Nuki News #29: We're 9 out of 12!

We’re still here, glad to be, as hard as 2020 has been for all of us. I think I’ve noticed this segment of the year(Jul/Aug/Sept) is mentally/emotionally challenging for me throughout my life. It’s the 2nd quarter of the year(going into spring and summer, Apr/May/June where I hit on a peak and then drop my momentum. It’s got me thinking ahead for next year already and how I’m going to tackle it despite whatever outside challenges there will be. What kind of goals will I have? Well, there’s 3 months left to consider it, so let’s just focus on my 2020 goals and see where we’re at, shall we?

Hopefully you checked out the previous 2020 review posts! So you know now that we have great news! I reached 141% of my financial goals this year so far! That means I’ve gone over my expected earnings for my art by almost 50%- and likely means I’ll likely reach over 150% by the end of the year. Now, without saying exactly how much money I intended to make this year, this statistic can mislead you to thinking I’m making a livable amount off of my art. Sadly that’s not the case; I basically took last year’s amount of money made from my art(just over $3000) and for this year I decided to double it, and focus hard on commission work to achieve that goal, since obviously I can’t do art for a living if I don’t make money. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to share hard numbers with yall to be honest- it makes me a little nervous. But I think if I want to help others I should be frank so no one thinks this is easy or an overnight success. It’s far from it! 

So I’m currently over $8,000 which is still great news to me since I didn’t fathom being able to make over $600 a month off of my passion- this is also in thanks to you supporting me on Patreon, it really makes this a possibility without running me into the dirt by doing commissions all month. It gives me time to breathe while juggling my day job and focus on how to improve the next month and plan projects, and hopefully you get value from what I share of myself here. One cool thing I learned was doing sort of Pay-What-You-Want request streams could become something I may do on a monthly basis when I go full time. Obviously how much I make from that can definitely vary! But even getting an extra hundred bucks a month can help a lot. Looking ahead, I’m hoping I can crest the thousand-per-month average line, meaning $12K. But frankly I’d still be cool as cucumbers if I can do over 10K. It’s not enough to survive on by itself where I live, but it means next year I can probably hit higher marks, and if I had more time I could definitely increase that by 50% at minimum if I left my dayjob. 

Money-talk aside, I had other goals; streaming for example, is another metric I’ve surpassed! I streamed 54 times, that’s about 19 more streams since last quarter. Totalling over 200 hours of streaming this year as well! The magic number I go for is about 4 hours per stream, I didn’t have an hour goal elsewise, but it’s cool to know about how much time I put into streaming my art for folks to enjoy! I think in 2021 I’ll be looking into finding ways to make my streams even more enjoyable to watch. I’ve also crested 100 pieces of art posted at 105! I’m short 45 pictures for my goal of 150 by the end of the year sadly, but it’s still possible. It’ll just be harder, without a plan. 

Last review I said I wanted to free myself up to work on my style, and I did manage to do that; I developed a strategy to work with in fact and I may do a NukiNews post soon going over that process! What I haven’t been doing though is a consistent day-to-day habit. I think what’s been hard is I am not a morning person. But I think it’s something I’ll have to fight through to make work while I have this day job of mine. 

I’d say the third quarter was more productive than the first in terms of progressing on my goals- but may not have been as financially big as the 2nd quarter. That’s alright- I feel that the first quarter is where I get my bearings. I think what’s most important to me in this last quarter is to make fun stuff and close out the year with meeting my revised financial goal of 10K. I didn’t know how far I’d get with my 2020 goals but I am very pleased with my progress and current results. Again thank you for joining me on my art journey, and I hope you’ll follow along with me as the year closes out.