ASLU 054: Creative Canadian Women - Pailin Chongchitnant & Getting Started with Patreon

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In this episode Melissa sits down to chat with Vancouver based author, chef, TV host and YouTuber, Pailin Chongchitnant, about how diving into YouTube has impacted her career and how to get started building a community that financially supports your creativity through Patreon.

During the first half of the episode, Pailin shares her story of growing up in Thailand loving to eat and loving to cook for her family and dreaming of having her own cooking show on TV.

Her food journey first led her to the University of British Columbia to study nutrition sciences. Along the way she worked as a line cook in local restaurants and eventually made her way to San Fransisco to attend the famed Le Cordon Bleu.

It was while attending school in California that she started what is now her very popular YouTube channel. Hot Thai Kitchen, after her brother challenged her to make her own cooking show rather than waiting to be discovered. After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu she continued to work in restaurants in San Fransisco but decided that while she loved cooking and creating dishes, the restaurant industry didn’t jive with some of her other life dreams.

So she came back to Vancouver and returned to school to become a teacher. That led to a brief career teaching Home Economics to high school students around Vancouver while continuing to produce new episodes for her YouTube channel. A year into teaching, her channel had grown to the point that she could make it a viable full time income and she left her teaching job to focus solely on YouTube. Today, her channel has over 1.3 million subscribers and has led to her authoring the cookbook Hot Thai Kitchen (with a second book on the way), as well as being one of the co-hosts of the popular TV cooking show, One World Kitchen.

YouTube has played a significant role in helping Pailin create opportunities for herself and we also discuss how video can have a huge impact in getting people to purchase from you!

In the second half of the episode, we dive into the ins and outs of Patreon. Patreon has become an additional income stream for Pailin, allowing her to diversify her revenue even further and build a truly dedicated base of fans. She shares some of her best tips for getting started on the platform, how crucial being consistent is, and how it can help creatives like you, build a fan base that financially supports you and your art.

If you just want the links to the resources mentioned in this episode, scroll down to the bottom.

Listen To the Episode

Here’s a direct link to Episode 54 - or you can listen via the players below:

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if you want to make the thing…

…just make the thing.

getting started on Patreon

Patreon is a platform that allows people who love your work to financially support you. You could be an artist, youtuber, podcaster, writer, musician, blogger, sculptor, fashion designer... It doesn’t matter - as long as you create.

For centuries, artists, craftspeople and artisans have had patrons. The Medici family in Italy were famous patrons who supported artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelagnelo, Botticelli and even scientist Galileo by commissioning works and sponsoring them - giving them the freedom to create without having to worry about whether or not they could eat! They also heavily encouraged other wealthy families to do the same, fostering one of the most creative periods in history - the Renaissance. Today, museums, arts organizations and even public television networks all over the world rely heavily on donors or “patrons of the arts” to fund projects, acquire pieces and commission works.

Patreon works in a similar way by giving working creatives an online platform where their biggest fans can financially support their work and encourage them to produce more of it!

In this episode we talk about:

  • the basic premise of patreon - creating tiered levels of financial support that patrons can subscribe in exchange for exclusive subscriber perks or bonuses

  • not all of your patrons will even want the perks - they may just want to support you because they love what you do!

  • other platforms that offer a similar service like ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee, YouTube’s new Membership platform etc.

  • the fees that the different patronage/membership platforms charge the creatives

  • why you don’t want to start your Patreon too early in your business

  • managing the extra time Patreon will take you and ensuring you have a big enough audience that the extra time is well spent

  • why your patrons need to be your top priority and why it’s important to be consistent with patron only content

  • keep your subscriber tiers simple and easy to differentiate and have a level that works for everyone

  • the different types of perks you can offer

  • how to market your Patreon and grow your community

  • understanding subscriber churn (it’s ok!)

  • how rewarding it can be to have a deeper connection with your most supportive fans

Mentioned In This Episode

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Podcast Episode, Inspiring WomenMelissa HartfielY2S2, youtube, patreon, business tips, top4Comment