Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is

I hadn’t heard of these guys before running into their Kickstarter this morning, but their Kickstarter inspired me to pledge.  I’m the outlier.  I’m probably one of two or three people who will pledge to their cause without having a direct or at least a third party connection to them.

What drove me to pledge? 

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The Reason WHY They’re Doing This

I get a distinct inspired vibe from these guys.  It’s not a manufactured attempt at coming across like an inspired group of guys. It’s a tangible sense of truth and realness that convinces me that there’s more to these guys than just a recording project.  A purpose.  A Purpose Worth Backing.

How To Find Your Purpose Worth Backing

The Purpose Worth Backing is a combination of the actual project you’re raising funds for and your ability to show potential for something greater.

Specifically speaking, is your project (recording project, for example) something that will get backers excited and make them feel like it’ll take you to the next level? Or is it stale and ordinary?

PWB Part 1: The Actual Project at Hand

Example One: We need money to buy a new printer and an iMac so we can record our next album in our basement (just like we did for the first record, but a little different).

Example Two: We hope to record our debut EP with [accomplished producer] who’s worked with [big name] and [big name].

These are both real examples.  You guessed it, example one failed.

PWB Part 2: The Feeling That There’s More to Believe In

A backer is looking for that certain I don’t know what, as Austin Powers would say, to give them the feeling that there’s a larger purpose than just giving you money to make a CD.

In other words, a person who backs your project has hope that this could lead to something bigger. Sometimes it’s nothing more than a fleeting thought, other times, like my experience with Eternal Fair, there’s much more of this feeling.

The more your project makes a person see potential beyond the project at hand, the more people will back you.

The idea behind this study has huge implications for how to approach your early artistic career.  If you can get really good at putting out the “has potential” vibe while remaining very true and authentic, you’ll win the hearts of fans.

For your crowdfunding project, though, this is your number one target after setting the correct Goal Amount.

The Takeway

When you combine a minimum viable Circle of Influence with it’s correlating minimum Goal Amount and then add in a Purpose Worth Backing that shows that you have potential, you’ll have success every time.

How to do this correctly?  That’s another question altogether that we plan to tackle. Stay tuned:)

Luckily, you’re an artist who’s more creative than 99% of humanity.  The fact that you’re here to study up before you launch your Kickstarter puts you ahead of most of the 45 percenters who fail.