{"id":415,"date":"2019-10-27T18:19:11","date_gmt":"2019-10-27T17:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/?p=415"},"modified":"2021-03-10T11:06:07","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T10:06:07","slug":"help-make-retromat-sustainable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/help-make-retromat-sustainable\/","title":{"rendered":"Help to make Retromat sustainable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Hi, my name is <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Corinna Baldauf. (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/findingmarbles\" target=\"_blank\">Corinna Baldauf.<\/a> In 2012, I had a month of free time between quitting my old job and starting at a new company. During that time I created Retromat. Before Retromat, it took me at least an hour to plan a retrospective, looking through various blogs for inspiration. I was sure that there must be a faster way to find a wide variety of ideas. AFAIK there wasn\u2019t one at the time, so I built it. Retromat launched with 16 activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.reactiongifs.com\/r\/cheering_minions.gif\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Afterwards I spend large chunks of my free time adding activities to Retromat, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/finding-marbles.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">blogging<\/a> and creating <a href=\"http:\/\/wall-skills.com\/\">1-page summaries<\/a>. For a while all was well and I was a happy creator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2014 came along and 2 things happened:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>I became a mom. From then on, my free time belonged to my daughter.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Retromat became popular. With it came \u201ccommunity work\u201d. People suggesting activities, asking questions, sending photos etc.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Invisible work<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As someone interested in Open Source, I eventually recognized that I had landed myself in the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Catch-22 that successful OS projects suffer from (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/ nolanlawson.com\/2017\/03\/05\/what-it-feels-like-to-be-an-open-source-maintainer\/\" target=\"_blank\">Catch-22 that successful OS projects suffer from<\/a>: You have a successful project. Yay, that\u2019s awesome! People are using your brainchild. But it means community work (bug reports, pull requests, questions, contributors that need onboarding \u2013 if you\u2019re lucky). Community work is not why you started the project. It\u2019s mostly invisible work and takes away time to improve the original project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my case, community work soon became 95% of what I did. After a job and family I just didn\u2019t have much energy left. What little energy I had went into answering emails \u2013 and feeling guilty about the ones I hadn\u2019t answered yet&#8230; It took me months to answer emails. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.reactiongifs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/dead.gif\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I might sound ungrateful. I\u2019m not! It\u2019s still remarkable to me that so many people use their time to translate Retromat into 6 languages, suggest activities and so on. Still, in 2015 I realized that the current situation was not sustainable. (And we\u2019re big fans of a sustainable pace over here in the agile camp, aren\u2019t we ;)) <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Goal: Work part-time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You probably know the phrase \u201cTime is Money\u201d. The opposite is also true: \u201cMoney is Time\u201d as in, \u201cmoney can buy you time\u201d. Money that the projects earn is money I don\u2019t have to earn in my day job. If I want to have time and energy for my original projects (i.e. new activities and features for Retromat, new summaries, new blog posts), I have to find some way for the projects to support themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Retromat is the only project with an audience big enough that it might pay for itself. So I started looking into possibilities to \u201cmonetize\u201d with the goal of me going part-time at my regular job. Below I\u2019ve listed the things I\u2019ve tried or consciously decided not to try. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>tl;dr:<\/strong> In a cruel twist of fate every monetization attempt paid about for as much time as it took me to implement it. But not for more. If I had taken the \u201cmonetization time\u201d to create new content I\u2019d probably have been happier. Creating is what makes me happy. Selling&#8230; not so much. Well, no use crying over spilt milk. Maybe someone can learn from my fails. If you&#8217;re not interested in the details, scroll past the boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How have I tried to monetize? Let me count the ways:<br><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"background-color: #b9e7e7; padding: 1rem;\">PRINT RETROMAT<br><br>Actually this one doesn\u2019t really count: I\u2019ve created the print edition before Retromat became popular. I wasn\u2019t even sure I\u2019d break even. I did. The <a href=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/en\/print\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Print Retromats<\/a> are the only thing on this list that made serious money. \n<br>Upside: That pays for a nice holiday. \n<br>Downside: After a round of selling I really need that holiday! It\u2019s largely manual labor. Each and every Print Retromat is hand-cut.&nbsp;<br><br>But Corinna, can\u2019t you produce them pre-cut? Yes, but that completely changes the game for me. Right now I fall under a very nice VAT tax exemption for small businesses. For pre-cut Print Retromats I need to order much larger numbers and pay VAT, making them more expensive. Also lots more bureaucracy for me. And the risk of not knowing how big the market actually is. Could I sell 5000 Print Retromats without being able to give huge discounts to bulk orders? It\u2019s complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"background-color: #b9e7e7; padding: 1rem;\">DONATIONS<br><br>This one was the least effort to implement but also the lowest return. Donations were typically 5-10 dollars. A one-time-donation of 10 bucks every 2 weeks is not sustainable. Still, thank you donors! Especially to Steve who donated 50 bucks \ud83d\ude42<br><br>To be fair, I never really pushed donations. AFAIR I\u2019ve never even mentioned them on my newsletter. I was too ashamed. Donations feel like begging, not like being compensated for valuable work.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"background-color: #b9e7e7; padding: 1rem;\">SPONSORING<br><br>Next I thought I\u2019d go big: Instead of asking lots of people for donations I\u2019d ask a few companies for bigger amounts. Companies usually have more money than individuals. And on Retromat the audience is a very desirable niche. I know how much it costs to find a new employee via a head hunter -&gt; a sponsorship on Retromat to find a new Scrum Master is a great bargain. <br><br>Sponsoring would be close to viable if we had a sponsor every month. Alas, we\u2019ve had 1 per year. At least they\u2019re both cool, worthy organizations! Thank you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.emendare.de\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Emendare<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teammood.com\/en\/agile-retrospective\/?utm_campaign=retromat&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_source=retromat&amp;utm_content=sustainabilitypost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Teammood<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"background-color: #b9e7e7; padding: 1rem;\">EBOOK<br><br>This one is still around and does earn money. Unfortunately, I started selling the <a href=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/en\/ebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">eBook<\/a> around the time I exposed the newsletter more and subscribers skyrocketed. In most months the eBook pays for the Mailchimp account. So no extra time to work on projects either\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s all the monetization efforts I\u2019ve tried so far. For completeness sake I\u2019ll also list the options I rejected:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Considered and rejected<br><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"background-color: #b9e7e7; padding: 1rem;\">ADS&nbsp;<br><br>I don\u2019t like ads. I use ad blockers. I\u2019d prefer not to put them on one of my sites. And AFAIK the earning potential is very limited so not a big loss either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"background-color: #b9e7e7; padding: 1rem;\">PATREON<br><br>Lots of people suggested Patreon. I perceive Patreon as a platform for individuals to support content creators. In contrast, I view Retromat as something that companies should pay for, since we use Retromat for our work.&nbsp;<br><br>Plus, Patreon is based on extra content for Patrons. I\u2019m trying to carve out some time to create at all. When would I create that extra content?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"background-color: #b9e7e7; padding: 1rem;\">A NATIVE APP<br><br>Lots of extra work and risk for very little expected pay-off: App prices are low and the potential audience is not big enough to off-set that. Plus, I don\u2019t really know what an app could offer that the website couldn\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"background-color: #b9e7e7; padding: 1rem;\">GOING FREELANCE<br><br>Many of the people who put out valuable content are freelance consultants. Sometimes I get the impression that this is the only viable way: Freelancers (in IT) usually get paid very good day rates. The difficult bit is getting hired. That\u2019s why it makes perfect business \/ marketing sense to put content out there, have a newsletter, etc.&nbsp;<br><br>For me, as a full-time employee, it would be the other way around. I would go freelance to subsidize the time to create content under the risky assumption that it would be relatively easy for me to get jobs.&nbsp;<br><br>I\u2019ve actually tried that route. I never advertised workshops or facilitation but when someone asked for one, I\u2019d usually say yes. I like preparing for the engagement and the actual job. Judging from repeat bookings by customers, I\u2019m good at it. But consulting is a very different lifestyle, including traveling, etc.<br><br>It doesn\u2019t seem like a good trade-off to completely change my life just to make my side projects viable and \u201csensible marketing\u201d. And most importantly I really, really like my job. It\u2019s where most of my content ideas come from \u2013 grounded in long-term experience at the same <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sipgate.de\/work-hacks-sipgate-buecher\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(awesome!) place<\/a>. This long-term perspective seems valuable to me. I like what I\u2019m doing. I love my colleagues. I don\u2019t want to stop working there. I&#8217;d just like to work fewer hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What now?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I always tried to monetize something \u201cextra\u201d although I think the most valuable thing Retromat has to offer is &#8230; Retromat itself! Think about it: What would you do without Retromat? How much time does it save you? How much better are your retros because you can find activities that fit to your team\u2019s situation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve narrowly avoided burn-out earlier this year. Without my doctor I\u2019d be burned-out right now. Something has to change. Either I stop having projects or I find a way for them to be sustainable, i.e. earn enough money. I\u2019ll give it one last shot:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Does Retromat create enough value for you to support it on a regular basis? Take the poll:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Update: As of October 2020 you can <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"become a Retro Mate (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"\/en\/membership\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>become a Retro Mate<\/strong><\/a> \\o\/]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If enough people pledge their support, I will implement payment and billing. There are lots of providers in the US, not so many in Germany. I\u2019ll have to look around. The bill will look like a regular bill for a SaaS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If it doesn\u2019t work out, don\u2019t worry, <strong>Retromat will stay free and online<\/strong>. My projects will freeze in the state they are right now. The <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"amazing agile coach Timon Fiddike (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/agile.coach\/team\/timon-fiddike\/\" target=\"_blank\">amazing agile coach Timon Fiddike<\/a> will continue to take care of the Retromat backend. Retromat translators can still work and we would add new translators, but that\u2019s about it. Requests regarding new activities, photos, features, questions etc. get a polite \u201cThis project is not maintained anymore\u201d-email. I just don\u2019t have it in me anymore after a day\u2019s work and family time with 2 children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How can we help?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A number of people have offered their time to help. Thank you, I appreciate it! Unfortunately I can\u2019t think of anything that I could easily hand over to someone else. And if I could, the handing over, keeping track of it, reminding people, &#8230; Managing other contributors is work, too and not the fun kind. So right now it\u2019s down to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"money (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLSfJ5-35kNO5NVRGa6ztSqLf2fs8Gg0he4pslm-x_HNld3d4Ww\/viewform?usp=sf_link\" target=\"_blank\">money<\/a>. If that ever changes, I\u2019ll publish it here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Money will help me tackle my huge backlogs: At least 30 activities for Retromat; features&nbsp; for Retromat (comments, anyone?); 50 ideas for Wall-Skills summaries; 40 topics for blog posts; <s>2<\/s> 3 book outlines; projects like Lift-off-O-Mat, Planning-O-Mat; physical products like the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Scrum Master Emergency Kit (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/finding-marbles.com\/2011\/09\/21\/scrum-master-emergency-kit\/\" target=\"_blank\">Scrum Master Emergency Kit<\/a>; &#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My ideas are endless. Obviously I won\u2019t be able to realize all of them. But looking at my track record, a lot of my ideas turn into realities given some time and space to breathe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for reading and considering to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/en\/membership\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>support Retromat<\/strong><\/a>!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How much money has been pledged?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Update: As of October 2020 you can <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/en\/membership\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>become a Retro Mate<\/strong><\/a> \\o\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Update: As of Feb 5th, 2020, 40 people have pledged about 500 Euros. After deducting income tax and a realistic no-show-rate, this is not enough to take significant time off. At least, on its own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But maybe the &#8220;time-off&#8221;-money doesn&#8217;t have to come from a single source: I&#8217;ve partnered with  <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.it-agile.de\/\" target=\"_blank\">German consultancy it-agile<\/a> for distributing <a href=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/en\/print\">Print Retromats<\/a>. So part of the &#8220;time-off&#8221;-money will come from this source \\o\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I&#8217;m working on setting up a subscription \/ member system. Thank you and stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi, my name is Corinna Baldauf. In 2012, I had a month of free time between quitting my old job and starting at a new company. During that time I created Retromat. Before Retromat, it took me at least an hour to plan a retrospective, looking through various blogs for inspiration. I was sure that &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/help-make-retromat-sustainable\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Help to make Retromat sustainable&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,4,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":674,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions\/674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retromat.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}