I waffled on this one. I want to tell you how you can support ANY applicant, not just me. But my situation differs pretty widely from the situation of many, many others, and there’s no way for me to know how my needs match up to someone else’s. There’s also this: If I don’t ask for I want, I can hardly expect someone to give it to me. (You’re not a mind reader, after all.)
So I decided to make this list about me, with one big caveat: If you can think of a way to use one of these to support someone else (or yourself), PLEASE do so! This is about the journey, not the destination (another cliche au d’oeuvre, anyone? Oh, who cares!), and I’m determined to be of use to someone other than myself. Many of these items can be applied directly to other cases, and I hope that if you know someone who needs this kind of help you are doing everything you can to support them. (Chances are, they’re worth it.)
So without further adieu, here are all the (continually-updated) ways I can think of for you to support me or someone else in traveling to New York for Seth’s Alternative MBA!
Ridiculously obvious suggestions
- Wire me $17,000 and offer me a place to live. Some of you might think this is nuts, but I don’t think so. If you read my music biography you’ll notice that I’ve had a lot of really mad-awesome opportunities occur without my actually having the resources available to take advantage of them. It happens all the time. It’s why my family has a beautiful house to live in, instead of being forced to give our dogs away and live in a hutch in the bad part of town. It’s why I went to Orlando to compete, and it’s why I was able to go overseas and be a part of the huge National Eisteddfod stage show. Too many important pieces of my life have happened in just this way for me to be able to ignore the possibility of it happening now.
- Wire me $22,000—I’ll rent a room. ;} This one stands on its own. Hey, I bet I can find a perfectly awesome room!
Buy valuable services up front
- Hire me! You can hire me on a pre-paid basis to work with yourself or your company after I return from Seth’s program. I’ve explained all the details here. I highly suggest taking advantage of this one. ;} (I’ll even come sing for you, under the right circumstances.)
- Hire Marty. He will be in Austin working hard at illustration pursuits while I’m gone, and his finances are my finances. If he books six months of pre-paid work from January through July, he can do the work while I’m gone (and I’ll tell you, he is seriously brilliant). He’ll also probably give you a good deal for your project—especially if you happen to be a member of Triiibes. You can look at his website here, or send him an email here.
Donate your time
- If you would rather donate your time, you can pledge 5, 10, 20, 50 hours of work to benefit my ability to participate in the Alternative MBA. (Well, you can pledge more if you want!) All you have to do is make the same offer to your clients that I made to you: “Pay up front, here is your incentive to help us, and I donate the proceeds to this cause.” If you want to use text I’ve written, by all means go to it! :}
- Spread the word! This doesn’t take a great deal of time or effort, and it makes a big difference. If you know of an individual or business who would benefit from my awesome skillz, please pass the word along and suggest they get in touch with me. (Or better yet, introduce us!) I know there ARE people out there who can use my help, especially at the very low rate I’m offering—all we have to do is find them. Please also consider letting people know that I’m looking for references and any other kind of support they’re willing to offer.
- Write me a glowing, gushing reference. I’m encouraging everyone to comment with their reference for me on my What I Do (And What I Can Do For You) page (please drop by and do so!), and from there I’ll copy them to my application. Your willingness to vouch for me is huge. It helps folks who don’t know me as well feel comfortable supporting me if they feel passionate about what I want to do, and it gives folks who need to know more about me an idea of who I am, what I do and how I’ve affected the people in my life. (It also obviously serves as a reference to Seth for the actual program!)
Offer housing (or help me find some!)
- If you have a house with a guest room and a piano, and you’d like to offer me living space in your home for six months while I’m in New York, I’m happy to practice at least several times a week while I’m there. This means you get a private (if casual) concert in your home. I sing classical repertory—art songs, operatic arias, Welsh folk music and even jazz standards on request. (This is an a capella offer—I don’t have the piano skills to accompany myself, but I’m happy to jam with a pianist if you have one handy!) This totally doesn’t count as working while I’m there, because I will enjoy it so much, but I know there are people out there who would love to have a captive mezzo on their hands! (I will totally NOT practice music out loud unless the person I’m living with asks me to do so—no worries!) ;}
- Become my “housing sponsor”! It will cost me $3000-5000 on top of my other fund raising needs if I end up having to pay to rent a room or small apartment while I’m in town. I would love to offset this by working on a great project with a great person. If you’re that person, let’s talk! Need to know what I excel at? Here’s my master list of Megan-style specialties!
I will continue to add items and update this page as I go. Thank you for reading and for giving me a hand!
PS. Hey! If you are in a similar situation and need to raise funds for Seth’s Alternative MBA, PLEASE steal my ideas! I think they’ll help a lot, and I don’t mind at all. GOOD LUCK!
