I’m a planner, I love to organise, especially finance and work wise. I don’t function without a budget which is always at least 3 months in advance, that’s just the way I like to live. So with my Crowfunder pitch just over a third of the way through, with a total investment of £300, I’m starting to plan.
I’m so unbeliveably grateful to all of those people who have funded me so far, your generosity is amazing and I’m so happy that you’ve wanted to contribute. I have to plan for the worst though, that all you lovely people will be getting your money back if I don’t reach my target.
Two things have gone through my head, the most troubling of the two thoughts is that if I can’t raise the funds needed for printing by the meter, then maybe my work just isn’t popular enough to do it. I’m very pragmatic and this is something I have to carefully consider. I hoped that my pitch would be funded by many investing small amounts of money, the £10-£30 range. I wonder if there just isn’t enough interest for my fabrics to reach this target? I did worry initially that the total was simply too high to reach but reducing the original target too much would be fruitless as I wouldn’t have been able to complete the project without all of the money anyway.
So what are my other options? One – try and save up and raise the funds myself, but being self employed without an employed wage coming in anymore, this will be tricky. Two – go to the bank and try and get a loan. Again, this is tricky for the same reasons as one, I doubt if my bank will lend me money knowing that there isn’t a regular wage coming in, also I’m not sure I could cope with the worry about not being able to pay it back. The last option is to not do it at all, I’m trying not to think about that at the moment though. I’m not putting my head in the sand, it’s just that I don’t want to think about not being able to fulfull my dream at all, not just yet anyway.
My deadline is around the 16th July so I’ve got to have a plan of action by then. Would love some feedback though if anyone has looked at my bid. Are the rewards just not what you were interested in? Was there info lacking from the bid? Any feedback would be gratefully received :)
I think your fabrics are lush, I wouldn’t get negative on that point! I definitely have craft/skill envy!
I am a planner too and money is pretty tight for me at the moment, and I would LOVE to start my own business but I know I just do not have the money at the minute.
Have you any other ideas for increasing business size other than the printing by meter? Maybe there are other ways to raise some funds?
Sorry I cannot give better advise as I don’t really know what I am talking about but I just didn’t want you to feel negative about your fabrics!
:0)
I love your fabric, and you’re obviously selling it to someone! are there others resources you could advertise your crowdfunder bid on? I know its already on facebook, and your website, but are there other ways to advertise it either locally to yourself, through the local newspapers as a feature or something similar- people especially like the idea of supporting local businesses. maybe you could contact some of the people who have purchased your stuff on Etsy etc and seem to be making items with the fabric, they might appreciate the opportunity to get larger quantities, or have a printing lesson? if it doesn’t reach the target, maybe you could try and fund it through a series of classes of printing etc, there seems to be only a limited number of people offering this, and it makes a great gift- can you list the classes on Etsy as you would fabric for those in your area?? Are there other small businesses or craft shops in the area which would like to stock your products in bulk, in exchange for a good price on a larger quantity? i for one really hope you get the funding as i want to do the printing, so fingers crossed you get the funding!! x
Hi Angela, thank you so much for the feedback. A lot of people have been really great at retweeting for me and sharing on their facebook pages but reaching out to a wider audience has been difficult, I have contacted a few places to help spread the word and so hopefully I’ll get a little more coverage soon but I have quite a goal to reach in a very short space of time so I think I have to plan for another way to raise the funds now.
I have often been asked for printing lessons, maybe it’s the advance ‘booking’ that puts people off having this as a reward?
I’m really glad you like my fabrics, thanks for the positive thoughts and finger crossing! :)
Hi Kristy, this comment ended up in the spam too so sorry it’s only just shown up!
Thanks for your feedback and for your lovely comment about my fabrics. I’m terrible for being very negative about my fabrics, I think it comes from having absolutely no self confidence! I’m always amazed when someone says something lovely like you did, so thank you very much.
I know what you mean about the money, I started very small and ran my business whilst I worked but it’s taken me a very long time to get here, it’s definitely a slow route, but I’d recommend taking the plunge :)