People are waiting for you to take a risk and create your visions. But pesky things called thoughts might be blocking you. Here are some of the thoughts that were obstacles I had to overcome in order to successfully reach our goal.
- “I don’t know how to do this.” What I really meant was, “I don’t know how to do this and I can’t learn.”
- “It’s too much work & I’m overwhelmed already.” What I really meant was, “I can’t ask for help.”
- “It will take too much time.” What I really meant was, “It’s not worth it to sacrifice time from other projects to bring this vision to life.”
- “I’ll just postpone the project.” What I really meant was, “Creating my visions for the world isn’t urgent or impactful.”
- “I’ll find some other funding, like through grants or my own money.” What I really meant was, “I’ll wait for others to decide if I can create how I want to.”
- “I might not reach my goal.” What I really meant was, “I might not do what it takes to reach my goal.”
So those thoughts came up in my head and they can definitely stop us. What if we reversed them? –>
- I know how to do most of this and what I don’t know, I will learn.
- I will ask for help when I need it.
- It is worth the time and effort to bring this vision to life.
- Creating this vision is urgent and will change the entire universe.
- I will take personal responsibility to do everything it takes to create my vision.
- The future of the entire universe depends on me creating my vision.
Shake, rinse, repeat.
to reverse those negative thoughts by getting in real action, follow my step-by-step guide on how we raised $18K
To read my beastly step-by-step guide explaining how we crowdfunded $18K with no following or fanbase, click to view this awesomely detailed post I wrote 🙂
a little backstory
It was a chilly January 2018 day in the current dimension when 30-year-old unnecessarily educated Justina, queer artist child of black Panamanian immigrants, learned she had three months until her cushy job would let her go. Stunned that her comfortable safety net had broken, she stared at the email for 60 seconds before she resumed binge-watching Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. Two weeks later, she had a nervous break down. BUT. Finally, she will play. She will create. And hopefully never work again. Oh, and now she has a journal. More on her/me here.
my money journal: crowdfunding edition
This, my money journal, is a reflection on my successes & failures to make money doing what I actually love. I want to share it with you cuz… I bet you’re on this journey too. In the first series of my money journal, I’m sharing my first big success as an artist. At the end of 2016, I was listening to my boyfriend’s song Black Man in America when a vision for a dance film struck me. Five Black men seated at a white table with guns. Don’t worry. It is nuanced. By January 2017, I was storyboarding. By June, my boyfriend was on board, we determined we needed $16,000 to bring it to life, and we launched our crowdfunding campaign. With no fan base and no real fundraising experience. On August 6th, we filmed. I was freaking out. I had opened a credit card just for this project, was $4,000 in debt and owed our cast and crew $7,000 more. I was all in. By August 20th, 400 backers had given a total of $18,000 for Black Man in America to come to life, exceeding our goal. In this crowdfunding series of my money journal, I’m going to share how we did it, because – imagine what you could do with $5K ,$10K, $20K to bring your visions to life. It’s our tiiiiiiiiime. (Shine bright, shine far…)
