I admit it. I was definitely afraid to crowdfund. I only thought: what if I do all of this work and then it doesn’t get funded? What if everyone watches me fail? What if all my friends don’t support me at the thing that matters most to me? Well, those were all what if’s. So I’m just guessing that these are the reasons why you also might be afraid to crowdfund:
- You’re afraid to find out what people really think of you … because deep down, you feel like people don’t value you and what you’re creating.
- You’re afraid to take a risk and publicly believe in your art or creations…because you think you and your work are not good enough.
- You’re afraid people who are “supposed” to support you will not… because you don’t believe it fully when your friends and family say they love & support you.
- You’re afraid that you will fail and because if you fail once, it means you always will… because you don’t think of yourself as resilient.
Wow, all of that sucked. Miserably. The good news is that I had all of those thoughts and I still crowdfunded AND we still succeeded. You know the thing about thoughts, right? They are just thoughts. It’s okay to have thoughts, even negative thoughts. Because we know – especially we who know that we are NOT our thoughts – that we don’t have to believe our thoughts. Yes, Eckart. Yes.
Based on my own experience & cognitive-behavioral psychology, one of the most powerful ways to change our thoughts, is actually…
Wait for it…
Action.
Do the thing you’re afraid of, or that proves those negative thoughts wrong – and guess what? The more you do actions inconsistent with those negative thoughts, the less frequently you will think them.
So who cares if you have these thoughts? Smother them by getting in action.
Now.
Go.
Do it.
get all the details you need to stop letting the fear of crowdfunding control you in 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…)
