Me and Marie

You guys!!!

We're at over 90% raised!

There's only 48 hours left on the project, and $245 left to make the goal. At this point I'm pretty confident we'll get there, but we haven't crossed the line just yet.

This week I've started B-School. I've been putting together a profit plan, finding out who my ideal customer is, and learning why I should charge what I'm worth, without competing on price. It's been eye-opening, and has made me very glad I haven't published any services or prices yet (I've been waiting to do these activities first).

But that doesn't change the fact that the professional services offered on this campaign are well below what I'll be charging later on. If you, or anyone you know, wants help with their crowdfunding project, now is the time to get it. I won't be offering these prices again!

Not to mention those cookies. I've made a few batches in the last four weeks and they appear to be pretty popular. After this project closes, I'll be sending out a survey to find out how you like them: soft and chewy, crisp, or hard dunkers. I'm dedicated to ensuring you get a batch of deliciousness baked to your own personal perfection.

I'll be sending out another couple of updates before we close, so we're not at panic stations just yet.

Thanks so much for the help you've given me so far: you're totally amazing!

Kat

Hello fantastic people,

Today marks two things: it's the end of my first week being self-employed, and there's only one week left of this campaign!

My first week has been amazing. I've bought on my first paying client, started really setting up my service levels and products, made some amazing contacts and, for the first time in a long time, I'm really, genuinely happy.

Which is good, because everyone knows that happy bakers make the best cookies, and so far I have 17 boxes to bake!

Please keep sharing this campaign. As we're still $790 away from the goal, here's a little incentive:

I've added a new reward!! For $15, you can get one of my famous peppermint plants. I've been "breeding" my peppermint plant for years, and this year I've been particularly good at it. Not all of them are this size, but they all have the potential to get there. These plants are 100% pesicide free and organic.

This stuff makes the best peppermint tea in the world. Peppermint tea is excellent after meals to aid digestion and sleep.  These plants have high essential oil levels, meaning you just have to brush your hand past it for a burst of pepperminty freshness in the air. Believe me, your new peppermint plant is going to put the store-bought teas to shame!

If you want a plant, you can come back and claim this reward level as well. The first current-backer to pledge gets the one shown in the photo. It's the healthiest one I've got and getting bigger every day. The others are much smaller at the moment.

Thanks again for all your love and support.

Kat

Hi awesome people!

Today marks the 10 day countdown. This is when I'm supposed to get really nervous because my project hasn't funded yet and time is running out fast.

For the sake of my fingernails, I need you all to start pimping this thing to your friends and family, but I want you to be a little strategic about it.

While I realise this is an incredibly personal project, I DO have some great crowdfunding-related rewards, and I CAN help your friends and family fulfill their dreams and passions as well.

So I've developed a series of 8 images to help promote them to people in particular industries, like these ones:

If you're interested in seeing them all, they're now at the bottom of my PledgeMe page.

If you have a friend or a family member involved in:

• A band trying to finance a tour or album
• A community group trying to get a project of the ground
• A theatre group trying to finance their next season
• Filmmaking
• Inventing cool things
• Any kind of fundraising, really

Then one of these images will speak to them.

So what do I want you to do?

1. Copy and paste this link on that person's Facebook page: http://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/1838&1 
2. Scroll through the arrows below the link until you find an image that is right for them.
3. Post it on their page with a message saying why you think they should talk to me.

If everyone backing this project could get one person to back at the $10 level, it would put me past $2000, and bring me nearly 15% closer to the goal!

Hopefully Facebook will make it easy for you and import the images. If it doesn't, make sure you have the little '&1' at the end of the link. Sometimes changing that number to 2 or 3 helps. If all else fails, I have been slowly loading some onto the Multitude Facebook page, and you can always share from there.

Thanks for any sharing you can do. You've already been wonderful to me, now let's see if I can help your friends and family in return!

Kat

Wow!

Two thirds of the way there in under 2 weeks! I went out for a walk, and when I got back we were at 66%!

I don't think I've mentioned it before - you guys are AWESOME!

This week has been a huge one.

• The government approved the regulations allowing for equity crowdfunding to begin in New Zealand from April 1. This is going to mean huge changes for the way small and medium businesses can raise funds for expansion.
• One of the first equity crowdfunding sites, Fundakiwi, launched their "virtual crowdfunding" competition. One of the prizes the winner will receive is coaching and support from yours truly.
• I pranked the office with cookies and... most of them didn't notice. That's OK, some did and at least they're not sitting at home tempting me anymore!
• I said goodbye to my second-home for the last four years and the amazing people who have had to put up with me for 40 hours a week.
• I said hello to my first day of being self-employed.

Next week looks to be just as amazing, but in a completely new way.

Thank you for being part of the journey.

Kat

We're half way there!

A few days ago I was watching this video by Natalie Sisson. She's another B-School grad, and a Kiwi who travels the world running a business that shows people how to travel the world and run a business (meta, right?). While I'm not sure I'd recommend her tips (a few of her figures around fees are dead wrong), the video does a really great job at describing the crowdfunding process, which is:

A BIG mountain of money at the start... followed by a slow trickle until the end when BOOM! Everyone decides to really get on board and make it happen.

It made me laugh because this is exactly how I was feeling at the time. Like we'd stalled and I was out of friends to ask.

The good news: this project is doing better than most on their 8th day. And we still have 20 days to go.

There is no bad news. I have total faith this is going to work. It's all downhill from here.

On B-school, I've now completed the entire 'Follow Through Formula' series, and I've got myself an accountability partner. She's going to be invaluable in ensuring I actually get stuff done by doing what my boss would normally do and giving me that "I am not impressed" stare we all fear so much. It's already working. Tonight I told her I was going to do a job I've been putting off all weekend, and it's getting done... right after I finish this update.

Which I'm going to do now.

Thanks again!

Kat

To my amazing, beautiful, talented and very awesome pledgers,

This morning the enrollments opened for B-school. I put down my (almost NZ$700) deposit and enrolled.

When I decided to leave my current job in October last year, I gave myself 4 months to work my ass off and get my head around this industry. When I officially handed in my resignation in December, I had the ultimate motivation to make this thing work.

And that's why I've put my money where my mouth is and enrolled. Because it is the ultimate motivation.

What you need to know as backers is that the biggest investor in my education is me. 

$2500 is what I'm asking for. After PledgeMe fees and reward costs are taken into account, you will be contributing around $2000 to my success.

I'm paying in 4 installments of NZ$670. For those smarty-pants who are good with maths, you'll recognise that this is actually more than I'm asking for (it's $2680). Essentially, I'm paying 25% of my fee. You would have to buy TWO of my top reward to be putting more into this than I am. That's fair to you. And it's fair that you know that.

I'm also making sure your investment in me really counts. Soon after Marie announced B-School, I noticed a lot of the other bloggers I follow were also announcing it. Turns out there's a pretty amazing affiliate program associated with the course, and for me that meant an amazing array of free stuff to choose from!

I really shopped around, and in the end, I went with this amazing offer from Laura Roeder and Denise Duffield-Thomas. Why? Well, it made sense to me that I make your investment in me stretch as far as possible. This offer gave me even more education (valued at over NZ$3500) absolutely free.

Laura is a co-creator of B-School, and specialises in how to make a name for yourself online (she calls it "Creating Fame"). The Kiwi in me cringes at this thought, but equally, there is a chance to make myself a global expert in this field right now. This is one way to take that opportunity with two hands and run with it. This is how I start to make the REALLY big dreams come true.

Denise also added her "Money Bootcamp" to the pot, which she describes as "the fun and practical, non-woo woo money course designed for female entrepreneurs". As someone who's one week away from leaving her steady job for the unknown, this definitely spoke to me. 

Together, this offer was the strongest one for my aspirations, and ensured that your investment will result in over NZ$6000 worth of education.

That is an incredible thing to invest in, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Aroha nui,

Kat