3 Ways to Crush crowdfunding

Publishing a book about better managing your anxiety will ironically give you anxiety when you have to first raise $5,000 dollars in order to publish it. This was the exact predicament I found myself in in the beginning of November. I had just turned in my first manuscript to my editor, who then told me I have to go find $5,000 in order to publish the book.  Okay, maybe it wasn’t that dramatic. But still…I was anxious. I had known all along that it would cost money to publish a book, but I didn’t exactly have a plan on where that money was going to come from. Then, I had a magical idea. What if I got the money from friends and family? 

Every entrepreneur, author, innovator, and creator has come across this dilemma once or twice. They need start up capital to fund their venture. Some turn to venture capitalists, while others turn to the bank to secure a loan. If you’re lucky, and have a rich Uncle or Aunt, you can have them bankroll the entire venture. But I didn’t have a rich relative, nor could I promise a venture capitalist equity in my book (at least I’ve never heard of that before). However, I did hear a term floating around when I was getting my business degree. It seemed like this term could be the answer to all of my start-up capital needs. And that term was crowdfunding. 

Crowdfunding isn’t necessarily a new term. The fundraising practice has been around for decades. In the digital age, however, platforms such as Kickstarter, Indigogo, and GofundMe have made millions off of it. It’s the idea of receiving money from a crowd of supporters in the exchange of  promising the delivery of a good or service at a later date. Creators, such as myself, do this to avoid getting into debt. It can be risky, but if done correctly, you can build an audience and a new venture in the process. So how was I going to crowdfund my way to $5,000? The most I had ever fundraised in my life was $200 selling raffle tickets for my pop warner football team. Safe to say I was nervous. Scratch that, I wasn’t nervous. I was terrified.

But to my disbelief, I didn’t only raise $5,000. Instead I raised over $6,000. (Hey siri play Hey Look Ma I made it by panic at the disco). Now I know $6,000 may sound like chump change to some, but like I said I had never raised more than $200 in my life.  So how could this happen? 

It all comes down to three things: faith, focus, and mission. 

You gotta have faith

I believe behind every great success there is a person who has great faith. I’ll admit, sometimes I lose faith in my own ability to achieve great things; which is why I turn to God to see me through.I know that through believing in God and trusting in him, all things are possible. I believe through him, I was able to see the end result. I fully understand that not everyone who launches a crowdfunding campaign believes in God, but you must believe in visualization. Everyday, for the 30 days my campaign was live, I pictured the green ticker (which kept track of how much I had fundraised) hitting 100%. I pictured what I would do when it happened. If you must know, I pictured myself screaming at the top of my lungs then crying tears of joy. Both of which I did. You have to see it to believe it and then act accordingly. You gotta have faith. 

Books aren’t bought, they are sold.

Start with one

After I saw it in my head, I had to take some form of action. Besides, the green ticker wasn’t going to move to 100% by itself. But what should I do? Should I make posts on Instagram saying buy my book for thousands to see? Should I also start a viral campaign on twitter encouraging everyone to retweet my book? I did both and it didn’t get me very far. I made a video and posted it on InstagramTV, with the hopes of hundreds of people pre-ordering a copy of the book. However, only one person pre-ordered a copy. But I didn’t give up hope! 

I launched a twitter campaign where I asked people to retweet the book and I got 220 Retweets and 192 likes. However, although I made potentially thousands of digital impressions, only 4 people pre-ordered a copy. And after tapping into my family and friend  supporters, I was still $4,000 short of my goal with less than 20 days left in my campaign. Something had to change.

That is when a lightbulb went off! Books aren’t bought, they are sold. If I focused my energy on selling my book to one person and then another,  bit by bit I will get to my goal. And that is what I did!  For 9 hours a day, I surfed the depths of my Linkedin network and my text-message inbox telling anyone about my new book. However, I didn’t only tell them. Instead, I made it a conversation. Some people never answered, but the ones who did I made it my mission to get them to support the mission. Some conversations lasted days. Some conversations went from a simple LinkedIn message to a phone call. They would ask questions and I would gladly tell them my story. 

I realized that if you want to sell a large amount of anything whether it be books, t-shirts, text message courses, or even girl scout cookies, you have to get your hands dirty by having direct conversations. I think many people fail to realize the greatest successes, especially in sales, start one conversation at a time.  

Find your mission

Out of the hundreds of people I spoke to, I began to recognize a trait that they all shared. The ones who pre-ordered my book were inspired by my mission. When I finished the first draft of the book, I realized that the book was bigger than me. In fact, I realized that I am writing this book to drive more conversations around mental health. More importantly it is a mission that I am extremely passionate about. That level of passion is what allowed me to pour my story out into the conversations, and what turned connections into supporters. Find the  mission that you are most passionate about and make someone else just as passionate about it as you are. When you do that, they will not only become your supporter but they will become a promoter of your mission and tell all of their friends. 

So the next time you want to launch a crowdfunding campaign, or your next venture, remember the following:

1. See the end goal, then act accordingly 
2. Don’t tell everyone, just tell someone
3. Make it your mission to make it their mission

And when you do these three things, consistently, you may very well surprise yourself beyond what you thought was possible.