Wow. I’m just taken aback at how amazing Patreon is. This week when I was down in my little basement studio, working on the mix-down for one of the album tracks – and I started crying. Tears of deep and really heartfelt gratitude. Tears of relief. Tears of joy.
It finally seems that what I’ve been wishing for, for so long, is finally manifesting.
What have I been wishing for? At the most basic level, it’s pretty simple: to be able to support myself financially making music that touches people’s souls. Making a living making content that matters – that means something.
I also love playing the piano, and yes, it’s also my wish to master this instrument. But damn it’s hard! I’ve still got a long way to go and finding the time to practice for a substantial amount of time has been a struggle.
Oh – and singing. I love singing. Despite having been told on several occasions that I ‘don’t quite have ‘the’ voice’ to be commercially successful, I’ve carried on doing my vocal exercises and (I think) my voice is slowly but surely improving!
I’m not going to stop singing just because someone in the ‘industry’ told me I don’t have the right voice. Ok, that was a lie. I did stop singing. For about 10 years. But something bigger than me (God, perhaps…?) told me to stop being such a crybaby and ‘get back behind that mic!’
I’ve been on a crazy ride with this creativity bandwagon (and I’m sure I’ve still got a tonne more crazy rides to go!) Being able to make ends meet from my creativity alone has always seemed to evade me. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been knocked back by a label on the reasoning that my sound isn’t “quite right for them.” I’ve tried this and that, but I always seemed to get so far and then not be able to move forward.
I’m slowly starting to realise I was blocking my own success. I also realise that I create a lot of stuff. It seems Patreon is the perfect platform for me to offer all I have to the world and sustain myself from it (thank you, Patreon!) My Patreon page is and will be the culmination of everything I am – both as a person and a creative.
But this couldn’t have happened 10 – or even 5 years ago. Nope.
To me, Patreon feels like the most natural and beautiful exchange, but man, it requires you to be comfortable with being vulnerable! And vulnerability, from the way I see things, requires a certain level of humility.
Now that I think about it – Patreon is the way it’s MEANT to be. Artists in direct contact with their audience, producing content for the people who really care about it. No middle-men standing in between me and you.
No giant company owning my rights and taking a huge cut of my royalties, no debt owed to a record label in the form of an advance. None of that complicated, ‘industry’ stuff. Patreon goes back to the way it used to be – simple, organic. Creator and patron. Connection, creation, love.
I love this platform. I really do see it as the beginning of the next chapter for me. And I’m SO grateful to all the amazing human beings who jumped in with me and joined my page right at the beginning.
I think I’m finally starting to experience that when you truly believe in a dream and can imagine that you already have what you’re wishing for, you open the channel for you to receive it. And that living in a state of gratitude keeps this channel open and acts as a magnet, drawing what you wish for, ever closer to you.
Again, I find myself coming back to this concept of faith – we have to believe in something we can’t see in order to allow it to be made manifest. We have to trust that what we are investing our energy into believing, will manifest. We have to surrender to the crazy-ass journey that takes us there – and most of all, we have to remain in a state of gratitude through it all!
No wonder most of us waste our precious time and energy chasing our tails!
Faith, belief, trust, surrender – and gratitude…the ingredients that, when combined together consistently and regularly, create the most beautiful magical spells.
Thank you so much for coming here and taking the time out to have a read. If you’d like to get early access to all my blog posts, musical output – and get access to my coaching community, please join my Patreon page by clicking here. It’s where all the action is happening! You can sign up quickly and easily and as a patron, you’ll receive some really lovely rewards. Big love, Liz.