Hello, my dear readers!
Today's post will talk about insights about my job and, in general, about the many challenges that a small company like DPF has to face on daily basis.
Last week preorders have been a good test to see how much engagement I'm able to achieve, by using only my social media and website newsletters.
The good news is that the hardcore members of our community answered enthusiastically, and I managed to sell already 97 Mystery Boxes, which is awesome considering the peculiarity of this product!
This is such an amazing result, considering that my firepower is strictly limited for what concerns ads and, above all, that we are talking about selling a product without showing it!
What is really heartwarming is not the raw number or boxes sold, but what it means to me: it's good to see that there are many people out there that believe in my projects!
If you've read the latest KS update, you may know that last months have been a bit tough for me to handle, and this preorder has been a kind of counter-attack that I made to regain some enthusiasm and motivation. A part of me, not having finished yet to fulfill all the rewards of the Elves' campaign, was a bit undecided whether to start a new commercial project (even a small one) or not, I didn't want to look like someone who wasn't focused on the main quest and preferred to indulge in side-quests. I feared that open a preorder of new products would anger those backers that still are waiting for their rewards, but I confess that I needed so bad to break a moment of my life where everything seemed pale, for many reasons.
At first, a vulgar need for money. KS funds represent, for me and my family, 80% of my incomes. These months of delays made me postpone the big-scale project, so all my financial schedule "went to happy girls", as we say here in Italy.
Moreover, with my daily life stuck in an endless circle of "prepare boxes-ship boxes-anxiety because I can't prepare more boxes" and the lack of sleep/constant worries/baby crying addition, I suddenly found myself in a situation similar to that of Shrek 4.
I'm an overthinking person, and when I don't/can't find a way to give shape to at least 2% of my ideas, I become a real nightmare to live with.
I put over 5000 miniatures in a box, in the last months, and I didn't found a single hour to paint one: every time I take one of those Elves, I couldn't help but think how I wanted to paint it. They say that you understand the importance of something only when you lose it and, well, now I understand how much important is this hobby for me!
In brief, I desperately needed something to gain new enthusiasm.
So I decided to put apart my doubts and fear, and simply act.
I want to improve my rendering skills, so I spent some hours of nocturnal patrol watching many keyshot tutorial.
I'm working on a kind of marketing campaign for the upcoming big-scales project (I'll talk about that later), and I was so happy to learn new things about a software that I use for years, but that only now I'm really understading.
I designed the Makasete! project, something that really put fire in my engine.
I recover old projects and put them on preorder.
I'm working to refresh the existing range of miniatures (soon you will see a new incarnation of the Female Adventurer!).
As you may have guessed, this is not (only) about money. As I always say, If I wanted to make big money I wouldn't have abandoned Law to focus myself on producing miniatures.
Sometimes I think it's just a matter of...making.
This first experiment with preorders made me understand that the most rewarding side of this job is, at least for me, to create something and see you enthusiast about it!
97 Mystery Boxes sold, to my eyes, doesn't mean 1455€, but 97 people that decided to invest 15€ on me. It's amazing!
As much as possible, I would like to treasure this awesome community, I think that this is the final goal of all this thing called DPF.
I'm not saying that it will be an easy task, but these last months, despite all the troubles, made me focus on why I'm doing all of this.
Well, I've gone so far starting from "how did preorders go?", but I hope you are now used to my potato English stream of consciousness.
So, how did preorders go? I think that the most significative answer might be:
The preorders couldn't have gone any better.
PS: don't forget to grab your mystery box, before they run out!!