If you have 0 social media followers and don't want to promote your Kickstarter campaign, you're in the right place.

I know I talk a lot about building up your crowd before crowdfunding, but there are always exceptions to the rule. Today, I talked with BJ Minson, who has raised over $400k on Kickstarter with three different campaigns.

He breaks down exactly what he did to get funding from regular Kickstarter backers and smash his goal. Not only that, but he shares how he did this ethically, with strong company values that promote American manufacturing.

Guess what!? This is an "Ask Sal" podcast episode where listeners submit their questions, and I answer them! The question today is a little bit different, because it focuses on personal crowdfunding. Katie Schwabline asked:

"How can I help finance my son's medical expenses with crowdfunding?"

I have to admit that this is a bit of a depressing and heart-wrenching episode. Katie is going through a very difficult time. I'm going to try to help her by providing actionable advice and setting realistic expectations for an online medical fundraising campaign.

This is an Ask Sal episode of the podcast, where you submit your questions and I answer them! Thomas Setteducato asked:

“How do I use real estate crowdfunding for my property?”

I’m about to talk about how you can use RE crowdfunding to finance a commercial or residential property. This is a very new sector of the industry and I’m excited about the possibility for investors to earn passive income from cash-producing properties.

I’ll also be linking to a website that I set up that’s specific to real estate crowdfunding. I’ve filtered out some of my best podcast episodes, along with my new ebook, which is getting some great reviews!

This is an “Ask Sal” episode where listeners submit their questions and I answer them! Navid asked:

“How can we spend our time and money to ensure that we get eyeballs on this campaign and that it gets before viewers and gets pledges on Kickstarter?”

In my answer, I’ll talk about a few ways that you can promote your Kickstarter campaign, get more exposure on the website itself, and some tools and resources that you can use.

http://www.crowdcrux.com/sevenfigurefunding

In this episode of the Crowdfunding Demystified podcast, I spoke with Brian Dally, the CEO and Co-Founder of GROUNDFLOOR, a real estate crowdfunding platform that is open to non-accredited investors.

The website has funded more than $8 million of real estate loans across 98 projects and has repaid investors more than $2 million of principal and interest!

http://www.realestatecrowdfundingexplained.com

This is an Ask Sal podcast, where you submit your questions and I answer them! Andrew Cross asked:

“This is the second time I’m launching a campaign. What are the best ways to get external traffic to your Kickstarter page?”

While some crowdfunding campaigns will receive 90% of their backers and pledges from the Kickstarter ecosystem, the majority of campaigns tend to see a 50/50 or 60/40 breakdown. There are even some projects that drive 90-100% of their own traffic!

Ron Miller, the CEO of Start Engine came on the podcast to talk about some of the key differences between Reg A+ and Regulation CF.

In case you haven't heard of them, Start Engine is the company that Elio Motors used to raise $46 million in non-binding indications of interest during their test the waters campaign and nearly $17 million from 6,500 unique investors in their Reg A+ raise (96% were non-accredited investors).

This is need-to-know information if you're an entrepreneur or investor interested in equity crowdfunding! This is the episode you must listen to. Ron shares a lot of great advice, tips, and pitfalls to avoid.

Today's question on "Ask Sal" was asked by Ali Sadat. He asked:

"How do I make the best possible crowdfunding campaign?" 

Oh boy, I could write an entire book on this topic (well...I did...an ebook). Joking aside, I wanted to address this listener on the podcast.

In my answer, I'm going to reveal a lot of crowdfunding best practices and strategies. I'll talk about things like how to nail down your ideal customer and get the word out about your Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign.

I just got the chance to interview a researcher at the University at Buffalo School of Management on the factors that impact crowdfunding success.

The study's co-author, Christopher Courtney, is a Western New York Prosperity Fellow and doctoral student at UB School of Management. He brought a lot of great insights to the podcast.

In this study, the team tracked and analyzed 170,000 Kickstarter campaigns to uncover the factors that affect crowdfunding success. Specifically, they looked at the impact of your images, video, and the comments on your campaign. 

This is an "Ask Sal" podcast episode, where listeners submit

"Who can I rely on to help me set up a good website

Akosua is in the preparation stages of a crowdfunding campaign

You're about to discover some key resources that YOU can use to