To start a business or project you only need two things - an idea and a will. If you have a strong will, you will also find a way to put your idea into action. If your way to success is a barrier to a lack of money, crowdfunding is one of the best ways to solve it with startup capital.
What is crowdfunding?
As its name implies, crowdfunding is about raising funds from a large number of individuals or businesses.
Instead of looking for a financier who would invest $ 10,000 in your idea, it is up to you to convince thousands of people of the value of your idea, so that they can give you a dollar for its realization. If you have a really good idea, believe it, it's more than possible.
Successful crowdfunding in practice
For Michael Hayes, failure was out of the question. This eighteen-year-old needed $ 28,000 to pay his tuition for a science program at the University of Illinois. As his parents had no money, he was forced to seek his own solution. He made some money working at a pharmacy, but that wasn't nearly enough.
And then a great idea came to his mind, on which the tens of billions of dollars worth of industry would later be built. It is important to note that the plot of this story takes place in 1987, well before the expansion of the internet and social networks.
Michael has calculated that he will be able to pay his tuition if 2,800,000 people are encouraged to donate him a cent. He turned to Bob Greene, a well-known Chicago Tribune columnist for help, for a multi-million dollar print run. Because he liked the idea, Greene introduced readers to his column about this guy's problem and practically "screwed" his appeal.
In the published text, Michael implored readers to send him only one cent, a coin that means nothing to anyone, a coin that everyone has tucked under the couch or in a corner.
Green and Hayes were aware that it would not be difficult to get people to give up that one cent, but that the main challenge would be to get them started. Therefore, Greene repeatedly encouraged readers to leave the newspaper and immediately put a penny in the envelope! He even repeated Michael's address so that "readers would not waste time reading the text again."
The coming months were followed by an invasion of Hayes' mailbox. Coins of one, ten, fifty cents each, as well as larger sized paper notes, arrived. After 90,000 envelopes arrived, Michael Hayes had enough money.
Four years later, he graduated successfully. Mission successful!
This is considered by many to be the first crowdfunding campaign, although similar forms of financing have been known since the 18th century.
