40 Day Journey

[GypsyOwl]

The 40 Day Journey begins May 1st.  My life will be in transit... my new life awaits at the other end of the long and winding trail.  I'm not really sure what is waiting there... but that is ok.  It is clear God is guiding me and preparing the way.  I'm listening for what I need to do and trusting I'm listening closely and that if I don't hear right, the Lord will speak up a bit. I am learning to hear the whisper so He dosn't need to shout at me to get my attention. ♥

This unexpected trek began to materialize about a week ago (Saturday April 14th).  My first response was shock.  Next was feeling helpless... then came tears.  Next something miraculous happened... I started seeking  and finding options.  The only thing was most of them would cost money and there isn't any.  I made a decision to take this all one tiny step at a time.

Well...

Some of that 'manifestation' thinking started to kick in  (I tried to find "The Secret" DVD I may have loaned it out, but, the fact is I was thinking about it ;-)  Then I went online to find a prayer request line.  I was guided to Silent Unity... If you know of them they have a 'how to pray' page so I started reading that before I submitted a prayer request.

I found myself praying differently... and I was starting to make lists rather than feel limited by lack of funds.  Once I made the plan... and started fine tuning it... people started showing up on the path.  Before I knew it I'm going to be visiting about a dozen people along the path (the journey to my Mom's house to visit).  Then what do you think happened next?

Well, once I made that list and refined it and got the route figured out I started celebrating each of the people I'm going to get to meet.  THAT is going to be amazing.  Next I calculated the miles and estimated the car's mpg average and came up with a ball park financial budget... for gas and food,  since by this time I already had a dozen couches or guest rooms to stay in along the way. 

I stepped out on a limb and asked for help.  I gave my budget and asked for a loan from an affiliate.  

I had a really good feeling that was it.  So I relaxed a bit more.  Next time I was praying I started getting an idea.  A fundraiser that would help anyone who participated.  Well... that sounded amazing.

I started setting up the plan for it.  I sent out an email and began setting up the pages where those folks could interact with me and see what new activity is happening with the funds.  I then prayed for a place to share about the journey (as I go along) and wouldn't you know it my blog had not too long ago been hijacked (by me of course) for 'prayers, gratitude, and inspiration' well... what better place to write, right?

I wanted to share all of this here for a few reasons.  

One is so this community has an opportunity to participate GypsyOwl's 40 Day Journey  and another reason is  so you would understand why I am postponing the May Fair.  

I can only hope the delay will mean we will have even more presentations when the event arrives (making the event even more amazing) and that more people will be able to attend.  It is going to be a great time to dig into Squidoo Tips and get to know people better, welcome new folks who have found us during this past year, and foremost to continue to nurture this community which has been such an incredible resource for Squidoo Lensmasters for many years thanks to our founder John Dilbeck.

Thanks again for being here,

Deb Bryan

(Admin Squidoo Marketing)

[GypsyOwl]

Update: DAY ONE through DAY SEVENTEEN has been sponsored. 

How Did I Calculate This?
The way I calculated this is to take the miles (for the whole trip) , divided by the miles per gallon average for the car.  Then I multiplied this by the average cost per gallon.  Then I added a meal allowance.  This total was averaged by 40 days.

Each Day may have more than one sponsor.  For example:
When the sponsorship is accomplished by a lens being sold I count the person who made the lens, the lens itself, and the person buying the lens as sponsors for that day.

Like this:

DAY SEVENTEEN SPONSOR
"Nursery To Go Crib Sets"
Donated by Ravenko  
Purchased by   CCGal   

(collectively this combination applied $19 toward the 40 Day Journey fund)

What a Sponsor Will Recieve

Each Day along the trip I will be writing (in my private journal), I will be posting to the blog, and I will be taking pictures.  
When possible I will post to the blog, to Twitter, and to Facebook.  I will also post to other sites as soon as possible to promote those posts (Lens Sightings, etc).  

The SPONSOR(s) of the DAY will be mentioned and tagged (more linking) on every post or photo.  

I pray this will benefit the sponsors in a huge way!  

I also hope those benefits will be gathered, analysed, and reported so this process can later become a 'marketing advertising campaign product' as my business moves forward.  

I also hope we learn which sites and ads have the most impact.  What posts and photos receive the most traffic.   Basically all of the elements we need to observe and duplicate while learning about marketing.  Which has been a major study topic in my life for the past 5 years (officially) and possibly all of my life (unofficially).  When I was a child I would watch commercials and think of ways they could have made them better.  Most importantly I always knew (and still do) when a commercial is going to be a big hit!  I have a natural sense for these things.  ;-)
I hope this translates into helping others in a huge way as a THANK YOU for all the friendships, business referrals and moral  support I have received over the past years. 

 

[Joan]

Indeed this is going to be an incredible journey!!  I am excited for you!   What courage and faith!   I am totally inspired by your trip!   and excited that you will be visiting us in Rock Hill, too!

[GypsyOwl]

Follow up: I did receive a reply from that request for a loan with tons of prayers and positive energy attached and an understandable reason these kind of requests are referred to churches and local agencies.  I get it.  I really appreciate the personal reply and not only that I realized the whole reason I needed to "ask" 

Asking for help is a major challenge even when I receive it I tend to want to DO something to 'earn it'

And after I asked I started thinking of ways to 'ask with the doing' attached.  
Sponsor the trip for $19 a day

Now that is something I can 'ask' for and not feel like I'm asking for something I haven't earned.

Rambling aside...
I have ELEVEN DAYS OF SPONSORS SO FAR!!
Check out the details here  http://www.guidetosquidoo.com/40-day-journey.html