Keeping My Happy On During The Kickstarter

Unless there's some catastrophe I'm going to launch the Energy Hook Kickstarter tomorrow.  

I'm already pretty stressed out and anxious and replaying constructive criticism in my head over-and-over and second-guessing myself about stuff. I know, after it launches, I'm going to have trouble separating my sense of personal self-worth from how it does - kind of like after Schizoid launched and I was depressed for two months.

And I've also heard I'll need a thick skin. Again, just like with a normal product launch, though then there are also sometimes weird semi-personal attacks with Kickstarter. But no, I don't have a thick skin. That's not my default state, anyway.

So what am I going to do?

I'm going to do a lot of positive self-talk. I'm thinking about this quote:

"My hat's in the ring. The fight's on and I'm stripped to the buff." - Teddy Roosevelt

Yeah, I'd rather have my hat in the ring then never try and wonder what might have happened. And in that sense, no matter how 'succesful' it is financially, it'll be a success just to be there. Just to press that green candylike button.

And I'll have to keep reminding myself of that, over and over. Already a success. Already a success.

That means celebrating the launch is just as important as celebrating the outcome. So I'm going to do some kind of live party / celebration thing tomorrow, but still not sure when and not what - twitch.tv?  Live tweeting? Something. I'll keep you posted.

Comments

[Michael Guerrero]

Good luck Jamie, you've got my support!

[Tyler Tinsley]

funding something on kickstarter is a wild ride. i think it was the best and worst experience of my creative life.

most of the projects i have seen have two periods of high funding. the launch and the close. the middle can be HELL, just understand it's normal for funding to slow down at a point and that it will pick back up near the end of the project or if you get lucky and can get some press.

Best of fortune on your project!

[Ryan Nohr]

Hey man, we just launched our own Kickstarter this past week, and I can say we haven't gotten much negativity on our page, the negativity mostly comes from external places... well... actually, mostly just Greenlight. Those people are mean. Voting no is not enough for a lot of folks there hah!

All in all, just have confidence in your product, and be as responsive and friendly as you can! If you keep in touch with your audience, they'll go to bat for you!

Take it with a grain of salt, though, as I said, we did only launch this week!