I’ve always had a deep seated dislike for Patreon. No offense to the platform itself, but the way people seem to view and utilize it, it’s always seemed like a selfish money grab. I feel like video game streamers, Overland content creators, and many other types of “content creators” use the platform as a simple way to take the content they already have or are already creating and slap a “gate” on it that requires users to pay in order to access it. I generally find that kind of treatment of your audience as annoying and downright disrespectful.
Then, I was talking with a friend of mine and telling him that I had some cool ideas for additional stuff I wanted to do above and beyond the normal content I was already producing. In addition to that, I wanted to make a special place where I could interact directly with my audience, or at least the folks who were the most interested in All Things Overlanding, so that I could pass ideas by them and crowd source content that people really want to see.
That conversation ended by him making a great point, which swayed me into creating a Patreon for ATO. Essentially, what he said was that if I viewed Patreon as a place to hide content behind a paywall, then that’s what it would be, but since I already had the idea to create some additional content and work with super excited fans, then as long as I treated them that way and kept the content unique, it would be a worthwhile endeavor.
The idea of a super engaged group of folks that want to be involved and share in some awesome, high-quality content that goes above and beyond the what I already share across all my channels is one that I’m really excited about.
No pressure at all to anyone who follows me as I’ll still be sharing a ton of great free content on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and all major Podcast Channels, but if you want to get even more ATO, come check out the Patreon page for a ton of cool new stuff outside of the norm!
Here’s a link if you’re interested: https://www.patreon.com/allthingsoverlanding