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Best Crowdfunding Sites that Raise More Money [Fuel Your Dream] - YouTube
Channel: Let's Talk Money! with Joseph Hogue, CFA
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Crowdfunding has become a way to raise tens
of thousands for your project but it鈥檚 so
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much more complicated than just picking a
random crowdfunding site.
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By the end of this video, you鈥檒l know which
crowdfunding platform is best for your campaign
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and where you鈥檒l find the most engaged supporters.
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In fact, this could be the most important
decision you make for your campaign.
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We鈥檙e talking crowdfunding today on Let鈥檚
Talk Money.
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Joseph Hogue with the Let鈥檚 Talk Money YouTube
channel where we鈥檙e creating the financial
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future you deserve.
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I want to send a special shout out to everyone
in the community, thank you for taking a part
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of your day to be here.
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If you鈥檙e not part of that community yet,
just click that little red subscribe button.
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It鈥檚 free and you鈥檒l never miss an episode.
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Now I don鈥檛 talk about it as much but one
of the websites I run is a crowdfunding blog
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sharing what I鈥檝e learned on dozens of projects
and helping other crowdfunding campaigns.
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Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and GoFundMe
don鈥檛 seem to be as popular as there were
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a few years ago but it鈥檚 still an amazing
opportunity for small businesses and personal
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projects.
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I鈥檓 going to show you why everyone should
crowdfund a project at least once then I鈥檒l
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walk you through three of the best crowdfunding
websites for different types of projects.
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This is something I researched for my book
Step-by-Step Crowdfunding.
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You see, crowdfunding is so much more than
just starting a project on Kickstarter.
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It鈥檚 a process of organizing your campaign,
marketing and outreach that can mean the difference
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between raising hundreds of thousands of dollars
or being one of the two-thirds of campaigns
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that fail.
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And that process is what I put into the book,
the 17 steps from pre-launching your crowd
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campaign through leveraging your community
for future success.
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I spend much of the time guiding you through
that pre-launch phase that is sooo important,
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building that initial community that鈥檚 going
to promote your project.
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The book is an Amazon best-seller in both
the crowdfunding and non-profit organizations
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categories with a five-star rating from readers.
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Now if you鈥檙e not familiar with crowdfunding,
you鈥檙e probably thinking why should you
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care.
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It鈥檚 just a way to raise money, right?
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If crowdfunding were just about the money,
I would say it鈥檚 totally not worth it.
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There鈥檚 a lot of work that goes into making
a campaign successful.
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Crowdfunding is just as much about the other
benefits like building a community around
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your project or small business.
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According to industry data, more than 70%
of people that support a campaign say they
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would share the message on social media.
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More than half the people that support a crowd
campaign say they would support another one
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in the future.
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Crowdfunding is about building that army of
cheerleaders that is going to support you
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like no other customer will ever do.
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That鈥檚 why I say that everyone should try
at least one crowdfunding campaign.
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Now I鈥檝e heard a lot of the reasons people
don鈥檛 crowdfund in my years as a consultant
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but I want to know what鈥檚 holding you back.
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So I want to know, what are your biggest reasons
for not launching a crowdfunding campaign
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yet.
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Scroll down to the comments and let us know
that one reason, the one hesitancy you have
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in crowdfunding.
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Once you鈥檝e decided to launch a crowdfunding
campaign, there are hundreds of sites you
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could do it on from the biggest like Kickstarter
to Indiegogo and some very small niche sites.
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And it鈥檚 sooo important to pick the right
crowdfunding platform for your campaign.
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Not only does it mean going where the people
are but it鈥檚 also about finding the right
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crowd that鈥檚 going to support your idea.
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So I鈥檓 going to walk you through three crowdfunding
sites for different types of campaigns and
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share three tips for each on how to make your
campaign a success.
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In fact, a lot of the tips will apply to any
crowdfunding campaign and help you raise more
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money so be sure to stick around to get them
all.
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First is the largest crowdfunding platform
in the world, Kickstarter.
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You鈥檝e seen some of the biggest campaigns
on the site like the Coolest Cooler that raised
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over $13 million.
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More than $3.7 billion has been pledged to
crowd campaigns on Kickstarter from nearly
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15 million supporters and 4.8 million of those
people regularly support new projects.
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Kickstarter only allows projects that have
something to give away, some kind of reward
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you can give to supporters.
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This can be anything from just a simple thank
you email to free products and t-shirts.
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That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 called rewards crowdfunding.
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The biggest reason to like Kickstarter is
it鈥檚 27 million monthly visitors.
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It鈥檚 free to launch a campaign so basically,
you鈥檙e getting a marketing page on one of
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the world鈥檚 largest websites.
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This makes it perfect for any small business
or even a personal project.
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Kickstarter charges a 5% fee of the money
you collect plus processing fees.
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You鈥檒l have to set a funding goal, or an
amount you want to raise and you have to meet
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that goal.
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That鈥檚 something we鈥檒l get to next in
our three success tips.
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Kickstarter鈥檚 size really makes it the go-to
choice for crowdfunding if you can give away
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some kind of reward.
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Get your campaign on the featured page and
you鈥檙e almost guaranteed to go viral and
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raise tens of thousands within a couple of
days.
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Now the book goes into detail on everything
you need to do to launch a successful campaign
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but I wanted to highlight three tips for Kickstarter.
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These are three of the most important things
you need to remember before launching on Kickstarter.
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First, you get nothing if you don鈥檛 reach
that funding goal you set.
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That means you want to set an achievable goal
for the minimum you need and then set what鈥檚
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called stretch goals to raise more money beyond
that.
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These are going to be higher funding goals
that will allow you to add more upgrades to
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the project.
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The campaign for the Ghostbusters Game did
this amazingly well.
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They set a funding goal of $250,000 but then
used stretch goals to raise more than $1.5
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million.
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They knew they could meet that $250,000 goal
and get the money but they gave supporters
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extra game pieces and prizes to reach higher
goals.
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Our next Kickstarter hack is that you need
to front-load your donations from your personal
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network.
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This means pre-launching your campaign, building
excitement for it over a month or two before
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the campaign, so that you get a lot of support
in those first few days on Kickstarter.
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The idea here is that if Kickstarter sees
a lot of people supporting your campaign then
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it鈥檚 going to think it鈥檚 a hot project.
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In fact, I鈥檝e found from research that if
you can hit about 20% of your funding goal
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within the first few days, you can get on
the website鈥檚 featured page and that鈥檚
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when you really start seeing the support from
the crowd.
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Now there鈥檚 a lot of ways to do this.
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You have to start by directly asking your
friends and family, even if its just for a
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few bucks and a social share on that first
day.
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You can also do some grass-roots, offline
marketing that we鈥檒l talk about with the
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next crowdfunding site.
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Finally here with Kickstarter is that you
need a long-term strategy for leveraging the
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community and your success on that first campaign.
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I鈥檓 not going to lie to you, crowdfunding
is a lot of work.
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There are 17 steps from pre-launching to wrapping
up your campaign in the book.
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Think of crowdfunding as more than the money.
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For example, the watch company Original Grain
launched its first wood-grain watch in 2015
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to raise almost $391,000 from 2,201 backers.
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Now that鈥檚 amazing for a small business
and it鈥檚 first product.
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But the company kept in touch with the community
it built on Kickstarter and used that army
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of supporters to launch another watch in 2016.
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This time, it raised over $432,000 from 2,442
backers.
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That鈥檚 not an isolated example.
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I know people that launch every new product
through Kickstarter.
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You have to have the social channels set up
to keep those supporters engaged and have
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a plan to use that support.
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Our next crowdfunding site is the world鈥檚
largest dedicated to charity and non-profit
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campaigns, Go Fund Me.
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Whereas Kickstarter requires you to give some
kind of reward to supporters, you don鈥檛
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have this on gofundme.
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Now 2017 stats aren鈥檛 out yet but GoFundMe
has helped raise over $3 billion for projects
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in the six years through 2016 with 25 million
donors giving in just one year.
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GoFundMe is only for fundraising but that
can mean a lot of different types of projects
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including paying for medical costs, education,
volunteering projects.
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Really just about anything can be launched
on the site.
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I鈥檝e even seen people raise money to pay
for their wedding on GoFundMe.
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One of the benefits of GoFundMe is that there
are no funding goals.
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You keep whatever you collect from donors.
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The website also has campaign coaches available
to help you with your project page.
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Now as great as GoFundMe is for fundraising,
there is a very high failure rate.
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People will support your Kickstarter project
if they think they鈥檙e getting something
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out of it but it鈥檚 a lot harder to get them
to donate to your GoFundMe project.
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First, consider reaching out to partner with
non-profits and local aid organizations.
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Even if it鈥檚 a personal project, you can
get a larger organization to come in for a
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percentage of the donations.
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This makes the project bigger than yourself.
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That established organization is going to
give your project credibility, it鈥檚 going
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to help with outreach and will help with messaging.
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You also need to use local community events
and offline grass-roots fundraising to drive
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your gofundme campaign.
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The website doesn鈥檛 quite have the visitors
that Kickstarter has so you鈥檒l need to do
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more to spread the word.
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This means going offline first because people
you meet face-to-face are going to be much
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more likely to donate and get the ball rolling.
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Our last tip for GoFundMe campaigns is you
need to get comfortable directly asking your
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friends and family.
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Non-profit and fundraising organizations are
built on the ask and it鈥檚 no different with
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crowdfunding.
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Sure, get enough support and the website will
put your campaign in front of more people
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but you have to get that initial support and
social sharing first.
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Our last crowdfunding site is Patreon and
this is a popular one here on YouTube.
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Whereas the other two sites are best for people
just starting a project or campaign, Patreon
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works best after you鈥檝e built that community
of supporters.
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Patreon works like this.
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You create a page and talk a little about
what you do.
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The site started as a place for artists to
find patrons of their work but it鈥檚 become
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so much more.
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This is how the arts and a lot of other jobs
used to work hundreds of years ago.
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A patron would sponsor an artist like Michaelangelo
or DaVinci and that monetary support would
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allow the artist to create as their full-time
job.
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So here you reward patrons for works you鈥檙e
going to create in the future, whether it鈥檚
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special videos or paintings, crafts, really
just about anything.
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Patrons promise to support your work monthly
and that money is taken out of their bank
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account automatically each month until they
stop.
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Take a look at the Patreon page for Kinda
Funny, a company that does funny videos and
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podcasts.
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They have over 6,000 supporters.
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So if each of those supporters promises just
$5 a month, the company makes almost $31,000
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a month to put the videos and podcasts together.
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I haven鈥檛 created my own Patreon page but
I鈥檝e worked with people that have and there
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are a few things to remember.
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First is you need to get away from trading
your time for money.
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A lot of creators offer phone time or group
chat time to their patrons.
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This is ok for higher-level patrons giving
$20 or $30 a month or more but you鈥檙e always
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going to be limited by your time.
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Concentrate on making products that you can
complete once and then offer them to patrons.
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Use interviews with patrons as video and blog
posts for testimonials and marketing.
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This is one of the most powerful ways to get
new patrons, find some of your satisfied supporters
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and get them to share their experience.
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Make your patreon page about the benefit to
supporters, not about helping you do your
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work.
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What do people get out of their patronage?
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What feelings will your work bring to them?
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What鈥檚 in it for them?
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Those are three of the best crowdfunding sites
for different campaigns but it鈥檚 just the
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start of really creating a successful campaign
and getting the most out of crowdfunding.
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Check out that book, step-by-step crowdfunding.
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I鈥檒l put a link to it in the video description
below.
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That鈥檚 going to walk you through every step
of the way to launching and getting all the
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support you need for your project.
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Join us in the Let鈥檚 Talk Money community
by clicking on that subscribe button.
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We鈥檙e here Mondays and Wednesdays with the
best videos on beating debt, making more money
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and making your money work for you.
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If you鈥檝e got a question about money, just
scroll down and ask it in the comments and
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we鈥檒l answer it in a video.
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