A Rookies Journey
July 12, 2005
by Eric Rogers © 2005 All rights reserved

Things are still quiet in the dog lot, but very hectic at home. In addition to all the normal house stuff I’m trying to find a job that will pay enough and give me enough time to run Iditarod. That’s a tough assignment. The dream is to somehow make the Kennel pay enough to support itself and me – that is replace my lost income and generate enough extra to continue to run Iditarod. That might be even tougher.
I refinanced the house last year to get money to guarantee I could run one race, hoping to raise enough sponsorship money to continue to race in the following years. We also took out money to put a new roof on the house, add a second well, and do some inside work. We haven’t spent that money yet and it will cover our expenses through one Iditarod even if I don’t find work between now and then, but the house repairs will still need to be done and I’ll have to find a rabbit in my hat to cover everything after the race if I can’t generated income between now and then. This isn’t new for Iditarod. If you remember, Joe Redington, Sr. had to take out a mortgage on his home to get the funds to make the first Iditarod happen. So while it might sound extreme, I’m in very good company. ;-)
With that thought firmly in mind I’m trying to reinvent myself as a promoter / tourist draw (after all it worked for Joe!). The Anchorage Saturday market is a pretty good draw, and last weekend I rented a booth and tried to sell sponsorships for my kennel, and some small tourist items – musher cards that I put together for each of the last two years and some team and individual photos. I almost broke even. In hindsight the sponsorship idea was kind of silly – the tourists don’t know me – but I did have fun talking to people about sleddogs, racing, Iditarod and my sponsor, Daily’s Web Design. The hope is to build some name recognition and make myself more attractive to sponsors.
So this week I’m going to have a three day booth at the Eagle River Bear Paw festival. Then I’m on standby for a booth at the following two Saturday Markets and have a booth for both Sundays. Counting buying a shelter, booth rental, and creating inventory the initial outlay is a little intimidating, but hope springs eternal. I’m going to add a little booklet of the stories we are publishing on this web site and, if I have time, some dog and puppy photos. If I can make this work I’ll keep after it until the end of tourist season in mid-September. Working weekends means I can still train dogs during the week.
The good news is that if I can make this work I’ll have lots of time to train for Iditarod this year, and if I can find entry fees, time to run several other races as well. This should be a very interesting year and potentially the start of something great.
Stay tuned to share the fun
Eric