In the third part of this lemonade series, I share the secret ingredient that could allow me to concoct the recipe of my dreams. Click here to read part one and part two.

Discovering the secret ingredient

It’s been a bit of a coincidence. I’d heard about it before, but never really paid much attention to it. It wasn’t until I was at the bottom of the barrel (the pitcher?) that I began to consider using it for my own business. After all, I had nothing left to lose since my other ingredients had become inaccessible.

During the few weeks of confinement where I spent extensive time gaming online, I saw that several streamers, gamers and YouTubers I was following were using a platform called Patreon as a source of income. That sparked my curiosity.

Patreon orangesPhoto par Mae Mu sur Unsplash
Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash

Patreon, my new citrus

Patreon is a membership website. The platform allows artists and creators to earn an income from their subscribed “patrons” in exchange for their products and services. This ingredient has been wildly available to everyone for a few years now.

Basically, Patreon is a give-and-take relationship between creators and their patrons. The artist is committed to regularly produce content that is relevant to his patrons. The varied content can include images, songs, podcasts, videos, live broadcasts, downloadable files, exclusive material, links, surveys, special promotions and more.

Patrons, in return, donate an amount of money to show their appreciation and support their creative efforts. It’s a fairly simple and common-sense approach that looks like a juicy citrus fruit to me.

Harvesting orange for lemonade
Photo by Brienne Hong on Unsplash

The harvest

I continued my harvest in this unknown field, trying to find photographers and — above all — to see how they did it. I think it was when I came across the profile of this young woman who tries to present latex to ‘ordinary’ people as an everyday clothing option. I thought to myself, if she can make a successful lemonade with this fruit, there’s certainly a way I can too.

Lemonade recipes
Photo by Kaizen Nguyễn on Unsplash

Insanity is doing the same recipe over and over again and expecting a different lemonade

I didn’t make it up, Albert Einstein said it himself! (Maybe with a few different words, I’m not too sure.) Yes, we’ve all got the same big lemon right in the face. As we all also have the opportunity to use it in our own way. I’ve decided to make an improved lemonade recipe out of it.

Maybe it will taste bitter and require some big adjustments … maybe, on the contrary, it will be more refreshing, more economical and more nutritious. There are some of those risks that we sometimes have to accept: To keep the same recipe or to switch to a new one. After all, if we don’t try it, how could we ever know?

When life gives you lemons …

P.S.: No citrus has been harmed during the writing of this series.