Review: IndieGoGo’s a Go

Oh, if only Donald Trump were here with his slick-side hair and the puckering lips. He’d be squealing inside like a stuck pig in a roast as the dollars start flyin’ — money, money, mooooooney — MONEY!

If you’re an entrepreneur looking to break out into the small business arena, it is, most definitely, all about the money. Just ask Trump. He basically started small, too!

Every Entrepreneur Starts Small

The unfortunate thing about ‘starting small’ is the need for something to catapult your ideas, your concepts, your very business model into fruition: it’s called money.

And you do need a lot of it.

Face it: starting up your business is hard. You need funding. Most business owners thinking about the costs try taking a small business loan out with a bank. Other owners, if they’re lucky, go into their own savings — money that’s been saved and accumulated over years and years.

We’ve got to be honest here, though: those two options do make it a little difficult. Small business loans are hard to land; and you won’t find many people that have enough in their savings account to start up a brand-new business, whatever the business is.

So what do you do? You try this:

It’s Called IndieGoGo

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

The name of this particular web site sort of rolls off your tongue, doesn’t it? That same ease might be applied to the cash flow potential.

IndieGoGo is a global service that allows you to start fundraising campaigns! Check out the site, and you’ll notice anyone — and I do mean anyone — can browse categories of campaigns run by literally anybody and everybody in the world for just about anything.

That simply means you can check in and actually donate to any campaign you choose. It’s a central HUB for projects that need the golden goose, the fruition catapult of any business idea: money.

Likewise, just as you can pick and choose a campaign to which you can send some moola, you can also start your own campaign and have certain resources to market it, so you can start receiving money — tax-free. No paybacks necessary.

The Essence of Fundraising

That’s basically what fundraising is all about — gifts, donations, just somebody else trying to help out with some change. And IndieGoGo is a site to help target your cause and get your name out there.

Chances are pretty good that you can raise up a lot of money with such a service, because the bottom line is this: donations are tax-deductible.

That simply means a donor can write off the amount on the taxes and get a larger refund during tax time. Yes, it actually benefits a donor to give money! Novel idea, isn’t it?

There is just one issue, though, with this idea of IndieGoGo….

Limited Sensibility and Broad Range

There’s always a certain cause behind fundraising and donations. Let’s put it this way:

People are more likely to donate when it’s for a ‘good cause.’ For instance: money’s important when it comes to brain cancer research.

Get the picture? This would be an extreme, but I’d imagine that it would be rough for an X-rated filmmaker to receive funds through IndieGoGo. Call me crazy.

It’s common sense that donations are primarily charged with the idea that the money’s going somewhere ‘noble’ or ‘worthwhile.’ Definitely not to the manufacturing of sex dolls or vibrators. Again, that’s just an extreme example! I repeat: there will be no nudity in this article.

The Essence of Marketing and Advertising

Going back to the way business works, though, IndieGoGo wouldn’t hurt a thing!

You really don’t have to do anything. Just sit there and receive whatever money comes your way. That’s it.

You can, however, market yourself to show that your idea, your business, can be for a good cause. It takes some marketing finesse.

You have to remember that many people out there are always looking to lend a hand. The question is who will take advantage of that hand. Just to give you an idea of some of the outrageous ideas a person can come up with for a campaign, here are a few actual campaigns listed on the site:

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First-time Author Tupelo Hassman Seeks Out Funding for Video Equipment
to Film Her Debut Novel GIRLCHILD — $2,630 Currently Raised.

Laura Loving Happy, an art company, Seeks Funding for Supplies
to Continue Bringing Art Pieces to Communities Everywhere – $9,810 Currently Raised.

Newt Newport, creator of the book-based roleplaying game “Crypts and Things,”
Seeks Out Funding to Keep the Game Completely Free to Consumers —
$2,455 Currently Raised.

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Pretty shocking? These campaigns aren’t for achieving World Peace or anything, but they’re obviously doing something right!

Maybe your business can, too.

Related Keywords: company finance, start-up costs, corporate grants