Enemy of Debt’s 2011 Race to Freedom

Happy Monday everyone!!

I apologize for taking so long to update you on the “Reality Series”! I was hoping to do so on Friday of last week but ended up battling a power outage due to high winds. The main delay, however, was in trying to work out possible sponsorship. I didn’t want to move forward until I found out where I was and now I know.

Unfortunately, I was only able to get one company excited about the prospects of my reality series idea. I would like to thank Perkstreet Financial for believing in my very spontaneous and highly ambitious project. (YOU GUYS ROCK!) Unfortunately, in order for it to work in the long term, I needed to have more sponsors on board. Needless to say, sponsorship was a bust this time around.

BUT…

I am not a quitter! I still believe in my idea and think I can still pull off a more watered down, less “official” version, because after all, my first motivation was to help YOU pay off more debt in 2011! We can still do this!

There won’t be a GRAND PRIZE, per se, unless of course you consider having much less debt in your life better than any grand prize I could ever offer here. Besides, you shouldn’t want to get out of debt because of the prize, but because it is the best decision for you and your family. RIGHT? 😀

Here’s what I am gonna do.

Enemy of Debt’s Race to Freedom Details

(I plan on giving away the three books I mentioned in an earlier post to the person that I thought submitted the best name idea for this competition. I ended up going with Enemy of Debt’s Race to Freedom, but I really liked some of the other ideas too! TBA!)

• ANYONE CAN SIGN UP!
• In order to be eligible, you must have an emergency fund!! (At least $500, but $1,000 would be preferable.) I don’t want to feel responsible for you having to run up more debt because you tried to pay off debt without having a back up savings account for emergencies. Emergencies will happen, and you want to pay for those emergencies with real money not DEBT!
• No borrowing for the entire 6 months — the duration of this friendly competition. (even longer if you’re smart.) 😀 Credit cards are permitted as long as you pay your balance off each month! Seriously!
• I am ONLY interested in serious contestantswho have decided to do whatever it takes to pay off as much debt as possible in 2011! What I don’t want is 60 people to sign up, only to see 5 people serious about completing this challenge. You either want to get out of debt or you don’t! If you are willing to have fun, challenge yourself, and join a community of other like-minded individuals who are serious about debt elimination — PLEASE SIGN UP! Otherwise, don’t bother.(***This does not mean I expect everyone who signs up to complete this journey, without struggle and without falling. What I would like to see though,  is strong determination and a continued effort to get right back up — the key to forward progress in almost any endeavor!)
• You must be willing to submit your “unofficial” debt details. In other words, I’m not going to verify anything. The starting numbers you provide me, will be taken on your word. Besides, there’s really no benefit to fudging the numbers. You will also be asked to provide details about how much debt you paid off each month.
• I will have weekly video challenges where you will be required to answer my questions, provide confessions, and other things related to your experience while paying off debt. (videos via Youtube, Facebook, or Vimeo etc.)
• I will still have monthly challenges for each of you to participate in. These challenges will be made up by me, based on what I think will help you save more money to pay off as much debt as you can each month. They will not be meaningless or unproductive for the purpose of having a challenge. They will be hard and what some may consider to be extreme, but they will be fun. Do you want to be challenged or not?
• I will be looking for smaller sponsorship roles, so there may still be some prizes awarded each month. This will be determined by how much interest I receive from possible sponsors. (I have had a good amount of bloggers show interest in giving away books and other prizes.) If you are a blogger or simply want to help me give away prizes along the way, please contact me at freedom@enemyofdebt.com.
• I would like to eventually start a forum, BUT, forums are a lot of work. If I feel it would be worth it to start an Enemy of Debt forum to allow people to communicate with each other about this debt free journey, I will definitely do so. For now, we’ll test the waters by using the comments section of each post.
• I will be available to talk with anyone who wishes to discuss their journey via phone, skype etc., upon request. I would love to get to know all of you during this process!
• I will also be using my Enemy of Debt Hotline, to allow any of you to leave messages whenever you wish to. Tell me how you are feeling, what you are struggling with, what you would like to see in terms of articles! Really the floor is open to whatever you wish to share with me! HOTLINE NUMBER: 484-H8-DEBT-2 or 484-483-3282.

Okay, so I know I a lot of time has gone by since I first introduced you to my idea. Which means some of you may have lost interest in participating. I have no way of knowing, other than by asking you, yet again, to sign up in the comments section of this post. I apologize for having you do this more than once. Like I said, this idea was spontaneous and when I first mentioned it, I was simply testing to see if there would be any interest.

Much to my surprise, MANY of you were interested! If I made any mistakes in trying to get this off the ground it was introducing it to all of you, without working out the major details first. Live and learn right? 😀

How many of you still want to pay off as much debt as possible in 2011? Join me and let’s have some fun doing it!

I’m losing weight as we speak! In two weeks time, I have started P90X and lost a total of 11 pounds! I have struggled with this for many years and if I can lose weight you can pay off debt!! Don’t sit on your hands any longer! Make the decision you know you need to make and take the plunge! Don’t back out! Don’t settle for loads of debt and even more lost opportunities! The time is NOW!

Enemy of Debt’s Race to Freedom will soon begin! March 1st baby! No more waiting!