Can you pay yourself a small salary from money raised on Kickstarter?

If you raise a small amount of money (under $50K) on Kickstarter for a product you want to build, can you pay yourself a small salary along the way? I am quitting my day job to focus on this product full time.

A lot of times that's what Kickstarter money is for, to be able to pay people to work on the project. If you see a kickstarter to develop a game for instance, you can bet that money is going towards paying developers, artists, level designers, etc.

Paying for you to have time to create is part of what patronage is about. If you're doing a project costs breakdown, just be upfront about it. $X for supply 1, $Y for supply 2, $Z to be able to quit my job to make this, etc.

You indeed can!

Before you even start a Kickstarter campaign, you should work out all costs (including salaries) that will be needed to complete the project and provide the backers what they paid for.

If a small salary for yourself is part of the equation, then factor it in to the minimum campaign funding needed.

The goal is simply to:

1. Have a product that people want.
2. Figure out how much money it will cost to deliver.
3. Raise that minimum on Kickstarter.
4. Deliver the goods to the backers.