PRESS RELEASE - How Beau Shell Raised $20,000 for his First Ice Cream Shop

Contact: Vickie D Shell, 706-255-7450 Email: @lilicecreamdude@gmail.com

January 4, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

When 13-Year Entrepreneur, Beau Shell, Fails to Get Backing from Big Name Stars, His Local Community Steps in and Helps Him Raise the $20,000 He Needs (ATHENS, GA) - When 13-year old entrepreneur, Beau Shell, aka, the Lil’ Ice Cream Dude launched his Kickstarter Crowdfunding in late November 2017, he knew raising $20,000 was going to be very challenging.

However, he was determined to raise the 20K needed to open his first ice cream shop, COOL World. With the help of his mom, Vickie Shell, Beau developed a solid strategy to give his campaign a fighting chance at success. First, he held a soft opening in the future location of the ice cream shop and officially launched his Kickstarter Campaign simultaneously on Small Business Saturday 2017 (Nov. 25). Over 200 supporters attended the soft opening to hear Beau’s business plan presentation, take a virtual tour the shop and sample some of the flavors of ice that will be sold in the Beau’s first shop. Over the soft opening weekend, Beau was able to raise $4,100 of his crowdfunding goal. With the campaign set to end on December 31st, Beau believed he could easily raise the $20,000 over the next 37 days.

After the soft opening weekend, campaign pledges began coming in at a snail’s pace. Beau became concerned about meeting his funding goal. Although the news of his Kickstarter campaign and his ice cream dreams were gaining traction on his social media sites, donations were still trickling in. One bright sign during the early days of the campaign was that several supporters, fans and followers were leaving him inspirational messages and promises to support his campaign. While reading these messages, Beau noticed several people were tagging some very famous stars, like Ellen DeGeneres, Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Harvey, Beyoncé and even Atlanta urban radio station, V-103, in their comments. With all of the tags to these stars, Beau began to believe he had a chance at “getting on their radar.” He was inspired to create the hashtag #allBEAUwant4Christmas and begin tagging the stars himself. He also began to encourage others to do the same. It didn’t take long for Beau’s Christmas wish of opening his first ice cream cart to start making its rounds on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. “I was hoping that one of these mega stars would at least mention my name and my Kickstarter on their social media. I believed that something as small as mentioning my campaign would be enough to influence people to learn my story and then donate to my Kickstarter campaign,” Beau recalls. “I was always encouraged to dream big and I did.”

Over the weeks leading up to Christmas day, Beau’s fans, followers and supporters kept sharing his posts and tagging their favorite celebrities, with Ellen DeGeneres receiving the most mentions. Their efforts helped Beau’s video make it on the Ellen DeGeneres Fan submission page where it was viewed over 10,000 times.

Encouraged by the continued engagement by supporters, Beau made a video featuring him at the shop. The video was set to the instrumental version of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas.” This video was viewed and shared over 12,000 times. But to his dismay, Beau woke up on Christmas morning to find he had only raised $11,207. He then knew it was going to take a miracle to raise almost $9,000 in 5 days.

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Beau reflects, “On the day after Christmas, I was sad, but I wasn’t upset with the stars because they are good people who have given a lot to their communities and people all over the world. Although I was disappointed, I was still very hopeful. I told my mom that I could no longer wait for someone famous to help me. I had to take matters in my own hands and do something to help myself.”

Beau created another video where he spoke directly to his supporters expressing his hope that, with their help, he could still reach his goal of $20,000. He introduced his plan of “I am 1 of 250.” For this promotion, Beau explained that if 250 people donated $25, he could reach his goal. To Beau’s surprise, 91 of the 250 answered Beau’s call after viewing his video. His supporters helped him raise over $2,100 in less than 24 hours. After posting this success in an update video, supporters pledged another $2000 over the next 24 hours.

With two days remaining, Beau felt compelled to do even more. He reached out to local celebrity chef and restaurateur, Hugh Acheson for support. Acheson responded to Beau’s request by posting a plea to his Facebook page asking his fans to please donate to Beau’s Kickstarter Campaign. Beau then sent a direct message to Food Network Chef, Tyler Florence asking him to help promote his campaign. Florence also obliged by posting Beau’s campaign on his Twitter account. Beau met Florence this past summer in Athens, GA during the filming of an episode of the “Great Food Truck Race.” Support from Acheson and Florence helped Beau to raise nearly $500, but he was still about $4,000 away from his goal.

Perhaps Beau’s self-help and determination prevailed when he convinced his mother to take him around town to some of the local businesses, community leaders and churches to explain his ice cream dreams in person.

Beau and his mom, Vickie visited over 30 local businesses, community leaders, churches and supporters. He took pictures with his supporters who held signs that read, “I am one of 250.” Local supporters included fellow business owners, lawyers, community leaders, and government representatives. Operation “I am 1 of 250” helped to raise another $550. Beau posted pictures of his “I am 1 of 250” supporters on all his social media sites and the positive response was overwhelming. The posted inspired many others to donate $25.

On the morning of Friday, December 29th, Beau’s efforts resulted in a total raised amount of $16,239. With momentum from all the videos and posts growing by the hour, the amount rose to $18,456 before noon. By 4 pm on the afternoon of December 29th, just 3 ½ days after Beau took matters into his own hands, his campaign reached the $20,000 mark. As Beau watched the donations coming in by the minute, he was very humbled by all the support. When he finally met his fundraising goal, he ran through his house jumping and screaming with joy. He thanked God and immediately began working on this “campaign successfully funded” thank you video for his supporters and campaign backers. When he posted it later that night on his social media sites, donations continued to pour in. When the campaign closed on Sunday, December 31st at 12:12 pm Beau had raised at total of $21,625.

“After my Kickstarter campaign ended, I was extremely relieved and happy. I am grateful for my community of supporters. When I failed to get on the radar of big name stars like Ellen, Oprah, and Tyler Perry, I felt like I might not reach my goal. Those feelings of doubt lasted for about five minutes. I soon realized that I have a community of super cool and supportive people and businesses who have been believing in me and my ice cream dreams for the past six years. They came through for me and I will never forget that.”

Beau is now busy planning the Grand Opening of his first ice cream shop, Lil’ Ice Cream Dude’s COO World. He is excited because after six years of operating his budding ice cream empire out of his parent’s garage, he is finally moving his business into a place of its own.

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Beau Shell is 13 years old and lives in Athens, GA. He attends Athens Christian School where he is in the 8th grade. Beau started his business in 2012 at the age of 8, when he convinced his mom to give him an ice cream cart for his 8th birthday in lieu of a birthday party and presents. Now over 400 events and years six later, Beau is taking his business to the next level. Beau has also written his first children’s book, The Coolest Birthday Ever, and plans to publish it before the grand opening of Cool World. After opening his ice cream shop, Beau plans on learning how to make and then distribute his own line of ice creams and novelties.

Below are links to Beau’s Kickstarter Campaign and all of the videos referenced in the press release. Please click link next to each picture to view.

Link to Beau’s Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676023088/lil-ice-cream-dudes-cool-world Link to Beau’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lilicecreamdude

Lil’ Ice Cream Dude’s COOL World Kickstarter Campaign Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wBCBeK7WGg

#allBEAUwants4Christmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdnidovXs6c

4 Days Left but I Still Have Hope https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdnidovXs6c

In Less Than 24 Hours https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1GrzgFOGqs

I am 1 of 250 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXhyKTmNWso