If you are not listening to Podcasts, I recommend that you have a listen! I only jumped on to learn about writing a book, self-publishing and crowdfunding. I am amazed at how much I have listened to and how much I have learned. I feel like I am at university again, or learning my role at work – it’s a good feeling to be filling up a new part of my brain and learning some new skills!

I listen on my hour-long trip to work and either listen at 1.5x speed or 2x speed, since most people on podcasts take their time. It means I cover twice as much ground 🙂 I also recommend skipping the first 3 mins usually as they are just introductions. So I found some very good channels and I have listened to about 100 hours now, condensed into 50 hours.

There’s a lot of experience out there and the interviews with successful crowdfunders all talk about preparation. They also talk about ‘going for it’ rather than waiting until you are sure that the project will be successful. You learn as you go and you sometimes have to just try it out. You may fail, but if you don’t try, you will never know and you will never learn. You have to be positive.

I tested the site with the Art project, but there was little interest. Rather than seeing this as a failure, I learned a lot. The nervousness about what will happen when I press the launch button – it’s no longer an issue! I know that I will be bombarded with people offering me all types of services which I don’t need, so I am prepared for that too. I know that you have to have a product that people really want, so I hope that our book, Motivate Man, will be attractive to many.

Friends and family, and supporters, are great – they give words of support as they are meant to! But unless that converts into orders from people not connected to me, the project will end up being much smaller than it otherwise could be. So I am working hard on growing a community who are interested in backing this and future projects. Kickstarter is not just about raising money – the project helps create interest in the cause, which is to raise awareness for Down syndrome and disability. So if we end up with a larger community, it will be a success.

I have started late on this, so the focus is to be creative and find ways to generate interest. Giveaway competitions, media leads, word of mouth, engaging on Facebook – these are all helping, but there’s not a lot of time left, as you can see from the countdown timer on the left! But it’s going to be fun and I am up for the challenge. With your support we can do this. That’s the power of positivity!

Please join our News-e-Letter for tips and additional info about the book – all those who are in the email group (which is kept private and confidential) when the Kickstarter launches will receive a link to our first (unpublished) book: Elijah and Crumpet – World Famous YouTubers, read by Elijah!

https://elijahandcrumpet.wordpress.com/contact/

Have a great week, all the best, Rob