Should I go paid, I’m nervous

Hello, So, I currently have been running my substack for two months during that time I have gained 300 subs. I have left it free because this is more of a hobby. But I saw someone pledged me $80! I am only a couple months out of college so $80 is like grocery money which is awesome. I haven’t signed up for stripes yet so I’m not allowing the payment to go through yet. The other thing is idk how taxes work on being an independent person. My thought was wait until this year is up to start that since I think that it’ll be too much pressure for me to figure out. Before my goal was to get to 1k subs then turn it on. I want to make it more donation based so everything would be free either way. Idk what are your thoughts?