Our Kickstarter Is Live! Follow Along!

[JAJT]

(@MJ DeMarco approved this before posting)

As many INSIDERS may know I have a pretty extensive progress thread on the inside for my new jigsaw puzzle company: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/progress-insider-bone-owl-puzzles.72873

About an hour ago we officially went live!!!

Check it out: Bone Owl Jigsaw Puzzles



It would mean the absolute world to me if you help spread the word about this project that has been almost a full year in the making.

This is easily the most ambitious project I've ever worked on and I've put a TON of time and money into making sure every aspect of this company has been considered from a quality-first standpoint. No shortcuts.

Here's a few of things that we think make this special:

- We hired artists directly to produce original, never before seen images.
- We focused on themes that are largely completely ignored in the jigsaw puzzle world.
- We found the top jigsaw puzzle factory in the USA to keep quality/consistency extremely high
- We are paying extra for thicker pieces which hold together better
- Likewise we're adding a linen texture finish which only the top puzzle companies in the world utilize. Adds a seriously nice look/feel to the pieces.
- Each piece is random cut, not ribbon cut, which is a fancy way of saying the pieces are a far more interesting shape.

In typical Gary V fashion, I've been "jab, jab, jabbing" on this forum trying to help as many people on here as possible over the years and I've never truly asked for much in return.
Now I need a "right-hook" kind of favor.

If you love puzzles - consider backing the project. The puzzles are awesome.
If you just want to help spread the word - that is also EXTREMELY helpful.

I've made a dead easy share page to take all the work out of sharing this: www.boneowl.com/pages/share

(And as always - ask any questions you have, I'm busy beyonD belief but I'll get to every question, I promise)

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Patrick R]

Unreal! This is awesome! Your progress thread as been a fantastic read and inspirational. So glad this is truly happening for you now. I just backed the kickstarter and now have to wait until Feb.....where's the time machine.....

 

[Greg R]

(@MJ DeMarco approved this before posting)

As many INSIDERS may know I have a pretty extensive progress thread on the inside for my new jigsaw puzzle company: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/progress-insider-bone-owl-puzzles.72873

About an hour ago we officially went live!!!

Check it out: Bone Owl Jigsaw Puzzles

View attachment 15916

It would mean the absolute world to me if you help spread the word about this project that has been almost a full year in the making.

This is easily the most ambitious project I've ever worked on and I've put a TON of time and money into making sure every aspect of this company has been considered from a quality-first standpoint. No shortcuts.

Here's a few of things that we think make this special:

- We hired artists directly to produce original, never before seen images.
- We focused on themes that are largely completely ignored in the jigsaw puzzle world.
- We found the top jigsaw puzzle factory in the USA to keep quality/consistency extremely high
- We are paying extra for thicker pieces which hold together better
- Likewise we're adding a linen texture finish which only the top puzzle companies in the world utilize. Adds a seriously nice look/feel to the pieces.
- Each piece is random cut, not ribbon cut, which is a fancy way of saying the pieces are a far more interesting shape.

In typical Gary V fashion, I've been "jab, jab, jabbing" on this forum trying to help as many people on here as possible over the years and I've never truly asked for much in return.
Now I need a "right-hook" kind of favor.

If you love puzzles - consider backing the project. The puzzles are awesome.
If you just want to help spread the word - that is also EXTREMELY helpful.

I've made a dead easy share page to take all the work out of sharing this: www.boneowl.com/pages/share

(And as always - ask any questions you have, I'm busy beyonD belief but I'll get to every question, I promise)

Awesome page! Rep++

 

[AdamMaxum]

backed! congrats on everything so far. thanks for chronicling your journey.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[AgainstAllOdds]

Kickstarter looks amazing!

Hope you shatter that goal.

 

[Scot]

It's been really inspiring to have talked with you while you've been building this launch. Proud to say I was one of the first 10 backers.

I have no doubt this KS will destroy the goal. Already 1/3 the way there in the first 6 hours!!


I can't wait to get my hands on Fronds and Furls, I've been eyeballing that painting since I first saw it.

Rep+++ for massive action and value in your progress thread.

Ps. If anyone reading this is considering getting INSIDERS, just having access to @JAJT progress thread is worth it.

 

[Patrick R]

Ps. If anyone reading this is considering getting INSIDERS, just having access to @JAJT profess thread is worth it.

^^^ This. All of this! The wealth of information is amazing.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[eliquid]

Question about KickStarter...

Have you advertised this elsewhere?

Reason is I ask is you are almost 50% of the way there in funding. Just curious if it mostly came from this forum or if you built up a groundswell elsewhere

 

[JAJT]

Question about KickStarter...

Have you advertised this elsewhere?

Reason is I ask is you are almost 50% of the way there in funding. Just curious if it mostly came from this forum or if you built up a groundswell elsewhere

We're basically doing everything we can. I haven't stopped prepping and typing and replying and posting since 6am this morning.

I have an ad setup although it's pretty generic (I'm not great with ads - I'm basically boosting our announcement on Facebook)

We were featured in two local papers (Metro and Ottawa business journal).

We had some really nice support from friends and family and YOU AMAZING PEOPLE which helped get over that awkward starting hump. People don't like being first to back anything - same reason why nobody buys Amazon products with no reviews. This initial support really helped lay the groundwork of social proof required to show everyone that yes, this is a real thing and it's likely to succeed.

We also posted this in a few jigsaw puzzle Facebook groups that we're a part of and the response has been pretty solid.

Our artists have mostly been posting about this although I don't think all of them have yet so another little bump might be coming today hopefully from that.

All in all I'd like to think that this is being received all-around from friends, family, you guys, and strangers because my wife and I worked our asses off to get it to this point. The puzzles are damn high quality. The art is hand made by professionals. The themes are interesting and not run of the mill. There's nothing "fake" about this - it's genuine from start to finish.

And an important personal point worth mentioning is that this "genuineness" really helped me get over an emotional slump I was in for almost 1-2 years. I was in a bad place. I didn't believe in the products I was selling previously It felt fake and forced and while there was nothing wrong with what I was selling I just didn't feel like "me" while doing it. I felt like someone else 'playing business'. I could barely lift my fingers to do anything because of it. The MOMENT I got the idea for this business I was focused on something positive that I can be proud of. It kept me waking up early and going to bed late working on this all year. I lost a lot of money and time re-doing things in this business because it didn't live up to the standards I was aiming for. I had never done this before - in the past "good enough" was often that. I'd like to think that everything about this project screams hard work and genuine quality and I'd like to think that comes through to the people who see it.

I hope this does well because I can see myself doing this for years and years to come.

 

[Jurica22]

We're basically doing everything we can. I haven't stopped prepping and typing and replying and posting since 6am this morning.

I have an ad setup although it's pretty generic (I'm not great with ads - I'm basically boosting our announcement on Facebook)

We were featured in two local papers (Metro and Ottawa business journal).

We had some really nice support from friends and family and YOU AMAZING PEOPLE which helped get over that awkward starting hump. People don't like being first to back anything - same reason why nobody buys Amazon products with no reviews. This initial support really helped lay the groundwork of social proof required to show everyone that yes, this is a real thing and it's likely to succeed.

We also posted this in a few jigsaw puzzle Facebook groups that we're a part of and the response has been pretty solid.

Our artists have mostly been posting about this although I don't think all of them have yet so another little bump might be coming today hopefully from that.

All in all I'd like to think that this is being received all-around from friends, family, you guys, and strangers because my wife and I worked our asses off to get it to this point. The puzzles are damn high quality. The art is hand made by professionals. The themes are interesting and not run of the mill. There's nothing "fake" about this - it's genuine from start to finish.

And an important personal point worth mentioning is that this "genuineness" really helped me get over an emotional slump I was in for almost 1-2 years. I was in a bad place. I didn't believe in the products I was selling previously It felt fake and forced and while there was nothing wrong with what I was selling I just didn't feel like "me" while doing it. I felt like someone else 'playing business'. I could barely lift my fingers to do anything because of it. The MOMENT I got the idea for this business I was focused on something positive that I can be proud of. It kept me waking up early and going to bed late working on this all year. I lost a lot of money and time re-doing things in this business because it didn't live up to the standards I was aiming for. I had never done this before - in the past "good enough" was often that. I'd like to think that everything about this project screams hard work and genuine quality and I'd like to think that comes through to the people who see it.

I hope this does well because I can see myself doing this for years and years to come.

So awesome, I wish you the best of luck in this business endeavour.

Honestly, I've never found jigsaw puzzles appealing (millennial generation), but those designs are just amazing!

I'd buy them and put them together just for the artwork.

So congratulations for creating an awesome product!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Iammelissamoore]

THIS is Absolutely Amazing, and Y.E.S - you have absolutely revived life around puzzle building, the artwork though is Superb. Congrats on the quest. Looking forward to this.

 

[JAJT]

Apparently my next business is going to be in boosting services for crowdfunding. This looks like an info marketer's wet dream.

What I mean is that I've already received multiple private messages from kickstarter users saying they can help me boost my project up. They throw some nice looking stats, some big numbers, big names, and point to their site. Really pro looking sites here - very exciting and look trusting, testimonials, more big numbers, featured in logos, clean layouts, the works.

Every single one of these has a "low" plan starting at like $400. They go up to $1-2-3-4000 for what (as best I can figure) is just a blast to their list in various outlets/platforms. Maybe some rudimentary copy writing and fluffing up but frankly if you are already in a position to approach these folks you have the assets needed to make their job dead easy.

Kickstarter is giving these folks a HIGHLY eager, motivated and desperate base of unlimited rotating potential customers and charging high amounts because if you believe their story the $2000 they want seems like a trifle compared to the 500k you might bring in if it works.

Some quick google searches says that most of these do very little for most campaigns but the only way these answers are being found is because there is a TON of folks who tried them out. I bet their conversion rate is through the roof here. Shit - I know all the tricks they are using to sell me and I clicked on EVERY ONE out of genuine interest. Hell if they promised me 100k eyeballs and the price point wasn't stupid I'd probably even be tempted to try them myself.

This is a hell of a racket going on here.

 

[Scot]

Apparently my next business is going to be in boosting services for crowdfunding. This looks like an info marketer's wet dream.

What I mean is that I've already received multiple private messages from kickstarter users saying they can help me boost my project up. They throw some nice looking stats, some big numbers, big names, and point to their site. Really pro looking sites here - very exciting and look trusting, testimonials, more big numbers, featured in logos, clean layouts, the works.

Every single one of these has a "low" plan starting at like $400. They go up to $1-2-3-4000 for what (as best I can figure) is just a blast to their list in various outlets/platforms. Maybe some rudimentary copy writing and fluffing up but frankly if you are already in a position to approach these folks you have the assets needed to make their job dead easy.

Kickstarter is giving these folks a HIGHLY eager, motivated and desperate base of unlimited rotating potential customers and charging high amounts because if you believe their story the $2000 they want seems like a trifle compared to the 500k you might bring in if it works.

Some quick google searches says that most of these do very little for most campaigns but the only way these answers are being found is because there is a TON of folks who tried them out. I bet their conversion rate is through the roof here. Shit - I know all the tricks they are using to sell me and I clicked on EVERY ONE out of genuine interest. Hell if they promised me 100k eyeballs and the price point wasn't stupid I'd probably even be tempted to try them myself.

This is a hell of a racket going on here.

There are whole agencies who specialize in setting up and marketing KS campaigns. Crowdfunding is the gold rush, they're selling the shovels.

But your guys just sound like the horde of bro marketers who fell for someone else's funnel and are now trying to profit off what they learned.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[inputchip]

@JAJT the Kickstarter looks great, very professional. I truly look forward to see where this takes you. Are you doing this just for publicly and validation? $10k doesn't seem like a big amount to raise. Or are there stretch goals?

 

[GeeTee]

Wow, very cool concept - I've shared on Facebook too.

 

[ExcelGuy]

...

(And as always - ask any questions you have, I'm busy beyonD belief but I'll get to every question, I promise)

Shared. OMG I love the video. You have a truly incredible and value added product concept and your passion for the idea of community and being together really comes through. The music was spot on. Excellent voice over. Women with hot tattoos! [emoji1] [emoji41]

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[JAJT]

Women with hot tattoos!

1. That's my wife (redhead) and her cousin (leg tat).
2. .... yeah

Honestly I'm the only one in that video without tats. Wife (redhead on the laptop) has 7 and the other two (cousin and spouse) have more than I can count + piercings. And I'm the boring business guy in a collared shirt

I REALLY wish my wife had a talking part in the video because we shot a LOT of stuff that didn't get used. We were trying to go for a husband/wife founder angle and it fell apart in post. Such is life. I think it turned out nicely but I do regret not getting her in more of it

Are you doing this just for publicly and validation? $10k doesn't seem like a big amount to raise. Or are there stretch goals?

No stretch goals - I honestly couldn't think of anything worth "stretching" for that wouldn't make shipping a huge expensive pain for everyone. The product doesn't really lend itself to digital downloads or add-ons or any of that like you see with board games and such.

Truthfully the 10k isn't even covering production for the first run. MOQs are pretty massive at the place I'm going with and pulling out all the stops on the quality only multiplied that. 10k was what I needed to help supplement what I could afford myself to get these made, basically.

I was really, really hoping this KS would resonate more within my artist's followings and it looks like that didn't really happen on day 1. The social reach should have been roughly 500k potential eyeballs across multiple social platforms and we hit about 60 pledges on day 1. That includes friends, family and you awesome folks. I genuinely believed that more fans of the artists would "show up" for this.

I'm going to hustle my a$$ until the end to build up more awareness, reach more followers, get more folks to share the project and try to make this a success. I'm 100% positive these will do well once they are for sale. The art is solid and the quality is second to none (I honestly like ours better than Ravensburger, who is the world leader). If anything I think I have an awareness issue right now and I knew that going in - I have almost no following of my own and was relying too heavily on third party influencers. Sadly I just didn't have the time nor experience to build up an email list of tens of thousands of folks leading up to this point. Maybe if I waited 6, 12 more months I could have done that but honestly I wanted to get these made and in the market ASAP.

I didn't mean for this to sound negative - hitting 50% of my goal on day 1 with 34 more to go is pretty awesome. I'm just my own worst critic

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

I was really, really hoping this KS would resonate more within my artist's followings and it looks like that didn't really happen on day 1. The social reach should have been roughly 500k potential eyeballs across multiple social platforms and we hit about 60 pledges on day 1. That includes friends, family and you awesome folks. I genuinely believed that more fans of the artists would "show up" for this.

I'm sorry to break it to you, but the probability of that happening is fairly low. You can't rely on an artist's fans to generate any real sales. You have to rely on normal buyers, and use art as one of the reasons they should buy.

Art is a commodity. Collectors are only loyal to those that have the prospect of providing a financial return. Then friends and family of the artist are only loyal to the artists themselves. They'll go to a few gallery openings, and buy a piece here, and there, and they will do that as a form of patronage... but they won't buy just anything because an artist is on it - especially when the artist is not pushing them to buy it.

It's basically the equivalent of you getting your jigsaw puzzles into a new store. The store's holding a grand opening, and the store expects that you'll bring your friends, family, and fans in to buy a bunch of their stuff. Even though they'll give you let's say a 5% commission, you have very little incentive to act.

Same for the artists. Look at it from their perspective. My guess is that at most they're getting 10% of sales? So $2.40 per piece sold? But more likely closer to 5%? $1.20 per piece? Or are they getting 0% of sales - in which case they have no incentive to act because they've already been paid?

None of them will be reaching out to family and friends and pressuring them to buy a jigsaw puzzle. Them doing that would be the equivalent of begging for not even a cup of coffee.

Instead, they'll probably share on social media, but the value of an artists' social media list is extremely low. People follow artists because they want their social media to be filled with cool images. Some of them will occasionally buy, but the expected conversion rate per print sale, etc. should be expected as a fraction of a percent or lower.

You're better off relying on other avenues for generating sales. Press should be your #1. Taking facebook ID numbers of people that backed similar projects and advertising to them through FB should be #2. Etc.

Edit:

• Can you change the currency from Canadian to USD? That might increase conversion rates.
• Have you thought about printing your own puzzles? Maybe you can put an artist's entire collection on your site and print on demand?

 

[SYK]

Taking facebook ID numbers of people that backed similar projects and advertising to them through FB should be #2

What's the method behind doing this? Manually scraping from KS pages and then inputting into FB?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[AgainstAllOdds]

What's the method behind doing this? Manually scraping from KS pages and then inputting into FB?

How to Successfully Advertise Your Crowdfunding Campaign on Facebook

I haven't used Krowdster, and have no recommendation on them, but I saw them recommended in one of the entrepreneurship chats I'm in and gave them a look. Using a tool like that is probably the easy way. $250 for a month. Create you campaigns. Cancel subscription.


Hard way (First part taken from Quora):

1. Go to a live or completed campaign and click on the “Community” tab:

2. Here you will find the count of backers by top cities and countries, as well as the count of new vs. returning backers

3. Finally you can also view some of the backers info: profile image, name, and count of projects backed

​

Second part (Created by me):

Search their name like that.

Once you have their profile page, sometimes it says their website, email, etc. But most of the time it will just say their name, city, and country... so:



Third part:

Take their name, city, and country, and search them on FB. If there's more than one person then match their picture to the KS picture. Chances are it's the same.



I've never done KS, but that's how I'd do it. Hire a VA overseas. Pay them $3 an hour to create spreadsheets of all the backers. Then advertise to those backers.

 

[JAJT]

Oh for sure - ads and press right now are going to be my main focus. I'll look into those methods - thanks

By "resonating with the artist's following" my thinking was that if they love the images they see, and already "line up" to buy prints/posters/etc of the art they love from the artists they follow, then maybe they'd think a jigsaw puzzle is a novel and interesting way to interact with the art - it's really not a typical offering and I thought the "wow" factor would be a little higher.

Oh well, time to find more people who think this is interesting and worth investing in

Day 2 begins!

 

[JAJT]

• Can you change the currency from Canadian to USD? That might increase conversion rates.

Nope - and it's a pretty sore spot for international project creators as well. The USA is the biggest backing market for most projects and not being able to setup a campaign native to USD seems silly IMHO. That's why you see a lot of projects (like mine) with the USD rate in the reward titles.

Kickstarter DOES display the USD amount to USA customers but it's a lot more subtle than it should be IMHO.

• Have you thought about printing your own puzzles? Maybe you can put an artist's entire collection on your site and print on demand?

Yeah, and the quality would be lower than I'd like and the cost would be through the roof. I'm sure it could be done but I don't think it's very practical.

Even the big POD guys who offer decent quality charge like $80 for a puzzle. Most of the don't even offer 1,000 pieces (most POD is like 100-300 pieces for extremely low quality novelty kind of products like wedding favors and such). Likely because the labor/materials/effort for one-offs like that is extremely high. And those guys are already buying all their materials in bulk.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ZCP]

Pledged. Well done!

 

[JAJT]

Pledged. Well done!

Thanks!!!!

I have to say the support coming from this forum has been fantastic for this project. I'm literally blown away.

You all kick a$$.

 

[KLaw]

The product doesn't really lend itself to digital downloads or add-ons or any of that like you see with board games and such.

Nice work. I would think you could upsell with an assortment of frames, different sized puzzles and frames. Backer boards. Even offer customized puzzles (family portraits, pets, etc...). Keep grinding and best wishes.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[funkj25]

Gave the campaign a shout out on my FB business page. Only 110 impressions (about 3k fans), but it did get shared once.

Looks like you've got the steam engine turning on your own though. Really cool to see you doing well with this.

 

[iizu]

Just realized that this is gonna be a big on Christmas. I'm not into puzzles at all, but this would be the perfect gift to bring with me when visiting family or friends, accompanied by a bottle of wine of course

 

[JAJT]

Gave the campaign a shout out on my FB business page. Only 110 impressions (about 3k fans), but it did get shared once.

Every bit helps, thanks so much!!!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ZCP]

Nice work. I would think you could upsell with an assortment of frames, different sized puzzles and frames. Backer boards. Even offer customized puzzles (family portraits, pets, etc...). Keep grinding and best wishes.

what would it cost to have a 'one of a kind' commissioned work?

 

[Mr.Chaos]

Awesome, You have my support. Will share with my network as well!

PS. Pledged!