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Winter Update + 2025 Plans and New Payment Options!
8 months ago
Hey hey, everyone! Hope your holidays were great and that the start of the year is going well so far. I'm still technically on vacation but I've been hard at work outlining and working on stories for the new year.
My main goal for this year is to try and balance doing commissions and personal work as a way to not burn out since I did come close to that a few points in 2024, though there were other things that happened too that didn't help. While my year admittedly wasn't as bad as other folks' from what I've seen, it wasn't all sunshine and roses. On top of essentially starting the year with having to move into a friend's house because I couldn't afford to keep living where I was due to rental company BS (seriously, those companies are all like the mob), I also lost a couple friends and had to deal with that. Hali, Xin, wherever y'all are now, I hope things are going well and you're very much missed.
Further still, I ended up hitting the threshold for needing to start reporting my commission revenue now (at least from PayPal) and because I live in the US, that means I'm going to be paying at least up to a 25% self-employment tax once all my taxes are said and done, which is one of the reasons why it's going to be a bit stressful at the beginning of the year but at least I have a place to live and aren't going anywhere for a while. As for other misfortunes that happened this year, well, *gestures at literally goddamned everything else happening in my country*
Now, despite the past couple paragraphs, things aren't all doom and gloom. I'm incredibly excited for this year and what things are going to bring me. There's a new Monster Hunter coming out in February that I am utterly buying day one and I'm going to start doing a bit more with 3D modeling soon since as I've discovered with my graphic design work on the bounty posters, if I at least look at something and try it out, I'm an incredibly fast learner.
The current commission queue is also proceeding well and I'm hoping that if everything goes well, I can have everything done by early March (since I do have some kinda' long ones to work on so it might take a bit) and then take a few more.
Along with that whole thing, I'm also offering a brand new payment option for people. Now, because the amount for receiving gifts is technically higher than self-employment, I have set up a Throne account with some items listed on there that you can either purchase or contribute to a fund for more expensive items. It's essentially a digital gift wishlist sort of thing. I've vetted it and talked with other folks that have it and it seems very much on the up and up. I'll throw a link to that at the end of this journal as well as adding that to my socials and profile here.
That being said, normal payment options are still a thing since obviously Throne payments don't give any clients buyer protection and while I'd like to think that I've gained a reputation for being very reliable and a puppen of my word when it comes to what I do, I'm still understanding of maintaining that trust and having my clients feel comfortable. The Throne option is also a way to essentially help me acquire fun things and the like since that's essentially what I use my commission earnings for anyway. Writing isn't my main job and I have a full-time one that helps take care of bills, utilities, groceries etc. Either way, it's an option and if anyone's interested, we can discuss more details.
Finally, I'm also going to try and stream a bit more in the future! It's generally only going to be once a week but I'll be announcing when I go live and what I play and the like. I'm not expecting to go huge on Twitch or anything but I like playing stuff blind and getting genuine reactions so hopefully that might be something everyone can enjoy.
Well, with all of that out of the way, I hope everyone has a great day, a great start to the year and let's try and make this whole year awesome in spite of everything. Take care!
Throne link- https://throne.com/jake_the_puppen
My main goal for this year is to try and balance doing commissions and personal work as a way to not burn out since I did come close to that a few points in 2024, though there were other things that happened too that didn't help. While my year admittedly wasn't as bad as other folks' from what I've seen, it wasn't all sunshine and roses. On top of essentially starting the year with having to move into a friend's house because I couldn't afford to keep living where I was due to rental company BS (seriously, those companies are all like the mob), I also lost a couple friends and had to deal with that. Hali, Xin, wherever y'all are now, I hope things are going well and you're very much missed.
Further still, I ended up hitting the threshold for needing to start reporting my commission revenue now (at least from PayPal) and because I live in the US, that means I'm going to be paying at least up to a 25% self-employment tax once all my taxes are said and done, which is one of the reasons why it's going to be a bit stressful at the beginning of the year but at least I have a place to live and aren't going anywhere for a while. As for other misfortunes that happened this year, well, *gestures at literally goddamned everything else happening in my country*
Now, despite the past couple paragraphs, things aren't all doom and gloom. I'm incredibly excited for this year and what things are going to bring me. There's a new Monster Hunter coming out in February that I am utterly buying day one and I'm going to start doing a bit more with 3D modeling soon since as I've discovered with my graphic design work on the bounty posters, if I at least look at something and try it out, I'm an incredibly fast learner.
The current commission queue is also proceeding well and I'm hoping that if everything goes well, I can have everything done by early March (since I do have some kinda' long ones to work on so it might take a bit) and then take a few more.
Along with that whole thing, I'm also offering a brand new payment option for people. Now, because the amount for receiving gifts is technically higher than self-employment, I have set up a Throne account with some items listed on there that you can either purchase or contribute to a fund for more expensive items. It's essentially a digital gift wishlist sort of thing. I've vetted it and talked with other folks that have it and it seems very much on the up and up. I'll throw a link to that at the end of this journal as well as adding that to my socials and profile here.
That being said, normal payment options are still a thing since obviously Throne payments don't give any clients buyer protection and while I'd like to think that I've gained a reputation for being very reliable and a puppen of my word when it comes to what I do, I'm still understanding of maintaining that trust and having my clients feel comfortable. The Throne option is also a way to essentially help me acquire fun things and the like since that's essentially what I use my commission earnings for anyway. Writing isn't my main job and I have a full-time one that helps take care of bills, utilities, groceries etc. Either way, it's an option and if anyone's interested, we can discuss more details.
Finally, I'm also going to try and stream a bit more in the future! It's generally only going to be once a week but I'll be announcing when I go live and what I play and the like. I'm not expecting to go huge on Twitch or anything but I like playing stuff blind and getting genuine reactions so hopefully that might be something everyone can enjoy.
Well, with all of that out of the way, I hope everyone has a great day, a great start to the year and let's try and make this whole year awesome in spite of everything. Take care!
Throne link- https://throne.com/jake_the_puppen
And heck yeah! I'm looking forward to it