Financial transparency declaration!

Hey gang,

We are busy working out how to get rewards out that are due, but thanks to some messing around with the sticker company, that is delayed (they charged us twice for them, and then didn't send any stickers, which is just rude! Don't use Bizay!) BUT we have started production on outstanding Q&A's, online meet ups and bonus episodes (WHAT THE TRANS: NIGHTS!). Will get back to you with dates once things are clearer.

But wanted to clear something with you. Essentially, I use my phone for What The Trans business all the time, but for about a year I have been tied to a battery block because the battery is totally dead. In lockdowns this isn't much of an issue but the problem is with every passing day, it is getting less and less usable as a result (shuts down within ten minutes of not being on charge). To the point that it is literally telling me to get a new battery (see the attachment).

So, going to use £33 quid (plus £7 postage) from the Patreon fund to get this replacement battery kit: https://store.ifixit.co.uk/products/iphone-se-replacement-battery

I got four years out of this phone on this battery, so hopefully this will mean another four years! This is the cheapest way of doing it from a reputable source without buying a new phone I don't need or want (my current phone still works great for everything except power), rather than some dodgy thing on eBay. This means that, once lockdowns are over, I will actually be able to use my phone outside my home, which for a journalist, is essential.

I am telling you this because I want to be as transparent as possible about where your money is going. Think I owe you that, especially as we are so behind on rewards and such.

Our current outgoings are £12 per month for podcast hosting (it varies due to conversion rates from the dollar), £11.99 per month for Zoom Pro (so we can interview people for longer than 40 minutes a pop), £2.49 per month for a cloud service to store all our files and around a tenner a month for whatthetrans.com webspace and domain name (comes out yearly at around a hundred quid). Leftover cash accumulates on paypal essentially to cover expenses such as this which we will inform you about. We currently have around £400 in the WTT account, which we will use probably to assist in travel costs for events once those become a thing again and other expenses relating to the pod. Everyone involved with what the trans is on a low income personally so having this fund is incredible for us. It means that no matter what, we can maintain and continue production!

But I did make some mistakes recently, and not so recently.

I accidentally bought take out and a video game with patreon money because I was logged into the wrong paypal (don't drink and purchase!), but recently put that right so it is like it never happened (stuck £25 back in to cover it). It should never happen, I wasn't careful enough. Put measures in place so this never happens again. Also, forgot to say, Ashleigh used £40 of the patreon money to get an actual desk so she could stop recording on her bedroom floor, but forgot to inform you. Sorry, that was a thing I should have told you about but just...forgot till now.

The way we see the money being left over on Patreon, will always go back into production of the pod in some way and maintaining the equipment we use to do so. This may mean me, Ashleigh and others who work on the pod may get a wage one day but that is SO far away from being a thing that it isn't worth going into now.

Thanks for your support. Watch your inboxes for more about rewards and such. We are trying to get all this stuff sorted as soon as possible!

Michelle.