I am Guy Markham

I'm Guy Markham and I make videos about motorcycles, off-grid living and reading books on my compost toilet, most of the time I'm just trying to be funny. If you are reading this you might already be aware of that.

I am crowdfunding to maintain and grow my channel, fund my new project and to give myself some much needed financial breathing room while I do it.

Every little helps, if every one of my followers donated £0.14 I would pass my target.

Long Story Short

I'm 36 years old, most of my professional background is in private security and for the last 3 years I've been running security teams for the UK film and TV industry. My work was affected by the writers strike and I started making videos to see if they got any traction thinking that one day I might be able to document some traveling and maybe build on it. I went from 400 followers at the end of September to over 37,000 at the time of writing. I am amazed at the response to what I am doing and desperately want to continue and grow. I would be incredibly happy if I could pursue this as a full time career but currently I will not be able to afford to.

I was doing 70-90 hour weeks in the film industry, sometimes working 7 days a week. I don't want to lose the momentum this has built, if I go back to working full time I will not be able to continue producing material at anywhere near the same rate. I'm setting up this fundraiser in the hope that with some help from the people enjoying what I'm doing I can put myself in a position where I can make my content become self sufficient. This money will be used to invest into equipment and costs for my next project and give me some much needed financial stability. Ill explain further bellow.

The Plan

YouTube: I have some plans for longer form content on YouTube which has a far better structure for monetization. I have a format for a series interviewing bikers regardless of age, experience, public profile, what they ride or for that matter any other factor, the only requirement is that you ride a motorcycle. This would be in person interviews discussing the joys and pitfalls of motorcycle ownership along with an optional ride to a local beauty spot, favorite road, point of interest or just the best spot to grab a coffee on your ride. I already have some fantastic guests ready for when I start to film and if its successful I hope to make it a continuous project. Monetization start at 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours, that may sound like a lot but if less than 3% of my Instagram following subscribe and watch 40 minutes of content I would be eligible for pay per views. I have a few other projects in mind for YouTube and would love the opportunity to have them realized.

Sponsorships and Affiliates: I already have some great affiliates, I'm especially grateful to MotoCoverz for being with me since my early days. I'm quite discerning with who I work with in this respect, I want to make sure I only work with companies who's products I actually use and approve of. The more content I put out and the more followers I gain the more opportunities i will get. This is the primary reason I do not want to lose the momentum of the channel.

Merch: This has been suggested and requested quite a bit, I now have some designs I am very pleased with and a number of potential suppliers, where possible I am trying to use ethical and sustainable products. With some items I will be able to do a make to order program however the majority require upfront costs. If you donate and leave a note for me I will be more than happy to reserve merch in your name

What I intend to use this money for.

Equipment: I currently do everything on my phone, I would like to make longer and higher quality content, for this I'd like to put together a small portable set up for cameras, sound and lighting and something capable of catching ride footage. Not only would this allow me to travel for the interview show and set up anywhere, it would also enable me to produce far higher quality videos and get started on projects that are not possible with my phone.

Production Costs: Fuel, Accommodation, Bike Maintenance, Hiring space to shoot and various other costs of getting the interview series up and running. I am attempting to do this on as much of a shoe sting as I can and I am no stranger to working on a budget, I intend to camp and stay with friends where possible but I will still need to run and maintain the bike and cover the costs of travel.

Setting up Merch: As i mentioned earlier I need to cover the upfront costs of getting started with merchandise, I would love to be able to fund the rest of my endeavors with direct sales and promotional work, getting this going will likely be the best contributor to making the channel self sufficient. As I said earlier, if you donate please leave a note if you would like something reserved.

My Bills: Part of funding like this is also to give me the financial freedom to pursue this idea. I am in a bad way financially at the moment,the last 6 months have been very difficult, I will explain below

My Financial Situation

I have been out of work for 6 months now. I do odd jobs on the farm and help out friends and family with building and gardening projects but it is not consistent work. Some weeks I have actually been able to feed myself solely with affiliate sales and donations from people who enjoy my Instagram work. Unfortunately although I have been able to survive like this I have fallen behind on my other commitments.

The strikes lasted a while and with not having many other avenues of work available in my area I am now at the end of my credit card and have missed the last 5 payments on my bike, at the time of writing I am 10 days away from a repossession order being put in place. My bike is one of my primary sources of joy but also my income, its how I travel and it is the bases for the majority of my content.

I want to be completely honest about the breakdown of costs, just under £1500 of the money raised will be used to clear my backdated bills, everything else will be used to fund future online content.

Finally

First of all, thank you for taking the time to read all of that.

There are many other causes far more deserving of attention than myself. I only want you to donate if you will not miss that money and you don't have anything more important to put it towards.

This is a self indulgent pursuit. I will absolutely survive if this doesn't work out. I am trying to monetize what I find most enjoyable in life. In the process I hope I am producing work that people can enjoy too.

I cant think of anything I would rather do with my time on this earth than try to make people smile or laugh and travel by motorcycle while I do it.

Thank you again.

Ride Safe and Stay Hydrated