For the past couple of months we have been reaching out to potential sponsors in hopes of getting support for the trip. For a long time we were encountering two problems.
1. The Catch-22: A lot of sponsors want to know who else has sponsored you. This creates an interesting loop when you are trying to get sponsorship for the first time
2. The Noah's Ark/ The Field of Dreams Problem: People want to see content. 'What kind of photo/video/blog are you going to create?' Once you build it, they will come. As soon as the trip starts we will be able to provide content, we just need to get on the road to make it happen.
All in all people have been very kind. They have been engaged, provided suggestions, and brainstormed ideas. It's very exciting to email a 'Contact Us' page from a website and get an affirmative response that the man behind the curtain thinks you have a cool idea. The most exciting, though, happened just yesterday. Our first sponsored gear came in the mail!!
I saw The Meridian Line's shirts and knew that there was an immediate match.
I went to their website, emailed them and got a very quick response. We talked about the trip and they said that they would put some shirts in the mail. Well those shirts arrived in the mail and Trevor and I sported them last night while talking about the trip in his kitchen.
It feels good. Both the affirmation that we are doing something that others are engaged with, and the shirts themselves. It's super soft fabric and has witty quotes. We are not life as usual, we are a story, we are a conversation. We are the result of childhood dreams, Tomtom festival run-ins and conversations over beers.
Thank you Meridian Line! And yes, we will Be Dareful Out There!