Did you ever have a dream and not know what to do to finance it? Did Financing stop you dead in your tracks? That may be where the limiting belief "It takes money to make money" comes from. I know it has happened to me. But there is good news for any person who has a dream, yet not enough money to see it through. The answer is called Crowdfunding of which has been around for many years, just not available the way it is like today with the internet being so prolific.
I'm going to explain how crowdfunding works and give some examples, but I want to make it clear that this is not a get rich quick scheme. You won't get the money you want overnight and you won't get it without a lot of work. Yet it does work and has for many countless projects and campaigns. Imagine what you could crowdfund. At the time of this writing she is just getting started, yet is committed to successfully completing her project regardless of how long or how many attempts it takes. This long term persistent attitude is necessary to reach any crowdfunding goal.
Crowdfunding has been around for a long time when you consider the plate being passed around at a church gathering. The idea is finding a group of people who believe the same as you do and are willing to support your idea by donating money to the cause. The potential is staggering as I've seen a recently completed project create over $200,000 and another that had a $2,000 goal netting over $27,000. Not too bad, or in other words "very remarkable". However, before you get too excited note that a lot of projects don't get funded at all.
Remember I spoke about a lot of work being required to make a successful project work? It's true. You can't just put up a project at one of the many crowdfunding sites out there like GoFundMe.com, Indiegogo, or Kickstarter and expect droves of people to flow to it delivering the much needed money to fund your project. No, it's just like any other website you may launch, in that you will need to drive traffic to your site. And the more traffic you drive that's interested in your idea the better results you will get.
A press release is very appropriate for crowdfunding along with other traffic sourcing ideas. However, there are many ways to drive traffic, but that's outside the scope of this article. One thing you can do to create more interest in your project is to use several angles that will allow you to tap into a variety of communities of people who might be interested in funding your project. For example, people who:
1)Care about helping to fight hunger because a portion of every sale will go to fight hunger and feed the world
2)Like to hear success stories. A 13 years old girl doing something great is a real inspiration to everyone
3)Want to learn more about crowdfunding
4)Are interested in mobile applications for the iPod Touch (iTouch), iPhone, iPad, Android and other smartphones
Of course you need to deliver the goods you say you will deliver but if you do so, you can claim those things and market to each person who fits the specific market you are catering to.
The more angles of interest you can create into funding your project, the more possibilities at finding the crowd you have to support it. Don''t find yourself short on ideas, be creative. You too can fulfill a lifelong dream of your own and I highly recommend it. Now you don't have an "I can't afford to do it" excuse. On the other hand if you have a "can do" attitude, you knew you could do it all along and just perhaps crowdfunding can provide the answer you need to move you forward. Remember, persistence and patience are very useful traits if you decide to crowdfund a project.
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