Why am I doing this?
In the past 8 years I have helped thousands of people improve their lives, helping them manage their money better (as a financial advisor) and improve their lives and companies (since 2014, as an executive and personal coach). My book is a crucial tool in this process (it proves to everyone that you can overcome all obstacles, no matter what), helping me to “open” the minds of teenagers and adults to new possibilities and ideas... it is the starting point of my work as a coach and trainer.
So far I’ve done this work in Portugal, but I believe it’s time to spread my wings and help people from other countries, all around the world. The “international version” of the book, in English, is the starting point for this process, and consequently... YOU ARE THE STARTING POINT FOR THIS PROCESS!!!
Why would you contribute?
There are 4 main reasons to help us on this campaign:
1. Do you like reading? Do you like travel books?
You are in the right place... this is a fantastic book about a self-discovery trip! (discover more below);
2. Do you love a good story? A good adventure?
You are in the right place... this is a fantastic adventure, the story of a crazy trip I made with almost nothing! (discover more below);
3. Do you love to help others to grow, to improve their lives?
Again, you’re in the right place... You’re helping me to improve the lives of thousands of people, through the book itself and all the work I do around it, as a coach;
4. Do you love to help others through social work?
If this is you, you’re also in the right place... We already donate 10% of the Portuguese edition’s profits to Mundos de Vida Association (a foster family program for kids at risk, in Portugal), and we’ll do the same with the international version, including also the Kimberly Moore Foundation (more information below).
What’s the book about, after all?
Picture yourself landing in Skellefteå (north of Sweden) in February, winter, no phone or computer, no money or credit card, only a backpack with a few things in it (clothes, sleeping bag, powder milk for 2 days) and your ability to solve problems. Picture yourself with snow up to your height, in some areas, freezing temperatures around -25ºC (-13ºF), knowing nothing about the country, knowing almost no one there... and now, you “just” need to return home. This is the Bare Nomad story, the trip I made in 13 days, from Sweden to Portugal.
How can you participate?
You can help me with three simple steps:
1. Choose your perk!
I’m offering from a sincere “thank you! note” to a 7 days trip with me, in Portugal; from the simplest version of the book, to the “exclusive hardcover limited edition” one; from including your name in the book to a personal coaching session with me; from a 15% discount to a larger one of 40%... you just need to choose how big and fantastic your reward will be!!!
2. Contribute!
Take action immediately: click “get this perk” and fulfill your contribution, using the payment option you prefer.
3. Share with your friends and colleagues!
Use your social networks, mailing list, personal contacts, and spread the word: the more people you “inflame”, the more I’ll be able to do and the bigger will be the impact of the project. And if you have good media connections, help me talk to them.
How will I use this money?
The campaign funds will be used in 5 big areas:
Who’s involved?
Me, Ricardo Frade, for a start!
And I have to say that I have some experience on this:
1. I started this project in 2012, with the original crowdfunding campaign on a portuguese platform (Massivemov.com), raising almost 6.000€ (around $7,400) all by myself, in only 30 days;
2. I published the book without a publisher, only me and Paula Lobo, my “homemade” editor. We’ve almost done a “PhD” in self-publishing using Google, Youtube and a lot of trial and error… We know everything about self-publishing, so we can do it all over again!
3. I have sold more than 6,000 copies all by myself, without a publisher (I know, it’s not a lot for the US market, but in my tiny country it’s a lot), in 3 years, in more than 200 presentations (in libraries, coffee shops, churches, bars, seminars, universities and schools, business associations and other places) and other strange contexts (travelling, on the beach, in fairs and local markets, train and bus stations, etc).
This time, however, I have help, for the translation, the editing and the campaign itself;
- Sofia, my wife and the woman behind all the paperwork of our company;
- Amélia, my public-relations, the girl behind 2 years of book's presentations;
- Vasco, the web-design-cinema guy, responsible for all web development and multimedia work of our company;
- Pedro and Simone, the crazy movie/communication guys from Bright Creations, who work with us in all projects;
- Bruno, Jacinta, Vítor, Marta and Nuno, and also Márcia and André, the guys from Detalhe-SP, the graphic design company that’s creating the cover for the book with us;
- Tânia Castilho, aka T. C. Aeelah, the fantastic lady teacher from Linda’s School who had the courage (and craziness!) to start the partnership with me for the Translation Collaborative and Education Project with Linda’s School’s students... and the teachers and students from Linda’s School, who accepted this HUGE challenge;
- A LOT of FANTASTIC people who believe in this project and are helping us in different ways, like the following:
AND YOU!!!
All together, we’ll succeed, delivering this book worldwide and helping thousands of people in the way!
The 3 step translation project, with Linda’s School
This book is a tool for changing lives, as I said earlier. This includes the lives of those who worked on the translation, teenage students and teachers at Linda’s School (a fantastic language school in Tomar, Portugal): for them this was a MAJOR stretch, and they became better people with this 3 step process, as they’ll explain personally in the video.
The first step was to read the book and translate it in small groups, a collaborative task that helped them to grow as team members, to get used to having feedback (good or not) and to get the job done, no matter how hard it is. The second step will be the effort to make this campaign a huge success, which means to learn how to communicate an idea to people and how to help them enrol in the project… basically, how to sell (it’s an entrepreneurial step, and it will be useful for the rest of their lives).
The third step will be to use the money they will get with the translation to impact the lives of other teenagers and kids. It will be a social learning step for them, since they decided, along with the school and teachers, to use the translation amount not as a way to get money for them or the school, but as a way to help others in need. This means that they will receive this money as “payment” for the work they’ve done, but they will donate it all to the two foundations included in the project (Mundos de Vida and Kimberly Moore Foundation).
The social part of the project
My mentors taught me that we should give back, always, in each and every project we’re in, so this is not an exception. We’re giving to Mundos de Vida Association 10% of the profits on the Portuguese version of the book, and we’ll do the same with the international version. This time, however, we’ll include an international cause too, the Kimberly Moore Foundation, responsible for the smiles of thousands of kids in the USA and other countries around the world, with their program Adopt-a-letter and Adopt-a-country. Discover more in here and here
Mundos de Vida (Portugal)
Kimberly Moore Foundation (USA)
What if we overachieve the campaign goal?
If/when we overachieve the campaign’s financial goal, there area a few stretch goals to put in place: present the book in other countries, participate in book fairs in these countries (Canada, Sweden and Malaysia/Singapore are a few ideas) This is the first one, but there are others to be shared, step by step.
Why Indiegogo?
It’s the most flexible, easy and accessible world-class leading platform for launching crowdfunding ideas and projects… that’s it! Thank you guys for providing us with this fantastic tool!