This week has gotten much better. Since the deadlines are approaching soon, I have been able to actually work with the team and use some of the tools to create parts needed for the Baja car. It's been a lot of fun learning how to use all of these industrial machines. The next project that the team will give to the "senior interns" will be the fixture to the steering wheel, so I am very excited.
The deadline for the team's cost report is coming up shortly, so there will be a lot of late nights until that gets done. I am hoping to be able to help them finish it in any way possible and also give some organization tips or simplicity tips since that was one of their weakest aspects going into the competition last year.
As for my ventures in fund raising, I have been finding some struggles. I call a company, and the department that answers tells me to call a different department, so I do that but then that department says the same thing. So it's almost like a never ending chain of department calling for one single company. As for the companies that don't redirect me, they only have offered parts or discounts to their product. I have been having some trouble actually finding companies to donate money to the cause. The results that I have been getting aren't really what I was hoping for, but I hope that it quickly changes because I am very eager to help out this team with its finances.
I will be continuing my constant phone calls and emails to companies, and I will also be having a meeting with one of the deans of ASU to see if they will be willing to fund the team's transportation to the competition this year so fingers crossed. As far as online fundraising, I haven't been able to start it up since I haven't been able to make time with the team to set it up as a result of the nearby deadlines. I hope to get all the information needed by next week so that I can set it up myself and see how well it can benefit the team. In the upcoming week I plan to use Booster.com as my first online fundraising platform. What Booster does is it allows me to create a shirt and sell it to raise the money. Obviously there will be a small percentage of the profit taken away, but any money earned will help the team a lot. If any one has any concept ideas for a shirt or would like to volunteer and create a custom drawing for the shirt please let me know!! Any ideas or suggestions will be appreciated greatly!
We hope to have the Baja car driving by the beginning of Spring Break, so it'll be very interesting seeing the car slowly getting completed.
Hi Jared,
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty cool that you found a different approach to working with ASU's Baja team, like, rather than working on building the car, you're fundraising. Is managing finances something you see yourself doing in the future? What do you hope to take away from this project?
Good luck,
Farhan Khan.
I'm not 100% sure if finance is right for me, but what I do hope to take away from the SRP is learning how to build connections and strengthen my networking skills. I also hope I learn a couple of tips when it comes to communicating with other larger companies and making deals and partnerships with them.
DeleteHey Jared,
ReplyDeleteSo are you working alone in the business aspect? Like are you coming up with all these ideas to fundraise by yourself?
I'm really impressed by how much you are doing in your project. I'm technically still training in my project so it's really cool to see you working so independently.
Good luck with the fundraising!
Hi Kinza,
DeleteTechnically I am working with someone from the Baja team itself, but I am basically on my own. For me the ideas are easy to think of but actually implementing them is a really big challenge, so hopefully some of them actually work out.
Thanks!
Hey Jared! I want to know your thoughts on whether or not you think that your age has to do with the difficulties in garnering monetary support from donors. Do you think that giving sponsors a mini portfolio or published report on the project would help legitimize the project and gain support?
ReplyDeleteHi Vanessa. I don't think my age is an issue because I specify that I'm working with ASU, so hopefully that gives me some credibility in that aspect. As for the reports, there are certain documents that the team needs to create for the competition and don't want it to be public, but they did make a sponsor packet that they send out to all their sponsors in order to keep them updated with events.
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