When I first decided to start my own business back in 2012, I sat down with a coach from the Small Business Development Center. His name is Earl Gregorich and to this day he’s one of the most genuine people I know. Just a good dude.
It was Earl’s job to explain to me that no one was going to fund me.
No one was going to put their money into my salary. No one was going to give me cash to buy materials, to pay my rent, to buy business cards or pay for internet service. There aren’t people sitting around trying to gift other people the means to start their own business.
What about angel investors? I wanted to know. Introduce me to some, dude.
Yeah, no, even angel investors expect to get their money back eventually.
I could pay it back, I told him, once I started earning revenue.
Earl shared a very complicated excel spreadsheet that included costs of labor and goods, streams of revenue and quarterly tax estimates. He explained how pricing works and how business owners usually get paid last, after all other expenses are met.
“Sell something,” he said, “Then you’ll know you have a business.”
Businesses need capital to get started. They need to sign a lease for space which requires a deposit, they need to pay for materials to make goods, they need branding like logos and business cards, and they need marketing like a website and social media. None of that is free.
It’s a miracle any business ever gets off the ground.
In my work at the Faber Entrepreneurship Center, with the Women’s Business Center at Columbia College, and with 1 Million Cups, I repeatedly encountered wannabe business owners in search of those angel investors I asked Earl to find for me.
Investors who would simply give me their money because they like me and believe in me.
In those spaces, it’s my job to tell those entrepreneurs that the money isn’t coming until they sell something. They have to invest in themselves before anyone else will invest in them.
The campaign published our financial reports. On the webpage, you can click “General Ledger” and see the full Quick Books report of the Kasie, South Carolina campaign. You can see every deposit from the University of South Carolina payroll where I dedicated a portion of my paycheck to this effort. You can see all the Donorbox deposits where other people dedicated their money to this effort.
You can see where we bought signs and t-shirts, website and graphic design services. You can see where we paid entry fees to the Watermelon Festival parade, the Striped Bass Festival, the Pride Festival, and so many other community events. You can see where we patronized local stores and restaurants in Conway, Lancaster, and Barnwell. You can see travel expenses to Myrtle Beach for the gun show and Grand Rapids, Michigan for the Libertarian National Convention.
Business owners often build their businesses on three streams of revenue:
1) Personal investment – savings, or payroll contributions. My friend Roshanda Pratt likes to say her television job was her first investor by funding her consulting business when it was just a side hustle.
2) Investors – this starts with the “friends, family, and fools” round of fundraising as my friend Tom Ledbetter calls it. He suggests you prepare these folks that they most likely won’t get their money back. Investors also include angel networks and venture capitalists.
3) Sales – my friend Greg Hilton used to leave our weekly entrepreneurial meet-ups saying, “I gotta go sell something.” Sales-driven investment is the best kind, I tell my entrepreneurship students, because it indicates you have a product worth buying.
From the beginning we’ve been running this campaign like a start-up. We began with the personal investment I made: payroll deductions, personally financing assets like the website, the logo, and the social media accounts. I built the Donorbox in March 2025 and brought on some early investors in my friends, family, and fools round. We have monthly donors who give regularly to keep the lights on.
We’re still seeking investors. Those individuals who see potential in what we’re doing and recognize the value of offering choices other than voters.
Sales continue. What we’re selling is the vision of a South Carolina First approach to governance and policy-making. South Carolina First is about representation, accessibility, and constituent service. It’s about leading with love. Compassion and community. Dignity and decency.
Imagine someone you know, someone who believes in prosperity for all, someone you can trust to make the best possible decision for South Carolina leading our state. Not a party platform, a catchy slogan, or a list of complaints about the incumbent. Someone who wants to build new things and help you do the same.
Campaigns need money because professionals work on them and should get paid. Graphic designers, web designers, event planners, fundraisers, strategists and data analysts all work for professional campaigns. Ours are mostly volunteers.
Campaigns need money to purchase materials like postcards, t-shirts, bubble wands, and fans. These materials increase name recognition, help people find their way to the website and digital assets where they can learn more about our candidate. We give them away by the hundreds at parades and festivals and house parties.
Campaigns need money because they need to reach thousands of people. We need one million votes and try as I will, it’s going to be very hard to speak to one million people. Campaigns use media to reach thousands, even millions, of people. Advertising in print, radio, TV, and digital is not free. Media companies charge for the eyeballs they can get me in front of and it’s not cheap.
We are selling a product: Kasie Whitener for US Senate. Once elected, she’ll make our state proud. She’ll work to reduce the national debt, reform social security and medicare, and restore oversight to the legislative branch of the federal government.
As a start-up, we were able to raise over $10,000 in support of our product. But we’ll need much more than that to attain the exponential reach of traditional media. We are using our digital assets: social media accounts, livestreams every week, blogs like this one, and interviews across a spectrum of podcasts. But we know a lot, a LOT of people still rely on television coverage like FOX News, CNN, and other major national outlets. And those outlets are expensive.
Fundraising asks usually pitch “your time, your talent, or your treasure,” and ours is no different. We need all of those to win, and we need all of YOU to win.
Your time can be spent sharing our digital assets – re-post, re-tweet, share, like, comment, and follow all of our digital content. Whenever you see the race for US Senate mentioned, comment Kasie, South Carolina has your vote. If the news outlet fails to mention me, comment or email or call them and say, “Hey! Kasie Whitener is our choice!”
Your time can also be spent walking beside me in parades, attending community events with your Kasie, South Carolina t-shirt on and handing out postcards. You can volunteer for the campaign to go door knocking, to host parties, or to organize community events. Invite me to your town, I will come.
Your talent can be useful, too. Are you a video editor and social media networker? Help us by making clips of Kasie’s longer content and posting them to your social channels. Are you a great sales person? Help us by sharing Kasie’s message in your network. Are you a musician? Hold a concert and fundraise for Kasie. Are you a baker? Have a bake sale and fundraise. Every talent is wanted and needed to fuel the campaign.
Your treasure will be useful and it will not go to waste. We need to buy traditional media. That is how campaigns win. The initial raise for that is $30,000. If you can contribute, please do.
One million South Carolinians know our government doesn’t work for us. We’re out there raising our families, helping our communities, and building our businesses. And we know what it takes to lead. So let’s work together to elect a citizen who will do that. Not because they want to be rich, not because they want to be famous, and not because they’re on some pre-determined path toward professional politician. But because they have a vision we want to buy.
I imagine my friend Earl will be proud of my start-up efforts. Though he’ll still probably try to get me to use his very intimidating excel spreadsheet that itemizes costs of goods and labor. Every business owner should know their numbers. Campaigns are no exception.
We need a million votes to win. Just how much we’re able to pay per-vote is still to be determined.
I love South Carolina and all the people in it. Let’s do this together. Thank you for your support.
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