FranLab is getting evicted

[WattsThat]

James summed it up quite well. No one gives a rip about what her personal history is, I have lived all my sixty plus years in the two counties bordering Philly and I’ve got to tell you, her perceived security in the city is an absolute false belief. She’d be far safer out here in the burbs, away from the crime and insane cost of living were she insists on living. It sounds more like it is small lgbt community where she now lives that feels safe to her but in reality, it’s anything but.

FWIW, I rent a storage area that is 2 minutes from my home that costs $90 a month for about 1000 cubic feet. I drive a truck and I’d volunteer to move her stuff to the burbs but I honestly doubt she’d ever agree to do it, especially so when she finds out I was probably “one of the old grumpy guys” at her local Heathkit store she mentions in some of her videos.

When people create narratives to explain their behavior and to continue to do what they’ve always done, there is virtually nothing any one can say or do to change them. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and too painful to watch, the classic train wreck. At some point, you just have to turn your back and let it happen because that’s what they really want and they’re actually making that happen in spite of what they say to the contrary. I hope that’s not case here but it sure looks that way.

[Ed.Kloonk]

Some of us were never allowed to spend even a fraction of the time Fran has had playing around with this stuff. Only a real job kept the lights on if we wanted a certain living standard.

[SiliconWizard]

Ultimately, her problem is very simple: how to make more money, at least enough to cover expenses and some extra to save.

Or slash costs.
IMO she has to stop the cash bleeding now instead of later.
She said the first thing to go will be "factory" that has her lathe, paint shop woodworking etc. I don't think we've ever seen that on camera?

I admit I don't understand much about that part. She has repeatedly said (at least as far as I got) that the production of her pedals - so the "factory" part - was way too expensive to be sustainable these days and I even thought she wasn't even producing pedals anymore. She probably has to make a decision with this and cut her losses.

As I think I've said before, if she wants to keep making pedals, she should probably stop the hand painting and the hand assembly and go for something more automated. That might not have as much "handmade" image to it then, but I'm sure that if she kept production under control with strict requirements and she did the final control, outsourcing production would work way better financially.

Or, if she wants to stop with the pedals entirely, so be it and then she'll have to cut her losses and get rid of anything related to the "factory". Yes, some decisions are tough.

[NiHaoMike]

FWIW, I rent a storage area that is 2 minutes from my home that costs $90 a month for about 1000 cubic feet. I drive a truck and I’d volunteer to move her stuff to the burbs but I honestly doubt she’d ever agree to do it, especially so when she finds out I was probably “one of the old grumpy guys” at her local Heathkit store she mentions in some of her videos.

I wonder if she would accept an offer to help from another woman.

[EEVblog]

Ultimately, her problem is very simple: how to make more money, at least enough to cover expenses and some extra to save.

Or slash costs.
IMO she has to stop the cash bleeding now instead of later.
She said the first thing to go will be "factory" that has her lathe, paint shop woodworking etc. I don't think we've ever seen that on camera?

I admit I don't understand much about that part. She has repeatedly said (at least as far as I got) that the production of her pedals - so the "factory" part - was way too expensive to be sustainable these days and I even thought she wasn't even producing pedals anymore. She probably has to make a decision with this and cut her losses.

I'm not sure what she does at the factory any more?
She certainly hasn't made pedals for years, and AFAIK that's the same for the dressmaking side of the business.
Maybe she has talked about this more in the live shows. But in any case she said the factory would be the first to go.
I think that decision needs to be made right now to help preserve savings.

[EEVblog]

Some of us were never allowed to spend even a fraction of the time Fran has had playing around with this stuff. Only a real job kept the lights on if we wanted a certain living standard.

I've made a living out of just bumming around in my hobby lab 

[Ed.Kloonk]

Some of us were never allowed to spend even a fraction of the time Fran has had playing around with this stuff. Only a real job kept the lights on if we wanted a certain living standard.

I've made a living out of just bumming around in my hobby lab 

..but you're unreal, don't forget.

[james_s]

It might take a whole bunch of fellow trans people to convince her, but I suspect even that won't work as I've tried to convence her to jump on LGBT forums and find a suitable locations but she was't interested.
When she was looking at buying instead of renting some time back I found a nice place in a smaller town just near Philly that has a great big standalone place for sale at like $100k or something and there was a big LGBT centre just down the road. She wouldn't even consider it, it's philly or bust.

So it's bust then. Sorry but within the constraints she has set for herself she is finished, period, her life is going to collapse and it's entirely her own fault for being so ridiculously rigid and stubborn, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. There has got to be some kind of mental illness going on here because any rational person can look at the facts and quickly determine that an entirely different plan is the only hope. You simply cannot keep repeating the same actions and hope for a different result, it doesn't work.

[EEVblog]

You simply cannot keep repeating the same actions and hope for a different result, it doesn't work.

The problem(?) has been that the Patreon income has been just enough to keep it all going. And then there was the crowd funding for the move, and then I think a 2nd crowd funding?
When you are just getting by living the dream it must be hard to think it can't be sustained by doing the same thing and hoping things will improve just a bit to make it viable again.

[thinkfat]

OK, lets assume the Patrion supporters increase their pledges. Two years from now it will be eaten away with inflation and increased rents, and she will be back begging again.

I hate to be a downer, but I'm pretty sure its not going to work. All of us creators have seen a general decline in Patreon support, and we can't even get 10% of our already paying Patrons to watch an exclusive video when we release it to them, let alone increase their pledge.
You would think that paying Patron are more passionate about your content than most viewers, but it turns out they aren't that much different, in that it's hard to get 10% of them to even action something that takes them little effort.

The Patreon money I can spend is only what doesn't make a significant impact on my my bottom line. I support a few creators because I enjoy the content, but I'm not willing to take a hit myself to support certain lifestyle choices. It's reasonable to assume that other Patrons are in a similar situation. With economies tanking everywhere, there's less money in the hands of people and thus less Patreon money. I wouldn't bet on that to make a living.

Fran, with the style of content she primarily posts these days (telecined film rolls) is very prone to getting hit by copyright trolls and content matches. Youtube is just broken for her and no complaining on her side will change that. Youtube will not change their ways, with copyright laws themselves being broken as they are. They will not employ more humans. They will not make the appeal process more friendly to creators. And guess what, other services, as they grow, will find themselves in the focus of the "copyright industry" in due time and will either change their ways as well or drown in lawsuits.

Either way, Fran will have to change something. She's very adamant (or stubborn, if you prefer) in what she wants to do and how she wants to live. But in the end, something will have to give. I cannot judge if there's a real threat to her safety if she moves somewhere else or if she's just too fearful. But if she only tries to pull through, I'm afraid there's no going to be much left of her in not so many years.

[sokoloff]

I don't want to downplay the more local and personal information that she has, but it seems to me that she would have little to fear (differentially to any other person) by moving out to a cheaper suburban area. In every aspect of life other than perhaps dating, she would go entirely unnoticed (aka "passes easily") as she goes about her business; I had no idea of her being trans until this thread mentioned it and that's after watching at least a half-dozen or so of her videos. (I even doubted the claim initially.)

I think Dave hit it on the head when he said (paraphrasing) that her current income might be "almost, but not quite enough" to sustain her and that could easily lead one to hope that with just a small improvement that it would become sustainable. Unfortunately, she seems to be exclusively chasing/hoping for improvements on the income side rather than working on concrete reductions on the expense side. I can understand that way of thinking; I just think it's too dangerous to pursue that to the exclusion of cutting expenses and making sacrifices to "get ramen profitable" first and then try to grow from there.

I wish her the best; I don't think the economic times we're steaming towards is a time to be pinning all your hopes on a substantial increase in patronage from a global audience.

[AndyBeez]

Fran, get yourself a talent agent.

You're worth a lot more than you know

[armandine2]

Fran, get yourself a talent agent.

You're worth a lot more than you know

quite possibly, or not quite as much

recently, last year or so I've got lots of recruitment agency requests to apply for various education posts - not exceptionally well paid but certainly better than it has been.

May be this is something which appeals, or will keep the wolf from the door?

[Bud]

  James' nailed it. I've been following this discussion and have been wondering the same things.  I can tell you for a FACT that there are plenty of areas in the US that are LGBT friendly and that she wouldn't have any trouble in; and that are also a lot safer (for anyone) than Philly, and that are much more affordable.

It might take a whole bunch of fellow trans people to convince her, but I suspect even that won't work as I've tried to convence her to jump on LGBT forums and find a suitable locations but she was't interested.
When she was looking at buying instead of renting some time back I found a nice place in a smaller town just near Philly that has a great big standalone place for sale at like $100k or something and there was a big LGBT centre just down the road. She wouldn't even consider it, it's philly or bust.

Dave, I was watching the saga as it was unfolding and I think you went above and beyond trying to help out but that fell on deaf ears. Stubborn people do not deserve compassion, I think we are dealing with a stubborn person case.

[EEVblog]

Here is the graphic. She said expenses were $70k last year, and it will be $80-90k this year with inflation. So that would be the green line. And I think she said not including tax, but she mentioned $9000/month is needed now so I guess that is income required including tax to stay afloat as-is.
I believe she otherwise lives a fairly frugal lifestyle, so it's mostly all rent and utilities for the 4 spaces (apartment, factory, two storage units, for a total of 8 packed rooms).
Saving will run out in April. From the $2300/month ad revenue I think it was and the graph, savings look to be about $30-$35k.
She'll probaly get a small boost from this video which might keep her afloat for a bit longer than that, but inflation is going to be a killer, rent has already gone up 20%. The end is near unless she does something drastic. 

I suspect the rent increases might have been recent because it wasn't that many months ago she was taking flying lessons which would have been expensive.

[Brumby]

I can't help but wonder if there is some very real reason why she persists in maintaining her locale that is something to which the rest of the world has no right.  I'm not going to speculate on any specific ideas but the possibility does exist.  If that is the case, then all this "helpful advice" is rather oppressive.

If, however, it is simply a matter of her wanting to stay in her "comfort zone" then she is paying a high price for such a preference and one that could easily result in financial disaster - especially as things are already heading in that direction.

I would ask Fran to do one thing: Ask herself why she wants to stay in the area she has set out.  Write these reasons down, making a note of the pros and cons and then address each one as if it were an outsider passing judgement.  I would strongly suggest the "because I feel safe" reason be considered very carefully - and critically.  Based on what others familiar with the area have indicated, I find it quite credible that there would be places at least as safe, if not safer ... and that if her reasoning is based on fear of the unknown, then that is something that needs to be faced square on.

[Stray Electron]

   You could be right but I don't think that it's our place to pry into her reasons or to argue with her and try to convince her to choose a different path. She's an adult and knows what the situation is and what the likely outcome is, and she is capable of making her own choices, good or bad.

  Rising rent prices (and home sales prices) were already big problem in the US this year, and that was before hurricane Ian! I think with the number of people that have lost their homes in hurricane Ian, it's going to be MUCH worse next year and the year after!  The point is that unless she makes a very serious change in her financial situation, she will be facing this problem again next year and the year after that, etc etc.

[EEVblog]

I can't help but wonder if there is some very real reason why she persists in maintaining her locale that is something to which the rest of the world has no right.  I'm not going to speculate on any specific ideas but the possibility does exist.  If that is the case, then all this "helpful advice" is rather oppressive.

If, however, it is simply a matter of her wanting to stay in her "comfort zone" then she is paying a high price for such a preference and one that could easily result in financial disaster - especially as things are already heading in that direction.

She has said many time it's the trans safety thing, and I can also personally confirm this is the main reason. Which is why this time I suggested staying in a Philly apartment but moving the shop and storage to a place she can drive directly to and from.
The other reasons are the usual ones like enjoy Philly as a city etc, and that's totally understandable.
She also said in the comments she lived for 10 years in a rural town and would not go back.
I'm not sure how much she could save by moving into a smaller apartment in Philly, although her new place isn't big, it's also not exactly a bedsit. But I don't think it's worth saving expenses there.
I suspect that if she just consolidated the factory and storage unit into one outside Philly she could save a bucket. But she replied to me on Patreon saying that she intimately knows the Philly and surrounding markets and has already got the best deals possible. I want to believe her, but I suspect that's not the case. I can't believe there isn't a single concolidated place available outside Philly that's say within a 30min drive away. 

[james_s]

The problem(?) has been that the Patreon income has been just enough to keep it all going. And then there was the crowd funding for the move, and then I think a 2nd crowd funding?
When you are just getting by living the dream it must be hard to think it can't be sustained by doing the same thing and hoping things will improve just a bit to make it viable again.

I simply can't imagine being content just getting by and renting. I bought my house when I was 25 and sacrificed a lot to make it happen but it was the single best decision I ever made. Over time rent always goes up, and for quite a long time now rent has been going up faster than wages are in a lot of areas and if I hadn't bought I would have to move  somewhere else. The writing has been on the wall for many years, Philly is gentrifying and the sort of spaces where Fran has been living/working are going away, that's happening and it's not going to change, those spaces are not coming back in that area any more than horse and cow pastures are going to make a return in my home town, they're just gone. I don't like that sort of progress but stopping it is like trying to stop a freight train by grabbing onto it and dragging my feet. If she wants to maintain the current lifestyle then moving locations is the ONLY option. If she wants to stay in that general part of Philly (for stated reasons that don't sound at all rational to me) then it's going to require a significant lifestyle change, ie move into a much smaller space and get a regular job. Maintaining the status quo is just not going to happen, especially as we edge into a recession.

I still cannot make any sense of the idea of someone wanting to live in Philadelphia because it's safe.  Safe compared to what? Somalia? Afghanistan?    Looking up the stats I found this:
2022 statistics, crime ranked from 1 (lowest) to 100 (highest)
                               Philadelphia, PA     New York, NY   United States (overall)
Violent Crime          50.8                         28.2                   22.7
Property Crime       46.6                         24.9                   35.4

So violent crime is more than twice as high as in the country as a whole, and nearly twice as high as NYC which is not exactly known as a shining example of safety. I have not yet seen a breakdown comparing other major cities across the nation but to my knowledge as a lifelong northwest coast resident, Philly has always had a reputation as place infested with violence and gang activity. Fran is the first person I've heard in my entire life mention feeling safe as a reason for living there, that's just bizarre.

I also looked up listings of the most LGBT friendly cities in the USA and nothing in the entire state of PA even made any of the lists I found.

[EEVblog]

These are the places on Loopnet near Philly that are under $10/sqft/year
But I've tried to find her places before and I know she wants me and other to stop looking for her, it seems to upset her if you even try 
Heck, putting the feelers out might be able to net her a cheap barn or something someoen isn't using. Better than just scrapping it all.

[EEVblog]

$7/sqft/year
multiple spaces available, 6km from the centre of Philly, you could ride a bike there every day.
3000sqft would be $21k/year
Even 1000sqft at $7k/year is almost twice the size of my lab and would at least let her store most of her stuff, with maybe a small work area.
I have a total of 50sqm+42sqm+31sqm = 1323sqft

https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/845-873-S-55th-St-Philadelphia-PA/24578417/

[james_s]

These are the places on Loopnet near Philly that are under $10/sqft/year
But I've tried to find her places before and I know she wants me and other to stop looking for her, it seems to upset her if you even try 
Heck, putting the feelers out might be able to net her a cheap barn or something someoen isn't using. Better than just scrapping it all.

Some people just seem to be hell bent on their own destruction, I really think there is some sort of mental illness going on here because nothing adds up in any rational way. On a smaller scale I've encountered a few people who behave the same way. They get themselves into a doomed situation and then patently reject every suggestion of a viable solution and stubbornly continue on their downward spiral. After seeing it happen a few times I just stopped getting caught up in the drama and victimhood. As I said earlier, the old saying "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink" applies here. Fran has been offered multiple solutions and has rejected every one of them outright. Fine, the train is speeding toward the end of the line and I'm done making any attempts to stop it.

[Gregg]

If a person ignores reality, reality can overwhelm them faster than they can run away from their situation.  When a person cannot look within and evaluate their situation, they become their own cult member drinking the Kool-Aid. Religion, marketing and politics are dependent on people not taking charge of their own lives.  Stubbornness isn’t a virtue and only works for people like Steve Jobs; and then other traits may have obtained even better results. 
I don’t feel that anyone on this forum is pushing Fran to make decisions; they are merely suggesting alternatives worth considering.  When the rest of one’s life is dependent on a major life decision, all reasonable and semi-reasonable avenues should be carefully explored.
I have lived in rural US for many years as well as big cities and find most rural neighbors are much more friendly than city neighbors, especially toward actual owners of property.  Most rural people I have encountered evaluate others on their own interactions as long as the newcomer doesn’t have to remind them how special they are because of their gender identity or religious belief.  The whole aura around LGBTQ has changed a lot since Fran lived in a rural area.
 

[Psi]

These are the places on Loopnet near Philly that are under $10/sqft/year
But I've tried to find her places before and I know she wants me and other to stop looking for her, it seems to upset her if you even try 
Heck, putting the feelers out might be able to net her a cheap barn or something someoen isn't using. Better than just scrapping it all.

Some people just seem to be hell bent on their own destruction, I really think there is some sort of mental illness going on here because nothing adds up in any rational way. On a smaller scale I've encountered a few people who behave the same way. They get themselves into a doomed situation and then patently reject every suggestion of a viable solution and stubbornly continue on their downward spiral. After seeing it happen a few times I just stopped getting caught up in the drama and victimhood. As I said earlier, the old saying "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink" applies here. Fran has been offered multiple solutions and has rejected every one of them outright. Fine, the train is speeding toward the end of the line and I'm done making any attempts to stop it.

While I get your reasoning, no one public-facing shares everything publicly. 
It's highly likely there are other limiting factors we don't know because she doesn't share them with us.
So recommending life-altering solutions to problems based solely on the info she has shared is pretty pointless.
IMHO
It's easy to assume we know everything that is going on in someone's life but we never do.
It's never as simple as it seems.

[EEVblog]

Crisis averted.
I heard from Fran that Patrons have come through and made up the loss, so it's business as usual, at least for now. She'll do a follow-up video.