Day 8: Into The Middle

Hey hey and welcome to Monday! I hope you had a terrific weekend. I did; it was nice to take a break from social media, and to spend time with my partner. We slept in, we took a walk, we napped on the couch. We also cleaned up around the house, shoveled snow, and made food. Balancing out a busy work-week and social life, with rejuvenating downtime, is so important.

So yeah! Here we are. It's Monday, one week after I launched my crowdfunding campaign, "It's Business Time for Leah". According to the research I've been doing, crowdfunding campaigns have a predictable pattern to them, one that looks a bit like the Golden Gate Bridge. They start strong with a spike of early adopters. Then there is a middle phase of slow progress. Then at the end there is another spike, people who want to help you reach the goal before the end of the campaign. (I got that from this article.)

So this is the middle. This is the slog, the part where people are most likely to give up on their campaign. And I can understand that now, because the first few days of the campaign the total climbed so fast, it was addictive to check it! But the last few days, while there have been some contributions, it's slowed down quite a bit.

So now the ball is in my court. And I sure as heck am not stopping now, so I've been asking myself, what am I going to do now, to go beyond just telling people about the campaign, and to write content that will actually have value to those reading it?

For example, I want to tell you why women-led small businesses are super important to the local economy, and to the economy in general. I want to talk more about the program I'm going to take, and how it's going to help me create the business of my dreams. I want to talk about the value I provide to businesses, through my skills, and what you will get if you buy Design Credit from me. And I want to tell you what I've learned about starting something before you feel completely ready, and how I think that's led to my own successes.

So that's what this week's blog content is going to be all about: answering those questions. Stay tuned! The campaign itself is here, and as always, I love hearing from you.

xo Leah

Day 5: zzz...

I got home from work tonight and crashed on the couch. Like, full-on nap. Work today was busy -- there was a Bowl-a-rama happening-- and the week has been very, very full. I knew as I was driving home that the only thing I wanted to do was put on comfy pants and take off my bra, get my pillow from the bed and curl up on the couch, where I was 99.99% sure Adam already was. And that's exactly what I did.

The crowdfunding campaign I'm running is at $3, 235. That's 45% of the goal. According to this article about the typical crowdfunding campaign, I'm doing well! Now is the middle part, which will take the most work, and where some people give up on their campaign because it seems like it's slowing down and won't ever pick up again. Tomorrow is Saturday, and I'm planning to spend several hours doing some work on campaign stuff. I will also likely take the weekend off doing social media and spreading the word. That way I'm nice and rested when Monday rolls around again, and everyone gets a break from hearing about it!

Have a good weekend, my dears!

xo Leah

Day 4: 44% and about the Friday Dance Parties...

I started drafting this blog post last week, before the thought of doing crowdfunding had even crossed my mind. Then when I came back to my Drafts folder today to see what I could write about, I remembered that I made one of the perks of my crowdfunding campaign be a dance party! (That's right: for $75, I'll come to your workplace and get everyone moving to the beat! It will be the best. Go buy it right now, I'll wait.) If you're not familiar with Friday Dance Parties, basically, I've been going to Doktor Luke's Cafe on Friday mornings at 8 am and getting Missy Lebans, the owner, to crank the music, while I dance with friends, and she records it using the video function on my camera. Then I post it to Instagram and Facebook. Here is the first one at Missy's cafe.  It was on January 30th.

Since then we've done three more: one, two, three. (The last one is probably my favorite so far.)

Anyway, I got to thinking, "Just how is it that I started doing these dance videos?! Why do I have this drive to look like a fool and then post it on social media?" And like most things, it starts in my childhood. See that pic at the top of the post? I was always a zany kid who liked to dance and be a little nuts. (I firmly believe that whatever you loved to do as a kid is what you should be doing as an adult. I also used to make books and magazines, but that's another story for another post.) Then there was High School. This is me at the Safe Grad celebration. With a balloon hat on my head. Totally sober. This is a page from my scrapbook of the year after I moved back from Australia. That's me on my way to the music festival Evolve (with probably the worst hair of my life) where I would dance literally until the sun came up, again totally sober. (I swear! I did drink, and do, but that particular festival I didn't have more than a couple of beers.) I really just loved dancing. Then there were the parties I would throw during the years that I was in college in Fredericton, but here on Cape Breton at Christmas break. I'd invite my Sydney friends and my Baddeck friends, my Mom would kindly go stay at her boyfriend's place, and we'd all dance til late in the evening, and then my brother and I would make everyone breakfast the next day. I love to make people feel welcome, and to have a good time.

A few years later, when living in Baddeck again, I was a driving force behind something called "Friendsday Wednesday," which was an informal dinner party once a week for young people in the area.

But my love of dancing + bringing people together didn't really come to fruition until this year. A perfect storm had to happen. I'm talking The Internet + Alison Faulkner + morning routine. Oh, and Missy Lebans.

You see,  a while back I started following Alison Faulkner on Instagram. Her videos on Instagram are silly, totally sober, and super fun, and if I ever reach her level of epic dance-queendom, I will be able to die happy. I would watch her dance videos and go, "WOW, that woman is BRAVE. I love it! I wish I could be as brave as her!" Then one day last year I took a chance and posted a video of myself dancing. In my kitchen. And it wasn't as hard to do as I had thought. In fact, it was really fun.

Then I started sharing just a fun dance song on Facebook on Fridays and calling it Friday Dance party and tagging friends. Sometimes I would take a video of myself dancing at home and share that too.

Around the same time, enter.. a new job in Sydney, and driving by my new favorite coffee shop every morning, and stopping to see my friend Alyce. Being there at 8 am quickly became a habit. Missy and Julie are wonderful people, too, so grounded and hospitable and fun. I forget exactly when and why I got the idea to do the first one -- likely an extension of posting a music video to Facebook, and badgering Alyce to dance in it with me. But when we put the first Friday Dance Party video up and people loved it, well, you don't need to tell me twice! Attention? Dancing? Inclusion? Goofiness? I'm in!

So far they're happening at Doktor Luke's Cafe at 8 am on Friday mornings. But I would love to do an afternoon one (I don't want to be "sleepist" after all, and discriminate against people who don't get up that early!), or a street one, or ... one at your business for 75$ And that's that! You can follow me on Instagram or be my Facebook friend if you're not already, for all the Friday Dance Party goodness, and you can also help fund my dreams of having my own business over at my IndieGogo campaign. I'm already at 44%! I hope you're having a great week. I certainly am! xo Leah

Day 3: Take A Breath

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Today was a really gorgeous day here on the island. Well, I should say, here in North Sydney and Sydney, because the island is pretty big and I was only in one little part of it.

But, yeah, it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and even though there is still a couple of feet of snow on the ground, it felt like spring.

I had a fairly busy day; though not as busy as the last two have been! It's only Wednesday and it feels like an entire week has already happened since Sunday night when I launched my crowdfunding campaign. 

I woke at 6:30, which is usual for a weekday. Adam is out the door by 7, and we spend that half hour wiping sleep from our eyes, drinking coffee, eating breakfast, and making his lunch. He leaves at 7 and drives to the job site (he's an electrician and works here in North Sydney), and then I do a few things and get ready for work and leave the house anywhere between 7:30 and 8. This morning I wrote up two estimates for potential clients, and had a mini dance party.

Then I went to work. I work at a place called the Horizon Achievement Centre, in Sydney. It's an organization that provides vocational training to adults with intellectual disabilities. I've been working there since August of last year. I do a variety of things there: design, copywriting, teaching drawing, and working on a database re-design. It keeps me busy!

When I got home from work today I thought about going for a walk, but decided instead to do the dishes. There is something really therapeutic for me about that. (Well, sometimes. Other times it's a pain in the arse.) Today it was therapeutic. Now that the campaign is launched and has gotten to 44%, my head is a-whirl with ideas for what to do next to get to the total goal, but I also feel like I'm not sure where to begin, and like things have piled up a bit over the last few days. So taking time to clean out my space is good to help me focus.

What do you do to help yourself focus, or get clarity on a big project?

Now we're off to a wake, and likely our dinner will be take-out. But at least my sink will be clean!

xoxo Leah

Day 2: The Accidental Fundraiser

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Well! I'm starting to catch my breath a little on this whole crowdfunding thing.

By the end of day 2, the rate of growth has slowed down and we're holding steady at 40%. The first day and a half were about getting the word out, posting on social media a fair bit, and watching the numbers climb like crazy (and getting offline and going for a walk when I felt overwhelmed by it all). Now it's about 'OK...how am I going to spend the next 28 days to ensure I reach my goal?'

I will admit that I didn't think very far in advance about this campaign; I didn't really have time! I first posted the link about the program "It's Business Time" on Friday, March 29th at 6:30 pm, saying "It is kind of killing me that I can't afford this program right now, because I want to take it SO bad."

Tiffany Han herself (life coach extraordinaire who I've talked about before on here) then wrote, "Quick, someone sponsor Leah!"

And from there, comments started coming in from people saying they would indeed support a crowdfunding campaign if I did one. In my head, I went back and forth between thinking, "Oh my gosh, I could actually do this!" to "No way, this is CRAZY, people are going to think I'm nuts!"

I did some research. I signed up for IndieGogo and started drafting a campaign. (And I have to say, props to their web designers because it is a really easy process to follow!)

This whole past weekend I was getting messages from people, private ones, saying "I would support you!" and telling me what perks they would like. I had a phone call from a friend who works in fundraising.

Again, I kept going back and forth between moments of exhilaration and moments of panic. "What if this is nuts?" "What if this actually worked?"

Sunday night, (pretty much just yesterday!) I hit "Launch" on the campaign.

Here we are, Tuesday night, $2,890 in, 40% raised. That means there is another 60% -- $4310 -- to go. And 28 more days.

Now it's time to really get to work! (For me, that is.) I've got stories to tell, videos to make, fun surprises to dream up and make happen: in short, a campaign to run. Accidental or not, I'm here in it now, and it's an amazing ride.

The campaign is here -- do take a peek!

xo Leah

Indiegogo Campaign: Day 1

Holy crap, you guys?!?!!? I have about five minutes to write this blog post, in between client emails, and going to the grocery store and then to yoga.

But I've decided to post on my blog every day for the next 30 days, to give you a behind-the-scenes look at running an IndieGogo campaign to raise $7200. That I decided to do on basically a whim.

(Which is how I do a lot of things, including how I met my partner and how I decided to do graphic design. One of these days I'll write a post about how following my whims doesn't in fact make me a flake. Because it's about what you do after the whim that matters.)

Anyway! Here we are. Almost 24 hours into the IndieGogo campaign to raise $7200, and the total raised, as of hitting "publish" on this post, is $1435. That's 20%! Y'all... I am BLOWN AWAY. I'm sorry... but I resort to ALL CAPS when I am REALLY EXCITED.

Interestingly, for a crowd-funding campaign, this is typical and it's what you want. In an article on Inc.com, Breanna DiGiammarino, cause director at Indiegogo, says "We often encourage campaign owners to raise about a third of their campaign goal in the first 24/48 hours after going live."

I'm making notes (well, in my head at least) for what I would do differently the next time I do crowd-funding for anyone, because to be honest, I decided to do this on Saturday and it was launched Sunday night. I didn't ask people to contribute off the start, like some resources suggest, so that the total would go up fast, and I have gone into this with as much of an attitude of "openness and gratitude" as I can muster. "We will see what the universe provides," that sort of thing.

But I am learning a TON. That's one benefit of throwing yourself into something and learning as you go! And I will be sharing all of that learning here on the blog over the next thirty days.

Stay tuned! And check out the campaign if you haven't already.

xoxo Leah

the "but I'm only from Cape Breton" excuse

I was listening to a podcast on my walk this evening and the host was answering a question from a listener. The question was about whether or not this lady should blog about money, and she said, "I'm afraid to, because people don't want to hear about money." And the podcast host said, "That's horseshit."

She said it in a nice way, but she said, "If you want to talk about money, don't use the excuse that people don't want to hear about it. You may lose the people that don't want to hear about it, but you will gain two people that DO want to hear about it, for every one that doesn't."

It got me thinking about the excuses we tell ourselves for why we don't do something our heart really wants to do. For me, these days, my heart is telling me, "Start a business, start a business, start a business." And I come up with all KINDS of excuses. I mean, all kinds. There are many excuses available to me in any given moment. "I might fail," "I don't have the skills," et cetera, ad nauseam.

But one excuse I was thinking about on my walk tonight, that I've been giving a lot of power lately, is a surprising one, especially for someone who (you would think) was super-Cape-Breton-positive, given that I wrote a blog called "Dream Big Cape Breton" for nearly three bloody years. And it is, the excuse that "I'm only from an economically-depressed, declining island that no-one cares about, so how could I possibly create and sustain a thriving business both locally and online?"

You see, I've found that since I stopped focusing all my creative energy on the "Dream Big" blog and group on Facebook, and started putting that energy into promoting myself as a designer and writer, that suddenly I'm competing on a much bigger stage: the whole world.

I didn't have any competition in the category of "positive blogs about life on Cape Breton" because there weren't any others. (There are other Cape Breton bloggers, for sure, but none with my specific angle.) So locally I got well-known, and fairly quickly. That was awesome. I was unique, and that uniqueness drew people to me. But now, I feel like in my new category, that of graphic designers/writers, we're a dime a dozen. So what's my angle now? What makes me unique now?

I'm still figuring that out, but it was interesting to shine a light on this whispering gremlin that was saying, "But you're only from Cape Breton, why should people in San Diego or Calgary or Zurich be interested in hiring you?" Hearing this excuse, and choosing not to believe it but just to hear it,  shows me that I'm pushing myself out of my comfort zone and into an arena where I want to do better work (so I can compete with all the other fantastic designers), and yet also do work that's unique to me, because that's what my people, my potential dream clients, are going to be attracted to.

And that's damn scary! But also really exciting.

Welcome to the emotional roller coaster of starting a business! Ha..

Also, I think I'll blog a bit more on here. More off-the-cuff thoughts, more often. Because that's what makes me happy, not just restricting myself to once-a-week.

Whee! And have a good weekend.

xo Leah