BestSelf

Catherine, a former architect, discovered that applying goal-setting, routines, and habit principles transformed her business success. Alan, working in marketing consulting, became her accountability partner. The two realized they were independently building similar daily ritual systems to organize their lives, and saw an opportunity to create a product that could help others achieve similar breakthroughs. What started as a passion project between accountability partners evolved into something bigger when they showed the system to friends and received immediate interest.

Rather than risk manufacturing 30,000 units without validation, Catherine and Alan turned to Kickstarter to pre-sell before committing capital. This decision proved brilliant—they could gather feedback from backers to improve the product before printing, and the backers felt invested in the outcome. The journal's design philosophy centered on psychology: an undated format that removes guilt when life interrupts your routine, a visual progress tracker showing weeks passing, and a 13-week "20 mile march" framework that breaks goals into daily actionable steps. The physical product quality was paramount—from the carefully engineered box opening experience to the precision folding of materials and inner cover gluing. Their cost per unit landed and shipped from China was approximately $10.20, with a manufacturing run of 30,000 units initially costing around $80,000.

Before the Kickstarter launch, Catherine and Alan knew they needed an email list. They set a goal of 2,500 subscribers but exceeded it significantly. They bundled approximately $1,000 worth of productivity tools, books, and software into a giveaway targeting personal growth enthusiasts, which yielded 1,800 subscribers in a month. A simple landing page announcing the coming product generated 350 highly-qualified subscribers. Catherine published content marketing on Medium with PDF upgrades, capturing another 550 subscribers over two weeks. By launch, they had 3,235 email subscribers—all genuinely interested in their solution. The Kickstarter campaign itself raised $322,696 and sold over 10,000 units at the $24-$26 price point.

The Kickstarter validation strategy was enormously effective. Not only did it de-risk the manufacturing decision, but backer feedback improved the product before production. The email list strategy worked exceptionally well—each giveaway subscriber cost approximately 40 cents to acquire, and they were pre-qualified through their interest in productivity and personal growth. Medium proved particularly valuable as a distribution channel for reaching their target audience. The decision to use undated pages and visual progress tracking addressed a real psychological pain point that dated planners created. After Kickstarter closed, they continued accepting pre-orders and generated an additional $68,000. When they launched their Shopify store on January 1, 2016, they generated $16,721.43 in the first 12 days alone. The beautiful packaging and design created a premium unboxing experience that customers wanted to share, inherently supporting word-of-mouth growth.

Catherine and Alan are operating as a lean team—just the two founders plus virtual support staff costing approximately $1,000 per month. Catherine maintained her previous e-commerce business for cash flow while developing BestSelf, while Alan continued marketing consulting. Both went fully committed to BestSelf for 2016. With 19,355 email subscribers, 70% profit margins on their $31.99 retail price point, and strong early sales momentum, they're competing in Shopify's Build a Business competition with the goal of winning trips to meet Tony Robbins or Richard Branson. They gave away the full journal as a PDF during the Kickstarter phase so backers could start using it immediately rather than waiting for physical delivery—a customer-first philosophy that resonated strongly with their audience.