« Side Hustle School

#242 - “Game Night in a Can” Makes $75,000 for TV Producer

2017-08-30

A crowdfunded project to transform LA comedy to households across the country becomes a big success.   

Side Hustle School features a new story EVERY DAY of someone who started a hustle without quitting their job. You’ll learn how they got the idea, how they overcame challenges along the way, and what the results are. You need a hustle! Share: #SideHustleSchoolShow notes: SideHustleSchool.comTwitter: @chrisguillebeauInstagram: @193countries

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This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Hello, hello, what's up and welcome back, my name is critical about here with you on side also school today story. How about a game show host was actually a tv producer for his day. Job, but heavily involved in producing live comedy game shows in LOS Angeles He gets this idea to create game night in a can I'll tell you a bit about without entails and he used Kickstarter to fund the projects are. Yesterday we featured in the crowd funding platform myself. I know it kickstarter most people are familiar with that. I think someone's people say well, that's great, but what, if I can't do that, a lot of people to promote my kickstarter. The key point in this story, not highlighted as we go along, is that he raised about twenty thousand dollars with his kickstarter within a product itself did something like seventy five thousand dollars and additional sales throughout the rest of the year. So Kickstarter really was just a bump in this case and that's what it can be great for, but you, if they dont, have to depend on it, there's lots of other ways you can do
if you're trying to create a physical product, also in story a smart marketing idea that I've never heard up before before I a lot of marking approaches, but this was a pretty creative thing he did for his website, which is not that complicated, like lots of people, could do this. And it plays on the idea of reality tv, but not to go too far ahead of things. I'll tell you first about this person how he got this idea, how he set about creating this product, getting it manufacture. And then he got it out to the world along with a signal, and challenging experienced, and then, of course, how he overcame that challenge today, a game night in a can is coming up right after this The stage is usually where the best ideas of speakers and comedians preach their final destination. By that point, they ve been Didn't we works that are ready for the public to experience. It's really the place where New ideas are formed unless that is your Jason mountains, like her brown his day job as a director of development and tv production,
Jason and his wife spend our time running, live comedy game shows the people have lost Angeles non one particularly grateful night playing the game that they'd inventive Jason since in electricity and Gee from the crowd, but he wanted to bottled up. You wanted to share this when people all over America, maybe I'll swear it allowed them to the chance to feel what the crowd felt that night, although they couldn't actually bottle the energy tried a couple things give up on that approach. Jason came up with the next best thing he thought of creating a can like a physical can that contains all of the improvised games and their variations so that people could play along at home. They decided to go with a pretty self explanatory they called it game night and it can be obvious. Choice is often the best one and Jason said about turning this idea into a side. Hustle reality. The first step he took was to get the project funded on Kickstarter really get it started. He knew that by putting his idea there before he invested much money would help him test how the product would be received by people and potentially tap into an existing market. A fox who fun games on Kickstarter.
I reaching out to people through social media email Jason was able to raise twenty thousand dollars for game night in a can Even managed to get mentioned by Chris Hardwicke on the popular noticed, Podcast Jason, lady had a real, viable product to work with and using his frugal mentality. He'd now be able Use that sum of money to take the product along way without having to dip into his own savings account. However, in order to the candle life needed to find a manufacturer who would be willing to create the game- and this part was not easy- was actually much harder than he expected. He found a list of thirty toy manufacturers and pay, all of them. Just why twenty nine of them turned him down? Fortunately, he had me that thirtieth pitch in that company was willing to. With him on a small order of fifteen hundred units. Remember a lot of times these many sure is working. Much larger print runs specially for custom production like this. That's why suspected was a challenge, but fortunately overcame the next few months. There is a lot, back and forth between Jason and that manufacturer to get the product just right, Jason had complete control over how that
would be developed, but he was also willing to listen to guidance from professionals. Tell him find the right look and feel for the game. Nevertheless, by all the conversations and all the back and forth when the first order of games arrived disaster had nearly struck, because, after spending eighty five hundred dollars to order he found a spinners under the lead. Just didn't work just free evenings over the next several weeks were completely taken up ass. He sat for countless is using a knife sandpaper in oil, applying his own handcrafted touch to make each individual spinner work. Jason is a pretty positive guy. He said this was meditate with the spinners in working order. It was time to take the product to the world after creating an affordable website in the platform wicks Jason working together with his wife on this part. Had the genius idea to build the website around videos, people playing the game, so they hired a few friends paying them fifty bucks and free food to play along
it recorded. And now, when you visit the site, you can see people experience the game before you choose to make a purchase of others was really cool. You should go in check it out just to see how they did it after production, the main expenses for game night in a can have come through getting a trademark and LLC for the product which cost around six on her dollars as well as investing in website hosting and some advertising on Amazon and Facebook. He also took some of the money to invest in going to. Trade fairs and industry events Jason was sceptical about this at first, but he says it turned out to be worth it. An industry that was totally new to him, not counting the twentieth doors that they raised gain nine and has made over fifty thousand dollars in its first year with online sales and twenty five thousand dollars through retail stores, Jason feels they been able to achieve this by testing their product and multiple stay. Just to make sure they had a viable idea before they thought about going to market, forward and looking to the holiday season. Jason has opted to hire a pr firm to help with distribution, as well as thinking about Exe ending the games they have on offer. In addition to that flagship, can towns like he's happy
much fun growing it as his fans are playing it Well, I guess I thought that idea of having videos on their website showing people actually playing the game is really smart, especially for something like a board game or a family game or something you gonna sit around and play the physical product as I imagine it must be heard about it. They say it's interesting but like what does it look like an important, a kind of capture the energy in the cooperation or the competition, or maybe both to being able to do that visually seems really compelling, at least from the outside. Also, like, I said, if you're trying to figure out what to name your products or service. Sometimes the most obvious choice is the best choice. My new book is called side hustle and it probably the most literal title. I've had for any one of my five bucks. Did a radio have you the other day and that the hostess asking me. So, what's your new books, I don't feel about, and must try to go down this thread. I was like words about french philosophy and this kind of
in this modernist idea of how humankind has evolved volcano, especially in the twenty first century, political, social, economic structure, and I thought that was pretty good. But I don't think the host got the joke see just kind of pausing So finally, I was like: oh it's also about how to turn an idea into income in twenty seven days, to very step by step practical plan to start your site hustle without putting your day job and he's like how that make sense. That sounds good so I continue to play around with that. When I get that question- and let you have those friends there is, I hope you enjoy the story. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better today, including links to game night in a can are excited so school dotcom. Slash too, for two I'll be back tomorrow with another story, I'm crystal about for side school.
Transcript generated on 2020-08-06.