Hey to all you Patreon people!

First up, a big thanks to you for helping out the show. It's been really heartening to see so many of you value Risky Business enough to put your hands in your pockets and make a contribution.

The original idea behind the Patreon campaign was that if I hit the target I could take that money and throw it at an industrial unit here in Byron Bay and turn it into a proper studio. After 11.5 years working from home full time, I've been feeling a bit cooped up.

The plan was to buy one and use the Patreon contributions to help service the debt. I'd get an office to work in, and over time I'd be building some equity in some bricks and mortar which will come in handy if I'm lucky enough to get too old to work.

Well, we haven't hit the target (it was ambitious) and property prices have gone berserk here in Australia over the last 12 months. Also, commercial finance in this country is fraught. I wouldn't be able to get a loan for a commercial property anyway. (Not without a fully paid-off house as security.)

So I'm switching my plans up and it looks like the most realistic thing I can do is to eventually build a backyard office designed for sound production. (Carpeted walls, right shape etc.)

I've got enough room for something small in the backyard (Maybe 2.5m x 3m), and while I don't absolutely need it right now, I'm going to eventually.

So the plan that I had with the money raised via the Patreon campaign has changed. The unit idea is out, but the backyard studio is in. The thing is, I have no idea when I'll be able to do that. It's a hell of a thing to organise and I'm pretty busy renovating my house at the moment. And there's still the possibility that I'll just say "You know what? I like that patch of lawn just the way it is". I doubt it, but it's a consideration.

Patreon pledges are up to about $1100 a month from around 200 patrons, so an average of about $5 a month each, which works out to $1.35 per patron per podcast. I could pay down a small garden studio in a few years at this rate, purely with listener contributions. That's pretty awesome.

But again, I'm not sure when I'll pull the trigger on that.

So that's my mini rant in the interests of transparency. I don't want to wind up like Bronwyn Bishop in some sort of misappropriation scandal, so I'm letting you all know that the original idea isn't going to happen. I'm pretty sure most of you are happy to just support the podcast and you don't really care where the money goes, but it's important to be open I think. If you don't want to support the show in this way anymore I respect it, but it's helping and I appreciate it.

Many thanks to all of you,

Pat