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Send Hat to B-School!

Hat has unique projects that could equip people in a powerful way. She just needs some help.

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Send Hat to B-School!

Send Hat to B-School!

Send Hat to B-School!

Send Hat to B-School!

Send Hat to B-School!

Hat has unique projects that could equip people in a powerful way. She just needs some help.

Hat has unique projects that could equip people in a powerful way. She just needs some help.

Hat has unique projects that could equip people in a powerful way. She just needs some help.

Hat has unique projects that could equip people in a powerful way. She just needs some help.

Heather Costaras
Heather Costaras
Heather Costaras
Heather Costaras
1 Campaign |
Johannesburg, South Africa
$90 USD 5 backers
4% of $2,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
Choose your Perk

Happy Hat

$10 USD
Est. Shipping
March 2015
1 claimed

Beaming Hat

$20 USD
Est. Shipping
March 2015
2 claimed

Gleeful Hat

$50 USD
Est. Shipping
May 2015
0 claimed

Ecstatic Hat

$100 USD
Est. Shipping
June 2015
0 claimed

Euphoric Hat

$500 USD
Est. Shipping
July 2015
0 claimed

Beside-Herself-Hat

$1,000 USD
Est. Shipping
July 2015
0 claimed

Short Summary

Okay... so... (*phew*)... this is hard for me.  I'm trying to channel Amanda Palmer and just *ASK*... but asking is excruciatingly hard for me... 

But... here goes:

I have a lot to offer the world.  I'm an artist, musician, blogger and storyteller - but - more than that... I have:

  • Completely transformed my life, my body, my career, my lifestyle and the way I educate my kids... (and I want to share that journey with others and offer encouragement, advice and inspiration)...
  • And I have a fairly successful blog... with a couple-thousand visitors per month...
  • And I have written an illustrated book titled "How Heather got her HAT'ness back" (soon to be self-published and shared with the world)...
  • And I have hosted creative self-esteem & self-discovery workshops for women and girls (like this one)... 
  • And I host concerts and story-telling evenings... and I write music and sing songs...
  • And I've launched this humanitarian project (with support from people like Vivienne Westwood)... and this youth development project (with corporate sponsorship)... and this NGO... (and hooooo-boy.... the LESSONS I have learned and the STORIES I could tell you about *those* experiences!!!)... (including what it feels like to burn-out from trying to help everyone else at the expense of one's own dreams)...
  • And I've travelled extensively,  been nominated as a Tearfund "Inspired Individual",  won a Diamond-in-the-Rough award and was invited to Nashville by a producer to record a demo (which I did), spoken (and sung) at various events around the world,  been interviewed on various radio & TV shows (both in South Africa and abroad), was chosen as one of 10 social entrepreneurs from around the world to speak at the City Hall during Design Indaba... (the list of stuff and stories could go on)...
And yet... in spite of all these incredible experiences and opportunities... and all of my abilities...

I have $3.50 in my paypal account.  And about $6.50 in my personal bank account.

Why?
Because - although I am VERY GOOD at what I do... (all the creative stuff, that is)...
I utterly suck at marketing myself.  

And I suck at strategising... sales... business-planning... and neatly project-managing all of my zillions of creative ideas in a coherent way which *could* earn me a decent income... (but doesn't.  And hasn't.  For a long, long time).
It's embarrassing.  And - I'm embarrassed to even share this story with you.

Thankfully - I have a very supportive husband (who is currently the sole breadwinner)... and we are careful with our spending and we have drastically reduced our debt... but I am frustrated with myself because I *know* I can contribute something of value to the world AND earn myself an income at the same time... and I know I *could* contribute financially to our family (and ease the load on Nick)... but it's like all the little itty-bitty pieces and zillions of ideas are floating all over the place and I really struggle to bring it all together... in strategic, coherent manner.

What I Need & What You Get

Enter Marie Forleo's B-School.

What's B-school?

Well, in Marie's words:  'B-School is an 8 week online training program that shows you step-by-step how to build a unique and profitable brand, market more effectively, and turn your online presence into a world-changing machine".

Eeeeee!!!

I need B-school!  In fact - I wanted to sign up for B-school last year (but didn't have the money and was too embarrassed to ask anyone for help).

I desperately need those step-by-step strategies (because my brain just doesn't think like that!)... My brain doesn't do "step-by-step"... my brain doesn't do "strategic plan-of-action"... my brain thinks in bright colours and stories and images and endless streams of creative ideas!

I really-really-really think that B-school can help me cohesively organise my business (and I'm especially convinced after I read through the curriculum offered... and then read about all the B-school grads - many of whom are creative creatures like me!  :-) )

And even better news... after writing a blog post on how I needed help and was searching for my "Andrew" (a business partner - polar-opposite in strengths to me)... I now have wonderful-Tracy (helping me on a part-time basis).

Tracy is opposite to me (strengths wise).  She's brilliant with admin, budgeting, counting, organising and implementing - and she's great at holding me accountable... but even Tracy can't read my crazy-creative brain!  

Tracy still needs a cohesive, strategic business plan to work from.  And B-School can help us put it all together!

B-school... however... costs money:

$2000 - or rather, $1999 to be precise.  What's more - registration closes on the 4th of March... and B-school only happens once a year (so I've sorta got a little fire lit under my bum at the moment)...

If you DO decide to support me on this quest... and send me through B-school... I'll post you all kinds of happy-Hat art-offerings (just check out the "perks" on the right)...

The Impact

I just know that B-school is going to help me gain CLARITY and a cohesive, step-by-step plan of action.   I know that it will help me to better answer the following questions:

  • Who is my target market?
  • Who am I trying to help and serve?
  • How do I keep people interested in my books and projects without drowning them in boring promotional material?
  • Should Living Differently be somehow combined with Beautiful Life Project?
  • How do I effectively combine all my pet-projects with the least possible confusion (to the people who follow those different projects).?
  • How do I market my creative workshops?
  • What should come first:  "SHINE! Camp for Girls" or the creative workshops designed to help folk of all ages to discover and embrace their uniqueness...?
  • Which of my courses will be MOST helpful to my audience?
  • Which of my courses are irrelevant and should be ditched?
  • Should I offer online courses - and if so, how much content should I include?
  • How much should I charge for those online courses?
  • How do I make a decent living (for Tracy and myself)... whilst still offering lots of free, fun material for my wonderful online tribe?
  • How do I sell myself (and my products)... without making my tribe feel used and abused?
  • How do I answer the dreaded dinner-party question:  "So... what do YOU do?"
(And many, many other questions that I really struggle to answer in a cohesive manner).

And if we don't raise enough money... (or raise MORE than the $2000 goal)...?

If we don't raise the full $2000... I will use whatever we *have* raised to get myself into B-school (Marie offers a 4-month payment plan of $549)... and I'll have to think of some creative ways to come up with the balance.
If we raise *more* than the $2000... the rest of the money will be invested in to the following:

  • Printing lots of copies of "How Heather got her HAT'ness back"...
  • Promo material, food and musicians for the launch (of above-mentioned book) which will include an evening of Songs & Stories... :-)
  • Anything else will go towards producing the course material... the short film... and all kinds of other big-dreams and stuff...
(Basically saying... I'm not gonna blow the money on shoes.  Or Nutella). 

So... there you have it.

As I mentioned, this is hard.  Asking is really hard for me.  Deep down inside of me (and I'm pretty sure that every artist struggles with this on some level)... there's an angry little voice screaming:

"Stop begging, you loser!"  and  "Get a REAL job!"

I suspect there's still some dodgy remnants from all those years ago when I first "lost" Hat (for those of you who have no cooking clue of what I'm talking about when I talk about "Hat" - just click here).

Anyhoo... I remember something Amanda Palmer said (after she had raised all that money on Kickstarter) and the press were saying:  "Amanda - how did you make all those people support your campaign?" - and she said:  

"I didn't make them.  I asked them".

So... this is me... *asking*... :  Can you help enrol me in B-school?  Can you help me print some Hatbooks?  Can you help?

Other Ways You Can Help

If you don't have any funds to spare... I'd still appreciate your support spreading the word - or simply connecting with me.   Any words of advice or encouragement are always enormously appreciated (I'm a words-of-affirmation love-language person).

A million thank-you's!!!!

HAT X

(Heather Costaras)

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