[audible sound of wind, ongoing]
Wow, it's just not stopping, is it?
Now it's very bright out.
Now I'm going to look really upset.
It's very windy....
There's a tree attacking me...
This is going very well...
Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan…
again…
Before I go into anything else, I want to first thank each and every one of you for
your incredibly supportive messages and comments.
I am doing my best to respond to as many as I possibly can, and want you all to know how
very much they mean to me.
I’ve also received questions about the logistical details I crammed in towards the very end
of my last video and the financial and team-building aspects I covered in the additional video
I posted publicly on Patreon.
Given my penchant for pathological over-informing—I’m working on it—I thought it might be beneficial
to re-address these briefly and bring the additional video directly to the channel.
It will follow this introduction.
While I am taking a step back from YouTube, I’m not going on vacation—don’t let
this breathtaking backdrop fool you.
It’s a parking lot…behind my building.
There’s like a dumpter right over there.
I’ll be working full time, just not in as visible a manner as I always have.
And actually working on keeping it to JUST full-time to allow for some sleepage and much-neglected
self-care stuff.
One things I’ll be focusing on is in person education, which I have really been enjoying—and
have upcoming public speeches at Michigan and Cleveland VegFests. and.
A great way to stay informed is to sign up for the free Nugget Newsletter at BiteSizeVegan.com,
and follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and kinda Twitter.
One major project on my plate is to revamp the website with a primary focus on making
the content more navigable, searchable, and easily accessed.
The site has been on the backburner for some time, and from the inquiries I receive regularly,
it seems many videos have gotten lost in the volume of output.
My primary goal with the content has always been to make free information as openly and
easily accessible as possible, which calls for a far more dynamic indexing of topics
than currently exists on the site.
For those of you with more questions about autism, I would really encourage you to check
out the resources on the blog post and in the description of this and the previous video.
As much as I would love to create an entire video series—and trust me, I considered it—
and possibly like a whole other channel—
there are so many great resources available from incredible autistic activists and self-advocates.
Besides, doing so would kinda defeat the purpose of shifting focus from YouTube to my list
of other neglected priorities.
For my autistic, Aspie, and neurodivergent peeps, thank you for the incredible gift of
feeling heard and understood, and for sharing your experiences with me so openly.
For anyone who’s written that watching me has inspired or helped you in any way
to believe more in yourself,
I wanted to share my response to "MEH NAME"
MEH— [tries different pronunciations]
MEH NAME?
Whom I actually got to meet at my Ireland talk
It was an awesome convergence of awkward, spectacular to behold, I’m sure...
I'll just say that if you watched me in the day-to-day,
you might just gain the confidence to rule the world.
I'm a fully-flawed, fumbling frequent-failer (who fancies herself some alliteration).
But I for one find there's little to learn from "perfection."
Give me the messy imperfect path, every time.
And now, for your viewing pleasure, no longer behind the insurmountable journey of a new
tab in your browser,
the additional video dealing with the down and dirty details and future of Bite Size Vegan.
Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to a vegan nugget addendum, I suppose?
Get ready for some edge-of-your-seat logistics.
Yep…
I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss some practical and financial aspects of Bite
Size Vegan that I’ve covered in my more informal videos on the channel and far more
frequently here on Patreon with my Nugget Army.
I decided to make this a public post open to anyone, patron or not, wanting more information
about the long term goals of Bite Size Vegan and the upcoming changes being made in order
to reach them.
As I said in the main video on my channel, I have been and remain the limiting factor
in not only increasing the reach of Bite Size Vegan’s free educational content, but even
maintaining the regular video output while taking on additional commitments.
Even when reducing to one video week, the process of building the necessary system for
a volunteer team, among other projects for long-term sustainability, requires more time
and focused then I have been able to give with my current workload.
I’m incredibly fortunate to have the support I do from my Nugget Army on Patreon.
Having worked since I was 12 years old, through high school, college and grad school,
and paid off my loans before graduating, I’ve never expected nor been comfortable asking
for support.
So it was rather terrifying launching my Patreon page, which at the time, was a rather unknown
platform in the vegan YouTube community.
I was certain I’d post the announcement video and no one would come.
The fact that anyone voluntarily chose to support Bite Size Vegan was astounding to
me—I still find it surreal and terrifically uncomfortable.
The Nugget Army has not only made the continuance of Bite Size Vegan videos possible, but also
allowed me to accept more of the speaking invitations I receive from around the world—along
with the help of some pretty awesome corner markets and AirBnB finds.
Of course, with travel and speaking come the demands of months of intensive research, writing,
and visual presentation creation for each speech, all in addition to team-building and
overall restructuring efforts, ever-mounting emails and messages, and of course maintaining
the regular content, which itself progressively intensified in depth of research and citations,
and level of editing, cutting into more and more sleep time to try and keep up.
It would be unsustainable for anyone, I’d imagine, regardless of ability and neurotype.
I think being Autistic has simultaneously been a great strength and vulnerability—allowing
me to work on Bite Size Vegan close to every waking hour for a significant period of time,
but also requiring considerations and supports that I’ve failed to understand and secure.
For example, travelling is incredibly stressful, as is even the slightest change in routine
and surroundings.
The back-to-back nature of my trips, and high volume of interactions, logistical alterations
and sensory input hasn’t allowed for the decompression and sensory soothing so vital
for the neurological needs of an autistic brain.
So while the workload and stressors have continued to mount, my ability to handle them has continually
decreased to a point of diminishing returns.
This is why it’s so important that I take the time to learn about and find the needed
supports for myself, as well as focus on building a solid foundation for bringing on a team
rather than trying to do so on the side of everything else.
I’ve had many offers from individuals wanting to volunteer over the years, and appreciate
every single one.
But for each task or project, I created tutorials, trainings and some method of communicating
and tracking progress.
Multiply this over all of the aspect of sustaining and growing Bite Size Vegan and it quickly
becomes bottlenecked through me.
This is the Catch 22 I mentioned in the main video: that in order to take on the help needed
for me to continue, I must put in more time and energy than ever before right when my
mind and body have nothing left to give.
And even the tightest system achieves nothing if I’m the one managing the team.
In reality I’d be in the same position if not worse.
Hence the need for one or more volunteer coordinator/project manager/all-around-awesome individuals to
handle the bulk of the behind-the-scenes aspects that have grown so much as to eclipse any
ability of mine to continue with regular content.
I’m hoping to have kick–ass vegan fill this position relatively soon so we can spend
this time really building a strong foundation for a team.
Regarding the existing Patreon income, I’ve done my best to create transparency as to
the allocation of pledges based on average expenses and last year’s taxes.
This is not anything Patreon builds into the platform, and I plan to update and improve
it over time.
I’ve told my patrons from the start to feel free to ask any questions or voice any concerns.
And to always put their needs and financial security first.
I also receive comments and messages on other platforms of people apologizing for not being
able to pledge money on Patreon, and always let them know that there is absolutely no
pressure to pledge and to never discount the incredible support of watching, liking, commenting,
and especially sharing the videos.
Given my total lack of promotion know-how, every single bit of help furthering the reach
of Bite Size Vegan’s educational content is a greater support than I can possibly explain.
Never apologize for nor discount the impact of that action.
I want to thank each and every one of you for your support and encouragement over the
years.
I am profoundly grateful and very fortunate to have the privilege of doing the work that
I do.
As scary as this change will be, I know it is so incredibly important to finally take
the time to evaluate the most effective way forward for Bite Size Vegan to further the
reach of vegan message through open access educational content.
Moving forward with forethought will accomplish far more than maintaining a regular output
while treading water.
To my Nugget Army, again I can never thank you enough.
Of course, I’m going to be taking you along this journey with me—as long as you’ll
have me.
And in fact you might actually be seeing more of me.
So get excited.
If you are not part of the Nugget Army and want to join us, I for one would be honored
to have you in the family.
I will continue to do the very best that I can to make the truth as accessible as possible.
Thank you for standing with me.
We’re only just getting started.
One good thing about meeting me in person—especially if you want to take a picture—
is if you ever want a photo where you look... the least awkward you've ever looked in your life..
and really tall... just take it with me.
By comparison, it would be like a glamour shot of a basketball player.
There's a squirrel right there.
A little black squirrel.
Hi, little black squirrel
Can you see him?
Oh, he left.