Keeping my open source projects alive after school

Hi Marcus,

As a fellow free open source software (FOSS) maintainer let me give you some insight in my own experiences so far, albeit limited, they are less limited than yours :blush:

• An important foundational rule about maintaining foss projects is that the more you create, the higher the work load. Especially when you hope to make a living out of them, you should limit yourself to a few. Effort spread too thin has no use.
• Marketing your product is equally important with open source as with commercial products. Just because something is free to use, doesn't mean it's easier to find. Using a mailing list, blog, dedicated twitter account, forum and/or chat channel helps build community and keeps people in the loop about your progress without a need to visit a specific page.
• Hoping to monetise a product that has received no attention doesn't make any sense, it's like pleading for money. To solve this you should try to get some initial backers; friends or family for instance. This helps get other people on board. The fact that one of your rewards points to "continue development" at a certain threshold tells a candidate backer you're not here to stay and so you're not interesting enough to invest in.
• Your patreon page is dedicated to Sigma development. Even though it makes sense to hide behind your freelance/company name, it makes it less personal. Candidate patrons are more likely to pledge when they can see the person behind the story. Also I'd like to point out that you mixed up "I" and "we" which is a common pitfall.
• I've noticed that Patreon is a great portal, but it is not really effective at getting money in. In addition to Patreon I've launched a OpenCollective page and am planning some paid features. When looking at other foss maintainers; eg Taylor Otwell (Laravel) and Evan You (Vuejs), these both mixed different sources of income.
• Making foss development a profitable stream of income requires a lot of time, it's like nurturing a garden. Don't expect thousands of dollars in your first few months, unless you know to bind some great sponsors..

tldr, at this point I think the most important step to take is to get user involvement. Identify your target audience, contribute in communities that have lots of these people and share your product. At some point it will pay off.