I often find myself in situations–both online and offline, often related to my business–that require something that introverts like me dread: small talk. To me, small talk feels like filling time instead of actually making a connection with someone. Over the years I’ve tried to learn how to turn small talk into something more substantial. […]
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Most of my articles are geared towards creators, but today I’d like to talk to customers, as you have a special power you may not know about. Before I get into this, I want to be clear in saying that when consumers criticize or complain about creators, products, entrepreneurs, and companies, it can have a […]
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James Mathe, one of the most generous people in the tabletop game industry, passed away this weekend. I’m sad to say that I’ve never met James or spoken to him, but we’ve interacted quite a bit over the years over e-mail and on social media, where he founded the Tabletop Game Kickstarter Advice Facebook group. […]
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I’ve recently stumbled upon some interesting innovations across multiple business categories, and I wanted to share them with you. Harster Heating & Cooling The central air conditioning in my condo died a few weeks ago, and I’ve been working on getting it replaced. The first company I contacted was Harster, a local company here in […]
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My knee-jerk answer to this question may have once been, “Never!” Now, after running 8 Kickstarter campaigns and backing 282 of them, my answer is a bit more nuanced. Let’s start with a few examples that you may see from time to time: You see a product on the shelf at a local store even […]
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Would you rather build a lightsaber or be selected for a magic wand? Today I’m going to use two huge franchises–Star Wars and Harry Potter–and their respective theme parks as examples for a psychological question about Kickstarter and publishing. Part of the new Star Wars Disney theme park recently opened, and one of the experiences […]
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In my first post-collegiate job, I worked as a project manager at a medical textbook publishing company. Technically I worked for a variety of publishing companies, and each company–and often different books within each company–used different style guides. Part of my job was ensuring that the authors, copyeditors, and proofreaders were using the correct style. […]
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The City of Kings creator Frank West recently reached out to me with a great question: “Should Kickstarter be a ‘1 price for everyone’ platform?” The root of his question is that every country has different laws about import taxes, and those taxes are often calculated from some combination of the price paid by the […]
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Recently Stonemaier Games and myself (Jamey Stegmaier) came under criticism for some of my business practices. I welcome questions in search of the truth and fact-based criticism, though the manner in which it’s communicated impacts how, when, and where I respond to it. With the help of my coworker and part-time employee, Morten, I’ve summarized […]
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Recently a few people shared some interesting examples with me recently that I wanted to share with you. Customer Applications (Hunt a Killer) Nick B shared this subscription mystery game with me in the comments of a recent article. When I went to their homepage to check it out, I was instantly intrigued by their […]
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