Where My “Creative Income” Came From In 2025

in a handy pie chart

[NOTE: This is a post I created for Patreon supporters, so I thought I’d put it here for paid Substack subscribers as well]

A little over 13 years ago, in November 2012, I filed the Articles of Organization with the Colorado Secretary of State for a business called Semi-Rad Media. It felt kind of funny because I was currently living in a 2005 Chevy Astrovan, with some of my stuff in a storage unit in Denver, and the business address was a UPS Store mailbox on Colorado Boulevard in Denver (right next to Snooze).

Eventually, for tax reasons explained to me by an accountant friend who became “my accountant,” we filed some forms to make the “company” an S-Corp, and I had to make a job title for myself. I asked Debbie (the accountant) what I should call myself, and she said, “You can just write ‘president,’” so I did that. Which felt even funnier, because, as previously stated, I lived in a $6,000 van, and I was imagining handing someone a business card that said: