If I Handed You $25,000, What Would You Do With It? No, Seriously…
If I handed you $25,000, what would you do with it?
Spend it on a bulk order of Twinkies? Give it away? Save it? Maybe you’d start a meaningful personal project or go on a worldwide adventure? Perhaps you’d start a new initiative in your community or help grow an existing one. Heck, maybe you’d try to set a world record?
Most inspirational articles would get you thinking about this question, then try to convince you money isn’t a barrier—that you can do it (right now!) if you really want to. All you have to do is believe in yourself and get started.
They’d be right. In most cases, it isn’t money that keeps you from chasing a dream. It’s fear of failure, focusing on the wrong priorities, a lack of hustle, etc.
But damn, money sure does make doing big things easier!
And that’s where this little article is different.
If you have a big idea—a dream—you want to bring to life, I and the World Domination Summit Team want to help you. And we’ll give you as much as $25,000 to do something cool.
If that sounds interesting to you, here’s what you need to know.
Announcing: Scholarships For Real Life
Many of you know I’ve been deeply involved with WDS since it began four years ago. In that time, it’s grown quite large and now produces a healthy profit that allows us to do cool things for the WDS community.
In 2012, we gave every attendee a $100 bill as they left and told them to do something meaningful with it. We called it the $100 Investment. The stories we got in return were fun, creative, and inspiring. My favorite was a guy who bought a doughnut for 100 different people.
Last year, we announced The WDS Foundation. The idea was to scale the $100 Investment to something even greater. You can do great stuff with $100 (or even no money at all), but what if we gave worthy people with important ideas $5,000, $10,000, or even $25,000? What could be accomplished?
Well, we’re now ready to find out. The application process for what we’re calling Scholarships For Real Life is open, and we’re ready to hear what you would do with the money.
The idea is simple. You have an idea, a cause, a purpose. You tell us what you want to do and how much money you need to make it a success. If we think it fits with one or more of the core tenets of WDS—community, adventure, and service—we’ll fund your project.
What’s A Scholarship For “Real Life?”
The purpose of a scholarship for real life is to fund a project that would not be feasible to fund through traditional channels.
The WDS community is filled with creative people doing amazing things, so rather than tell you what we want you to submit, it’s easier to tell you what we don’t want to see. If there are a number of traditional ways a project like yours could be funded—a widely available grant, business/car/home loan, school scholarship program—it’s probably not a great fit.
But, wow, that leaves a world of possibilities!
If you’re not sure whether your project is a good fit or not, I’d encourage you to apply.
Do This In The Next Ten Minutes
I don’t think there’s much I need to do to motivate you to take action on such a tangible and life-changing opportunity (and if there is, you’re not a good fit!), but here are a few first steps to get you started:
- Think of a meaningful project you’ve wanted to start, but have lacked the financial resources to actually do.
- Visit the application page and read the brief intro and questions we’re asking applicants to answer.
- Start building a vision for your project and write a first draft of the answers to the application questions (for yourself; don’t submit until you’re ready).
- Ask any questions you might have in the comments below.
That ought to get you headed in the right direction. Take your time to put together a strong application, but don’t wait too long. The deadline to submit is Friday, May 16, 2014.
Don’t forget: Those who go places are those who take action. Don’t second guess yourself too much. We want to bring fun ideas to life, and I believe you have one inside you. But if you don’t apply, I may never know about it…