Crowdfunding is a wonderful thing, when it works. It has the potential to launch your new product with a flood of pre-orders that gives you the vital cash that you need to deliver on what you are making.

However, 70% of crowdfunding campaigns fail to reach their target. This week I'm glad to be able to talk to Will Dooley, co-founder of CrowdReach, who has helped run over 200 successful campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, with over $25m raised.

First we find out how Will and his co-founder were on a very unconventional degree programme in Bristol when the idea for CrowdReach was first conceived.

We then go into detail on the Do's and Don'ts of successful crowdfunding.

Full details and links at: https://theideaslab.org/willdooley

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Michael Burns is a storyteller, copywriter, speaker and comedy performer.

I met him here in Bali and he's got an interesting career history. In this episode Michael will take on a journey from his work on Seinfeld, to an online record label, to reality show producer, to copywriter.

Michael explains how you can tell the story of your business in a way that is actually interesting and engaging to your customers.

Full details, links and more at https://theideaslab.org/michaelburns

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If you're interested in living and working abroad, and in the future of work itself, or perhaps you've heard of the Estonian e-Residency then this is the podcast for you.

In this episode I catch up with Lavinia Iosub, managing partner at Livit International in Bali. After growing up in Romania, Lavinia lived, worked and studied in 8 countries and 4 continents.

With a passion for adapting our lifestyles to the future of working practices, Lavinia has now signed up for the pioneering Estonian e-Residency that allows her to create a mobile business from anywhere in the world through the Estonian government.

full show notes and references at: https://theideaslab.org/laviniaiosub

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Richard Atherton was a consultant at Deloitte when I ran into him in the basement of a SOHO comedy club.

He ended up quitting Deloitte to try his hand at Standup comedy. He also created a Burlesque comedy night called 'Bonobo Presents'.

It was then that he embarked on a deep psycho-therapeutic journey before he founded First Human with some colleagues.

First Human takes parts from what Richard learnt in the consulting world and the therapeutic world and brings the humanity back into corporations.

For links and show notes please head to: https://theideaslab.org/richardatherton

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Taylor Croonquist co-founded Nuts & Bolts Speed Training Powerpoint Tutorials with his wife Camille in 2014. They run advanced training courses online for Powerpoint users and they've turned this into a thriving business.

One notable achievement is that they now have 200,000 visitors to the website each month!

This episode explores the deep detail of how they set the company up, how they are bringing so many people to their website, and how they've managed to convert those visitors into paying customers and create a business that's allowed them to live a good life, wherever he wants to live in the world.

For full links and show notes please go to: https://theideaslab.org/taylor

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Life is about experiences. Find them or create them, as Will Glendinning likes to say. Will has been producing creating and directing major events for a very long time now. He's also the author of The Facts of Live: How live events are conceived, procured and produced to create the greatest value and impact (link below).

Will also has some interesting insights about the future, where clever marketing will be manipulating the reality around us until we no longer know what's real and what's an advert.

This is a fascinating conversation!

Full links and references at https://theideaslab.org/willglendinning

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full show notes at: https://theideaslab.org/estherstanhope

If you suffer from Glossophobia or the fear of public speaking then listen to the advice of Esther Stanhope, former BBC senior producer and author of the new book - Goodbye Glossophobia: Banish your fear of public speaking.

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Josh Spector has created something very rare - that's an email newsletter that you actually want to read every single week.

His newsletter 'For the interested' now has a following of 25,000 people and he specialises in helping other people create successful newseletters.

But that's not where he started. Josh has been in social media for quite some time and he has some remarkable stories to tell about working in social media for the Oscars and for The Academy Of Motion Pictures.

In fact, he was directly involved with the famous Ellen selfie, with a mass of celebrities in one photograph, that ended up breaking the world record by getting 3.2 million retweets.

So if you're looking for a whole bunch of tips on how to make your newsletter really compelling, and some key insights into how social media really works then this is the episode for you.

full show notes and links at: theideaslab.org/joshspector

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Alice Sheridan is a successful abstract artist and she also helps other artists to connect, stay motivated, keep producing and make money out of their art.

Alice runs a free Facebook group for artists (link below) with thousands of members. She has a successful paid membership programme and a popular podcast.

Whether you are interested in making money from art or how to run an online business in a way that's authentic and true to your personality, you will get a lot out of this podcast.

Alice worked as a graphic designer, but after having two premature babies decided there was more to life than marketing brochures.

She decided to go all-in on her passion for painting "just to see where it could go" and her abstract landscapes are now owned worldwide, licensed for John Lewis and used for high-end interiors promotions.

With a new London studio she will soon be offering more in-person and online workshops. She co-hosts the Art Juice podcast and hangs out too much on Instagram when she should be updating her website.

for full show notes and links please go to: theideaslab.org/alicesheridan

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Some years ago, Laura learnt a great home remedy from her grandmother for making hair grow faster.

Laura then experimented with the formula to make it even better and then just recently decided that it could make a great commercial product. Laura created The Hair Fuel, a subscription product that she has successfully launched on a crowdfunding site.

So if you'd like to turn your own ideas into real-world products, or you are interested in how you can run your own successful crowdfunding campaign, then this is the episode for you.

For full show notes and links please head to: theideaslab.org/laurasagen

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