It was a year ago about this time. I just got back from my fruitless Chicago trip and I was determined to find a way to finance WeatherVane Creamery. I met my friends and colleagues Erin, Tony, and Lyle at Café Latté on a snowy night in St. Paul with library books on financing in tow. We tossed many ideas around and Lyle flipped through my books and told me which chapters to read. No use reading dry finance books unnecessarily, I say. One of the ideas kicked around that night… and to be fair it also came up in at least one conversation prior with my friend Maikol (of which I obviously dismissed), was online crowdfunding. It wasn’t until later that I had mentioned it to my friend Mark in Portland that it started to seem like a viable option. It turns out that Mark was/is dating Adrienne who was/is a consultant for crowdfunding campaigns with her business Marketing Moxie. Before even talking to Adrienne, it was beginning to look like fate.
Looking back, it seems wild that I put the whole thing together in less than two months. And it was not without help, that is for sure. My friend Thea offered to edit the video. Others came forward to be actors and Maikol, the one who I went to the wealth seminar in Chicago with, continued to be a weekly support. And who knew that I also met the founders of eRocket Fuel at that seminar? Jeremy helped me source the music for my video and gave me some general advice for making it successful.
The campaign is also when I started blogging. It was nerve wracking. I had 30 days to raise my goal of $100,000. And the media was on my side, too. My friend Kate and others even offered to make phone calls on my behalf to people they didn’t even know to ask for donations. And I had plenty of various meltdowns. The main one was wondering why my friends who I *knew* would buy me a coffee wouldn’t feel compelled to throw $3 at my campaign? Talk about a mindfuck (sorry, MaryLee- I can’t think of another word at the moment). By the end of the campaign I had turned my computer off and watched the clock tick down until the end. I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
In the end I raised over $2,400 in donations and $3,000 in loans as a result. Friends from Portland, my new boyfriend (before we even had our first date!), strangers, ex-boyfriends, family, and friends of friends all contributed. I even got my friend Daniel from New Zealand to contribute so I could say it was funded internationally. Oh, and local businesses and the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative, too. Slightly less than the $100,000 (ahem! *cough*)but successful nonetheless.
Today, ten months later, looking back… I am in awe at the people who contributed to my campaign. Each and every one of them is such a miracle and I am humbled that they had the consideration to make a difference for me, for River Falls, and/or WeatherVane Creamery. Everyone had their own reason and it didn’t have to do with the dollar value. It wasn’t about the price of a cup of coffee. All of my 71+ funders gave something from their hearts and souls that isn’t with reason or even measurable. Thank you, all.