#16 The Art of the Kickstart – Crowdfund your Dream with Matt Ward

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." -Matt Ward, Art of the Kickstart We live in an exciting time in history. If you have a dream invention, product, or business that you’ve been wanting to launch, it is easier today than ever before.  Now you can take your idea and present it on Kickstarter, ask people for money to fund it, and they actually give it to you. It's one of those so-crazy-it-might-work ideas, and it has worked, like crazy. Thousands of entrepreneurs are crowdfunding at this very moment, some to the tune of hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.  Crowdfunding through a website like Kickstarter is an incredible innovation of the Sharing Economy, but it's far from being "free money." A crowd funding campaign can be the most grueling month or two of your life - and it takes a great deal of preparation, planning, persistence, patience, and a little bit of luck, to see it through successfullty. That's why I invited Matt Ward from Art of the Kickstart on to the podcast. Matt and I met in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and connected instantly. Matt's mission is to help out the entrepreneurs who are in the trenches, grinding away, trying to successfully start their own businesses. Matt has a ton of awesome free information on his blog and podcast, and he also does one-on-one consulting with entrepreneurs. This interview was an awesome tour-de-force of crowd funding, sales psychology, profitable marketing strategies, branding and much more. 7 Steps to Starting your Kickstarter Campaign The seven steps to crowdfunding that we break down during the interview and discuss in detail. Decide what your project is and tell a story Decide how much money you want to raise: how do you decide how much to raise? Decide what rewards you will give, and pledge amounts Decide on a duration Make a video to explain and promote Prepare a list of backers and outlets to contact beforehand Set up the campaign and launch! Crowdfunding, marketing, and persuasion tactics discussed in the interview The Inventor's Syndrome: The Achille's Heel of entrepreneurs - and how to avoid falling flat on your face Escape Velocity: Why crowdfunding is also an ingenious marketing strategy How to determine how much to raise How to come out with a bang - so that you raise the vital 20-30% of your goal right off the bat Four compelling story lines to engage your audience (26:15) How to connect and engage with your audience on an emotional and human level (31:38) How to create irresistible rewards and the most profitable pledge levels so that you can find your "sweet spot" (34:20) The four different types of successful videos (43:20) And more! This is a great interview if you're interested in learning about how to crowdfund through Kickstarter. But it's also a great interview on marketing and entrepreneurship in general. Hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did recording it!