Day Twenty-Three- 15% The Irresistible Force Meets the Immovable Object

Since the beginning - even at concept design stage [see concept sketches below], we have been inundated with positive comments about what HappiJar could do for lots of people.

No one was imagining that HappiJar would become one of those 'must have' apps like your camera or email. The open mindedness of those we revealed the design to was astounding. HappiJar became an irresistible force and we felt compelled to push it forward into the world.

It took us about 3 months to pull together the Kickstarter campaign, then we launched it. Since then we have not stopped for a minute.

After launch we hovered around the Twitter hashtag - Kickstarter. We appeared to have joined a very long line of other Kickstarter's who were also raising funds for their projects, and there seemed to be a back lash. If you do a very quick online search you will find articles from bloggers and writers who are sick of giving to their friends, 'begging' for a miserly £5 or more to help fulfil their dreams. This is understandable that some of us might feel this way.

But there is a another side to the story. Constantly asking for friends to share links to your projects and talk to others about it; takes it's toll too. Chasing a dream requires a herculean effort, and I defy anyone who has attempted this before to complain when they see another taking on his or her quest.

Some dreams are small, and others are life changing. You will see every kind if you flick through some projects on a crowd funding site.

So here we are, 23 days into a 30 day campaign and it appears our project is fast becoming an Immovable Object! We are still searching for the stick of dynamite that will get this project rolling again.

One thing that has moved me more than I thought possible though was those who have openly shared my project and backed it against the odds. I really didn't expect the amount of help I have gotten so far.

Lots to do this week again.

Day Twenty-One - 15% Gratitude. I don't get it...

It's not the first time we have heard this. Probably four times since we have taken our design on the road.

"I don't get HappiJar.", "What is it supposed to do?",  "Really? Can it do that?" "I'd get bored using it I think".

As a designer, these questions horrified me. You see, if we had not communicated the idea and our end goal with clarity then we really had little to no chance of success on Kickstarter.

From our last blog post we already concluded that our pitch may not have been as focussed as it should. The 'angle' had not been fully explained. My mind is cast back to a business networking group and being told by someone who I greatly respect that "so long as they live, some people will never 'get it' Glen". The gratitude thing.

Image courtesy of
Londoneats.wordpress.com

They are likely to be the ones to benefit from the generosity of others, but never quite realise that 'paying this forward'  is essential for the wave of gratitude and happiness to propagate fully. Vis-à-vis - everyone prospers as a result.

So in reality, when I am told by another that "I don't get it..". I know exactly what kind of person I am dealing with straight away.

We still need to help ourselves with the Kickstarter pitch though - and this will happen over the weekend. We will never be able to convince an ungrateful person to suddenly begin journalling about or be thankful towards the things and the people they love in their lives. What we CAN do is remind those of us who 'get it' that practising gratitude on HappiJar is a great way to not only make ourselves feel awesome, but by paying it forward and spreading the happiness around - we get to see others smile too :)

Happiness is like strawberry jam. You can't spread it around without getting a little on yourself too.

Have a great Friday!

Day Seventeen - 15% Updates!

Today has been a nexus of changes. 

1. Lots of advice from strangers on Facebook and Twitter who are trying to will us on to victory.
2. New t-shirt reward made up. Hoping to drag in a few more backers who want some physical gifts.
3. Clothing designer [ex-Kickstarter] is designing us a one-off tee for our project :)
4. 2 new artists HappiButton sets. THEY ARE GORGEOUS! Check em out.

If our backer activity graph is going to be flat-lining until our Kickstarter time is up, then we are going down FIGHTING!! We have 2 weeks left and 24 hrs in each day. Are we sleeping? No... we are terminators. 

...But there is no coming back. 

Lessons Learned:

1. Seriously. If you spot a great Kickstarter project and NEED to collaborate with them. Go after it!
2. Keep chatting to your friends and backers. You need all the support you can get.

Day Sixteen - 15% Learning to Pitch - even when drunk

Classic day. Managed to grab me some business networking in the afternoon and in the evening.

As the day wore on I became more and more drunk. Even managed to pitch my idea to a bunch of really nice guys in a pub at 11pm. Hey - they got it!

Learned a lot about why I am doing this. It turns out that even when drunk I am still smiley, positive and ON IT! I love what I do and am excited to think that one day we will be rolling this phone app out to everyone.

Not quite sure it will be with Kickstarter though... if the stats continue to flat-line like they have.

Also we now have a cocktail designed for our social gathering in 2 weeks. We just don't know what to call it yet.

Lessons Learned:

1. Keep looking towards the little wins. Trust that things always work out for the best.
2. Always have a business card, or QR Code handy with your Kickstarter URL on it... you just never know...

Day Fifthteen - 15% Growing new Networks

No backers today. Just had to get that out there. Now on to the positivity again.

I met with two people today, one friend and one a new contact who was interested in my activities and HappiJar. I also received a phone call from a professional crowd fund project manager. It was great to hear from the experts on what to do and the options available to us to get this party started.

So many new ideas to digest that's it feel like being cast into a nexus of energy and I'm trying to catch some of it on my tongue #faceburn.

Contacted the venue to speak to them about how to host a great social for HappiJar in two weeks time. This could be awesome.

We are moving forward with our collaborative endeavours together with other companies, charities and Kickstarter projects - but nothing to show for our work as of yet. More shares, more RT's, and Facebook mentions... but no more backers.

Lessons Learned:

1. This is a white knuckle ride if you are not fortunate enough to get funded in the first week. Be prepared for the highs and lows and an out and out street fight to keep you project rolling...
2. Opportunities will come and go. Just do your best to take advantage of as many as you can and keep a diary of your little wins. Like a blog perhaps ;)

HUGE things need to happen this weekend, but with so many balls in the air - we are beginning to wonder if we are jugglers or project manager? Or both. 

Day Nine - 13% Can An App Really Make You Happy?

AHA! A title to get our teeth into! I thought that today I'd tell you a little bit about the inner workings and the philosophy behind HappiJar so you could judge for yourself whether or not an app can truly make you happy or not.

Up until about 6 months ago I had never read much on the subject of happiness or asked myself if I was happy. To me it was much like the question "have you ever fallen in love?". Your instinctive answer might be, yes of course! But we do find that we have to think about it first. Everybody has fallen in love or felt happiness - right? So why do we pause for thought?

In my past I have written a blog post or two about 'contentment', perhaps even broached the subject of happiness, but only because I felt urged to formulate an opinion on it. I believed that this would help galvanise me against feeling down in the future. If I'm honest, part of me did this just so I could have a witty answer ready for when someone inquired about my happiness. Which they did. Lots. Must have something to do with looking so intense all the time.

If it wasn't for friends and family continuously asking me if I was happy or not - I probably would have never given it a second thought. For me, happiness had always been about being lost in the moment. Designing or talking about ideas. I could and have spent hours talking to anyone about ideas. They are gorgeous little creatures which infest our lives. Crawling in and out of our dreams, books, music, conversations [mainly beer addled ones] waiting for the perfect opportunity to take root and emerge into the light.

So What Has Changed In Me?
Late last year I stumbled upon a rather interesting concept which was new to me. Gratitude. Being grateful appeared to be a super fast highway into feelings of appreciation for things, people and places; which then led neatly onto contentment and happiness. This realisation struck me as not the only answer to becoming happier - but also an outward indicator that a person was being mindful. Contentment comes from within and it can reveal itself in many different ways should we be searching for it. Perhaps in the way that someone plays a musical instrument, or rides a bike, or even the way someone lovingly prepares food for their family. These moments begin to define us and other people relate to these as the actions of someone who has found not only an inner peace, but also a way to express it. Not matter how fleeting our 'moments' are - they all are worth reflecting upon.

Why a Gratitude App?
Gratitude is just one path to happiness, and I chose this path only because it could be practised easily. Lucky for you and me is that it can also be replicated in the simple functions of a mobile phone too. Big smiles.

When I finally decided that designing a phone app was the way forward I considered that my most important challenge was this; build an app which people wanted to use. Not needed to use. Wanted.

The bitter sweet reality to gratitude and therefore happiness was that no one would openly admit that they needed an app of all things to correct their happiness quotient or make them feel more grateful. Yet practising gratitude has been scientifically proven to help us become more thankful for the small things in life. An interesting problem, and one which I my engineering brain was curious to find an answer for.

How will HappiJar Be Any Different?
Well forget graphs, forget online communities of strangers who repeat gratitude to one another for support and sympathy. There are apps, groups and social networks out there that do this very well already. My vision for gratitude and HappiJar is deeply rooted in the humble but effective personal pleasure of journalling.

Record your thankful thoughts and blessings as photographs, voice messages or text. Anticipate and reflect upon them at a later date. Share the thanks with those who mean everything to you. Enjoy the ever changing beautiful button designs by artists the world over. 

This year is likely to see many new apps which deal with mental health and issues surrounding our happiness. They are simply following the same trends as the emergence of physical health apps. Most of us will have down loaded a walking or running app at one time I'm sure. But through all the bells and whistles and training plans, none of them, not a single one can actually walk for us. Or run FOR us. We still have to do our part. An app will not 'make' us be happy. It can however help train us to be more grateful, mindful and appreciative. Therefore it can help us become happier.

How Does That Work?
Do you remember buying your first new car? Saving your money, pouring over the glossy brochures, gazing at the lush interiors and dreaming about how you would feel sitting in you brand new car. Once your decision was made do you also remember walking down the street or driving into work, only to see that every other car on the road was not only the same make and model car that you dreamed about, but the identical colour too! Focussing on one good outcome is a generally accepted way of making it happen in real life. The law of attraction works this way too.

If we concentrate and become more mindful of the great things that happen to us which may have otherwise gone unnoticed - then more good things to be thankful for will reveal themselves to us.

My job is simple. Build you an app that you love to use and want to share. The rest is just human nature.

Please share our links with your friends and if you can, pledge support on Kickstarter. Currently you have a unique opportunity to help us sculpt the way that HappiJar delivers on it's promise to help you become more grateful.

Have a great Easter Holiday folks. Roll on social media Saturday and hopefully some more backers.

Day Eight - 13% Call from out of the blue

After what seemed like months of social networking, networking, and talking with people about our project, we began to see a very small change for the better.

The number of twitter followers crept up, Facebook shares are up, we had a phone call from an inspirational speaker on motivation who wanted to hear more about our project and why I was doing it. Topping that all off, 3 articles are being written for us on HappiJar, and our quest to make the world a happier and more grateful place.[one already published here]

Can't quite believe it all.

All this and 48 continuous hours of with no pledging! This has got to be the most enlightening, exciting and soul destroying experience anyone will ever encounter.

Lessons Learned

1. Make a list of the leads that you make during the day and chase. Them. Down. The mountain will NOT be coming to Mohammed.
2. Liven up your Facebook page feed and new posts each day. Link this to Twitter. Take photos of related events on Instagram, and share them with the hash-tag #KickStarter. 

We also released our first project update on Kickstarter! Check it out!

Day Seven - 13% Happy Entrepreneurs

A large amount of potential and new connections were picked up today. We went along to a networking meeting in London and met with a gaggle of wannabe entrepreneurs who all had a penchant for happy start-ups. Quite fun really.

Some of the visitors had already seen our pitch on KickStarter, and one in particular didn't quite get it. That was frustrating, but forced me to look at our pitch thrice again.

We have had over 100 video views and only a handful of KickStarter member pledges... why?? Was it because they don't 'get' us?

Going to think on that whilst I re-tweet and like more stuff....

Lessons Learned:

1. Speak to as many people about your project as possible. Try to find meetings which you have something in common with the crowd and go along to make new friends. 
2. Lots of video plays doesn't necessarily mean lots of pledges. Re evaluate your pitch all the time and hone it in if you feel that you are not getting the message across still. Ask potential backers and promoters for advice.

24 hours, lots of work and still no more backers...

Day Four - 7% Day of Rest

Finding myself circling like a greedy vulture over the posts of my Facebook groups and those of my 400 twitter followers, I decided to take a few hours off and relax with my fiancée's family.

Great food and company, followed by a 'ahem' short game of monopoly and my mind wasn't on the fact that it had almost been 48 hours without a single pledge.

When I got home I found that we had received well wishing emails from various happiness experts, doctors and psychologists, oh and a sprinkling of tweets which had been re-tweeted.

Lessons Learned

1. Take a break. If only for an afternoon. You have signed up to a long quest, so save your energy for when it matters most.
2. Mind games. KickStarter funding will play havoc with your head if you let it. Don't let it take hold and treat each new email wishing you luck as a blessing and an energy pill.

Looking forward to see what tomorrow brings...

Day Two - 6% Networking

Today was a busy one. I managed to visit a business social gathering that I help to host once a month.

The thought of sharing the good news about my launch with some of my business acquaintances, and anyone else with ears for that matter was quite exciting. I now had a real site to send people to!

HappiJar was well received by most, lots of connections made and we even had a glut of social media shares which took us to almost 100 Facebook likes on the KickStarter project page! Good work! I was also able to connect with a HappiJar fan who promised to forward on my link to some more people who would very much be interested in our campaign.

No additional pledges though. Not to be disheartened though, I got home and planned my social media Saturday and chased up some emails. Then thought about why backers were not crashing the servers trying to pledge their support for HappiJar... are they insane!

Lessons Learned:

1. You can take a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. So much so that it can be quite painful hearing about how great your project is, but not great enough to back. Grow a pair Glen and stay focussed.
2. Networking might not bring you tens or hundreds of pledges. But it could bring you more and even further reaching connections :)

Go to bed, with a slightly sore head and hope of a better tomorrow.