I share a short post on my YouTube channel.
If you haven’t heard of this service, Buy Me a Coffee is an easy way for folks to contribute to the efforts of their favorite creators. I signed up years ago and, over the years have gotten a reasonable number of contributions. Occasionally, I’d go to my account and sweep the balance into my savings account. Easy peasy.
Then, for reasons I don’t understand, Buy Me a Coffee got a third party credit card company involved, Stripe. I had to jump through hoops to set up a Stripe account and provide a lot more personal information than I wanted to in order to get my money. (I don’t see why they need a photo of my driver’s license to give me $46.) So I decided to stop using them and, instead, set up a Buy Me a Coffee item on my Square account. This way when folks make a contribution, Square takes its fee and just puts the rest in my bank account. Very easy and no need for a third party intervention.
Unfortunately, a bunch of those old Buy Me a Coffee links were still out there and that’s what my latest contributor used. So I spent this morning squashing every link in my blogs. I still need to go through all of my YouTube video descriptions. I’ll wait until I know I’ve squashed all the links before doing a final sweep and closing my Buy Me a Coffee account.
It never ceases to amaze me how many organizations need to get a piece of the action every time a creator is receives money for work.
This morning, I got a notification that a YouTube channel subscriber had contributed $25 to my publishing efforts via Buy Me a Coffee. His accompanying message to me told me a bunch of things that he liked and wanted to see.
I Need Motivation
Getting positive feedback — yes, with money, although that didn’t really matter as much — reminded me that I usually don’t just sit on my ass and watch the clock hands spin my life away. I’m usually working on creative projects like my blog or YouTube channel content or the book I started writing about my Great Loop adventure. Or making jewelry in my studio (or mobile studio).
But lately I’ve been feeling kind of meh — I think world events and the fall of the United States’ democracy have something to do with that but won’t discuss it here — and have been spending entirely too much time on social media (Mastodon), doing word and number puzzles (even I think 8 sudokus a day is extreme), and watching YouTube videos. It was only over the past two days that I decided to practice using my drone and exploring livestreaming from it that I’ve been making better use of my time.
And that’s what prompted my latest supporter, who watched the livestream, to contribute and speak up. So that’s all good.
It also got me motivated to check out new comments on my personal YouTube channel and respond to them. And to write a post letting subscribers know I was still alive and what my plans were for the next few months. Here’s that post.
The Post
I just caught up with a bunch of comments on this channel and thought it was time for an update.
It’s winter and I’ve left my home in the very capable hands of my regular winter housesitter so I can return to Arizona, California, and sunny warm weather. I’m in my RV pulling a small utility trailer that contains my jewelry studio and the equipment I need to appear at art shows. I’ve done two art shows in Arizona; one was a bomb and the other was good (but not great). Right now I’m boondocking in my rig on BLM land between Buckeye and Gila Bend, AZ. From here I’ll go to Quartzite, the Holtville Hot Springs, Death Valley, and then, depending on the weather, home.
Golden hour drone photo of my campsite on BLM land between Gila Bend and Buckeye.
I’ll spend today working on a blog post (and maybe video) about my boondocking setup and philosophy, which is remarkably similar to my boat anchoring out setup and philosophy. With luck, I’ll finish and publish later today or tomorrow morning. I’d like to mention here that the topic was requested by a channel subscriber who watched my drone livestream yesterday and was kind enough to donate to the channel using the Buy Me a Coffee links on some videos and blog posts.
Meanwhile, my boat is languishing on its trailer in my garage. I’ll get it in the water in Bellingham WA in April, have all its scheduled maintenance done before month-end, and then take it on a two-week shakedown cruise in the San Juan Islands and Inside Passage. I’ve already got one training client booked to spend three days on board with me. After that cruise, it gets a final preparation for the charter season and will then be available for charter through San Juan Yachting. It’s already booked for several weeks. I’ve scheduled a total of five weeks for myself during the season, including two weeks in September so I can attend the Ranger Rendezvous at Roche Harbor. I’ll be doing training on my boat during my charter time and already have a client scheduled for two days in July. I’m also planning on making a lot of boating videos over the summer and am open to your suggestions on topics to cover.
So yeah: I’m keeping busy and have plans for the future.
I also want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that this channel is 100% human created. I don’t use AI for anything. I urge you to support human creators on YouTube. We work hard for very little recognition. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see AI slop getting thousands of views and drowning out our voices.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this channel and the directions I plan to take it, please let me know. I’m always interested in feedback.
So Now, Back to Work
I’ve pulled out my daily planner and jotted down the things I want to accomplish today. That’ll help keep me focused. It’s a dreary day for the Arizona desert, with high clouds filtering the normally strong sunlight. I don’t think it’ll get very warm. In fact, I just put on a flannel shirt and made myself a hot cocoa to help warm up. Perfect day to stay indoors and write.
Isn’t it nice to visit a website that isn’t plastered with advertising or sponsor messages? If you appreciate the (mostly) ad-free experience, how about buying me a cup of coffee to thank me?
So I’ll write a post about my boondocking and anchoring setups and include some photos to illustrated what I’m talking about. And maybe I’ll even get motivated enough to capture some video or assemble some photographs to turn them into a vlog post for YouTube. Meanwhile, I’ll stay off social media and avoid distractions. I’ll get something worthwhile done.
Your comments are always appreciated. Use the form for this post. I usually respond within 24 hours.
Discover more from An Eclectic Mind
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.