and enjoyment in the next part of your journey. I've so enjoyed your Buffyverse reactions, and look forward to joining you for future shows ❤️
