Anyone use Patreon?

[Zeke]

I read the description of the platform(?) and I didn't get why they do what they do. E.g., if you establish an account and upload instructional videos, folks who join much later on down the line get free access to everything you have done beforehand. They agree to pay x dollars a month, or maybe per episode. But the free access to back uploads appears to stay in place.

So here is my concern: new product and it needs training. The first basic videos are not going to gain much traction w/o expensive promotion. So lets say in a year or so I have 25 videos up for product use training. At that point I'm going to be well beyond what is needed to use the product. All I can do is keep putting up examples of completed work to fulfil my end.

Someone agrees to pay me 5 dollars after a year's videos, looks at my latest video, then goes to all the videos from the past year, learns all there is to know and cancels. That doesn't bode well for me, does it?

Or did I misunderstand how Patreon works?

[blucille]

it depends.

I use Patreon, I like to give back to a few podcasts that I listen to. Often times, when you subscribe, you receive free swag, you get an extra podcast episode once a week or once a month, you could get an "ad free" version of the episodes, or extra stuff like getting first crack at some events or gatherings or whatever.

Typically, I pay +/- $5-10/mo that I formerly had been spending on car magazines or whatever....it makes sense to me.

if I was creating videos, I'd want to make sure that each episode had some valuable content, so the patreon subscribers would feel like they were getting their money's worth--maybe offer up some decals or hats or something to the guys who are paying in at the higher brackets or subscribing for a year or more.

[Zeke]

They are getting training that in person would cost hundreds. No hats.

[blucille]

wait, are you selling them a product? shouldn't training be included in the sale of product? (maybe) I'm misunderstanding your business model.

if you are training them on someone else's product, then a "one and done" payment would make sense rather than recurring monthly payment. You customers or clients would probably benefit from understanding how to move forward. At that point, I'd just upload the videos to YouTube, make them private and offer to unlock them for a client when payment is received.

[Zeke]

That might work. I'm not selling the product per se. If there were that many operators using the system, I could become a distributor, but that's not my end goal. I'd rather show how to use the product and get folks headed in the direction to go into business for themselves.

I've been doing this work for 40 years. I discovered a product used in another industry that is perfect for another use which is unknown even to the manufacturer. The master distributor in the U.S. is leaning on me to develop the research and training but so far is unwilling to compensate me. I can use this to make money on my own, but the real money is in repetition of service. 100 or 1000 people doing this having learned the process from me would be enough. It's not easy work, sort of construction related. One needs tools, a truck and the energy and strength of a construction worker. I'm a bit past that.

It doesn't make sense at my age to invest in a complex issue of warehousing and sales. You can get the materials easy enough. People just don't know about the process. It's proprietary to the manufacturer as far as the ingredients go. Methods are what you might say, 'open source'.

Main uses and sales of the product around the world are mainly for crafts and theatrical props. No one has taken it in the direction I have. I have it under test in a beta stage but see no issues in adapting to become a repair product.

That's all I'm going to say about it. I'll just add that this could be a conservation process used in historical preservation or at a typical home.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by Zeke

You can get the materials easy enough. People just don't know about the process. It's proprietary to the manufacturer as far as the ingredients go. Methods are what you might say, 'open source'.

Without some patent-able additional tool required, once the info gets out there, it is out there.

Someone with a TY channel and enough followers will be putting it on the web tomorrow and claiming they thought up the idea.
Mr Zeke fades into the background never to be heard from again.

IDK. You could sell physical DVDs of the video and promote it as the Zeke Method(tm). Go on industry speaking tours. Late night infomercials with the lear jet and hot tub gals in the background. Invited on the Tonight Show. Get awarded some distinguished engineering trophy prize. The slinky was just lathe trimmings and not much original content in the motivational speakers. Pet Rock pssht.

It's all in the presentation. Look at what works.
(edit for readbility)

[Zeke]

"Look at what works." Those are indeed wise words. Many if not most successful people I know in business for themselves do 2 things: copy success and do it better, and repetition of service. There are many business models but this one is just about fail safe if you work at it.

So back to me. I have invented many things and many turned up to be already invented. Subconscious? IDK. Others just sit because I know the odds. So this new deal is again not known and won't be an easy sell. Never pave the way as john70t says.

Actually the patented tool route isn't bad but that's time consuming. Trade marks and copyrights are much faster. Unfortunately, the product is TM'd and CR'd because it's in wide spread use in totally different environments.

I'm tempted to let this go even though I have solved some chronic problems here at my own house using the method. I'm not being that secretive. I've already mentioned wood rot in another thread. I just didn't give the details.

Non toxic, works quicky and can be used on damp wood. There is no other process where that is possible.

[deanp]

Where is the product sold? Can you do the videos on your Youtube channel and provide personalized links to where the product is sold and get a % of any sales generated through your affiliate links?

[john70t]

You don't need to include any more information here online.

It sounds like a common solution, to a common problem.
And a market need which might benefit a lot of people...

(FWIW I've previously used a lot of bleach, with spray-on, water-based, shellac-type jug spray coatings from box stores. Do searches with vague terminology.)

A lot of stuff is already out there and not used. Either not used by idiots with an easy solution at hand, or blocked by distribution.
Or lack of knowledge which you want to turn into real dollars.
A small slice of the pie if you sit on that gold claim with a double barrel 24/7 willing to defend it long enough.

You have to use stealth in research.
I've had a few ideas as well.
Some simple. Some way beyond my scope of implementation.
Paranoid? You betcha. Google patent search isn't there for your benefit.


The weird thing about claiming an idea is that the original concept is usually not very original. The various methods to implement it are.
And those tangents lead to new ideas.