There are simple things anyone can do to make a difference and as a business owner, you don’t need a lot of money or even time. Just look for the small opportunities to give and pay it forward all around you. In today’s episode, Khierstyn Ross and I talk about making a difference through crowdfunding. May today inspire you to see where you can pay it forward to a new startup or a cause that matters to you! Don’t forget to check out today’s challenge in the show notes.

Highlights:

Part 1:
-When money is tight and people are cynical about giving money to big charities, it can feel hard to give or that your giving will make a difference. Yet, giving is in your nature.
-Neuroscience studies show that when you give to others, it releases feel-good hormones into your bodies and the atmosphere around you.
-Author and researcher Peter Singer identified 6 reasons why people don’t give in his book The Life You Can Save: How to do your part to end world poverty (2010).
—-People don’t like to give to strangers.
—-People tend to give more to causes closest to home.
—-A sense of futility.
—-The assumption that someone else will take care of it.
—-A sense of fairness.
—-Ironically, being wealthy.

Part 2: Interview:
-There are better tools available now to make it so that anyone can launch something online
-Crowdfunding levels the playing field. Crowdfunding allows you to do a marketing campaign on a crowd funding platform and if people love your idea they can support your product.
-Raise money around a goal
-Mentions Tesla car launch
-Mentions the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris
-Khierstyn’s first crowd funding campaign was a disaster but they rejigged the campaign and the second time around it was a huge success, raising $600K.
-Just don’t quit.
-Mistakes— we made a bunch of assumptions. We didn’t talk to people and get their perspective. We alienated a lot of people.
-We didn’t get enough eyeballs on the page. We had no audience to launch to.
—It’s important to develop your audience early
—You have to start somewhere. Start building your audience now.
-You have to prove that people will have a need for the product you will sell
-Define what you want to do with a crowd funding campaign
-Be specific.
-Next question: Why would people support something like this? Why would someone care about it?
-Has anyone else done what you are doing? Analyse their campaigns.
-Cas Mentions the crowdfunding campaign that saved the Tivoli Drivein (a community-run driven in her hometown)
-Crowdfunding can help put pressure on funding bodies to back your cause and it makes them look really good so it’s win win.
-Khierstyn says that if she could change anything in the world, she would make entrepreneurship more attainable so people could be happier in their work life.

Connect with Khierstyn

http://crowdfundinguncut.com
https://ca.linkedin.com/in/khierstyn-ross-b6804b12
https://www.facebook.com/khierstyn.ross
https://twitter.com/khierstynross

Show Notes: http://yourbrilliantuncareer.com/ybuc52-31-days-to-biztopia-day-9-make-a-difference-crowdfunding-magic-with-khierstyn-ross