The Quest for 1%: Debriefing April 2011
My fellow riskologists,
Welcome back to the monthly 1% Club update. If you’re new here or haven’t seen one of these before, you can familiarize yourself by checking out the 1% Club and reading a few of the previous monthly debriefings.
Be sure to read to the end, as this month, I have a challenge for you and I’d love it if you’d participate.
Reaching Milestones in April
There were no items crossed off the list this month (and there likely won’t be until June), but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working hard to move toward some of them.
Waiting for all your effort to pay off is the hardest part of pursuing any goal, so it’s good to get familiar with it and how to deal with it as you work on your own big plans.
Here’s what I’ve been up to this month.
Joining the Seven Summits & Seven Continents Club
As I’ve mentioned over the last few months, I’m still on track to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Elbrus this summer as well as run a marathon in Africa and Europe. This is doubly true now as the trip is fully paid for. That put a big dent in the wallet this month, but besides the hit from the ever-declining U.S. Dollar, it wasn’t unexpected.
As you’ll probably find with any big trip you plan, this is sort of the boring part between the big planning phase and actually embarking. For now, I sit and simply anticipate.
Of course, that’s only half true. In preparation for the marathons, I’m training on a consistent basis. In April, my longest run was 19 miles just this weekend along Portland’s famous Springwater Corridor. This month, I’ll work my way up to 23.
To date, I’ve completed 0 of 7 summits and 1 of 7 marathons.
Operation: Free Mountaineering Gear
In an ongoing attempt to make a very expensive hobby a little less so, I’ve been in contact with a number of gear manufacturers and tour operators in search of a few sponsors for my upcoming adventures.
When I first started this test, I had no idea if it would work or not, but after another month and another round of communication, I’ve run into some good fortune. I haven’t actually received anything yet, but I do have three companies on board with commitments to supply me with gear and one tour operator interested in subsidizing one of my summit bids.
It’s still too early to call this a runaway success because I don’t know exactly what I’m getting, but I’m at least 90% sure that this warrants an in depth article in the future about exactly how to do it. You can let me know in the comments if you agree.
Suffice it to say that if you want to do something fun and expensive and you have something valuable to offer in return, you can probably find a way to do it for free or at least at a steep discount.
So far, I’ve received three commitments of sponsorship.
Raise $250,000 for Charity
Since 2009, I’ve been attempting to double the amount of financial support I give to worthy causes. That was easy back then when I had a job with a steady paycheck and the amount I donated was still trivial. Now that the amount is up to $2,400 and I’m still working to build Riskology.co into the business I know it will become, it’s slightly more complicated.
Still, I set aside another $600 last month in my “save the whales” savings account, earmarked for giving.
Note: I’ve never donated to any charity that actually saves whales. Could this be the year of the whale? Only time will tell.
Despite the fact that giving is getting more difficult, I’ll continue with my current trajectory because I want to set the example that charity is not something you ought to put off until you’re rich. Everyone has something to give, and if you’re not stretching yourself, then it’s probably not that meaningful.
To date, I’ve donated $3,000 toward my goal of $250,000.
Sell a Business for $1,000,000
Last month I mentioned that I’d soon start working on developing another business—one that’s repeatable and scaleable. This month, I began in earnest. Of the list of ideas that I believe I could excel at, I started doing “market research” on the first (that’s business talk for learning about potential customers and competition).
The first thing I need to establish for any idea is that there’s actually a big enough market to sustain a business of this size. If there aren’t enough people specifically asking for what I want to offer, I have to decide if it’s worth it to do the customer education that comes with introducing something that people don’t know they want or need until they see it.
Luckily, for this first round, I’ve found that there’s certainly a large enough market, but in doing my research I also stumbled upon some competition that I didn’t know existed. That’s okay—I’m still very early to the game—but now I need to assess the other businesses in the space and decide if there’s something I can offer that’s better, unique, and can’t be easily copied.
If I can, I’ll proceed to the next phase. If not, then my time is probably better served by moving onto the next idea.
If this all feels a bit cryptic, I apologize; none of these ideas are quite ready to be revealed in public yet. Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that there’s plenty to be learned from the process, regardless the idea. If you want to create a solid, sustainable business that’s bigger than just you, these are the kinds of things to think about. We’ll look at a whole lot more as time goes on.
The Road Ahead
With the number of plates currently spinning, I’ve decided to focus all of my attention for the moment to making sure none of them drop. Knowing when to focus on the task at hand and when to expand is a delicate balance, but it’s one I’ve come to realize I have to make occasionally.
I may still spend a few minutes here and there learning about how to pilot a ship, but for now, it’s time to focus on what’s already in motion.
Around the Riskology Lab
I have lots of things in store for this month, and here’s where you fit in.
Riskologist of the month
This month’s featured riskologists are Kelly and Sheri, who happen to have a fun story about a long awaited trip to Australia.
When they they were married, the two set a goal to someday visit Australia, collecting their spare change in a jar and learning about the world of frequent flyer miles. That was ten years ago, and today they’re finally realizing their dream, taking the ultimate six-week vacation to Australia and even flying first class with all the miles they earned over the years.
Sometimes goals take a long time to achieve, but if they’re important, they’re almost always worth it. Congrats Kelly and Sheri! You can read more about the couple and their adventures at OutbackRanger.
I’m constantly blown away by all the cool things Riskology.co readers are up to. If you want to nominate yourself or someone you know to be featured in a future update, send me a message.
Riskology.co Reader Challenge
This month, I want to start a small project to make these updates a more interactive space for all of us, and I think a great way to do it is by involving more of you in the process of pursuing big goals.
So, here’s your challenge: Create your own 1% Club and publish it to your website. Make a list of all your biggest goals, and start thinking about what you can do today to get one step closer to completing them.
Be sure to include a link to Riskology.co in your post so that I get a notification (you can also write me a note to let me know about it), and in next month’s update I’ll include a link to the amazing and inspiring list you create so that others can see what you’re up to.
If you don’t have a website or just don’t care to publish your list, at least pin it up some place where you’ll see it every day and be reminded to take another step forward. Big goals are achieved one small step at a time.
I can’t wait to see what you create. That’s all for now. See you on Thursday with more regularly scheduled programming.
Yours in risk-taking,
~~~~~
Images by: jercraigs, rocket ship