Galen, Author at Pajama Pants Finance

13Feb 2017 by Galen

Business Lessons From Gaming

So, did you know that you already know the basics of running a business and managing your money? There are a ton of specifics, to be sure, but if you’re a gamer you absolutely have your foundation in place. You might not remember the training but you’ve been training for this your whole life! I think you’ll be surprised how many business lessons immediately cross over from gaming. Disclaimer: I’ve played a lot of Blizzard games so they’re going to feature heavily on this list. Part 2 of the list is here. First, examine your surroundings (scouting is good) What resources are available to you and how much is available? Who are you competing with? What strengths do you want to play towards and what weaknesses do you need to…

06Feb 2017 by Galen

Out this week

Uncategorized

Hi everyone, This week is a break week for PPF- well at least for posting. I'm taking a major licensure exam on Friday so I need to be fully focused. Content returns next week!

30Jan 2017 by Galen

How Streamers Should Use Extra Money

Personal Finances, Running a Business, Taxes

Ok, so you followed some good advice (hopefully ours with reverse budgeting) and you’ve built up a solid emergency fund. Maybe you’re someone just looking to go full time so you built up enough to give yourself a the runway you need. Or you’re a full time streamer who recognizes that you income is totally based on you so you need to have a buffer in place for illness, unavailability, or just slow times. You've gotten to the point where you have some extra money (yes, it can happen!) so what do you do next with your earnings? Goals The first thing to consider is your goals. Hard to know what to do with your money if you don’t know what it is you want to do! Do you want…

23Jan 2017 by Galen

Conferences for Streamers

Running a Business

Last week we talked about how to network with other streamers. That brings the natural question, where can I do this in person? Yeah, it’s great to talk with someone in their chat or through Discord but you can make a much deeper connection over a drink or conversation face to face. So today, we’re going to talk about some cool conferences you could go to in 2017 (or plan ahead for 2018). Keep in mind that anything you spend to go to these is a business expense so you can write it off! That has to be one of the major perks of doing what you love as a job- you get to go to stuff you’d want to go to anyways but do it with before tax dollars.…

16Jan 2017 by Galen

Why Streamers Should Network

Running a Business

So, are you networking with other streamers and your viewers? Are you doing it methodically but genuinely? Networking can be a huge boom to your stream which means it makes all of the dollars and cents in the world to do! A strong network is the foundation of a strong business. While I’m relatively new to the world of streaming (and therefore networking as a streamer) I do have a ton of experience networking for work. If you have any ideas you want to add to this article, please let me know. You’ll be helping me and the readers! Aight, so what’s networking? That’s a simple one. Networking is just talking to people. That’s it. Nothing super fancy, you don’t need a suit and tie or fancy-ass business cards. All…

09Jan 2017 by Galen

Use Reverse Budgeting

Personal Finances, Running a Business

Do you end up feeling like you’re out of money at the end of each month? Are you ever concerned that one major setback might force you to stop streaming? Traditional budgeting works just fine but it focuses too much on the present and not enough on the future. Let’s talk about reverse budgeting. What isn’t reverse budgeting? What is reverse budgeting not? Negative titles are hard… This is pretty simple. Reverse budgeting isn’t your standard budgeting advice. In a traditional budget (which I still think is really useful) you track and categorize all of your expenses. That way, you can see what you’re spending and match it to your income. It’s a big focus on each category- did I spend too much on eating out this month? Too much…

02Jan 2017 by Galen

Student Loans for Streamers: Basics

Personal Finances

Are you worried that your student loan payments are holding you back from full time streaming? Does your side income mean you have to pay more in student loans? We’re going to go in to the details of different student loan plans to help ease your mind. We also have some tips on ways your streaming might impact your loan repayments. The Ugly Stuff The statistics on student loan debt in the United States are… pretty horrifying. Skip this paragraph if you don’t want the gory stats. American households carry a staggering 1.385 trillion dollars of student loan debt as of October 2016, putting it behind only mortgages as the largest type of household debt. This number grows by over $2,700 per second and if you’re interested in watching it…

26Dec 2016 by Galen

Holidays 2016

Uncategorized

Happy holidays everyone! Hopefully you're having a great time with family and maybe even getting some gear upgrades.

19Dec 2016 by Galen

What is your Stream’s Class?

Running a Business

Whether or not you believe it, as soon as you’re earning any money from your stream you’re running a business. Do you have a good sense of the type of business you’re running or the type of business you should be running? Have you made intentional effort to choose your stream's class? Just like in any RPG (and you can’t tell me life isn’t an RPG!) your class can have a big impact on how you play the game. So what are your options? Unless you’re a finance nerd like me or a seasoned business owner I’m guessing you’re more comfortable with the meanings of mage, warrior, priest etc instead of sole proprietorship, limited liability company, or S corporation. Don’t worry, we’ll cover it all in this article. One small…

13Dec 2016 by Galen

Be a Consistent Streamer

Stream Tips

This article came out a day late. I have good excuses. I had finals last week and my birthday was last week. Tutoring helped earn me some side income but ate up a lot of my time. I had a board meeting that took up an entire night. All true, but I should have gotten the article out on time. I needed a better schedule. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not a big deal if it happens once. The issue comes if it happens over and over again. Your viewers expect you to be on a schedule and there’s a good chance some of them watch you because your stream time matches their free time. So how do you keep yourself on a schedule as a streamer? Let’s…

Author: Galen