All photos via: Michael Rousseau
For Michael Rousseau, a former financial business analyst, “crunching numbers” soon turned into a burning desire to be in the creative space. So much so, that the 32-year-old juggled a full-time job and a photography side business on the weekends. Eventually, he decided to take a leap of faith and quit his 9-5 to dedicate all his time to creating.
“I would come home from work and edit my shoots until 1-2 a.m. then wake up at 8 a.m. to get to work at 9. I did that for about six years,” Rousseau told Because of Them We Can. “I decided to quit my full-time job because doing both after 6 years was getting to me, I was getting so much busier shooting that it was time to take it to the next level and quit…within six months of quitting and becoming a full- time photographer, the idea AUXGOD came about.”
AUXGOD is a Hip Hop & R&B card game, where, according to Rousseau, “players play music from their smartphones and battle against each other for the best song in response to (the) playing cards.”
The idea came to Rousseau when he was playing music from a Bluetooth speaker at a party, which later turned into an impromptu music battle between two teams. Less than 24 hours later, Rosseau started developing questions for his new game, AUXGOD.
While trying to turn AUXGOD into a reality, Rousseau said one of the biggest challenges that he faced was the Kickstarter campaign, as it took more time than expected to get the game launched.
“I went in thinking since my idea was so solid and everyone loved it, it would sell itself,” Rousseau explained. “We hit our goal with lots of support from friends, family and a bunch of new clients who saw the game, but waiting for money to come in was a very challenging portion of this journey.”
However, the now full-time creator used this as an opportunity to do research and read marketing and psychology books to figure out why some strategies or campaigns worked or didn’t work.
Rousseau, who credits his parents and aunts for inspiring him to pursue entrepreneurship full-time, said his word of wisdom to aspiring entrepreneurs would be: “Don’t think you’re going to strike gold right away, be patient, there’s no shortcut. You really have to enjoy the process and celebrate the little victories along the way.”
For more information or to purchase AUXGOD, click here.