The Greatest $563.93
A moment is but a dot,
in a painted dream.
In my current dream state writing as Jeremiah Kindred and trying to turn ideas in my head into a product, the $563.93 made so far is one of my greatest accomplishments. I have failed more times than I can count over the years. Our greatest capability as a human is the ability to create and this continues to drive me and I will continue to write for myself but would enjoy for others to participate in the journey.
Starting with nothing more than an idea in your head that is usually a bit different or quirky, but at the same time solves a problem or challenge. My goal with Jeremiah Kindred is to change the way people interact with the written word. An idea that I have formulated, failed, and learned from over the past several years.
I figured that I would take the time to document my failures, and hopefully you are able to follow Jeremiah Kindred through to success. If I can help others minimize some of their failures it may provide some value, as we will all fail along the way, it is just part of the process to succeed. The Jeremiah Kindred blog will start with choices made to date such as delivery platform, marketing, business decisions, etc.
I hope this progression of ideas and documented journey allows us to meet one day so I can sign JK on a Shury Book or novel. More mistakes will be made along the way but let’s try to Fail Hard, Fail Fast, Learn, and Repeat.
Jeremiah Kindred from Ground Zero
The first step I took was to formalize my business as an LLC. My thinking at the time was it is the cornerstone of the foundation upon which can be connected to make a strong foundation. Some may argue that until you make a certain level of money having an LLC where money can be routed through for business purposes could wait until later. I used Legal Zoom to establish and maintain the LLC. Like a lot of other things in life you can research the rules in your state and file for the LLC on your own.
A consideration of the LLC is that it will require filing taxes each year to report on the status of the LLC. In my state I complete an Annual Business Statement and complete a form for reported earnings along with around $300 to maintain the LLC and keep the Jeremiah Kindred business in good standing. Overall, the LLC allowed me to create a business banking account where all revenue and expenditures relate directly to Jeremiah Kindred for accounting and tax purposes.
Content Delivery
I searched around for a number of years looking at e-commerce platform as I had previous experience running and managing an e-commerce site. Distribution of digital content in a simple fashion was the key feature I was searching for. I selected the Gumroad platform and full disclosure for the blog, I did invest in Gumroad during their first round of fundraising efforts. I believe in the mission of Gumroad and how it is currently ran. The method of dealing with customer data and payment information was a bonus as well, since you do not store payment information or have access to it from the Gumroad portal. Chargebacks and returns are still offered through easy functionality which allows you to serve your customers and safeguard both parties. You can find articles of what the Gumroad founder went through and is still going through. The same Fail Hard, Fail Fast, Learn, and Repeat methodology.
The other reason I also selected Gumroad was that it integrated well with Squarespace. I utilize Squarespace as my storefront if you will and the ultimate goal is to drive traffic and transactions through the website. Customers can purchase directly from Gumroad as well, but Gumroad allows to easily move code from Gumroad to Squarespace which allows you to generate customized pages to sell your content. Squarespace operates on themes and content blocks, which make it easier to design an easy to navigate website with consistent themes and branding.
I have used Gumroad for about 3 years now to deliver content. They have changed in positive ways over the years in how they handle their shopping cart. The prior versions did not allow for a checkout experience where multiple items could be placed in the cart and required to be purchased one at one time. Gumroad listens to it’s customers and prioritizes implementations. Squarespace integration with Gumroad has improved over the years as well with features such as being able to control the size of the picture for your product. All little things but they add up to a platform that was built for artist so they could build and sell their own products along with creating a community.
Gumroad has an affiliate program that allows you to build partnerships and choose individual percentages for payouts based upon considerations and negotiations of what the affiliate can provide your business. I visited a small shop in Virginia this past summer that was set up as a Co-Op for local artist. They occupied a storefront and hosted all of their different products. Various members of the Co-Op would work and the artist benefitted from their sales. My longer-term vision for the affiliate program is to collaborate with unique businesses across the country that offer interesting products. The Gumroad affiliate program is a virtual Co-Op that has been built to allow an individual to have an idea, create that product, and sell on a platform that is easy to use.
Next Blog : Business and Marketing Aspects of Jeremiah Kindred
Let me know if there are items you would like information on or to discuss in the future.
JK
Writing from the Soul,
for the Soul.