Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The Evil Plan!!! (Or, what's up with Sponsorships?)

Well, the plain truth is that skiing and driving all over the place is really really expensive! And I'm kinda on the broke side, like we all are. So the concept was pretty simple, there is some gear that I just can't live without, that I love, and that makes it easier for me to do my job well.

I thought I'd ask those companies if they'd like to give me some of their gear in exchange for advertising, since I spend a lot of time gushing about them anyhow. I am lucky enough to have had a couple of companies welcome me into their family of athletes, and I'm psyched, because POC, Elan and Dalbello are all companies that I like to jump up and down about because I find their gear incomparable!

Because I have had some positive response with the inquiries regarding sponsorship, I came up with an evil plan to take over the universe. No, not really. I came up with an idea to make all the traveling (which, LUCKILY, is only going to increase this year as I travel ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, doing Hard Head coaching seminars and training for my own goals) more financially feasable, as right now its breaking the bank, with gas at over $4 a gallon and rising, and places to stay either being FANTASTIC friend's couches, or my truck parked at the ski hill.

I wrote a proposal for a mobile green command center for Hard Head, and sent it off. Cross your fingers, this could be TRULY revolutionary for my coaching business, and a GREAT way for me and my ski partners to go adventuring all over the country and skiing in new back country locations, for less money, able to keep and eat good food, tune our skis, and not have to pay for a hotel or camp out when we are in a new location. WOWEEE just thinking about it makes me crazy happy.

Here is the thought: picture this: A 16 - 29' gleeming Airstream trailer (which I chose because I've had a burning love for Airstream ever since I was five and slept in my first silver bullet), pulled EITHER by a Hybrid Tahoe or a truck which is converted to BioDisel (depending on the GVW of the Airstream, and how big a vehicle we need to tow it). Inside the Airstream are a laptop, imac, iphone with GPS, and an itunes dock for my ipod (iiiiiii), all powered by Brunton portable solar cells.

The outside of the Airstream would be graphic'd with the logos of the sponsors of this project on one side, and my new Hard Head logo on the other side, as well as some facts about gas consumption and life on the road in the current energy and economy.

Inside would be space for ski and boot storage, a tuning bench, and space for a group of athletes to gather and talk about skiing, do Movement Analysis, or have a Performance Plan meeting. The bigger Airstreams sleep several, so trips like Powder 8s could have several athletes all using Hard Head living together without having to pay an arm and a leg to get somewhere, and travel with their coach!

I wrote up the proposal and sent it to Apple, Airstream, Brunton and GM, so far, its been passed up the chain at Airstream, so keep your fingers crossed, this would be a HUGE step forward in making Hard Head a more mobile and therefore viable entity!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good Luck! This sounds like it could be an awesome adventure. Maybe I can get my company OnTheSnow.com to sponsor you somehow in wxchange for some articles?
OnTheSnow is the #1 visited snow sports Web site with more than 1 million monthly visitors. We focus on resort conditions and news with up-to-the minute reports.
I'll be looking forward to seeing how this develops!

a said...

Thanks, Paul! That's really cool! I'd love to talk with you about the possibility of a relationship with OnTheSnow.com, it sounds like it might be a good fit! I'm leaving for a trip tomorrow evening to City of Rocks and will be away from internet service for about 4 days, but email me directly at katehowe at mac dot com and lets chat!