It’s Okay To Be Scared To Launch

Speaker 1 0:03
This is the crush crowdfunding podcast, the number one place for people who want to launch on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. My name is Nalin. And I invite you to join me for tips, hacks and insights to get you launched and fully funded.

Speaker 1 0:20
Hey everyone! Welcome to another session of the crush crowdfunding podcast. I'm so excited to have you here again with me today because we're going to talk about a topic that honestly not a lot of people touch on. And it's kind of a shame because it's a really, I think it's a really important topic that should really be talked about a lot because I see a lot of people just kind of dropping the ball on this or just being, you know, just kind of skirting over it without really, really focusing on the importance of it and kind of the further implications. So the topic I wanted to really, really kind of dive deep into today is fears. I know, it's kind of a weird topic to talk about when it comes to crowdfunding but, you know again, it's not something we will talk about a lot. So let's kind of chat about it. I talk to a lot of people when it comes to crowdfunding, you know, I get on a lot of calls, I meet a lot of people at meetups, and I meet a lot of people, when I'm, you know, going to different, like startup events and things like that. People who, you know, just hear that I'm working on crowdfunding and they ask me questions and tell me, you know, they asked me what they should do things like that. And one of the really key things that kind of come up in conversation is that people are scared. People are really, really scared. They're just afraid to tell people, tell the potential backers, tell their potential audience, who they are, what they're doing, what their story is . And really just are scared to showcase the truth, about themselves, their story, their mission, their vision, who they are, why they're doing, what they're doing and exactly their why behind everything that makes them them, makes them special, makes their project special, makes them, makes a project worth following. Because people are apparently just really scared actually about being transparent, about being exactly who they are and who they want to be. And who they think they are, or at least who they are in real life, in everyday life. People are too scared to talk about that. And you know, a lot of people just tell me they're like, Hey, you know, these big brands, these big brands like Disney or these big brands like Lego, these big brands, like I don't know Purell, Lysol. These big brands like Coca Cola, they release all this beautiful content. They release all this beautiful, you know, information, these clips, these videos, this social media content on Instagram, on Facebook, on Twitter, everything is just perfect. Right? Everything is spotless, it's clean. It's, it's, it's been through, I would say like 10 rounds of approvals, and probably 30 rounds of edits before it even surfaces on social media, surfaces on a website. It surfaces literally anywhere the public can see or look at. Or kind of understand the brand, right? There's so many levels of this and these entrepreneurs that I talked to, they're saying, hey, all these brands are putting out all this polished content and I have to do that too. I have to make sure that everything that I release, everything that I showcase is absolutely perfect. So well that is great advice for you know, big brands and make millions of dollars or billions of dollars and you know are permeating every single corner in the world. Right. It's honestly really horrible advice for crowdfunding? Like horrible, absolutely horrible advice for crowdfunding. And I really wanted to talk about it today, that's about today because a lot of people are just so scared to be anything different from all these big brands. Like you, man, Coca Cola, any of these big brands like Disney, any of these big brands, they're so scared that they're not perfect. They're not 130%, they're not all there. Nothing's polished and they're so scared to show anything behind the scenes. And again, like guys, although it's great for big, big brands to do that. But for crowdfunding, it's horrible advice. With crowdfunding keep this in mind, crowdfunding, you know, honestly, the process is the marketing. Whatever you're doing everything from your prototypes, your early sketches, your little thoughts, your nuggets of ideas that you have while you're walking your dog and you're like, wow, this is a cool little marketing idea I could do for my new product. Or every single idea you have in the shower while you're washing your hair, or like, Ooh, this kind of cool, new breakthrough you're having with your team, or like, hey, this is a cool new color that we want to kind of test out. Like, anything behind the scenes that is about you and your project and bring it to life. Honestly, people love seeing that. Backers, crowdfunding backers, in particular, just they're not afraid to see anything messy. They're not afraid to see behind the scenes, they're not afraid to see behind the curtain. Honestly, they love that. They're kind of the opposite of you know your typical everyday consumer, right? Your typical everyday consumer, really, really expect to see those polished pictures those incredible you know, imagery and videos from you know, Expedia or Travelocity or something right? They expect to see that. But with crowdfunding backers, what I absolutely love is that, honestly, there's the total opposite. They want to see the mess. They want to see the struggles. They want to see the obstacle. They want to see, you know, your highest highs as well as your lowest lows, right? Like, they're not afraid to look at you and see like, oh, wow, this entrepreneur has been working on this project for you know, two years now in their own garage. And they've spent, you know, three hours every day after work just kind of toiling away at this like, they've put in their blood, sweat and tears into bringing this to life and their mission is grander than themselves, their their vision is larger than life. Like, showcasing that story will bring in so much engagement and they'll bring in so many people who have the same vision and ideals as you and it will help you honestly create such a strong community for your launch. People will relate to you so much more than if you're just kind of shooting out all this polished, kind of fake pictures to be honest, like polished pictures that maybe is not even real life. You know? Like, it's kind of like, okay, it's kind of like Disney movies, right? Disney movies really showcase just the happy endings, right? They're like, hey, so this happened, you know, the hero or heroine sets out on the story. There's an obstacle, things fall down, and then it, they live happily ever after. Right? That's a Disney movie. It's kind of the classic plot of a Disney movie. And the thing is, with this Disney movie, if you notice, you know, there's obstacles. You cheer for the hero, you cheer for the heroine, you want to see them succeed. You want to see them, you know, get to their goal, make that transformation, succeed in what they set out to do. When you're looking at your own crowdfunding campaign, yes it's going to be tough. And it's going to be so hard to open the doors and so hard to open yourself up to being transparent, being authentic, being vulnerable, being just your true self because honestly, like, we're not trained for that, right? In our society. A lot of society at least is all about images, right? It's all about how you're dressed, what you look like how you present yourself. But the cool thing about crowdfunding is that people are excited to see the real you. People are excited to see the real mission. People are excited to see the real story. People are excited to see that mess, those obstacles. You as the hero struggling, you as the hero failing, you as the hero coming up against all this adversity. And then again, you as the hero figuring out ways around it. You as the hero navigating obstacles. You as the hero, like jumping over things that fall onto your path. And they love it, backers love these, these early adopters, these people are willing to spend their disposable income on, you know, something that doesn't even exist on the market yet. They love seeing stuff like this, they love when you pull back the curtain. Honestly, when you're thinking about this, even beyond crowdfunding, you know, you as someone who wants to launch a project on crowdfunding, you as someone who wants to launch a product project on Indiegogo on Kickstarter, you know, you're an entrepreneur, right? Like, I don't know, if you call yourself that or not, but you're an entrepreneur, you're an entrepreneur at heart, for sure. You're here to make things to solve problems, to create, to invent, to, to showcase the world that there's more, to showcase the world that there's other things in life. And you can't build a tribe and you can't build a crowd, you can't build, you know, a really dedicated group of followers if you're not open about your mission, if you're not open about your story if you're not open about what you're looking to do. And honestly, I was kind of in the same boat, right? Like I was, I was scared as an entrepreneur, I was scared. I was scared to talk about myself. I was too scared to open up about my life. I was scared to really tell people like, Hey, this is why I'm here. This is my mission. This is my vision. I'm, you know, this is what I do. This is what I look like. I wear a hoodie every single day. Heck, I'm wearing a hoodie right now, right? Like, I'm usually in sweats. I walk my dog every morning, I love soccer, I play board games. You know, there's a lot of these things that people I was, you know, I was really afraid to tell people at first. I was so scared to show people who I am and who, and what I stand for and what I love to do and my passions and the reason why I'm here with people in the first place. You know, I was scared to be completely honest, I was scared. And I understand a lot of crowdfunders and a lot of entrepreneurs, their fears in being themselves and showcasing their projects and showcasing their wise. And being truthful on social media, being truthful when it comes to crowdfunding. And you know, when I first started with entrepreneurship you could even see like scroll back through my Instagram, scroll back through my Twitter, scroll back through my Facebook page you know, just go look just go take a look. Scroll back and you'll see that everything was like polished and professional and I would, you know, never show my face and I would be scared to really tell people what my mission was and I just be like, really this robotic like big, I don't know business right? I just be like hiding behind all this. You know, I thought that was cool. I thought that was the right thing to do. I thought that since these big brands are showcasing all these polished things, I need the polished to I need to be you know, as professional as possible, I need to, you know, wear a suit and tie or something. You know, it's. So if you, you know, you scroll back through my stuff, you'll see that. You'll see that I was scared too. I was definitely scared too. And so I understand when crowdfunders come talk to me, when entrepreneurs come talk to me, and they're saying that they're scared to talk about things, they're scared to be transparent. They're scared to literally post a picture of an early prototype, they're scared to literally post video of an early drawing. They're scared of showcasing people what an early prototype can do, or what the UI or the UX of an early prototype looks like, because they're just not sure how people would react. And they're scared, and I completely understand that.

Speaker 1 12:50
But guess what, guys, you know, one day, it all changed. Like, if you look now at my content, you look now at my Instagram, you look now at my Twitter, I am as transparent as can be, I am there with you 100%. I, you know, really am as authentic and transparent and as vulnerable as I can be. And you know what, like, I got so much more engagement just by being myself. Being natural being authentic is being there showing up and just being me and again, the YouTube videos, go to other YouTube videos, right? It's literally me. And you can see my kitchen in the background, right? Like, literally there's magnets and there's just dirty dishes in the back and one of the videos I think I had like a bowl of noodles was kind of cooling in the back that I was gonna eat for lunch right after taking the video. You know what, like, that stuff has gotten me so much more engagement, so much more trust, and so much more honestly relationships that have been built on this stuff than any of the quote unquote polished and professional things that I've done in the past. And like, I wish I knew this earlier, you know, but you know that that was a lesson for me. It allowed me to really relate with crowdfunders. And, you know, it allowed me to really relate with you guys. You're you want to launch, you want to succeed, and you're looking at these big brands and you think I have to be polished, I have to be professional, I have to be, you know, this person who's A+ 130% at all times. But, guys, I'm here to tell you, it's okay. It is okay. It's okay to be scared. It's okay to, you know, be afraid to present yourself. It's okay to be

Speaker 1 14:40
just frightened of what the world will think if you showcase like an early drawing or an early prototype or say, guys, this product isn't done yet. I'm here for you, you know, for your help for your support. I know it's scary. I've been there. It's completely frightening but I'm also here to tell you that the process is the marketing, right? With crowdfunding, especially. With entrepreneurship the process is the marketing. The more you're able to show yourself, be there, be present, showcase every win every obstacle, every, every struggle, everything that you can do. Every growth that you experience, and then you're able to reflect on it. If you are able to be there, and pull back the curtain and show people literally, hey, look, our team's working in the back of our truck today because our office just, you know, ran out of power and this person has a hot spot and a truck and so this is what we're doing today. Right? If you're able to do that, your fans are gonna love you, your fans are going to engage, your fans are gonna react. Your fans are going to be there for you because you know, let's be honest here, like with life, you can plan as much as you want. You can be as polished as you want, you can be as perfect as you want but things will fall apart. Things will not go according to plan. Things, you know, will come into your way and you'll be forced to creatively problem solve, you'll be forced to think about new things to do to get yourself out of the situation. And if you're able to face a problem, just like a Disney hero, right? Face a problem and figure out ways to get around it and figure out an incredible way to get over that problem people are going to love it. People are going to love your story. People are going to follow you. People are going to be you know, just banging on your door, just being insane and they can't wait to back your project on crowdfunding. So yes, today we're kind of talking about fears. And you might be listening, and you might be not nodding along and you might have these fears. And if you do I'm with you. I understand, I understand completely how you're feeling and a lot of people are in the same boat. So don't worry, you're not alone. But also remember that the process is the marketing. The process, everything that you do the wins the losses, you know, the growth, and the obstacles, the struggles, everything makes you you and makes your project unique. And makes people just want to follow you even more. The process is the marketing. And I encourage you to get out there, be open, be authentic, be transparent, be vulnerable, you know? Openly fail, and people are going to love it. People are gonna love you, people are gonna, you know, just tell their friends about you. And you're going to be that much more content, fulfilled with yourself, your life, your mission, your project, and more people are going to love you for it. So I encourage you to get out there and just be you. Don't be afraid to be you and don't be afraid to fail. Thank you so much for listening to this session of the crush crowdfunding podcast. I had a blast with you today. If you liked this episode, please subscribe to the podcast, I would really appreciate it. And also, if you enjoyed this session, I would really really truly be thankful if you could leave a review and let me know what you liked about the podcast. I will see you in the next session. Thanks for listening to the crush crowdfunding podcast at crushcrowdfunding.com. Tune in the same time next week for more ways to crush your launch.