Galen, Author at Pajama Pants Finance

06Aug 2018 by Galen

Sponsorships vs Affiliate Deals

In this article I hope to quickly clear up a common misconception. Both affiliate deals and sponsorships can help effectively monetize your stream. However, they’re not one and the same. Let’s compare sponsorships vs affiliate deals! Affiliate Deals An affiliate deal is an agreement where you get a portion of any sale you contribute to. Essentially, it’s a commission. There are a couple of common affiliate deals I see on Twitch. The most common is Amazon, for good reason. First, it’s something anyone can sign up for. Second, there’s a high shopping density on Amazon so theoretically your community could use it for almost anything. Finally, Amazon owns Twitch and promotes some items through their affiliate agreement. For instance, game purchases through Twitch fall under this Amazon umbrella. After that,…

23Jul 2018 by Galen

Comparing year over year metrics

Running a Business

Are you doing better than you did last year? By what measure? Do you have data to back up that assertion? Today we’re going to look at year over year metrics. If you’re a newer streamer or didn’t track much data in the past you should read this article but there won’t be many immediate action steps for you beyond start collecting data. Still, it’s good to know that it’s something you should be working towards in the future. Why compare year over year? The more data you can meaningfully parse about your business the better you will know how things are going, if you need to make a course correction, and you can be better at identifying things that went well. This all helps you plan for the future…

16Jul 2018 by Galen

Planning for charity streaming

Personal Finances, Running a Business, Stream Tips

I love how much the streaming community contributes to charity. Games Done Quick, St. Jude PLAY LIVE, GuardianCon, and many other events yield millions of dollars (and more each year!) for awesome charities. Beyond that individual broadcasters run their own charity streams for specific causes they’re passionate about. However, unless you’re making hundreds of thousands of dollars from streaming you should do your business a favor and plan for your charity streaming. Far from reducing the amount of charity streaming, adequate planning should help increase the amount that broadcasters are able to contribute in time, energy, and income. Why you need to plan around charity streaming If you rely in any way on your income from streaming then you need to plan around charity streaming because you’re likely to earn…

09Jul 2018 by Galen

Working on, not in, your streaming business

Running a Business

I’ve previously talked about working on your business. It’s time to make it an article of its own. Working on your business, and not just in it, is a key to success. This is ESPECIALLY important for streamers since you’re so locked in to working in your business. So, what’s the difference between working in and working on your business? Working in your business Working in your business entails doing the day to day stuff you need to do to keep the business running. For a streamer that’s doing pre-stream prep, actually going live and streaming, maintaining and growing your community, seeking out new opportunities, and networking. There are even more than that. It’s a ton of stuff! You guys are putting in crazy hours to pursue a dream and…

02Jul 2018 by Galen

Mid year planning for your business

Galen's musings, Running a Business

Believe it or not, we’re in the second half of 2018! It’s a great time to evaluate how the year’s gone so far, compare to what you planned at the start of the year, and re-do your plan for the rest of the year. Mid year planning can be the turning point for your business. For the record, I didn’t do phenomenally well at my 2018 New Year’s resolutions. About the only thing I fully kept to was being better at sales. Ah well. Reflect on what’s happened How’s your 2018 gone so far? You should take some time to actually reflect on it. It’s important to make plans but it’s even more important to check in on them and adjust. No plan survives first contact with the enemy (or…

25Jun 2018 by Galen

Cost of Living and Full-Time Streaming

Personal Finances, Running a Business

Small businesses fail at a high rate. After all, starting a business is a risky venture. If you’re extremely lucky, you’ve got a spouse with a good, steady job. If you’re lucky, you’re starting a side business or something that doesn’t require a ton of initial capital. But if you’re unlucky, it’s something like a restaurant with tons of expensive equipment and huge staffing needs. I open with this because as a streamer you’re a small business. While a lot goes in to making a business successful, one of the most common causes of failure is that the business can’t support its owner in time. The business is making some money but the owner ran out of runway. We know streaming is a viable career. We’re fortunate enough to have…

04Jun 2018 by Galen

BanzaiBaby’s StreamOn Business Plan

Running a Business

If you watched the Stream On competition Twitch put on, you know it was a lot of fun. They did a fantastic job finding participants with different types of streams. Personally, it helped me broaden the content I watch. Additionally, they did an awesome job challenging the participants to broaden their stream beyond their routine. However, being the business/finance nerd that I am there was one thing that impressed me perhaps more than anything else from the show. BanzaiBaby’s business plan for what she’d do with the money if she won blew me away. Let’s talk why but we’ll start with why you need a business plan. Why do I need a business plan? You need a business plan to help your business succeed. Yes, it’s totally possible to have…

28May 2018 by Galen

Cash flow projections for streamers

Running a Business

One of the harder parts of being a streamer is planning out your future cash flow. By cash flow I mean what you actually have coming in to your bank account and going out over a period of time (usually a month). Why is it important? It’s wildly important to project your future cash flows. The first, and most important, reason is that it helps you see if your incoming cash is enough to cover your expenses! Life kinda sucks if you can’t cover your expenses and future dollars can’t cover current expenses. The second is that it helps you plan out business growth. You may have an awesome idea for your stream that’ll take some extra money to implement. If you don’t have the cash on hand today you…

21May 2018 by Galen

Recording business mileage

Running a Business, Taxes

We live on Twitch, we’re all hermetical shut-ins, right? Despite that stereotype, you likely do some driving that you wouldn’t normally do if you weren’t streaming. You may be going to a local meetup, a conference, or just taking a meeting that requires a bit of a drive. If so, you should document how many miles you travel. Why would I track miles? Considering it’s a bit of a pain to remember and actually log your miles, why would you do it? There’s an easy answer: if you drove somewhere you wouldn’t normally have because of your business you can get a deduction. That deduction will save you on taxes! For instance, this year I'm going to be driving to TwitchCon. That's several hundred miles and therefore several hundred dollars…

07May 2018 by Galen

Quarterly taxes: How and why

Running a Business, Taxes

Taxes, as always everyone’s favorite topic. Did you know that when you’re self-employed you’re supposed to pay them every three months (aka your quarterly taxes)? Unlike everyone else it’s not a once a year thing for you. Why do you owe quarterly taxes? There’s actually a good reason for owing quarterly taxes. When you’re working for someone else they’re taking a portion of what you owe out of each paycheck. This gets the IRS their money sooner and it prevents you from owing a huge amount come tax time. When you’re on your own well… you’re on your own on the taxes side as well! We’re a pay as you go tax system so you are supposed to pay your taxes as you make income. A common refrain in the…

Author: Galen