Cheat Sheet
About This Episode
Jake Heilbrunn thought college was going to be the time of his life.
That’s what we are all told, right?
“I expected I would work hard and play hard.”
But early into his first semester he developed a chronic skin condition and ultimately developed severe anxiety and depression.
Something was wrong.
What Jake discovered was that his anxiety came from pursuing the life others wanted from him and wasn’t living life for himself.
So he left school after that first semester, left his cell phone at home, and took a one-way ticket to Guatemala to teach English.
While spending four months in Guatemala, he decided he found the relief from the depression and anxiety that had plagued him that first semester at school.
He realized he wanted to help inspire other college students to pursue life for themselves as well by telling his story.
After exhaustive research, Jake chose to write a book, self-publish, and raise money on Kickstarter.
Jake planned months in advance for his launch.
He made a budget and set realistic expectations.
He recruited friends to help him with copywriting and video production.
Se started writing a blog and got email subscribers.
He wrote guest posts
He even woke up at 2am the day of the campaign launch in order to send out personalized messages to 500 people on Facebook.
He wrote those messages so quickly that Facebook thought he was a bot and almost banned his account!
And he hit his funding goal.
There are a ton of practical crowdfunding gems in this episode and a healthy dose of inspiration.
But I really want you to pay attention at the point he talks about reaching out for endorsements.
By being genuine, reaching out personally to relevant thought leaders, he was able to secure some pretty big names...
He even got the one and only Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup For The Soul fame!
That story is heartwarming and unbelievably instructive.
And Jake did it all without a professional team like I use during my launches.
Don’t be fooled by the modest raise.
Launching a book is a lot different from launching a tech product.
Jake is a future rockstar. I guarantee you will be hearing from him again in the future.
Resources Mentioned
Off The Beaten Trail Kickstarter Page
Off The Beaten Trail on Amazon
The Disturbing Truth About Anxiety and Depression in College