Cheyenne, Wyoming (PRWEB) April 15, 2012

One question circulating around entrepreneurial circles is “Will crowdfunding work for ‘real’ brick & mortar stores?”.

The recent passage of the JOBS Act serves to make equity-based crowdfunding legal, but is it practical?

Robert Dobyns, Founder of Conzortia Business Funding, Inc.’s reward-based crowdfunding platform (Conzortia.net), gives an emphatic “yes” to that question.

Before you start thinking “well, sure, the owner of a crowdfunding site IS going to sing its praises”, take a moment to listen to why Dobyns answers so absolutely.

“Off & on for 15 years, I drove a delivery truck for a local company”, Dobyns explains. “My heart’s desire was to own my own company. Be my own boss. You know, the American dream… Trouble was, I lived paycheck to paycheck making $ 25k/year, had marginal credit at best, no savings and usually only about $ 100 left after expenses each payday. There was no way I would ever be able to start my on company, based on that scenario.”

Dobyns eyes grow big, “Then, on a recommendation from a friend, I read Napoleon Hill’s Think & Grow Rich. It opened my eyes to possibilities that I never really thought existed. I began to explore ways that I could raise the capital that I needed outside of the usual “business plan & credit check” path that I knew would lead to nowhere. I began to visualize myself as the CEO of my own delivery company and then a scheme came to me, literally, in my dreams.”

The scheme that Dobyns dreamt of is what we today call “crowdfunding”.

“Yeah, I was ‘crowdfunding when crowdfunding wasn’t cool’”, he jokes. “I approached several individuals who I knew used a service similar to what I was accustomed to offering and basically offered them limited future services for free, if they provided X amount of start-up capital for my business. This what we call ‘rewards-based crowdfunding’ today”

“Of course, I ran across the expected ‘who are you? why should I trust you?’ from many contacts. But there were those few who saw my sincerity, believed that I could do what I said and were willing to take a chance on me”, Dobyns offered. “That was in 2003. Today my business does $ 1.5 million dollars per year in sales. I own numerous income properties and make a six-figure salary.”

“That’s the power of crowdfunding”, Dobyns boasts.

Additionally, that is why he started Conzortia. To help entrepreneurs who have big vision but are under-capitalized to achieve their own dreams.

“Life’s about giving back”, Dobyns shares. “If I can encourage and assist someone else to pursue that goal, reach for that dream, then I’ll feel like my life has had purpose & meaning. To that person wondering, ‘Can I do something big despite my limited resources?’ I answer an emphatic ‘YES’. Go for it. Reach out to others that want to see you succeed. Work that dream.

That’s what crowdfunding is all about!”