I've mentioned before that I've tried (twice) to get Google Adsense activated on this blog, but both times Google's feedback (without explanation) was that it was a "low-content blog", whatever THAT means. Why am I doing that? Well, I'm not trying to do this to get rich, but it would be nice to cover some of the expenses.
Here's the high-level statement of account for the royal coffers for 2025:
|
Line Item |
Amount |
|
Balance as of
1 January 2025 |
$1,605.73 |
|
Income for
2025 |
$421.50 |
|
Expenses for
2025 |
$1,536.64 |
|
Balance as of
31 December 2025 |
$490.60 |
The "expenses" mentioned are largely related to MicroCon 2025 - fortunately that only happens every two years. Even then, that line does not include personal expenses related to MicroCon, such as travel, hotel, food, or uniforms. It's related to the souvenirs we gave away, as well as a sponsorship of the event itself. We also spent $142.60 on postage, $33.27 on photocopying, and $98.35 on printing (i.e. Christmas cards). This is an expensive hobby!
Currently, we have one semi-regular source of income - a tax of 50% on all regnal lottery winnings. That is, I play a weekly lottery game or two, and if I win any money, then half of the winnings goes into the coffers. If I ever win a large prize, Slabovia will benefit.
So, yeah, given that I still don't have full-time work in the so-called "real world", I've been trying to figure out how to monetize this hobby without selling things (other than myself), which is why I've been working on building up a social media presence, although it's not exactly taking off like wildfire. I feel that maybe this is because I'm not exactly controversial, but, well, how can I put this? Royalty shouldn't be controversial (other than their mere existence, which some people feel is controversial enough) - as I've stated before, the monarchy endures, which means it shouldn't really comment on the political controversy of the week.
This lack of funding is something that every micronation eventually faces. In alchemy there's the concept of a prima materia, or first material, the material from which everything else is constructed. Well, money is basically that - with enough money you can realize your micronational vision, whatever it is. But it's important to remember that every other micronation is in the same situation - none of us has excess money just lying around, so trying to make money off of other micronationals is pretty much doomed to failure. Some micronations do make a bit of money off of each other by selling stamps or currency to those that collect it, but this is a small subset of the overall (already small, maybe even micro-sized) community.
Unfortunately, I don't have any answers on this as to how a micronation can make money. Macronations can tax their citizens, impose tariffs, and have various other financial instruments to fill their coffers. Micronations mostly just hold out an empty cup and ask for "Spare change?" (That raises the idea of setting up a Ko-fi page, but I'm undecided on soliciting donations from the public.)
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| The current state of the royal treasury... |
