KickStarter Journal Day 2

I awoke early this morning to get some exercise and prepare myself for my work day. Before I left for my workout I jumped on my KickStarter campaign to see if anyone got bored during the wee hours and thought it would be cool to back my project. Wishful thinking but no luck.

As I returned from my workout I thought about what types of lessons I could learn from the day. The first thing I decided to do was not check my campaign every hour on the hour or every minute on the minute. I made a decision to wait until the evening to check the status.

The word of God says,  "Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Phil 4:6-7

The  Bible verse served me well today because as you can see in the above image I didn't get any new backers and if I had checked it every few minutes then every few minutes I would have been discouraged. Instead all day I imagined that I was going to be 50% funded by the end of the night.

By allowing myself to think positively I actually felt excited all day. I felt like a little kid awaiting his Christmas presents. Although I was a bit disappointed with the end number I am still sitting here with a smile because the journey is giving me something to write about and if I was fully funded by day two then what would I write about tomorrow?

Signing out for now!

Orlando Javien Jr., The Man of Many Hats

KickStarter Journal Day 1

So you decided to start a KickStarter campaign. Now what?

I finally published my second book, Stop Googling Yourself: Finding Peace in a Noisy World, and decided to take a different approach to marketing. Instead of directly selling my books via my website or Amazon I decided to create a crowd funding campaign to create a buzz about my book and raise capital to purchase inventory and pay for some marketing. I have a positive outlook on this venture as I am looking at it as a learning opportunity. If it funds out, Fantastic! If not then at least I tried and can walk away with some lessons learned.

I plan to journal for the duration of the campaign so not only will I have a record of the experience but others will also see some ups and downs of a KickStarter Campaign.

Day 1. I launched my campaign today and sent it out via MailChimp, an email marketing tool. It's free if you have a small audience as I do. When your mailing list grows then you will eventually have to move to a pay plan.

Not only did I send it out via MailChimp but I also texted a few family members and friends to share the campaign on their social media platforms. I especially needed this help as I am not on Facebook or Instagram.

Within the first 30 minutes of my launch I got my first backer. Yeah! Someone likes me! After that it wasn't until late in the day that I got my second backer which was awesome but stressful waiting! I did start to doubt myself but I knew I had to be patient.

At the end of the day I am 5% funded and look forward to tomorrow. I learned two things today. Lesson #1, manage expectation. Although I positively thought my campaign would be funded in one day I have to be realistic. Lesson #2, reach out beyond email and social media. So I plan on sitting down with some potential backers and sharing my vision in hopes that they can find a reason to back me. When it comes down to it, it's all about relationships.

I await to see what tomorrow brings. Bye for now!

Orlando Javien Jr., The Man of Many Hats