The Principle
I want to be direct about money, because the relationship between this project and money is the thing most likely to corrupt it.
I am not after money. Not a lot of it, anyway. Monetization exists because spreading a message costs money — hosting, tools, time, research, and eventually, the ability to do this full-time. The aim is to relieve enough financial pressure that I can keep doing this properly.
I do not want to make more money than is necessary while I am actively involved in this venture, which I intend to be for as long as I feel necessary. As I am the brand at present, this is the venture’s core value too.
The Three Phases
Financial sustainability in three stages. Each one has a different goal.
Supplementary Income
Now
This is where we are. The goal is modest: cover costs and relieve some financial pressure. Revenue comes from:
- Donations via Ko-Fi and PayPal — optional, always. If a design made you think, made you uncomfortable in a useful way, or ended up on a shirt you actually wear, and if you feel like it, you can donate to help cover the work behind the next one.
- Ads (temporary) — as a temporary measure, some ads are displayed on the site to increase revenue. This is not a permanent fixture. Once short-term goals are achieved, I will reevaluate where the ad model sits with the mission and vision of GQuixote, based on visitor feedback and other factors. I do not want advertisers to have undue influence on the running of this website, so I would prefer to stay away from advertising in the long term. For now, it helps cover costs.
- Print-on-demand sales via Printful, Redbubble, TeePublic — printed shirts at minimal markup (no more than 10% above the printing cost). The buyer pays the printer directly; I take a small cut.
Primary Income
Medium Term
When the audience and sales justify it, make GQuixote my primary source of income. Not wealth — sustainability. The point at which the pressure lifts and I can focus fully on the mission. Revenue expands to include:
- Etsy and other marketplaces — same designs, wider reach, same 10% margin ceiling.
- Neurodivergent Pride line — paid shirts for the neurodivergent community. These carry a slightly higher margin because they serve a different purpose: identity and pride, not just message-spreading.
- Instagram Shopping — product tags on Instagram posts and reels, driving direct sales.
The transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2 happens when monthly revenue reliably covers both project costs and basic living costs. Not before. The mission doesn’t become a business; the business serves the mission.
Community Stewardship
Long Term
If this continues to grow and becomes bigger than one person can manage alone, the financial model opens up too. The brand is opened to a wider, wiser audience. Decisions about pricing, margins, partnerships, and direction are made collectively. The mission stays the same; the financial structure adapts to serve it.
If at any point I am no longer actively involved, or the community decides the model needs to change, it changes. The mission outlives the founder.
Why Monetize Early
There is a practical reason for setting up sales channels before the audience is large: these designs are likely to end up on Temu or Shein regardless. If I establish an official, affordable sales channel first, two things happen.
First, I get to take a cut from the revenue my designs generate — rather than letting copycats monetize them completely and getting nothing. The 10% margin ceiling means my prices stay competitive. If someone can buy the official version for roughly the same price as a copycat version, most will choose the original.
Second, it discourages copycats from coming in at all. If there is already a legitimate, affordable source for these designs, the opportunity for undercutting is smaller.
But if they copy anyway — and they might — the mission is still served. They are doing the advertising and marketing for free, carrying the designs to countries and people I could never reach on my own. Curious people who see a copied shirt will search for the meaning, and some will end up here. The research, the ideas, and the message behind each design are what matter — and those can’t be copied, only pointed to.
The 10% Rule
I take no more than 10% of what the t-shirt printing costs me through whatever means. This is a ceiling, not a target. If the base cost of a printed shirt is £11, the price to the buyer is no more than £12.10. The rest goes to the printer.
This rule exists because the message matters more than the margin. If someone is paying for a printed shirt, they are already carrying the message. Overcharging them would betray the point of the project.
As volume grows, the base cost drops through bulk discounts and negotiated rates. The 10% ceiling stays, but the absolute price to the buyer goes down. Eventually, if volume justifies in-house printing, the base cost drops dramatically — but the 10% ceiling still holds.
Donations
Donations are optional and always will be. High-resolution downloads stay free either way. There is no paywall, no “premium” tier, no content locked behind a donation. The donate button exists for people who want to support the work, not for people who need to access it.
If you’d like to support the work and make more people aware, print the design of your choice on the front and a QR code or gquixote.xyz link on the back. It is far more important for me to spread the message than it is to supplement my income.
Transparency
This is a project built on honesty. As the financial side grows, I intend to be transparent about where the money comes from and where it goes. Not because anyone is owed an accounting, but because opacity is the first step toward the mission being compromised by money.
The short version: costs covered first, modest income second, mission always. If that ever changes, this page will say so.