This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Francisco Montano, who creates game mods under the name Sandi. It has been edited for length and clarity.
When my oldest daughter was about 12, she started having seizures. The doctors weren’t sure what was causing them, and there was no way to predict when they could happen. I would start work for the day and have to leave suddenly to take care of her. It was too heavy to balance a job and a sick child, so I quit.
That was about eight years ago. I worked in marketing and only made about $30,000 to $40,000 annually. It wasn’t much, especially considering the high cost of living in San Diego. My wife worked in insurance and was able to support the family on just her income. Plus, we needed the great health insurance her job provided to treat our daughter’s seizures.
After I quit, I was able to better support my daughter, and she started experiencing fewer seizures. I knew it was the right decision to stop working. Even as she got better, I continued to stay home with my kids, who are 20, 14, 11, and 3 today.
I started building mods for my daughter during naptime
My kids love video games, especially my 11-year-old, Sophia. Playing games is a way for us to spend quality time together. Last year, I started to think it would be run to build a game modification (better known as a mod) to surprise Sophia.
A mod allows you to change the experience of a game. I started reading textbooks and watching YouTube to learn how to build mods. I would work on them while my baby napped since I wasn’t used to having an hour of free time. I loved creating something that Sophia enjoyed. Then, I started thinking, “If she likes it, other people might too.”
I can make up to $25,000 a month selling mods
My background in marketing was useful. I posted free mods in the game we like to play, “Ark: Survival Ascended.” If people liked them and interacted with them a lot, I would expand them. Eventually, that led to the creation of premium mods that people pay for.
I never expected people to enjoy them as much as Sophia and I do, but I was wrong: people love them. My mods have had about 37 million downloads on CurseForge, the platform I use to sell them. I make a residual monthly income of $15,000 to $17,000. When I release a new mod, I make about $10,000 in additional income in the first month.
It’s so rewarding to make money while creating something my kids love
It’s unbelievable to me that in some months I’m making almost as much as I earned in a full year working a traditional job. Generally, I spend two to three hours building mods each night, usually after the kids are in bed. I don’t work on the weekends since that’s family time.
When I first started making serious money, I bought my wife a new car. Other than that, I’ve been very responsible about saving. Most of the money is in a high-yield savings account. I want to grow this as a business, so I’m also contracting with professionals, including a film crew and designers.
Of course, the money is really nice. But building mods also gives me something to keep my brain engaged. My youngest loves to watch Disney movies on repeat, and without a challenge for my mind, I can find myself singing the “Encanto” soundtrack on repeat. Now, I plan new mods during the day to occupy my mind and build them later at night.
The best things the mods have given me are a way to connect with my kids, especially Sophia. She’s about to be a teenager, and I know distance will come, so it’s incredibly rewarding to create something for her.
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