Belief System As a person I pride myself on having three qualities that I live by, Honesty, Loyalty and Integrity. It in essence shapes the person I am and the person I have always wanted to be in both domestic life and work life. With the love of my family and the support of my friends it has made it easier to find balance between my life commitments and the freedom to express my imagination, a factor not all common with everyone as many lack the support they need. There have been many times in my life that an opportunity has arisen that could have lifted me to the next level but it is always at the expense of others. I could never betray my own beliefs and sign a deal with the devil in order to get ahead in life. Success is measured by the people you have helped along the way, building a solid foundation of support and community that can in any situation stand strong and endure. Success created to the detriment of others is false and in turn has a weak foundation that could topple in the smallest of breeze. I do not do this for money and do not look for payment on any advice or help I give people. I do it because of my passion for creativity and the satisfaction in helping others succeed as much as I want to succeed myself. Community Spirit The world is full of people only interested in self gain and unfortunately that will always be the case. Change would in my opinion be almost impossible but what is possible is the bringing together of those who do want to help and support like-minded individuals to form a strong community with shared resources. There may be millions of people who feel the same about success through support but unless they connect with each-other they just become a million individuals with hopes of one day making it. I hear the phrases “it’s a dog eat dog world” or “survival of the fittest” and attribute them to mainstream and corporate industries. As an independent free thinker those phrases can damage a community that should be working together and helping one another. We should be replacing the corporate phrases with more independent phrases. One that comes to mind is “Strength in numbers”, the one thing that we have as a community that sets us apart is numbers. Within those numbers are a vast collective of experience, creativity, knowledge, support, imagination, innovation and inspiration, which can breathe life in to a worthwhile collaboration that each of us can learn from. Community Awareness I believe that social media is the most powerful tool for sending messages; driving change and facilitating free speech. Out there exists a myriad of free thinking, creative and independent people where the ideal purpose would be to bring them together in one encompassing community. Able to share ideas, provide guidance and uncover new talent. I want to create a knowledge sharing culture that encourages people to work together more efficiently and above all to share experience and expertise that will make collaborations more productive. Know how by itself is not sufficient and to make the knowledge productive you need to have information. Knowing how to make a cake is simply not good enough - you need the list of ingredients and a clear understanding of what type of cake you want. Know why is also an important cog in the wheel of knowledge adding to the enhancement of your abilities. Knowing the purpose of each ingredient of the cake will give you a better understanding of what it should taste and feel like. If an ingredient is unavailable then what substitutes can be used etc. Know how, Information and Know why complete a collection of processes that govern the creation, dissemination and productivity of knowledge sharing. I am not content with just being part of a community that exists to be social but to give the community the necessary tools to develop themselves and in turn develop the knowledge and communication of the community making it an evolving entity. Crowdfunding This brings me to something that has added depth to the community and given it an avenue to increase the support they give to each-other. In the whole scheme of things this is still a very young system and it’s because of that, many people are unaware of how to use it. Thousands upon thousands of people from around the world and all walks of life think they have a great idea or a product we can’t live without. Unfortunately for a large portion of this populous there is another common factor that connects them. NO CASH. As a carrot dangling in front of the ass it’s clear to see the pulling power of crowd funding and its amazing ability to get people funded. But like a moth to a flame the bodies keep piling up with one failed project after another. Why is it that some projects are astronomically successful while others including many promising projects die a painful death? It is not in the product they are trying to build or the financial climate that is to blame for failure. It lies solely on the shoulders of themselves. This may sound harsh but 99% of all failures that have a great product fail because of poor promotions, planning and above all social awareness. Crowd funding isn’t a nursery where you drop off your kids putting trust in others to do the dirty work and then at the end of the day go pick them up. It’s about what happens in between, what care and attention you give in the upbringing of your child can determine how they will grow. Mass Illusion The problem with crowd funding sites is that they have become a sweet lullaby sung by sirens as they lure sailors to the ultimate demise. Yes it feels good to see success and it gives you a sense of invincibility about doing your own projects. This is not always a good thing. As you scour the pages of projects on your chosen site it becomes clear that there are a lot of projects that have hit their target with many surpassing it by a long way. Your mind automatically assumes it’s easy but what you are seeing is the shop window. The labour that has gone in to the making of this successful project goes unseen, only to be relished by those who took part in its journey. In that lies the word that sums it all up JOURNEY. Too many people only envision the outcome and what they will ultimately do with the funds they receive. They do not look at the journey to that point and all the obstacles that may rear their ugly heads. Even then I hear people who failed say I tried everything I could to get the project funded I even gave away free products and designed quality adverts to promote the project. I gave them all the technical knowledge so that they can understand what my product does. Blah blah blah. The product is not the tool to get your funds. Stop trying to sell the product and start selling yourself. (Legally of course….I do not advocate this as a way to make cash) You Inspire One phrase comes to mind when trying to catch the attention of possible investors. “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it” most if not all successful products across the world where successful not because of the quality of product or the need of the product but because of the passion of the person promoting it. Whether that is advertising, marketing or word of mouth people are emotional and it’s that doorway you can connect with them. Thank you for taking the time to read this and hope it has given you some incentive to connect, share and network more in the future. Thanks