Road Trip Status

The road trip is buzzing along. We're recruiting some incredible extreme entrepreneurs, such as:

• Ryan Allis
  
• Joshua Newman
  
• Bryan Sims
  
• Ryan Blair
  
• Some other exciting ones that we cannot mention yet

Also, we're pushing hard for corporate sponsors and foundation support. This process has finally given me a push I need to get over my limiting beliefs and fears related to selling. In the past, I've avoided making phone calls and gave up after two follow ups, because I didn't want to "nag" a person. Furthermore, I've given up on ideas after getting a small number of rejections or no responses!

My partner, Adam Witty from Advantage Networks, has inspired me. He says that 80% of sales are actually closed after the fifth contact. Also, the people we're pitching are so busy, that while a project like ours may sound interesting, they still have to deal with all the short-term deadlines and performance goals that are giving them stress. So, following up in the right way is actually is helping them stay on top of an interesting idea.

Regarding the number of phone calls I make, I've been inspired by Joshua Newman. I forget the exact number, but when he raises capital and he's raised millions, he makes the commitment to contact something like 100 potential funders. So many people probably give up after 5.

As I look back, I can see that lack of sales expertise on our team has pushed us back months, if not years. However, I'm happy now to be gaining the necessary experience/confidence and partnering with great people.

At any rate, I'm off to make some more phone calls!