June has been quite the eventful month with lots of online and print press coverage. I am heartened indeed but the tons of emails, Facebook messages and text messages from friends, family and (once) strangers who wrote me to get me to fight on for The Dorsal Effect. It is really encouraging to see for myself how so many people really do love sharks and want them alive too.
http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2013/06/the-dorsal-effect-a-conservation-project-here-and-abroad/
Reality is always a bitter pill too, this month slapped a whole bunch of expenses on me too, in a bid to move a little faster than my usual slow and steady small steps. I am very heartened by the loads of t-shirt and tank top orders that have been coming in but they are still not enough to cover the cost of the designs ($600) and printing cost of the first batch ($3000). I have also recently just registered The Dorsal Effect as a Private Limited as well, with JSD’s help and the massive amount of $888 cut me back by quite a bit. Maybe it was bad timing for me too but I also just got poorer by $830 in paying for flights and a dive package to Malapascua in July just so I could dive with the thresher and hammerhead sharks.
Yes, Glen Goei says money can always be made again but with expenses coming all at a go like this, it’s really trying times to press on without wondering if all this would eventually pay off. But I don’t want to disappoint supporters at this point. The Dorsal Effect must go on and I am preparing to be able to bring a team of at least 8 to 10 people to Lombok with me in the first week of September and convince one shark boat to take us out for a proposed snorkelling, whale watching and pink beach at Tanjung Ringgit visiting to see the immediate money to be made from tourists, while also trying to convince them to stop hunting sharks for the month of September. Ambitious but I gotta start the business officially somewhere somehow and hopefully this would help The Dorsal Effect gain traction to win the $10,000 seed funding for the Young Social Entrepreneurs final pitch in October. Let’s go! Pressing on!
So here’s a shout out, anyone keen and free and able to afford to come with me to Lombok 1-5th September? Let me know, let’s gets a great enthusiastic bunch going for this maiden trip! 😀
