Working Vacation

2020 has so far been an exciting year for BAMvfx. The first two weeks of January we have tripled the audience between YouTube and this website. Thank you so much.

So Much Awesome Face Right Now

As a result of that growth, I have had a tough time focusing on my day job. As well as creating content and cleaning up the site. I also wanted to learn how to create a Shopify store. I felt stretched way to thin. At my day job I have gone over a year without a vacation. So I demanded this week off to focus on BAMvfx’s infrastructure. That way when I go back to work I can concentrate on creating quality content regularly. As of writing this I only have two and a half days left until I go back to the day job. I still have a lot to check off of my list.

Monday is coming soon.

This blog is an overview of my working vacation. The planning, the thought process and execution. I write this in the hopes that my successes and failures can help you with your content creation. Before we get started, I feel it is important to provide context.

A while I got frustrated with leading people to other platforms to sell my art prints. Sending people to websites where Art is undervalued. Spending hours on a piece of art for a site that urges artists to except pennies on the dollar. At times I feel like I am paying a membership fee to advertise their platform. For months I complained about it until a friend suggested that I find a solution.

At the same time a family member was asking me a lot of questions about web development. Her boss wanted to do an overhaul on a job placement website. I had done a couple of websites before and had some nightmare experiences. I offered advice but refused to actually take on the client. I felt it was way out of my wheelhouse. Weeks went by with free consulting and they could not find a web developer they trusted. They kept asking me and I refused. Along the way I was learning about WordPress because Adobe was discontinuing Muse. Then I had a medical issue. I could not work at my day job for about 6 weeks. The bills were mounting up and my family member’s boss started emailing me directly asking me to do the site. Having little options and against my better judgment, I took on the website. (Scroll to continue)

link to the old print shop

I was a little wiser though. After my last experiences I refused not to do anything without 50% up front. I call it Han Solo rules, “half now and the other half when we reach Alderaan” . As well as, whatever domain and hosting cost. Nothing was to be done without a written contract. I was very nervous due to that old saying, “never do business with family”. Scared out of my mind, I used the deposit to create BAMvfx.com to learn WordPress. It was a very challenging experience and really tested my relationship with my family. But through blood, sweat and a lot tears, we made it happen. The best perk was now I had my own website and blog. I used BAMvfx.com to test aspects of the web.

For over a year I have been tweaking the website learning more and more. S.E.O., ecommerce and overall look. At the same time I started to produce more Vlog and Tutorial content on my main YouTube Channel. This brings us to the, “2020 dilemma”. I started to pay more and more attention to my Analytics. I found a pattern of gaining subscribers and then losing subscribers. The verity content is alienating my audience. At the same time my overhead is growing too. I’ve made a lot of sacrifices to keep this website an channel growing. I don’t go out to eat. I don’t go to the movies and I neglect domestic expenses to fuel BAMvfx. I felt like if I wanted to I could start running ads on the blog. However, I feel that would take away from the aesthetic. I won’t do that. So I ran the gambit of YouTube self help gurus to find better options. In Dec 2019 I experimented with a few different things and now have a solid plan for 2020. (scroll to continue or click the button below to subscribe to the BAMvfx You Tube Channel)

Before I illustrate my business model, I invite you to follow BAMvfx on a journey for the LOW, LOW price of FREE.

First thing is cleaning up the YouTube channels. BAMvfx will be for tutorials and education. I have created a New Channel called BAMvfx Art and that will be where the artwork goes. I am working on a tutorial on how to build a YouTube channel in 2020. We will watch the behind the scenes of BAMvfx Art on the main BAMvfx Channel. Then we have BAMvfx Dailies, that will be candid vlog content. I will live stream whatever I am working on the Twitch channel most nights between 6 and 8 pm EST. The main website will remain verity content as I have not seen any effect in being diverse on the webzone.

Follow the Twitch BAMvfx

Subscribe to BAMvfx Art YT

Next we come to funding the website so it can be pop up, banner ad free. The communities purchasing art prints has always helped out and given a little slack over the years. What I see a lot of YouTubers do is diversify their sources of income. Over the years I have noticed that no one source is reliable. This is why I Shopify now as well as WooCommerce. My Shopify stores are outside of the BAMvfx brand and my WooCommerce store on this site will be used to test out new products. I do snag the occasional twitch donation and those are becoming more frequent and greatly appreciated. Next I have the Patreon built to where I want it. But before I link to that, I want to make sure I can consistently provide value to the platform. I plan on providing things like PS brushes, textures and reference photos on a weekly basis to Patreons as well exclusive content. I also have been invited to some affiliate programs. All affiliate links will be disclosed but not everything we discuss will be part of a program. Lastly, by fall I want to be completely open to design commission.

I want to thank you all for a great last couple of years and I cannot contain my excitement for what this year holds. Below are buttons linking to the mentioned channels, services and products with disclosed affiliation where applicable.