No Towel

While thinking of this trip, i continue to try and figure out ways to minimize what I bring with me. One thing I’ve decided isn’t a necessity is a towel. So, in the morning after I take a shower, I just air dry. I thought this would be annoying, but it’s actually not too bad. Anyway, random thought, but I thought you might enjoy a little tidbit of what it’s like to try and be a nomad. No luxuries.

Well, today I got my first blatant rejection while asking for a ride. I was kind of upset, although I shouldn’t blame people for not wanting to give a ride to a random guy that walks up to their car and asks for one. However, it did kind of psych me out mentally, and so today was an off day for getting rides. I was second guessing myself too much. Rather than pre-judging people and deciding whether or not I think they will give me a ride, I should just ask whoever and let them decide. I’ve also decided that I’m not a huge fan of waving down cars. I’ve just had better experiences asking for rides from people that are stopped. So, I walked quite a bit today. Asking for rides is one of those things that makes me nervous whenever I think about it. But every time I do it successfully, I have a great experience and think it’s the best way to get around.

I got a new backpack yesterday. and it’s working out nicely. Kory from Out N Back hooked me up and gave me a great deal. It has been great to get used to the pack I’ll be using on my actual trip. My shoulders have been getting kind of sore, so, I guess I just need to get a little stronger. Maybe I need to start doing shoulder exercises?

Sponsorships?

I was doing some more shopping today for my trip. I’m still trying to decide on what backpack I should get. I know that might not seem like a very important decision, but I think it is. My backpack is going to have all of my possessions in it, and I’ll be carrying it EVERYWHERE. So, I want to make sure it’s comfortable and that it’s not bigger than it needs to be. Anyway, I was at Out N Back, a local outdoor store in Orem. I was there for like the 3rd time looking at their backpacks. Anyway, I was telling their employees about this trip and what I’m planning on doing. They were pretty excited about it and thought it sounded like a good idea. Well, turns out one of the guys I was talking to was the general manager. When I was about to leave, he said they might be able to sponsor me and he could look into getting a good deal from the rep about my backpack. So, I’m pretty excited about that. He said to me, “look, you haven’t even started your trip and people want to help you out”. So, hopefully I’ll be able to get some good deals on gear and what not.

Because of that, I was asking my manager at Runner’s Corner about sponsorships. He said that if I talk to product reps, I could have a good chance of getting some gear and what not. He was telling me that they have certain allotments for what they can get rid of, and so sometimes they like having good opportunities to give out their gear. So, this made me consider calling companies and trying to get sponsorships. But, I like it better if somebody offers to help me rather than me having to ask for it. I think I’ll just keep doing my thing and hope serendipity steps in to help here and there.

Making the Plans

Well, while I was at my sales job today I just wasn’t feeling it. I already want to quit and just get ready for my trip. So, I think I’ve decided that I’m going to quit in two weeks so that I don’t have to pay for rent for the month of December. Then, I think I’ll live in Provo for another week and just couchsurf for that week. That will help me learn better how to use the couchsurfing website, as well as get some positive reviews for my couchsurfing profile. I’m excited, but I better work hard these next two weeks so I don’t have to worry about money.

The more I think about it, the more I’d like to try and get sponsors. I mean, even if I don’t get them, I’ll learn from the experience of trying to get them. I was wondering who the people are that I’m going to want to talk to and what not, when I realized that I could probably just talk to Brogg and ask him about it. Brogg started BBSC Endurance sports and I know that he’ll have experience contacting companies for sponsorships. The sponsorship amounts that I’ll be asking for will be so small that I’m sure companies will go for it. Either that, or they’ll wonder if I’m for real. That’s the bigger concern, that they don’t take me seriously. Oh well, somebody will I’m sure. If not, I’ll forge ahead anyway.

I’ve made some more definite plans about what I’d like to do on the trip. I’d like to make my trip a combination of two successful projects I’ve seen: LetMeStayForADay.com and OneWeekJob.com. I want to stay with a different person every night and go to work with a different person every day. I’m not going to set any restrictions on when I’d like to finish or not, because I’m genuinely going on a journey looking for occupations that I could enjoy or cities I might like to live in. Once I find what I’m looking for, I can stop my journey at anytime. However, I don’t want to make any decision until I’ve seen a majority of the U.S. and most of the major cities. Well, tomorrow I’m going to start calling companies for sponsorships. I guess we’ll see how it goes.

Gear and Stuff

This morning I went to a service project and it was a lot of fun. I didn’t really want to at first because it was snowing when I got up this morning. But, I’m glad I did.

After I went to work later today, I stopped by an outdoor store to check out their backpacks and sleeping bags. I’m still trying to decide on what size of pack I want and how much gear I should bring along with me. David Schmidt(my friend that went to Rome) tells me that I should only bring two changes of clothes. However, I would like to bring more than that. I’m just trying to decide what’s the right amount. It will probably cost me around $150 for a good bag, which isn’t that bad.

I was pretty surprised to see how small of containers sleeping bags can fit into these days. They showed me a $300 down sleeping bag that fit into this little tiny sack. It’s perfect and I need a sleeping bag like that. I think I should be able to find the money to buy both a backpack and a sleeping bag.

I also started doing some research tonight to look for any companies that might be willing to sponsor me. I think I’ll just contact a bunch of random companies and see what they say. I mean, it won’t hurt to try, and I’ll learn from the experience. If I do end up finding anybody who wants to sponsor me, that will be sweet. The more I think about this trip, the more I want to publicize it and try to make it a successful venture, not just a fun adventure. But, whatever happens, it will be memorable.

If I had a million dollars?

On Thursday I ran into a friend of mine at 24 hour fitness. He also majored in Entrepreneurship, so we started talking about what both of us are doing. He is still living in Provo, even though he has graduated, and so I thought our situations were pretty similar. The part that kind of bewildered me was how he feels content with what he’s doing in his life and I feel so restless. We talked about a bunch of different things, but there was a question he asked me that kind of stuck with me. He asked me what I would do if I received a million dollars a day? Essentially, if money wasn’t an issue at all, what would I do with my life? It’s a very valid question, and I’ve been thinking about it.

I’ve been doing research on careers and post-graduation life, and I found out that there is quite a bit of literature aimed at recent graduates. I guess what I’m going through right now is referred to as the Quarter Life Crisis. There are quite a few books that talk about how twenty-somethings can get through that period in their life that follows graduation. A lot of the things I feel are characteristic of what many recent graduates feel. It was interesting to find this out, because it opens my mind to some possibilities I might have with my blog. Also, some of the literature also mentioned that asking yourself the question about what you would do if you won the lottery is helpful in deciding a course of action.

See, on Friday I made friends with a guy over the phone, who I ended up selling. He is a president of some company out in PA, and I told him how I’ve been having a hard time deciding what I should do with my life. He posed the same question to me that my friend posed, what would I do if money wasn’t an issue? Well, at this point, I had thought about the question, and these are the two things I think I would do if money wasn’t an issue. I would travel, and I would start businesses. Starting businesses is just a big interest of mine, as well as traveling and seeing the world. So, what I told this guy is that I would probably travel. He started questioning me about what information I could gain from my travel that somebody would want. He said I might be able to get hired by a company for that information.

Well, that got me thinking, which led me to do research and find out about the Quarter life Crisis literature. I think if I have my blog focused on career exploration from the eyes of a recent grad, I might have something that could attract the eyes of recent grads and college students. There are plenty of websites out there that give tips and strategies for helping recent grads know how to get through their transition. If I have them as my target market, I might be able to set up some sort of job or sponsorship before I even leave.

So, I really think that if I’m going to get anything rolling with this trip, the earlier I decide to go the better. I’ve pretty much made up my mind that I’d like to go on the trip. I’m probably about 90% sure of it. The job with Launch Sales and Marketing isn’t going to work out because he said I don’t have enough experience. Also, I haven’t heard back from Ragnar Relays, and I just don’t anticipate hearing back from them at this point. So, I think I’m just going to start making plans and getting ready for the trip. Even if Ragnar does contact me and wants to hire me, I really think going on this trip will be the best thing for me. It will help me explore and see some of the world, so that I will be better able to commit in the future.

Also, as I was talking to a friend at a party tonight, I realized I’m kind of going about this thing all wrong. I mean, in terms of my career exploration. I’ve been looking for a job that I can enjoy. Well, I think the reality of it is that I don’t really enjoy working for other people. I’m too entrepreneurial. So, I need to find a business I can get into that will pay well enough that I can have the time to work on businesses. I think that’s where real estate comes in. I always had an interest in real estate, but mostly because of the money. Well, if I’m able to live at my parents house(they might be leaving on a mission and they want me to live in their house by myself), and I don’t have rent payments to worry about, then I should be able to find enough stuff to keep busy until I get some real estate deals worked out. I’ve already talked to some guys that will mentor me. It benefits them because we’ll split the profits, and they’ll be able to do more deals than they could on their own.

I could use that as my revenue source, and then with any other extra time I have, I can work on businesses I would like to start. I still want to go on this trip first, so, that will be my focus for now.