Ten(ish) Things I Learned On The Launch Week Of My First Kickstarter

Well, my Kickstarter launch week came and went, and there were so many unexpected twists I went through, that I could probably write a whole book about it. But since my last two articles were so long, I’m going to cut straight to the point and make this one much faster.

For those who were wondering how things went after reading my last article (where I predicted I’d fund at least 50% of my goal on the first day AND explained how I’d do it), I’m happy to report that I actually reached 97% on the first day and fully funded soon after.

So after nearly a year of hard work (with way more still ahead of me on this campaign), I thought it might be fun to reveal 10 things I learned after hitting such an important goal for myself. And when I was done writing my list, I realized I had actually put down 11.

So here they are, in no particular order. And whether you launch a Kickstarter or some other project, or even nothing at all, I hope these mini lessons will provide you with real value.

So without further ado, here are 10 …I mean 11 things I learned in the first week of launching my very first Kickstarter:

1. Your true friends are even better friends than you ever realized.

2. People you thought you could count on won’t be there for you.

3. People you never thought you could count on will overdeliver beyond your wildest expectations.

4. You’ll be jealous of other people (even when you’re doing better than them) and they’ll be jealous of you (even when they’re doing better than you).

5. You’ll miss massive EASY chances to capitalize on opportunities, and you’re just going to have to live with it.

6. People you never thought even noticed you will come out of nowhere and help.

7. You’ll be truly humbled by your appreciation for people no matter how grateful of a person you think you already are.

8. You’ll really be happy you made as much extra effort as you did while preparing for the big day.

9. You’ll wish you had another year to prepare.

10. You’ll wish more people already knew about you before you launched.

11. You’ll regret not enjoying life a little bit more each day while you were overworking yourself leading up the campaign’s first day.

I hope these are helpful in some small way. Thank you to all the people in my life who supported me in this first week and showed me that I don’t have to do it all by myself.

…I guess that makes 12 things I learned.

If you’re curious about the campaign’s progress, here’s the link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1384336/success-dice

About the Writer:

Founder, SuccessDice.com. Creator, fun things. Enjoyer, life.

Never one to shy from a challenge, Andrew Kaplan has always found a way to experience life from new and unique perspectives. He’s been a cartoonist, a professor, an SAT teacher, a software executive, and even a wrestling intern. But through it all, his favorite role has always been ‘entrepreneur,’ and Andrew truly appreciates the endless possibilities that any one small idea can turn into.

Nearly a decade ago, when Andrew was forced to close his first company AND end an important relationship all in the same week, he bounced back as quickly as he could by trying a plethora of strategies and techniques for building healthy habits and getting back on track. Within three months, he was in a healthier relationship than he had ever been. Within four, he was making more consistent money than he ever had before. Within six, he was in the best shape of his life, and within a year, literally everything that was wrong had finally gone right.

Of all the ideas that helped him the most was an early version of what has now evolved into Success Dice — The Once-a-Day Decision Tool For Keeping Your Life On Track …And Taking Action Toward Your Happiness And Success.

Andrew founded SuccessDice.com in 2017.