“Gawd that new Triumph Tiger 800XC would be perfect for our trip!” “Matt, Look at these new tricky lightweight carabiners from Petzl!” “Oh my! This wing from Ozone is only eight pounds!” It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the latest and the greatest. The latest and greatest takes big money or big support.
Let’s get this out of the way. We’re broke. We’re dirt baggers, not trust funders.
This all started with a plan to embark on an epic trans-continental moto-tour combining our three favorite sports – motorcycling, rock climbing and paragliding. Since then we’ve gone big and created an organization with the mission of inspiring and empowering athletes to integrate passion with purpose.
We knew from the beginning that it was going to be difficult to pull off this trip, much less build an organization that supports, not just our charitable work, but the work of other athletes. We knew it was necessary to secure support from major sponsors, but we weren’t worried about that happening because we knew we had an amazing story to tell and a mission that mattered. We knew we could capture the attention and imagination of thousands of folks, and we knew that sponsors would want to be associated with that.
We had an idea. We picked a date. We went to work. We massively underestimated the amount of time it takes to build business and marketing plans, lock down sponsor contracts, and do the billion other things that need to be done to build an organization, much less plan and save for a major expedition.
Our promised departure date is almost here, the work is far from done, and the high level sponsor support isn’t locked down yet. Make no mistake. We have seen huge progress and are massively thankful for the incredible industry support and gear we’ve received. We have exciting things in the pipeline, but our promised day is right around the corner. Thirty days to be exact.
We thought that by this point we’d be doing shakedown rides, refining our packing, planning big launch events, plotting our route, and cherishing the last few weeks with the people we love.
It’s not like that at all. There are no extra zeros in our bank accounts. There are no bikes in our garage. There is no tricky paragliding equipment or fancy climbing gear. Honestly, all we have in this moment is the same dream we had when we birthed ADV, an awesome platform to tell our story, a database full of contacts, and computers full of plans.
So what do we do? We go anyway. We put ALL our chips on the table. Today I’m buying a cheap motorcycle, and next week I’m selling my car. My coffee maker and snowboard, chess sets and hiking boots go next. My amazing log cabin is for sale for whatever I can get. I’ve already handed off my business and taken a major pay cut in the process.
Our job is to show up to our dream, to show up and do the work. On paper it’s impossible. Rationally, it’s irresponsible. It doesn’t matter. We made a promise, and even without support in place yet, we’re doing what we promised. The work continues. We’ll keep fighting for support, but soon, a campground will be our office, the sun our time-clock. The rest will unfold in its own time.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jeremiah Kavanaugh and Kathryn Hunter, Ride*Fly*Climb*Give. Ride*Fly*Climb*Give said: http://www.advphilanthropy.org/blog/2011/02/all-in/ [...]
Glad to see everything is still happening. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help out.
Jake
Good job, guys keep up the faith! But really, must your hiking boots go?
It’s ok Jessica, I’ve taken a liking to the funny five finger gorilla toe shoes over hiking boots anyway.
Jacob, your blog is helping lots of people, we are just honored to be a part of that.
Hey, If you are ever looking for other volunteer opportunities along your journey, we have hundreds of non-profits, projects, and charities that we work with at voluntourism.net
Officially launching the website this summer, but right now we have opened our site in Beta for establishing new partnerships, connections with new note-worthy projects, and expert volunteers. We love this blog, and would love to be in contact with you sometime soon to hear more about what you are doing and to see if we can help to support your vision in any way possible.
Thank you for posting this info. I bookmarked your site.
Rebekah, I checked out the beta version of the voluntourism.net and it looks great! We’re working on a similar project and I’d love to talk with you about a partnership opportunity. Shoot me an email at matt@ADVphilanthropy. I’ll also try to track you down and get in touch. Thanks so much for your comment and support!
We love that a BMW shop commented on a post that mentioned Triumph and sported a photo of a KTM. We love all you guys.
“we knew we had an amazing story to tell and a mission that mattered.” We are all listening, and cant wait to see the fruits of your epic mission!!! Good luck and God bless!!!
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