(August 27, 2014) I’m
heading back to the factory today and I've been sitting on this plane for 13
hours. I have tried to sleep – can’t,
tried to watch movies – boring, and spoken with some very nice people (in
Chinese…yes …the best part). So now I
thought I would take a little time to get back to working on my blog that I
have been neglecting lately.
Well,
the buzz at Downs Designs is “Kickstarter”.
On August 15, we launched our first Kickstarter project. Kickstarter can be a great opportunity for a business
like mine to raise money. I've been in
business for 4 ½ years already and the business is not out of the red yet. I've been using money from every resource we
have and now I’m using our 401K.
I first
got the idea about trying a crowd funding program from a guy who wanted to make
jeans for men and women who have large thighs from lifting weights. He raised $735,000 on his Kickstarter program
and I felt I could even do better than that (being that I have over 70,000
followers on my Downs Designs Facebook page).
I thought this would be so easy.
So we
spent about 6 weeks preparing the Kickstarter website. Chrissy and Jillian worked diligently to make
the most professional and well-done site I've seen in a long time. When it launched I really thought the donations
would just start pouring in.
Boy was
I wrong! After about 2 weeks we only had
90 backers and raised about $9,000.00. I
was surprised at the little support from our followers, my friends, all my
business associates and my customers. So
many people said they were going to donate, but as of this date, had not. I think this is a life lesson I am supposed to be learning.
In the
meantime, Chrissy had been sending out press releases everyday and doing a lot
of Tweets on Twitter. August 25 ago I got
a call from Kiddnation radio and they asked if I would do an interview with
them. Of course I said yes. So we taped an interview and it was to air
the next morning…the morning I’m leaving for China.
I was
driving to the airport at 6:30 Wednesday morning (August 27, 2014) when the
interview aired and I never got to hear it.
When I arrived at the airport and got through security I hurried to my
gate so I could check my laptop. To my
surprise the donations were pouring in.
I literally started to cry. I couldn't believe that the ten minute segment was able to reach so many people
who were all donating. I am so humbled
by the support of all those total strangers.
Then it was time to board the plane to Chicago. When I got to Chicago my flight to Hong Kong
was delayed for 3 more hours so my wait was now 7 hours. I was actually excited that I would be able
to keep an eye on our progress even longer.
Finally
it was time to board the plane for Hong Kong and I wouldn't be back online
until Thursday night. I was so excited when we finally boarded, I think I could
have flown there without the plane. So
this flight has been particularly hard for me because I just want to get to my
hotel room and get hooked up on Wi-Fi. I
have no idea what to expect. The
anticipation is killing me.
I can’t
thank Kiddnation Radio enough for having me on their show. They may have changed the course of Down
Designs. I’ll continue writing later
when I have more information about our Kickstarter.
“It's now later”
- Well, finally I checked into my room, hooked my computer and saw the new
number. The total was over 17,000 and
rising. So in the morning before the
show aired, we had raised about $9,000 in two weeks and after just a few hours
that number had almost doubled. All the
money that had just been donated was all from people I didn't even know. My faith in mankind had certainly been
restored!
I’m now
back from China and have been home for three days. The enthusiasm stopped by the time I left and
not much has changed since I've been home.
When I left China, the total raised was $20,239.00. That was September 3, 2014. Today is September 6 and the total is now
$21,150.00 as of this writing. I’m sure
not complaining about raising over twenty thousand dollars, but I had expected
to raise a million. I’m not sure what I
was thinking, but we still have about 7 days left. Who knows what will happen. I’ll end this entry and leave you all hanging
till I write next.
