My Journey of Raising $3,500 to Make Plushies

Creating a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign can be daunting. I had a creative vision I wanted to bring to life and ZERO idea of where to start. In this article, I cover my journey of going through hoops and adversities that would lead me through success to raise $3,500 in 30 days. 

 

Why Did I Decide to Make Plushies?

• My work is based on three characters—Kato the cat, Paya the penguin, and Kuma the Samoyed. 
• Over these past 4 years, people have grown to love and connect with these three characters. 
• You could say I had the vision to create these three plushies for the superfans of these three friends. 
• Many customers mentioned to me “I would LOVE to see these as plushies” at my craft fairs.” So i listened. 

What even is Kickstarter? 

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding campaign platform similar to Indiegogo or GoFundMe. Every project needs funding, and one way to obtain that funding is by collecting a sum of money from a group of people who are willing to trust you in your vision. Kickstarter is typically used for startup ideas and innovations, and it is primarily targeted towards early adopters!

The model works by setting a goal and a time duration for your project. If you reach that goal, you get to keep the money. If you do not reach the goal, you do not get to keep the money, but you do gain exposure and traction.

It seemed impossible like I needed all the knowledge. Well… what did I know at the time? 

• Audience: Although I’ve been doing this for 4 years, I had nowhere near 200k+ followers. I was looking at about 1% of that at 2,000 followers. I knew I needed to combine a mixture of pop up events, media coverage, and paid advertising on Instagram. 
• Kickstarter Experience: I’ve been a part of 1 other Kickstarter campaign as a marketing intern for my friend Galina’s sustainable boba brand, Bobamate. I learned a lot about how to build a strong prelaunch campaign, building a landing page to collect emails, and building a campaign that can convert total strangers to superfans. 
• Campaign: I began by drafting my campaign page, putting out general outlines and structures of what I knew I wanted people to know about my product launch + brand. 
• Plushie: In terms of the plushies, I asked my followers to give me their best votes for which plushie design to do. The plushies could have totally turned out differently!

Some problems I needed to solve: 

1. I didn’t know what design would do the best. 
2. I felt confused at how to even start working with an overseas manufacturer. 
3. It seemed impossible to perfectly time the campaign with marketing, production, and the Kickstarter altogether. I would need to figure out this impossible equation. 
4. I have a smaller audience, can I really do this?

Step 1: Decide on design 

In the first stage of deciding on the design, I was certain that I wanted to create plain versions of my three characters as plushies, meaning they would not be wearing costumes or holding anything. It would not be a seasonal item, but something more evergreen. 

During my market research process, I explored Etsy, Pinterest, and Amazon to see what people were searching for when they encountered the terms "cute plushie." I then designed these three characters in two different formats and asked my Instagram audience to vote on them. 

Even though my audience is small, it only takes 10, 20, or 30 people to react to a story to gather valuable data and insights on what people want. Many individuals who typically do not react to my stories felt engaged as part of the product development process, which was empowering to witness. 

Finally, we reached the final version, which is this.

Step 2: Figure out manufacturer

The second step I needed to figure out was how to find a manufacturer. The task felt daunting to me, so I turned to YouTube. I learned as much as I could about working with domestic versus overseas manufacturers and how to understand the available platforms. I ended up using Alibaba, a popular overseas manufacturer website, and I considered multiple factors. 

Key Indicators: For example, when a supplier is verified on their profile, it indicates that they have been checked by Alibaba itself. If they have a trade assurance badge on their profile, it means that any transaction held with them, if not up to standard, can result in them being held liable, and Alibaba will handle the dispute by offering a full refund, providing protection for you as the buyer. 

Additionally, there is also gold supplier status, which implies that the supplier has paid a certain amount of money to obtain that status. While it is not a guarantee, it does offer slightly more authority regarding them as a supplier. These were the criteria I was considering, and it started with building a spreadsheet to figure out my budget and minimum order quantity amounts. 

Choosing the Manufacturer: Then, I needed to determine my unit cost and what I was willing to pay. The challenging part was making a choice. Ultimately, I chose a great manufacturer, and I felt fortunate because the communication was smooth. The representative I worked with was positive and supportive, catching certain details in the design and making recommendations for me! From there, we began the process.

 Step 3: Align things accordingly for budget, timeline, and logistics. 

The next step is to determine the budget, timeline, and logistics. The process involves making plans, canceling them, and figuring things out as you go. I initially thought that my manufacturing process would take only one or two months, but it ended up taking six months. This was due to my busy schedule and the lead time required to create samples, make iterations, test different colors, and experiment with new materials. Many unforeseen issues may arise, and it is essential to be flexible and open to the possibility that the lead time might be longer if you want to create a product that meets your standards. 

As far as I knew, the basic building blocks for the timeline included the research development phase, which was completed, the product development stage, which was ongoing at the time of planning, the Kickstarter campaign, which I chose to last for 30 days, and finally, fulfillment. This outlines my timeline.

Step 4: Marketing my plushies

 

The next step was marketing the plushies. Even with a great product, if nobody knows about it, it doesn't matter how passionate you are about the launch. I focused on building a strong Kickstarter campaign, drawing from my experience as an intern on my friend Galina's Kickstarter campaign for her boba bottle brand, Boba Mate (I’m immensely thankful to have had this opportunity!). 

I also created a prelaunch campaign page that introduced the plushies and provided an option for people to sign up for an email list to receive updates: 

Looking back, I wish I had offered something unique to Kickstarter backers on launch day to incentivize them to sign up. At the time, I did not implement this strategy, which was okay since I didn’t know what I didn’t know! 

Community Support: I reached out to friends in the small business community in the Bay Area who had also run Kickstarters and asked them to review my timeline and campaign page for any adjustments. I made the necessary changes and secured media coverage from the Kickstarter feature function and the Asian Creative Network through a small social post. 

PR Challenges: In hindsight, I would have built up my PR list more extensively and been more aggressive in selecting who would announce the launch on the day. A significant challenge throughout this process was figuring out how to position the plushies for mass appeal. This required me to lean heavily on my personal story, which is a significant part of my brand. Additionally, I needed to emphasize the uniqueness of the characters beyond just their representations. 

Then came launch day! My plushies were on public display for people to see and be potentially backed! I was incredibly grateful for the support from strangers, friends, and supporters backing my project, and things were looking up. 

The final test: Can I really do this?

I was about 50% through the campaign, and things were looking up, but then they were not. I started to feel uneasy that my trajectory wasn't going to reach the goal. I was at the 50% mark a little after, and I was not close to my goal yet. I knew that I still had around a week and a half left, but I was definitely worried and mentally preparing myself for the project to not succeed. 

Mentor Support: I work with a business coach, Kirstie, also known as a jar of pickles, and I had a chat with her. She told me that even if this failed, it wouldn't be a real failure; I would learn from it. I could utilize this experience as a journey that my followers were following me through. I could create a redemption plan for the next year to relaunch this bigger, better, and successfully. But I still felt like a failure, to be very honest with you. 

After this conversation, I felt two things: crestfallen and reassured. I felt reassured that even in the worst-case scenario, I would still learn from this. I could still pick myself back up, and something clicked in me. It was strange. I started to organically share my story, changed my perspective, and created from a place of wonder, joy, and genuine authenticity. Previously, I had been rigid about my content calendar, feeling that there had to be very curated messaging for every single post. Now, I was accepting my fate and thought, why not just try my best? 

Surprisingly enough, within the last few days, I reached my goal, and I still remember that moment so vividly. Here's a screenshot of it. I had never been so happy; it truly felt like a community brought this product to life. In many other endeavors and projects, I was the only one really involved, maybe receiving a few iterative criticisms from my Instagram story polls or asking my partner. But other than that, it was never really a community-centric goal that we were reaching. It felt surreal. 

What were my takeaways? 

1. First, everything can be learned and figured out. Even if I didn't know what I was doing or what the next step was, I needed to problem solve and be willing to pivot as needed. 
2. The second lesson I learned is that I needed to give myself grace and time for mistakes. I was rigid in thinking that everything would go according to plan regarding my timeline, but it did not. My one-month production time ended up being six months to develop the product. I now understand the importance of giving myself space and leeway. 
3. The third lesson is that there is never failure, only pivoting. You will always learn from every mistake you make in your business endeavors, and it is perfectly okay to pivot and embrace those experiences as learning lessons to share with your audience. 

If I were to do this again, there are several things I would do differently. 

• Video: First, I would use video in my Kickstarter campaign across prelaunch emails, Kickstarter updates, and the campaign itself for higher conversion. 
• Organic Marketing Approach: Second, I would focus on organic marketing from the very beginning, authentically telling my story. 
• Longer Pre-launch CampaignThird, I would run a prelaunch campaign for two months instead of just a few weeks. 
• Extensive Media/PR List: Fourth, I would build a more extensive media relations and influencer list for the prelaunch campaign during the funding duration and find ways to position it for influencer packages. 
• General Audience + SEO Kickstarter: Finally, I would strive to understand the general audience on Kickstarter and ensure that my campaign was SEO optimized for those looking to discover me. 

Ultimately, I believe that if you have a dream project you want to pursue, you should absolutely do it and start small. :) Begin with pop-ups and get yourself as a creative entrepreneur out there, talking to customers. When you feel ready to launch that big project, which may require significant upfront capital to produce, then consider Kickstarter! Conduct proper research and give yourself enough time to let people learn more about you, discover you as a brand, and understand your product. When you're ready to launch, they will be waiting if everything is set up correctly.