Crowdfunding - Personal Support for Your Start-Up

by Richard C. Raynard, Ph.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Now start-ups can get funded by people who just like your idea and can put up a few bucks, rather than by equity funding, IPO's and other venture capital groups.

A New Way

Traditional funding for start-up companies relies on proven concepts and the potential for big profits. It call for much paperwork - budgeting, projections, presentations - and just the right contacts. It calls for big money, too.

Crowdfunding means that you can raise money online from those who just like your idea and want to support it in a small way, a few dollars up front. Now you can reel out a great idea online, maybe one you have been thinking of a long time, and have at least the beginnings of a workable project  In a sense, your marketing has been done before the product is delivered. This is very different from the traditional marketing and public relation approach

Maybe the biggest difference is that you build a community around your project who will offer their advice and experience, and cheer you on your way. They will give you feedback as your project develops and help things move along. They don't expect a return on investment, just being part of something they believe in.

Kickstarter is one site for this grassroots venture capital. Amazingly, Yancey Strickler, its co-founder, has directed over $435 million into about 37,000 projects. You can see some fascinating start-up inventions in Popular Science (May, 2013).

You can imagine that much innovation will get under way that has bogged down from a lack of support, isolation, and needed feedback. And imagine the stimulus that comes from those who believe in you and are cheering you on!

Viva crowdfunding!

About Dr. Raynard
Dr. Richard Raynard is a licensed clinical psychologist with 35 years experience resolving a broad range of emotional problems. As a cognitive-behavioral therapist who has specialized in anxiety and phobic disorders since 1980, he has spent the last 35 years fulfilling his life-long desire to explore and define the true purpose of emotions and how people can easily use emotions to create meaning and satisfaction in their lives. Dr. Raynard's series of books on emotions can be found on Amazon.com. His other books include Don't Panic, and Anxiety & Panic Medications.

Encounter - Healing for the Lonely

by Richard C. Raynard, Ph.D
Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Weiss concluded in 1973 that he was woefully at a loss to help the emotionally lonely, the person who has no intimate, tell-the-truth companion. Yet, at the same time, the encounter group movement was in full swing, a remarkable social invention that has faded from popular memory.



Encounter



Encounter groups sprang up from earlier sensitivity training groups of the '50's and were adopted into the human potential movement of the '60's.  The idea was to become all you were meant to be, following Maslow and others.

Rules of encounter group were:

1) we only talk of the here and now

2) we focus on ourselves and our relations with others in the group

3) we express our feelings, not judgments

4) we agree to give helpful feedback to others

Helpful feedback is defined as:

• Timely and immediate, not delayed                   
• Specific, rather than general
• Invited, rather than imposed
• Descriptive, not evaluative 
• Feelings, not judgments
• Checked out, by repeating the message
• Considering the person's needs he can act on

The purpose was to discover your real self and the other's real self, and not get stuck in stories, drama, troubles, advice, and variants of other group therapies.  Exercises helped you reveal yourself.  Some groups were marathon in length, lasting 24 hours or whole weekends; others were weekly. The leader was called a facilitator, not a therapist or director.  He actually led by example: openness, trust, and honesty.

The results were remarkable.  For most, it was bliss: they could be themselves and feel validated and enlarged. All felt accepted for who they are, which was all they needed to be. The inner peace lasted for days and weeks.

The power of these groups began to be perverted by charismatic and self-absorbed leaders and they gradually faded away.  I revive their past so that you can believe that your emotional loneliness can end anytime you find a companion with whom you can speak the unadorned truth and be accepted. Only honest, helpful feedback, no advice or judgment.

Trust is established; your truths shine brightly; you see you are more than you think; you feel growing capabilities.  You are no longer stranger to yourself, or anyone, anymore.

Loneliness is overcome in short order in an honest, intimate relation.  Do you have the courage? Are you ready to sing your own song?

About Dr. Raynard
Dr. Richard Raynard is a licensed clinical psychologist with 35 years experience resolving a broad range of emotional problems. As a cognitive-behavioral therapist who has specialized in anxiety and phobic disorders since 1980, he has spent the last 35 years fulfilling his life-long desire to explore and define the true purpose of emotions and how people can easily use emotions to create meaning and satisfaction in their lives. Dr. Raynard's series of books on emotions can be found on Amazon.com. His other books include Don't Panic, and Anxiety & Panic Medications.