Funding: Part I

The other day a co-worker asked me about how my training was going. I told her I was feeling good. Tired and hungry, but overall really good. As you can imagine, I have this conversation a lot. Friends and family, people just checking in to see how I'm doing. I love this conversation. Then she asked me a follow up question that prompted me to answer "Oh no, I still have to pay my entry fee ." I won an invitation to participate, yes. But make no mistake, I also have to fund it.

So how much does one of these races cost? The entry fee alone can cost upwards of $800 and that doesn't include anything else. It requires a lot of work to put on an event of this magnitude. Lifeguards, city permits, sponsors, vendors, volunteers, announcers, etc. Ironman has built up a reputation of really well executed events and they sell out fast. If the people will pay, trust me they will charge it. As far as the other items on my list, I will let you use your imagination as to how much each one costs.

Things in life cost money, period. I happened to have chosen a hobby that while giving me amazing thrills and crazy determination, it has also put quite a dent in my bank account. But as the saying goes "where there's a will there's a way," and I have come up with some ideas to help me out.

1) Auctioning off a kidney. It could be quite lucrative. However, I am guessing that all the recovery time might interfere with my training schedule.

2) Fundraising dinner. I called a couple of local restaurants to inquire about it and it turns out most of them need a Tax ID # for the non-profit or charity that will benefit from the dinner. My personal SSN won't count. 

3) Spanish Tutor. This is something that I have been meaning to do for a long time. With some referrals here and there from a good friend I am off to a good start. Turns out, I'm pretty good at it and I enjoy it a lot. 

4) Extra work. This was a no brainer. To get more money from my day job, I have recently taken on more projects and even started to help an extra person. I am hoping that all of this will inevitably lead to more money. 

7) T-shirts. This has been by far my favorite idea. I have been working with a local screen printing shop and we have come up with a really cool t-shirt design. Check out this link and see what I mean:

http://www.maddenenterprises.net/KonaCrew

The website is live and ready for you to purchase!

As you can see, I have not been sitting around idle waiting for my money tree to sprout up. I have been busy forecasting where each dollar will come from to pay for this race. I shared these ideas with a couple of people and in doing so, I struck a chord with someone who was very interested in helping me out. More on that in Part II...