For a couple of weeks now, The Friendly Freelancer has had a Ko-fi account – something you may have noticed if you read our second last newsletter very, very carefully. Ko-fi is a platform that allows you to support this newsletter by donating the amount of money it costs to buy a coffee. ☕
We launched this experiment for two reasons. First, we invest a fair amount of time in this newsletter and a number of readers have asked us whether it would be possible to give us some money in return. And we wanted to make that possible.
Second, we are always interested in learning more about new revenue streams for creative freelancers. Platforms like Patreon and Ko-fi allow people who like what you do to support your work with a direct donation. In this sense, they can offer a degree of independence, something that is important to a lot of creative freelancers. That’s also what slam poet Inke said they liked about using Patreon when we interviewed them for the newsletter a while back. Patreon makes it possible for fans to support the creator of their choosing with a fixed sum every month in return for rewards. So why not test it ourselves, right?
The first thing we did was check with our accountant what this step would mean for our taxes. Not much, it turned out. As long as we kept track of the total sums of money we received from our readers in one year, they would be able to duly report this income in our respective annual tax returns.
After looking into the different available platforms, we decided to create an account with Ko-fi. We had the feeling that a lot of our readers wouldn’t be so familiar with this modern-day form of patronage. With Ko-fi, you donate the cost of a coffee to support the creator of your choice. Supporters don’t get access to exclusive rewards, like they do with Patreon. It’s just a coffee to say thank you and you can buy said coffee just once or however many times you like.
It took just a couple of mouse clicks to create our Ko-fi account. A photo, a short description about The Friendly Freelancer and we were good to go. 🍾 A couple of weeks ago, we included the link to our Ko-fi account at the bottom of our newsletter, where we communicate all our housekeeping info, for the very first time. A couple of very perceptive readers immediately spotted this and bought us three coffees. Thank you so much to those three readers for powering this newsletter!
From now on, we will update you on how our experiment is going every now and then and whether our cafeine intake has significantly gone up as a result of your Ko-fi donations.
What would you like to find out about micro-patronage sites like Ko-fi? Have you experimented with one of these platforms and what has that been like for you? Let us know at freelancerthefriendly@gmail.com
P.S. You won’t be receiving any newsletters from us in your inbox next month as we’ll take a break from publishing in August, but we will be back in September!
Have a great summer freelancers ☀️
Linda and Selma
What our readers are saying:
“Today’s newsletter really stuck a chord with me! I was an employee for the first … let me count … 17 years (how is that possible???) of my career, and I REALLY took comfort in having that regular salary land safely in my account each month. I don’t regret my move to freelancing (two years ago), don’t get me wrong. But this rollercoaster of finances, or perhaps even worse, my own perception of my finances, sure takes some getting used to!” - Response from reader Siobhán to Stinking rich or one step away from bankruptcy?
“I wanted to tell you that I really enjoy these emails, and this is a topic I think about a lot, personally. The old 'to niche or not to niche' question is something I find fascinating.” - Response from reader Lizzy to Is choosing really losing?