Patreon And Ko-Fi – Ways To Support Me From Afar!

I love sharing my adventures. Writing about and filming them has become such fun. I enjoy explaining the details of the ups and downs that come with pushing your boundaries. I hope you enjoy it too. I’ve always loved sharing and educating – I’m a teacher, so it’s second nature to me. I find the world fascinating, and tend to think if I do, then other people might do too. That’s why you’ll find me creating stories and posts on Instagram, writing how-to’s and blogs on here and attempting to make YouTube videos (currently poorly ha!). I want to bring what I see, to you. Happily you tell me you like them, which makes me delighted! In this post I want to tell you more about how I fund my travels, and introduce my new Patreon and Ko-Fi platforms.

How Do I Afford To Travel and Hike?

People who don’t know me in daily life often ask me; “How do you make money? How do you afford to travel and write?” It’s a very fair question and I don’t mind being asked at all. The answer is that I support myself (and always have done) through working as a teacher, and then I add in the adventures around my tutoring and education roles.

These teaching roles can be overseas, UK or online. They have worked well because I get to keep teaching students – one of my passions. Then, because of the short-form roles I choose, I have space to go and adventure between positions. However writing a book made that, for the first time, a little untenable. That’s ok though, because I prepared for it. I saved up.

Working Towards My Dreams

This year though, is the first year of my life that I’ve given myself permission to try to step into a different kind of life. One where I can build on writing books, stories and content that helps bring you and myself joy. A life and role that manages to merge my education background, my humanities specialisms, my love of travel and my passion for communication. It started with blogs and instagram, and those are growing. But it’s now evolving into books for adults and children. How exciting! My plan is that this platform will also hopefully shape into a business, and an charity providing educational outreach programmes. I want to deliver to those most vulnerable young women out there, girls of the like I’ve taught, coached and supported.

These bridging moments between one way of living and another take courage and planning. Luckily I’ve got both those skill sets. It also needs a strong community of friends and people to give their thoughts and opinions along the way. Happily I have you. This community gives back to me in ways I couldn’t have imagined. We all lift each other, and long may it continue. I’m forever grateful for every kind word of encouragement and piece of advice.

What are Patreon and Ko-Fi? And Why Have I Got Them Now?

So, to Patreon and Ko-fi. Why do I need those if I could carry on teaching? Why have I set them up if I get by? Well, mostly because people on my social channels often reach out to me to say thank you for a piece of content, some learning or advice that I sent them in a long message. They see me on trail and contact to ask if they can get me a hot meal that night from afar. They might also ask if they can remotely buy me a coffee, which they’d like to do in real life (I’d love that too!).

I’ve always been so grateful but kindly declined. But now, as I focus more on providing quality content for people to read and watch, I feel like it’s ok to accept these kind offers. We’re all in this together, and support from you means I am able to spend more time making, writing and sharing my adventures. This is, I think, a good thing.

So, Patreon and Ko-fi are platforms that exist specifically to support creators and bring their supporters closer together in a little community behind the scenes. They’re for people who make things, share content and put things into the public arena because they love to do it, but that don’t fit a traditional ‘job’ space. These platforms are a way to keep creators going, to show you enjoyed something and to be part of a key, core group that gets personal access to all the processes that you’re interested in.

How Are Patreon and Ko-Fi Used?

Patreon and Ko-fi are used by a huge range of different people in varying fields; podcasters, writers, actors, radio show hosts, scientists, artists and musicians. Support can range from a ‘tip’ jar thank you and one off gift (mostly Ko-fi for this) to a monthly subscription (Patreon), and there are plenty of rewards for your support. With me those can be from a postcard from trail to a regular live group video call from trail, to a 1:1 coaching session or early access to my books. All the tiers and information is detailed on the platform pages for you.

How Do I Check Patreon and Ko-Fi Out?

I’d love it if you did take a look, even if just to let me know what you think! I’m always open to thoughts and suggestions.

Patreon is here

Kofi is here

I’m Very Lucky You’re Here, However You’re Here

I don’t have any expectation that you’ll sign up and I love that you’re here in my community. You don’t need to support me in this way in order to be a hugely important part of what I’m doing – you already are. The platforms exist now because enough people asked for me to think it was the right time. So go take a look if you’re curious, explore and let me know what you think. Every contribution from your words of kindness and encouragement to financial are always noticed and appreciated by me.

Any questions don’t hesitate to let me know! Thanks for reading and being in my support team.

Love, Gail x

Some photos by Morgan Cartlidge @tinandcopperstudios