6 Weeks to Go: Plan Z - Funding the Impossible Run

This week we dive headfirst into the toughest part of the Project Salt Run journey so far... finances. With less than 60 days to go, Hannah and Joel pull back the curtain on what it really takes to fund an expedition like this. From dirtbag backup plans of buying a van in India, to the reality of paying for flights, permits, wages, and gear, it’s all on the table.

It’s messy, it’s honest, and it’s exactly why we started this podcast, to share the journey, warts and all!

We’re currently raising money to make this expedition possible. EVERY Pound raised on Crowdfunder gets us closer to being able to reach India. 

Hannah will run 100 marathons in 100 days, covering 4,200 km, to raise £1,000,000 for 1% for the Planet on Givestar.  This journey is a powerful testament to the potential within all of us to make a real difference.

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Get in touch at contact@projectsaltrun.com 

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Visit our Website or betternotstop

In the face of unprecedented environmental challenges, Project Salt Run aims to inspire action through an extraordinary journey of transformation. Hannah Cox, a sustainability advocate with Indian heritage and a first-time runner, will undertake a life-changing challenge across India, following the historic Inland Customs Line. 

This colonial-era boundary enforced a devastating salt tax, causing immense suffering and millions of deaths, but has been largely forgotten from history.
By retracing this route, Hannah seeks to honour its legacy and transform its meaning, inviting others to discover their own version of extraordinary. This journey is not about guarantees of success—Hannah faces the real possibility of failure—but it’s a powerful reminder that taking bold steps, even in uncertainty, can inspire meaningful change.

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Want to get involved in Project Salt Run? Shoot us a message at contact@projectsaltrun.com we would love to hear from you!

Transcript

(...) Yeah, it was good. It was good. Um, yeah, I'm recording now too anyway. So here we are. (...) And this, yeah, now we're recording on that one. Um,(...) but anyhow, okay. So you were saying, all right, we were having, you were talking, you saw Alex. Yeah, I saw Nat and Alex last night. And, um, we were just talking about the budget, lack of budget. And, um, they were like, we just need to make sure if we make anyone, we make sure we have it so we commit Joelle to the project. So we've just, we're talking about how if we, like the work, like what's the worst dirt bag scenario of us going out to India, like what, you know, as in what, like, what do we do? Yeah. And the thought process is if we can get pay for the flights, which I need to do next week anyway,(...) but after we pay for the flights, we get about 10 or 20 grand together, which is like, actually really, really achievable in our brains is that we send you out there in our minds. We send you out there to buy a van and then we just do all the driving. Well, I don't do any driving obviously, cause I don't drive, but they were like, yeah, we can do the driving.(...) Uh, we'll, we'll buy the van rather than hire a van.(...) Joelle will know how to buy a van in India and then figure it out and we'll just figure it out like that. And we'll all just sleep intense. Yeah.(...) I was like, I really hope we don't have to do that. (...) But, well, I think this is the perfect segue to say, welcome back to the Project Salt Run podcast.(...) Yes. Welcome back. (...) Welcome back where we are on plan Z. Yeah. How do we get out to India? And that's the whole point of us talking today. Today we're going to be talking about finances,(...) which I think is going to be a pretty hard conversation, but that's the point of this podcast is to kind of follow the journey. Warts and all. (...) Um, yes, I'm, my name is Joelle Chvalier and I'm Hannah Cox. There you go. And, and if you don't know already, which I hope you do, uh, Hannah is going to be running a hundred marathons within a hundred days. Um, in, well, when this comes out, it's going to be less time, but we're, we're only, we're less than 80 days away. We're yeah. Less than how many did you say? Not even close to 80, 60. Was it 60 days? 57 days. 57 days. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah. So like set basically seven weeks till we, till we fly. Yeah. Yeah. Which is. (...) So yeah. So, so our conversation today is just to kind of, well, one, just to get on the same page, because I'm not certain where we're at. Um, and, and yeah, we just wanted to give you guys the full idea of, of what it is to get into a logistical nightmare of, of operations to do all this. So, so, you know, where are we, Hannah with finances? Where are we at with, uh, you know, the launch, the launch. So this is, okay. Where are we looking? So, um, for those of you that been following us for a while, you know, that we are approaching this slightly different to how maybe other people approach, um, challenges and expeditions, which is we're being as transparent and honest as possible about fundraising for the expedition itself and how that, how people's money's being used when we, they give it to us. So we've basically got two platforms with fundraising money on, we've got give star, which is all the money that's going to charity for when we do the challenge. Um, none of that money goes to us. It's very clear if you're donating money on give star, that's going to our charity partners, and then we're fundraising on crowd funder, which is what we're fundraising to make the actual expedition happen on. (...) So on crowd funder, we're on about just under 90 backers and just under 40,000 pounds has been fundraised, which is incredible. (...) Um, however,(...) um,(...) however, um, we have been working on project sort one for what now? Like 18. (...) I have been working on it for like, you know, you know, nearly a year and a half. Um,(...) and out of that, um, 37,000, 15,000 of that has come from, um, my business, the better business network. And, uh, the rest has come from, you know, various, uh, businesses and individuals who have just been supporting the project. So unfortunately that it's cost a lot to even get us to here. So we are about break even on the project at the moment. So is it helpful if I break down how the money's been spent so far? And is this, is this, when you say we break even on the project, is this saying that there's going to be any, uh, budget left for you for shoes or, you know, what is it looking for the actual like running portion of it? Like where we, where we are now, like we haven't got, we've run out of money again. (...) We've run out of the money that we have. Okay. The money that we have has gone on things already. So, so you might, you, we might have to find some thrift store shoes for you then. For, yeah. Well, actually I've got, I got gifted some really good trainers yesterday.(...) Um, which I wore and I felt like I was jumping around. I actually did quite a fast run on them. I really liked the trainers, but I don't want to, you know, like when you go on a first date with somebody and like, you're like, that went so well. (...) I was so funny. They were laughing at all my jokes.(...) We've been texting each other ever since I'm in that, I'm in like that crush mode with these trainers, but they don't know if it's going to last. You can have at least something. Yeah. Might find out they've got a secret. Yeah.(...) It goes through. I don't want to, you know, I don't want to shame any brands or anything like that. Cause I know people who have, uh, Hoka's I know people that I might even pronouncing it right that hookas. I don't know. Whatever. Yeah. Um, but like I have a lot of friends who have that brand. Of course that's like the hippest brand today. Yeah. Mike had those. I see them everywhere. But apparently they don't last very long. So I've never really just got into them. They were really uncomfortable for me. Like I had them cause I, cause I bought them secondhand at the, um,(...) was it the, the running show? Yeah. The running show. Um, and you know, which I was super, super stoked about and they were still brand new, they hadn't been broken in or anything. Um, and yeah, I just couldn't get them on to like, they, they were just really uncomfortable and I felt really weird about it. I thought maybe the sizing was off or something, but then another really good friend of mine, Maria, um, she. She's she's a huge, uh, a runner and she just did like a half marathon the other day and, uh, for, for some charity thing. And she was putting her hocus on vented and I was asking her about it and she was like, Oh yeah, just, they're just really horrible on my feet. They're just not comfortable. And I don't know. It's weird. This is the thing. It is the most important thing, which is, um, another thing to stress about because(...) we haven't got the right ones for me yet, but we're talking about money here. Yeah. So in regards to that, I have got some brands, not shaming brands. Um, she's my, um, I have currently got a pair of trainers though, which I've been kindly gifted, which didn't cost any money, which is good because I have personally spent outside of project. Money about 400 pounds on trainers in the last year. Oh my God. Well, well, yeah, I guess they could, that could easily only be what, two, three pairs with the price of trainers. Two pairs when I started. (...) Um, and then I got another brand, which was the brand I wanted to wear out to India. I bought a couple of pairs to train in because I was like, I want to be able to go to them and say, I've been wearing your shoes for a while and dah, dah, dah. But unfortunately on multi days, they don't work because my feet swell. And that's the problem. Not naming names, but those are the ones that you had on Coast to Coast. Yeah. They're a great, they're a great trainer. It's just my feet are too wide for them. So when my feet sweat, so that my feet kind of fine. If I'm doing like, you know, half a marathon in them every, uh, having, then not running the next day, but it's consistent long days, your feet just swell. So you need to get bigger shoes anyway. But my feet are like Hobbit feet anyway. So they just swell out even larger. So I need a really wide. (...) Shoot. Yeah. So, so jumping back on onto the finance side of things, finance side of things. So, so I guess that's one thing we touched on a little bit, um, at the beginning. We've been talking about this podcast in the, in the sense that, um, I a hundred percent am going to be in India with you. Uh, and that's been our mindset this whole time. Uh, and knock on wood. That's, that's going to be the case. Um, you gotta believe financially, we've kind of come to the understanding recently that, uh, that's, that's not there. And it is a possibility that I might not be able to, if we can't get the funding for it. Yeah. If it's like, yeah, basically because you need to pay your bills and you need to pay your rent as everybody does. So, you know, there is, everyone's in a different financial situation on the team about how we're getting out to India. Even for me,(...) I, the only reason I will be able to go out to India, so I can still pay myself, yeah, well, one, I kind of have to, but I need, I need to be paying myself a wage for my business. Yeah. (...) Um, so that my bills in the UK are still being paid when I'm away. Like I've still got like my boat, like my, yeah,(...) my, yeah, my mooring fees, my like, um, loan repayment for the boat, like, you know, things like that that need to be paid back when I'm out of the country.(...) So, um, and I don't have any savings. So luckily I'm my own boss and I have granted myself a sabbatical, but I will still be working when I'm out in India. I'll probably be doing, I reckon about 20 hours a week on the business. Yeah. That's that realistically at this stage. Um, I'm still paying myself, uh, not my full time wage, but enough of my enough wage to cover my, uh, expenses. So from that point of view, like for me, that's how I'm paying to be in India. If that makes sense. Like my bills at home are still being paid because I'm still working part time in my business to pay my bills while I'm there. So obviously no one else on the team can do that. So everybody else on the team has to get some form of wage or some form of income while they're out doing projects. So one, I'm merely the only way to do that is to fundraise enough money to pay people's wages while we're out there. So is this, cause I wanted to ask you, you know, what is, what is the, the, the skeleton crew look, what's the bare bones of this for you to do it? What, what does it look like? Is that kind of it? So we were talking about this last night, so I won't see Nat and Alex last night. And we were saying that how we see it being really skeleton would be the four of us buying, buying our own van or vehicle. (...) And I guess probably working out either a camping slash sharing rooms slash weird accommodation situation, like on the road. So we were like in a realistic fashion, because also.(...) If you think about it, like 26 kilometers a day isn't far, if that makes sense. If you, if you, if you were driving it, so we were like that, you know, there could be an option where,(...) um, yeah, we were just like an option could be that there's the four of us and like an Indian fixer, um, on the road together. And rather than have an expedition company and a hire vehicle, just actually.(...) Buying a vehicle,(...) like going out there, buying a vehicle that we can take through the whole country and dirt bagging it as we described it. Yeah. Um, so that we can do it. And I think now that we've just talked spoken with Erica, um, and we kind of have that, uh, connection with Dr. Erica Patel, hopefully she would be a massive, uh, she would. Yeah. And I think we have, and like, Nat's got a good friend from uni for this in India. I've obviously got a few contacts in India. Um, Alex has got people that comes into his clinic, but her family in India. So from that point of view, and obviously with Erica, we think we've got like, you know,(...) enough of a network in the country.(...) But the, the idea would be that we would kind of reach out to the adventure community and try and find a, um, just like one person that could act as kind of our fixer on the road. Um, just so we just had someone that spoke the local language, um, with us for most of the trip, but the worst case would be, we don't even have them. It's just us and hopefully a good phone book of people that we can speak. Could beg and plead for. They can plead. But the main thing really is for that to happen, we need like some money to at least guarantee everybody's wages while they're out, like to commit, you know? So, so for you to, for you, Nataly and Alex to get on the plane, it's like your flight's being paid for and you know, you've got money to pay for you while you're out there and then I kind of, everything else is a bit wing and prairie. I think. Yeah.(...) Yeah. And so, because I don't want to just focus on like the negatives of it, like, and granted, I know that you have, like you have plans and you've got a couple of big gigs that you're going to and you open a chat up a few people. So what for you is, is the, from where we're at right now until launch day, what is the best case scenario? Most realistic scenario you think that we might be able to get to and what do you want to do with that? You know, does this mean you have a whole expedition team or where are you shooting for? Would it be helpful to work backwards a bit and say how we've spent the money already because people might just be like, you've got 40 grand, what have you done with it? Like, like,(...) is that how you bought the boat? Like, where's all the money gone, Hannah? Has it been laundering? Yeah. So for context, where that money has gone is originally we had a full time project manager working on Project Sort Run for four months who we had to stop the contract because we couldn't afford it anymore and we hadn't raised the funds that we needed to to continue that role. (...) You've been working as a part-time logistics manager for about eight months and producing the podcast. We've had like 32 episodes of the podcast and you've done all the mapping and the planning and the logistics of the map. So those are two quite big roles that have taken up a chunk of that money. We've had a graphic designer who did the logo, the brand kit,(...) designed our partner deck, designed some Tony's Chocoloni bars that we had made that went out to music festivals around the UK, which, you know, was a bit of a risk. But we thought, you know, if... (...) I don't know. (...) I just think if Fatboy Slim sees it and gives us ten grand, that'd be worth it for that wing and a prayer, but it didn't work. It's still not too late, buddy. If you listen to this on the objects. Come on, Norman. (...) We had the Project Sort Run trailer. So if you've gone onto the crowdfund page, you would have seen the trailer that Mike made.(...) Obviously, you can see from that trailer, he filmed loads of different locations and pulled that together. So we got the Project Sort Run trailer that came out of those fees. (...) We had all the challenges. So like the coast to coast, even though the whole team committed that time as for free, basically. So everybody gave up a week of their time, booked time off work. (...) Well, we still had to pay for the gas and everything. Yeah, still had to pay for the gas, for the food, the accommodation,(...) things like that.(...) And then there's just other things like the website build, paying for the podcast platform and stuff. Yeah, I was going to say those monthly little things. Monthly things. So actually all of that stuff together has come to about 35,000, 40,000 pounds. So it's a combination of lots of little things that are built up. But I would probably say most of that has been freelancer time, graphic designer, (...) like filmmaker, producer,(...) project manager. Like that, though it's been the time that people have been putting into the project, which you just can't expect people to do those sorts of jobs for free. Despite the fact that there's been so much skin in the game from you, Becca, you know,(...) Alex, Nina, who've all given up loads of your free time on top of that. So actually the reality is if we had paid everybody properly, that would probably actually be triple figures, I think. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. You never know, though. Like it's kind of one of those, I guess.(...) Yeah, it's hard to because there's always some place for the money to go, right? Like you could always spend money on something. Yeah. So basically we're not spending now that we've now that there's, you know, there's some people not in the team anymore. Now we are basically spending no money on staff costs and haven't for months. So. So what's the thing that's been the most surprising to you? Like that's just been something like how is this that expensive or why is why is this taking up so much or is there anything? (...) No, I mean,(...) I think it's been I mean,(...) I've been. (...) I've been.(...) I'm going to humble is like such a cringe, right? Isn't it? I've been it's been incredible how much time everybody on the team has given for free for the project, like so much free time, like everybody on the team has worked(...) for free for months. But the reality is when we're in, everyone's because people have done it around their full time jobs, around the ways they're making income. (...) But the reality is, you know, when the commitment of spending four months out in India, there's got to be paid for people there. So and also we've had some big chunks of money come from businesses, you know, the sponsor of a day for the for the challenge of like two and a half grand. We've had a few businesses do that. So that's been amazing because you're getting this chunk of like two and a half thousand pounds and you're like, wow, or chunks are like five hundred. You know, people have been really generous with their money. (...) But then you're thinking, right, but you've given us that money to sponsor a day. So we've actually that day's got to happen now. We have to make that day happen. (...) And everyone's risked it, risked it for a chocolate biscuit. Do you know what I mean? Like that's a lot of risk from people to give money to that crowd funder knowing that if we don't hit it, we won't get it. So I think for me, the main things have been how generous people have been in in in giving us big chunks of their money or any money, really, you know, even people giving like a five or ten or fifteen quid knowing for well that that we might not earn enough money to do it, but they're still putting their hand in their pocket to support the expedition has been amazing.(...) But I don't actually I honestly don't know what we could have done differently to have reduced those costs any more than we did. You know, I think we we've been as careful as we could with the budget. Yeah.(...) Yeah. And it's one of those again, like I said, you know, there's always something you could spend money on depending on how you look on it. And especially like with the first the first quotes we got back from, you know, the expedition companies. Yeah. Which was like what it was. It was like over 100, 100,000. Yeah, like 200,000 pounds, 100,000 pounds. And we're just like, no. And now and now we might not even use an expedition company because we just can't afford it. I mean, it's the safest, the safest thing to do. And the cleverest thing to do would be working with one. But it might be that we can't. Yeah. Just financially. So yeah, I don't want to knock on wood. I don't want to, you know, I don't want to sound irresponsible or anything. But honestly, after having our conversation with Erica the the other day and her talking about based long story short, she she made it if everybody hasn't listened to it. She we were I was asking her about like what the heat and the humidity is like. And she's like, what are you talking about? Because this is a huge thing that I've had people I was like, you know, I've had people yell at me and be like, oh, my God, you have to be super careful to make sure that she doesn't die, you know, from heat exhaustion and the humidity and stuff. And talking with her, you know, obviously she lives in southern India. Yeah. You know, she's like, it's going to be fine there. Like that that whole time of year is going to be cool if anything. Now, you know, and then her talking about every area that we're going through, she saw our line, our route. She was like, actually, yeah, almost most of those areas are going to be very used to runners on the road because that's the second biggest thing I was afraid of was her and, you know, Hannah getting hit by a truck. (...) You know, it sounds like what we're doing isn't going to be that extreme to the locals, which is amazing to hear and make my you know, might save us a few bucks as far as go. But yeah, we'll have to work it out as far as I guess, you know, we'll still have to have some kind of a security protocol where we're going through. So so it's almost feels from a financial perspective, when we're seven weeks out, we're almost we're at day dot again, like we spent loads of money and time and everything getting us to here. But from here, we're now we still need to find it to get there. That makes sense. So so like we're like,(...) the line has been drawn in the sand almost this week of like, how are we going to make this happen? Big things are we've got this, you know, letter of intent from a streaming service streaming provider, media company and their ways. Yeah,(...) and they're basically like,(...) if you make the documentary, we, you know, we'll get it out there for you. So now we're like, okay, great, because it's a really, that's a really good, like hook for us when we're talking to brands and sponsors, which is,(...) we've got this avenue for the documentary when we finish. However,(...) to do the documentary, we need filming permits,(...) which cost around will cost around 15, 20,000 to film in the places we want to film how we want to film going through the Indian government,(...) and everything, which is, which is a very complicated process that I'm going through at the moment. (...) And then, and then to do the film, we have to have the team out doing the film. Yeah, you know, I mean, so it's like, that's the why we need, you know, that's why it needs to be you, Alex and Natalie, because filming and pacing and logistically and everything doing it, it's still going to be quite an intense job for three people. So which is, you know, yeah, we know that from the coast to coast.(...) Yeah, I mean, there will always be a way that we can scale back, you know, to like, whether we just grab a few GoPros or,(...) you know, I hope this doesn't sound too bad, but I kind of like the idea of us having to be on like a crazy, you know, skateboarder budget of cameras. Yeah, that's honestly what me and Alex were saying yesterday. Because for the filming permit, I actually had to just like to say what we were creating. And obviously, it was interesting, because Mike, I don't know what issues he had, I haven't spoken to him. But anyway, when I applied for the filming permits, you have to say like, what kind of film you're going to make. So I was like, well, we've got no money. And none of us have really documentary filmmaking. Well, not you are, but me, Natalie, aren't. So I so I was just like, it's going to be a eight to 10 part web series. Yeah. With a view that if we get enough funding, we'll also use the footage in a feature length documentary. Because I was like, we need to kind of cover both bases of like, what we're filming. And also, if we don't get the filming permit, we should still be able to do the web stuff.(...) I don't know. I don't like,(...) I'm honestly on about 50 different email threads, I'm speaking to Consulate General, Ministry of Tourism,(...) someone from the Indian Film Hub, but the general consensus of all of it is we're applying for as much as we can. But until we get the permit, we can't get the visas. And I can't get the visas until I know what kind of until I know what kind of visas I need to put everyone through as. There's chicken in the egg type scenario. I can't put you through as choice visas if you're going to be, if we've applied for the filming. (...) Anyway, so that's another bit of chicken and egg stuff that we're going through at the moment, where the budget is like, we don't know what the budget is because we don't know what we're allowed to do. And it, yeah.(...) But anyway, I think, sorry, the reason I'm saying that is because you were talking about equipment. And on that, I basically said we're like filming on like two iPhones, a GoPro drone, and then like, I think I just got like a camera, but like a hat, you know, like a small camera, like none of it or the equipment I said we were filming on wasn't like professional, professional stuff. But I think that's going to be the, like you said, it's the, (...) it's going to be the style. Yeah. No, yeah. Everybody loves a good old fish. I skateboarder duck, you know, scrubbing duck. Yeah. And I think, and I think it would, and I definitely want to be doing the podcast room out there as well. I think that would be cool. Yeah. Yeah. No, I would, I would really love to carry that on because I, we've only got, well, I mean, so this, this will be coming out, I believe out of the next week. No. So yeah, Erica will be dropped next and then it'll be us (...) having this conversation.(...) Yes. Because we just had the conversation with Erica the other day. So yeah. So then from this point on, we will have five more episodes ago, I think, which is crazy. Yeah, it is. You've said it down. I'm looking at it now. We've got Erica. Yeah. Then we've got,(...) this one will come out afterwards. Then we've got Kenton call. And then we've got this one. Yeah. So you would have, if you're listening to this, you should have already listened to them. Yeah. Yeah. So, so, and then from that, that's so that, yes, we'll be, yeah,(...) five weeks.(...) Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God.(...) Yeah. I don't know, man. Yeah. I don't know. Right.(...) So anyway, so anyway, so I feel like we've babbled a lot there, but essentially we've raised some money, which shows we can raise money,(...) which makes me think if we've already raised about 25,000 pounds, when we are so far away, I feel confident that we can raise at least that when we're much closer to the date. Yeah. From a, from my point of view, the things that we are focused on raising that money to cover is finding out if we can get these, the filming permits and everything through and working ideally with the expedition company, even in a limited capacity (...) and being able to comfortably turn around to you, Natalie and Alex, which in my head is when we get maybe like another 10,000 pounds in through the door. I can turn around to the three of you and say, I'm pretty confident we're going to be able to cover your wages while you're out there. Are you happy to like sign a contract for that? Yeah.(...) So that's where we're at because now Better Not Stop is the production company for Project Sult 1 because we have put another hat on the OctoRunners head and it is production company.(...) It's going to say, it's almost a tower of hats going on at this moment. It's a tower of hats. So, so yeah, so I've become the production company. So that saved us some money. I have,(...) I am doing all the fundraising sponsorship brands, reach out myself. So that's that hat on. So that's also saving us money. So I'm project managing and I've just recently come out with a brand new product through my business, which I've been working on for the last few months as a potentially another income stream for the business. Because if the business does well, (...) when we go out, then potentially there is the opportunity for the business to sponsor. So it's, you know, I don't want that. Yeah. So I don't. Yeah. Because it, because it, because you've got this whole business going on, obviously, like you, you've been starting since day one, you've been talking about like you've had this whole battle plan to have it. You even had somebody picked and then they left. And so you have to start from scratch. Like, I guess, yeah, what's, what's because, because that, yeah, I find that really fascinating. What, what is your game plan to keep that running?(...) So with the business, so I was,(...) you know, I've always worked, you know, worked for myself and the plan, yeah, the business stuff has just been a bit mad, actually lots of changes in the last few months of what's going to work. What is it going to work?(...) We've actually got a freelance contractor starting on Monday, who's going to take over probably about 50 to 60% of my role while we're out in India.(...) And they are luckily kind of a friend of the business. So they've decided they know the financial situation. They're coming in to start work early, but they've pushed back their first payment till like mid October. So it just gives us a bit of breathing room on one getting the resource supported now when we need it, but not having to kind of pay for it till a bit later. So from a cashplay perspective, that's really helpful.(...) And with the business, we've basically got this new with the better business network, we have introduced a new accreditation that our members can gain. And also, which has been something that after speaking to hundreds of business owners over the last few years, something that is really needed in our four businesses in the UK.(...) So I launched the website for that this week. And we've already had over 100 people sign up to the waitlist in literally 24 hours of us me putting a post on LinkedIn,(...) who are interested in taking up this service. So yeah, it's been hand in hand, basically, like how do I create a sustainable business so that I can go so that I can go out to India and it continue. But it's been interesting because I think like Givestar did some reels on me and they were like, "Oh,(...) serial entrepreneur." But it's just like, and then you're talking about finances. And I, if it was the other way around, I'd be thinking, why's Hannah asking for money? She runs two businesses, she's like, must be absolutely like,(...) you know, rolling in it, but I've not been rolling in it. It's been skin in my teeth. It's been really hard actually for,(...) certainly for the network, a membership organization takes like three or four years to,(...) you know, you always need to build it out and then it's scalable, but it has to reach the tipping point to become scalable because expectations people have, whether you've got 100 members or 500 members. So it's about, we've created this like amazing ecosystem, this amazing tech(...) like value now. And we're just at that tipping point of it becoming that really scalable(...) business. And it's just taken like slightly longer than we thought it was going to take. Yeah. So for people listening,(...) what are the biggest ways, you know, biggest mall that people can help? Is there any way people can help without putting financial?(...) Yeah, definitely. So I would say- Like throwing money at it? Yeah, I would say, you know, there's the biggest way people can help with Project Sort Run is helping us amplify what we're doing. So the whole reason we're doing the documentary really is because we know that the run will happen, but we want as many people to know about the message that we're trying to spread. So following on Instagram, sharing our socials with people, sharing the podcasts with people,(...) sharing the trailer with people, you never know who might be able to help and who might be interested and who might just really connect with the story. I think that's, it's, I don't know if I've, have I talked about on the podcast about my, (...) have I talked on the podcast before about how we approach networking at the Better Business Network? Or not? No, I don't think so.(...) So- I don't think I've even heard of this. Yeah. So the reason I started the Better Business Network is because better not stop my agency. I started it and it's a B2B business. And so I was looking for clients and customers. That's what you had when we first met. You just met better not stop at that point. Yeah, which I still have. But it's client-based work, which means it's me working on projects, you know? So obviously when I'm an NGO, I'm not going to be able to do that.(...) And basically, (...) you go to networking events and there's people who are like, "Who are you? Are you useful for me?" Like, sort of vibes, which is, which is uncomfortable. And it's, and it's like uncomfortable when someone says to you, "What do you do?" And you kind of have to like sell yourself in that situation. I always found events like that really uncomfy. And with the Better Business Network,(...) it is for businesses that want to make the world a better place. It doesn't mean you have to be into sustainability or anything like that. It's just like you have to be just a nice person running a business. That's basically like,(...) if you're a nice person who wants to work with nice people, join the Better Business Network. But I described it as when you're networking in the network, imagine going to like a family barbecue and you're meeting your sister's boyfriend for the same time, for the first time, and you get to the barbecue and you're introduced and his name's Joel and he's an electrician and he seems like a really nice guy. But then as the afternoon goes on, he becomes really belligerent, drunk,(...) says your mum. He's describing me at parties now. Says like, you know, complaining about the food, you know, being rude to your gran, you know, just an absolute nightmare basically, just ruining everyone's barbecue.(...) And your sister's like, "Isn't he great?" And everyone's like, "Ugh."(...) And the next day you go meet your best mate for lunch and they're like, "How was the barbecue?" And you're like, "Oh God, it was awful. Joel met my sister's boyfriend. Joel, he was a nightmare. He really didn't like him." (...) And then your best mate's like, "I don't even remember this barbecue, by the way." Yeah, I know. This is exactly why you don't remember it because you're a mess.(...) And then your friend is like, "I've just bought a house and I'm looking for an electrician to completely rewire the whole house."(...) Like, do you know anyone that can do it? And I'm not going to recommend you. I'm not going to recommend you because I don't want to give you any work. I don't want to say that I don't want to like vouch for you because I don't like you as a person. So the Better Business Network was all about it. It doesn't really matter if you meet a filmmaker and you don't work in film or you meet, you know, an accountant and you've already got a great accountant or whatever. It's like you just want to meet other people that you like because if people like you and you like them, (...) you're going to work better. You'll work better and also you'll recommend each other. I often will have people come to me and they're like, "Oh, do you know any(...) PR companies?" And I actually know like five or six in the network. And I'm like, "Yeah, actually I know these ones and I know that Mike's recently worked on this project and Marlin's recently worked on this project." Because we're all talking to each other because I'm interested in the work that they do. And it's like,(...) I guess what I'm trying to... God, there's a really long way to say is the network exists just good people doing good things and to support each other. So if you're talking about Project Sort Run with people, you never know what that person might do with the information. They might know somebody who actually could help us with some fundraising money or might know someone that lives through a city that we're running through or might have a bit of a recommendation for best places to buy a GoPro or whatever. You just don't know. Basically, what I'm saying is you don't know how you can help.(...) Just talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. Repost or just like and subscribe. (...) Like and subscribe. But yeah, just tell people about it. Just tell people about it. People might be interested in the history aspect of Project Sort Run. They might be interested in the the athletic aspect of it. They might be interested in the fact that we are all kind of dirtbag, independent business owners trying to make shit happen. They might be interested in the fact it's an India. Yeah. I feel like it's got so many layers of story that just sharing it is a really big help. Yeah, definitely. And there's a lot of different movements to it that have opportunity that I think I don't know. I love the I love the historical aspect of revising the understanding and the knowledge of the hedge itself. Yeah, me too. But then my other favorite like total opposite aspect of it is when we found when we were digging through the British Library in London and we found that old log book that was actually logging all the temperature and it was doing climate readings throughout the you know, throughout the hedge. And that was just one of those cool things that you know, we could go back and do. I've really recently gotten into citizen science. How cool would you go back and like, you know, re reevaluate what you know it is now to then. So anyways. Yeah, I think so. No, I think so. And actually, because I'm with the current plan, this the other thing that's kind of making me a bit like is like we are like, well, we'll be seven weeks away on like Sunday or Monday of two or three days to when we're recording.(...) So we'll be five weeks away when you're listening to this podcast.(...) But for me, I will be leaving Manchester, like, nearly two and a bit weeks before we fly because we're all flying from London. And I'm spending two weeks in London before we fly doing heat training. And we'll be at Blue Earth Summit. So during that period,(...) I am going to spend a lot of time in the British Library looking at all of those old East India logbooks to see what pieces of citizen science we can do, which probably to a lot of people listening are like, you know, that's like two weeks before you go. And I'm like, yes, I know. But that's the only time that we literally have to do it before we leave, like to kind of re go back and go through and start to pull some of that stuff out. Yeah, I think some of that like stuff of looking at, you know, back in 1874, when the head was there, what, what was the average temperature in that month? What, what were people eating like? Because I see East India company logs are mad, aren't they? They're literally like, this is what you can grow in your garden. This is what you can eat for your dinner. Yeah, no, it was oddly descriptive, like way more than we look at, you know, when we do Google Earth and stuff like that, like it was really interesting. They were saying what things were in season, but they still had the humidity checks. Like, I don't know, they were really good. But then also they would do that. And then they were like, there is like a massive famine happening. And we are so we are so nice. Like we are just being so humbly helpful to these poor Indian people that are having a famine. But in completely unrelated news, we are making shitloads of money from this salt tax, which is great.(...) It's like, there was no connection there. That was that was, they were gaslighting themselves in that.(...) Like it was so I wonder, I wonder what people are going to read like in this. Well, I guess I'll have to look back at God, God forbid, looking back at news from this day and age, like, oh, yeah, God, 50 to 100 years from now. But anyway,(...) so back back on to the finances thing. So, okay, so, so that's how people can help out without financial terms. If someone was to help out financially and was to donate to the crowd funder, what is their pound or dollar or going towards? So I like it at the moment, we think this is us going like we basically what we do is we're constantly reducing down the budget and being like, this is the minimum. And then obviously we can probably reduce it down even more. But the moment we're looking at it would be great to be able to raise about 35,000 pounds, which we know would cover the wages for three people for four months in India to go out there and to cover them. And that is real sort of like, I don't think that's even minimum wage, but that's to like foot. That's like a full time working on the documentary, make like supporting projects. But it's like, it's kind of the minimum, the minimum income the team can take basically to cover them not then doing that as a full time job. Basically.(...) We need probably around 15,000 pounds for the film permits. We need probably around 10,000 pounds for the expedition support from the Indian expedition company for the first month with the costs that they've given us in regards to van, team, et cetera. But again, that money could be repurposed into 10 grand for buying a van or van hire or whatever for the first few months.(...) And then we've kind of put like a 10,000 pound like misc costs, which is like equipment, additional visa costs,(...) you know, medical insurance and all those other things that we need to be considering and having as well. So that is the target I'm giving myself as my sort of like ballpark figure of the money that I'm trying to fundraise because it feels, I mean, it doesn't feel like a realistic target currently, but it feels like the most realistic target I can consider in my brain currently is another 60,000 pounds in seven weeks.(...) And I think because we're like having to pay for the flights next week, as in we're having a conversation with Scott now at Mark Brak travel, who'd been helping us for free to get the cheapest flights that they can for us. They're like, we need to like book you on this flight like next week to get you these costs. So we're going to have to pay for flights.(...) And then between now and paying for the flights, we need to guarantee the team. So it's just like the sooner we can guarantee the team, the better. So we are, I think we're really working on a week by week basis now, aren't we, as a team in like what's in regards to what money's coming out after the flights, no other money's coming out (...) until probably about four weeks before we leave, which is where we're going to have to start going, right? We need to get the equipment and the insurance, the permits, (...) people's contracts in place sort of thing. But yeah, not long at all.(...) Well, it'll be a week after anybody listens to this. So that it will be going. Yeah, I know, which is you can't see Hannah's face at the moment, but it is just a I guess that's a question I feel like I should have asked you is, you know, when we started, when you were going out and you were asking people, you know, saying, hey, this is something that I want to do. You want to get behind it. You know, would you be interested in partnering and supporting? Do you see a difference since you started since the beginning to like now in the way that people talk to you or approach you or has it kind of been the same? (...) You know, what's been like I what's been really nice is I've now people who have been invested in the projects for like a year, you know, some people that have been like following me on Instagram or like, you know, people that from work and stuff that have been like kind of following along for the last year. When I'm having these like wobbles, I had like a wobble the other day, and I was kind of on the verge of a panic attack on the walk home. And I just got my phone out and just made a video instead, because I was like, I need to kind of distract my brain. And just I had all these comments underneath me like, you're going to do it, you're going to do it, like, just keep going, you're going to do it. And I was like, oh, so people, people actually believe we're going to do it now. I think that's been good. And when we did the podcast with Kenton, and when I then did his podcast, which is also already out now, so if you haven't listened to cool conversations,(...) I don't know if it will have made the cut or how he edits. But this is a man who actually has done loads of incredible expeditions, you know, the Everest triple crown.(...) We didn't even get onto his ski defense when we spoke to him. Yeah, you know, for over 45 expeditions to Everest, 18 or 19 of those like some just mad, you know, real proper adventurer who has spent his entire life like since he was a child, mountaineering, climbing, like,(...) and then I'm sat there on his podcast, like I started running last year.(...) And for him to turn around to me, and he just said to me, Joelle, you know what he said to me, and I just imagined the minute he said it, I imagined it, he said,(...) just imagine how you he's like, just imagine how you're going to feel when all of you on that flight to India. Yeah, I thought,(...) I thought, yeah, I was like, I can actually imagine (...) you, me, Nat and Alex, you and me have just sort of did a gin and tonic from the category.(...) Nat and Alex won't be drinking. I know that for a fact, or like might just have like, a nice little one with us that probably they won't finish. Yeah.(...) But you know, could you imagine just getting on that plane and like plugging in our headphones and starting to watch whatever the inflight movie is. And I just when he said that, I thought, he's right. It's almost not it's not even the start line of the run, it will be when we're on the plane together. I think we're all just going to be like, (...) right. Yeah.(...) And I don't know if that answered the question. No, no, but I think that's a great way to end it on. Yeah, it's yeah, just I don't know how we're going to do it. What was the question? Go on, ask the question again. No, no, no, no, no more questions necessary. I think I think that was the perfect note. And if anybody's been listening up to this point, you know, they know the chaos and the insanity of of what's going. But but I hope that everybody listening will agree with me in that I don't think there's many people who are doubting that this is going to happen because I think it's it's I don't think that's the question. I think the question is just what, you know, how much how big with with how many things. But I don't think there's any question that that you're going to be running in India in under five weeks. So yeah, buddy. (...) Right. We're going we're going to cut it there. Thank you so much for listening. Of course, we're going to be back next week. It's it's going to continue to get weirder and wilder. So please stay tuned to find out how this all goes down.(...) And if you are interested in helping us out, like we were saying, just share and alike. We'll do best talk to your friends, you know, maybe share it on whatever your social media platform. So if you have some extra cash that you would be willing to help donate to us making this happen, we will have all the links on our bio to to get this going.(...) So thank you until next time. See ya.(...) Bye. Bye.