Episode 137 - Daniel Powell On How He Raised Over $400k For Charity With Physical & Mental Strength

I do really believe 100% from every part of me that everyone has the capacity to be able to do the things that they want and not to be held back by the mental baggage that's in our head that we want to push through.

Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. In each episode, we get down and personal with people who go after the things they want to make all their wildest dreams come true. Join us as we unveil and dissect a formula for what it takes to do the thing. Here is your host, Stacy Lauren.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. This is your host, Stacy Lauren.

So.

All right, you guys, you have a special treat today. I met our next guest at one of the Toastmasters clubs that I'm a part of, and we recently ran into each other again at a comedy workshop that we're both in together to do a stand up comedy routine. And he's just someone that every time I get to hear a little snippet of his story, I get really excited about how he does the thing with all of the things he does. So I was really excited to bring him on and interview him about his do the Thing story. So I am so excited to welcome Daniel Powell to the show. Hi, Daniel.

Hey, Stacy. How you doing today?

I am good. Thank you so much for coming on with me.

Sure. We get to do the thing together.

Yeah. There you go. I know it's funny and we'll talk about this at some point, but I remember originally I asked you to do this interview with me after I heard about this really cool bike trip you did, and we'll have to talk about that at some point, but I know that was one thing that really compelled me to want to talk to you in addition to all the other amazing things that you do.

Talk about it now if you want. It was one year ago, winter of 2022. I spent a week outdoors at the dangerous intersection of Chicago, 66th and King Drive, Martin Luther King Drive in the south side of Chicago in the winter. And I spent February 2nd to February 9th in a tent. And then I got on a bicycle and I biked to the end of the Santa Monica Pier outside of Los angeles. It was 2,446 miles, about 60 miles a day. I did have support, which was invaluable on this trip. And it was quite the experience and expedition.

Yeah. I wonder. So 60 miles a day. So how long it was?

40 days.

Oh, 40 days. Oh, my gosh. So it's for 40 days?

Yeah, yeah, it's A it's quite a distance. That's eight stakes. And people ask me why I did it in the winter. I'm not exactly sure, except that I just did the thing. And I had four bikes with me in a trailer. A snow bike, a mountain bike, a triathlon bike, and an elliptical bike. And depending on what the conditions were and what muscles were sore, I would choose a bike. And it all worked out really well. It's also a fundraiser for a community center and an economic development center to be built right there at 66th and King Drive. Most of the crazy physical things I do, I always tie them to some sort of charity so that I feel like when I want to stop, I think about helping to charity and it keeps me going.

That's such a big idea, that idea. One of the pieces of the do the thing formula is identifying the why you want to do something. And I like that. Adding that other piece of being able to think of who it's for as well.

Yeah, it's nice to do something for others while you're doing something for yourself. The thing for myself is giving me an excuse to stay in shape. There's 101 or a thousand and one reasons to watch television, stay on the couch, be sedentary, really not do much at all. And then the one reason is just to do it and to go out there and challenge yourself. And you don't, you don't need an elephant all in one bite. So you can't ride 2000, 448 miles without a little bit of training and a little bit of muscle memory and a little bit of what I would say, psychological boost for yourself. So, yeah, I'm getting myself in shape to stay in shape to do these crazy things. And then the benefit of the charity is nice because at the end you're tired. But then you say, gosh, we raised in this case, $250,000.

Oh my gosh, that's amazing. So let's start with what made you decide to do this, what do you.

Call it, A bike tour, multi day bike ride? Because I'm not familiar with the do the thing, but I kind of, just from the title, I kind of get it. Just do it and you figure it out as you go, which is kind of my mantra. I heard a guy speak in December, he's a pastor of a church there at 66 and King Drive. And he told the story of how there was a funeral for a teenager that had been shot and that a gun battle erupted in the funeral. Four different people had guns and were shooting. And he asked everyone to turn in their guns. And four people turned in their guns. And then he stepped outside and there was this really bad motel across the street, two, two story motel. Drugs, prostitution, all sorts of things. And he said to his family and his church, he said, I'm going to go up onto that roof and I'm going to stay there until we have enough money to buy the property. And they did. They bought the property and tore it down. Ten years later, I'm hearing him speak, he says, okay, I'm going to go up on the roof, which was a couple of shipping containers, and I'm going to go there until we raise enough money to build an economic opportunity center. And it just struck me right then, right there, five minutes later, I was talking to him, I said, I'm going to come join you on the roof. Which I did. And then I drove from San Diego, which was probably 70 degrees, to Chicago, which was probably 15 degrees through that. I don't know if you remember a year ago, there was this crazy ice storm through a big swath of the Midwest. I drove right through that. No chains on my tires, but I felt really protected. I passed about 20 jackknife trucks on the way that last day. Anyway, I'm there. But before, so that was December, I decided to go on the roof. And of course a lot of people say, oh, I'm going to do that. And then they never follow through. I followed through. And then about maybe in January, I said, I always wanted to bike the Route 66 from Chicago to L. A. There's a famous song, I think, made popular by Nat King Cole, Chicago to la. And I said, yeah, I, I want to bike it. I go, you know, can I bike it in the winter? I don't know. But I got myself a driver who's really great guy, he's also a dj, that when I'm doing comedy, you can use him as part of my act. And then I got a coordinator that rode with him and I would be either in front of the support vehicle or behind the support vehicle. And pretty much every day there were 20 mile an hour headwinds. Pretty much every day there were four days that were minus 5 degrees with the wind chill and two days that were minus 15 degrees with the wind chill. And those two days they closed the schools and they asked businesses not to open so their employees wouldn't have to be on the road. And my team said, well, you're not going to bike in this, are you? And I go, yeah, this is exactly why we're here. You set the new tracks in the snow with the tires, really battle the elements, and then that's where your mental toughness really kicks in. Some would say mental toughness or insanity, but there's a very slight line between insanity and mental toughness.

I love that saying, this is exactly why we're here. I feel like that would be really good when things go wrong, because you're able to just constantly reframe it in a way of, okay, this is my time to get tough.

It was fun. Well, just to give you an idea, I had, again, as you're going, you're figuring out what you need to wear. I had two pairs of wool socks. I had three pairs of tights, lower body tights. Gosh. I had probably five layers up top. I had two pairs of latex gloves, gloss ski mittens, and the latex gloves to kind of cut the wind, chill out. I had a parka on the very top of my up uphot. I had two beanies underneath my helmet. I had what they call a baklava or something like that, or had a dessert in Greece, the thing that covers your face. Sunglasses, helmet, what else? I guess that's it. So I had lots of layers on. And of course, you generate body heat when you're biking, which was helpful anyway. I had biked about 25 miles this one day. There was a business that was open. It was a car dealer, car law. They had a place I needed to go to the bathroom. So I popped in on them as, hey, can I use your restroom? And he said, yes, in the back. And they saw me take off my helmet and my gloves. And they said, are you bicycling? I go, I am. And they were just going, we don't want to go out and drive in this. And you're out bicycling it. So it was fun. Those are the moments I'll always remember that particularly, and my team asking if I'm going to bike and me telling them I am. Because the toughest times are the times that have the best stories.

It's so true. So this is really fascinating. So when I think about this bike story, specifically, your why is really this compelling idea of, number one, you're wanting to get mentally tough. You're wanting to tie it to a charity. And when I'm thinking of identifying the why of why you decided to do it, and obviously keeping physically.

Well, quite frankly, it was kind of a God thing. I mean, it really was very clear. I was five minutes in listening to this guy Speak. And I said, okay, the worst violence in this country is in Chicago. More murders than L. A, more murders than New York. The kids are at 5% of grade level. What is it, 60% single parent households. It just the demographics, the statistics are just horrible. I said, well, if you're going to try and tackle a problem, might as well tackle it at the worst possible place. Rather than some people would say, oh, well, I'm giving food to my local food bank and giving toys to my local thing, which is all great, all great, but I like to go into the most desperate situations and see if I can move the needle. And you usually can move the needle in the worst situations because if you just improve at 5%, it's just possibly life or death. So that was part of it for me and it was really clear that I was supposed to do it. The bike thing actually, as I mentioned, didn't come, but for a couple weeks later where I said, hey, how I'm driving out there, why don't I bicycle back? And then of course, I had to coordinate the team. The logistics are an important part of something. But again, a lot of the logistics you gotta learn on the fly. Because if you study and go on the net and research, you will talk yourself out of every adventure because you go, oh, it's dangerous. Oh, I mean, I. Interestingly enough, I just got back from Mexico City, I was there for a week and I was super excited about it. But then I talked to a friend who about two weeks ago that was in the military, and he says, well, you got to check with this, you got to check with this. Lots of kidnappings, lots of this. I go, oh gosh. And I started to get worried. And the reality is, is that if you listen to the news, you're going to hear all of the bad things that are going on in the world. But unfortunately that's about 1/10 of 1% of all the things going on in the world. So my advice to all your listeners is stop listening to the news. Because it says the train wreck, the fire, the flood, the murder, et cetera. And it's much better to live your life. There is a little bit of a truth to ignorance is bliss. If you don't know, you don't have to worry about it. And when you're planning a trip, sometimes you're not going to have everything you need. I bought a camelback on on the way because I was took a hundred miles, 151 miles actually, through the desert from Lake Havasu to 29 Palms and I wanted to make sure I had enough water even though I've got support band and everything else. But sometimes when you're really going, you want to just keep going. You don't want to stop. Yeah, that was. There was extremes of minus 15 to 100 degrees. This shortest. Well, I actually took a day off because I was the best man in a friend's wedding in South Carolina. I flew there for the day off. The longest day was 151 miles. And the extremes. Oh, the other thing that I think is really critical, Stacy, is we all have these little voices in our head. Maybe it's just one voice, but it's saying, you're not enough. You're too fat, you're too slow, you're too stupid, you're hungry, you're thirsty, you're tired. Little da da da da da da da da da. And I do these crazy things. I've done 16 Ironman triathlons to silence that voice. Or at least tell the voice to shut up and prove otherwise. Because there's always. Everybody's got that little critic that says, oh, you can't do it, you can't do it, you can't do it. And the only way to silence the critic, even for a moment, is to do it.

I love that. It reminds me of my college mantra that I did when I sold bookstore to door. I said, action cures fear. And I think it's so true. Is just to move forward and you'll be able to get out of whatever that is that voice in your head is.

Yeah. It's also interesting that positive momentum creates more positive momentum. I'm sure when you had a sale, you went into your next appointment buoyant and upbeat. And you probably did a better job selling the second one. And then if you got two, then the third one was even easier. It's the same with. I probably was in the best shape of my life on the last day. Yeah. Do you get worn out? Sure. But the mental toughness increases mental toughness, the physical fitness increases. The physical fitness, the fun increases. And that's also on the negative side too. If you say I'm sedentary. Well, it's harder to get up on the fourth day after three days of being motionless. But it's easier to get up on the fourth day after three days of activity. So sometimes you just gotta get off the couch and take the first three steps and get moving. And I've done a bunch of crazy stuff, but I have learned that still there's a lot of times you just Want to stay in bed. A lot of times you just don't want to stay on the couch. One time I was trying to come up with a new idea to raise money for charity, and I said, what if I did seven Ironman triathlons on six continents in five years? I said, that sounds like a pretty bold goal. Big goal. And I was thinking, gosh, you know, again, logistics. Is it even possible? Where would I do one in Africa? Where would I do one in Asia? And it all worked out. I ended up doing 12 Ironman triathlons on six continents in five years and raised $400,000 for charity, primarily the Challenge Athletes foundation, which helps people that are missing limbs, blind, or spinal injuries continue to do the sports that they love before their injury. And that was always fun for me to see. That was a big goal. It was over five years. There was money involved. There was commitment involved, time involved. Fortunately, the previous Ironman triathlon was training for the previous Ironman triathlon. Much like your second sale was easier than your first sale. My second Ironman, and that was easier than the first. And then you get momentum, and once you get momentum, boy, it's hard to stop you. Whether it's positive metal energy, positive physical energy. Same thing with laughter. You ever notice when you're with a friend and you start laughing and then you forget even what the first reason you were laughing, you can't remember the first thing that set it off, but boy, you're laughing harder than ever. And that's the same with physical fitness. It's the same with motivation. You're not even sure what was the original reason to get going, but you now are going.

So for the listeners, just so you guys see, just by Daniel doing the thing, he's helping, I mean, what you probably thousands of people, I would think with that kind of money that you've. You're able to raise with all of these things you're doing.

I had to figure it out one time. I think it's about 2,500 people. I raised about. About a million. Seven, probably overall.

Amazing. So by you getting off the couch and making a plan to go do the thing, these people are benefiting.

Yeah. And. And again, there's a trite saying, but it is actually true. The more you do for someone else, the more you actually benefit yourself. So whatever you give, you get back. And people go, no, I can't. I don't believe that. That just sounds. That sounds hokey. But if you try it, you will see it. You'll say, oh, wow, I get it, my life has meaning, my life has purpose. I'm helping people besides myself. There's just something to that, rather than just saying, well, I got to make sure that I keep what's mine and don't share it. Actually, the more you share, the more you give, the more blessings you receive. And it's. I think that might be a God thing as well. Just to not sit around on what you've got, but go out and do as many things as you can for as many people as you can.

When you're raising the money. What does that look like? How do you even attack that?

It's interesting because there's lots of ways. I was going to write a book, I probably still will. 101 Ways Secrets and Strategies Raise Money for Charity. There's lots and lots of ways. But in that book, first chapter is start early, which is hard to do. So the times that I've raised a hundred thousand dollars or more in a year, I started 364 days before the event. So it's every day. And I'd work a couple hours a day. I don't want to tell anybody. Raising money for charity is an easy task. It's not an easy task, but it's a simple task. You gotta do it. Chapter two is Ask Big. Easier to raise a thousand dollars than 1,000 $1 donations or $110 donations. Or you get the idea that I raised $4,000 one year, I don't know, 25 years ago. And out of the 4,002 were $1,000 donations. And then the rest were a smattering of 25s and 50s and hundreds. And I said, you know something, the two 1,000s were easier than the 25s. So I started asking big. I would, talked to companies, got sponsorships, et cetera. The bike ride. I, it was so last minute. I just asked family and friends. I told them that they could be on. I had a big trailer and I put their logos on the trailer. And a lot of people were just doing it because they know me and they, they wanted to support me. If I had a lot more time, I probably would have gone to some companies and said, hey, why don't we test your fabric for your clothing and I'll wear it during this winter bike ride or an energy drink or something like that. But I'm open to it. I guess there's probably an energy drink company listening right now. They can call me. I have a moniker, Captain Challenge. My Instagram is Captain Challenge. And Captain Challenge was bred about 17 years ago as a mascot for the Challenge Athletes foundation, and now it's spread out and it helps any, any charity, any education, children, veterans, et cetera. And I've gone to nursing homes, and the idea there is if somebody's going to really go all out, then they get the idea that, okay, I got to give a little. And I'll tell you, a banker friend of mine had never given me any money on any of my fundraising. And I said what I was going to do, and they said, if you bike 2,448 miles through the winter, I'm going to give you money. And they did. They gave a thousand dollars. And so sometimes you just need to have a story, a compelling story, and money comes, and sometimes money never does come. And then you just got to say, okay, next, just continue on. And when you kind of run out of ideas, you gotta come up with a new idea, or if that idea for raising money is kind of run its course, you gotta think of something else. And I'm always thinking of something else. My two next bike rides, I want to go El Camino Real, through San Diego, Mission, all the way up to the Northern California. For this mission. There's 21 missions, and I would do it in 11 days. And then I want to go from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean and then back the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Don't think I'm doing it across the United States. I'm doing it in Panama, which is about 60 miles each way. And I want to try and do that one day and then the following day the next, and cross from ocean to ocean, ocean to ocean. There's a lot still to do. I still want to bike the entire Camino in Spain to the Santiago de Compostela in March. I'm going to swim in the ocean a mile and a quarter with a blind woman who I think is an ex veteran. I'm not sure a hundred percent. I just got that tasked recently. But again, I haven't swam at all. So this is going to force me to get in the water and get in shape because I'll be responsible for somebody that if I lose sight of them, they might not be on the course. And I've done that with probably 10 different blind athletes either attached to them or giving them verbal commands or catching up to them or just staying right by them side. Okay, left turn. We're at the buoy. Take a left turn. During a triathlon, the fun thing is always something different because it keeps everything fresh, keeps your mind fresh, keeps the ideas Flowing. And again, the more the ideas flow, the more they continue to flow. It's like comedy, too. The more you get a bit going, the more you can extend that bit. But you got to start with a little seed and then just keep prodding it and fertilizing it and watering it. And just the. That little voice in your head that says, you're not no good. There's also another voice in your head that says, hey, good job, and you want that voice to live. There's a saying. There's two walls. One's. One's loving and one's angry and horrible. And which one will survive is the one that you feed. So what do you. What are you feeding that little critic in your head that's saying, you can't do it, you're tired, you're sore. Or the one that says, you got this. Keep going. I love you. You're gonna make it. Good job.

I really also. I was thinking that that thing of the piece with the charity and the things that you've been talking about, and I think they are connected to the why, because that's how you're getting yourself going with the mindset. But I actually think this is the ultimate form of accountability. What a great way to tie it to something, someone. So then it's holding you accountable to reach these goals that you have for yourself.

I love a point to point. I knew I was starting on February 9th in Chicago at the start of the Route 66. And by the way, we didn't even know where the start of the Route 66 was, so we had to find it on that first day. And I dipped my. The ceremonial rear wheel dip into the Lake Michigan. It was about 6ft of snow or ice adjacent. So I did the ceremonial dip, and then I knew I was going from there. And I was going to arrive on the first day of spring, March 20th. So I had 40 days, and I knew I how many miles I needed to average. And I love that there's a goal. And then I also said, okay, I need to raise. I think my goal was like $100,000. And I said, okay, well, while I'm biking, sometimes I had my earbuds in and I was actually making calls while I was biking. Say, hey, I'm on the bike right now. I'm in Albuquerque or Tulsa or whenever. Would you like to give a thousand dollars? I'll put your name up on my trailer. I'll get it made right now. Send us the artwork. We'll get it at a Office Depot tape. It Onto the thing and away we go. And that, interestingly enough, spent a year, not quite a year. It's been a year since I started, not a year since I finished. Those signs are still on my trailer. And that trailer's been around and is parked in a prominent spot. So the people that did sponsor still get the good feeling of sponsoring. And that's the other thing too, is you want to meet somebody. Nobody really wants to give away their money, but they want to help people. They want to see that what they do is worthwhile. So you gotta lead them to what works and lead them to show them how it's gonna happen and benefit them. And I'm not sure any of my sponsors actually benefited directly from sponsoring me, but a lot of times it's just one customer that says they saw the sign, or more importantly, they saw the business and they said, oh, you know, you're familiar. And sometimes people wanna do business with people that are familiar. So, yeah, that, that is one of the accountabilities. Knowing how far I had to go, how long I was going to take. Cause I had a party set up on March 20th that was going to happen, so I needed to be there. And I told people to come meet me at the finish line. And I had a couple of people bike with me the last couple of days and I met people along the way, which was really nice. But yeah, the fundraising component is an extra why. And yeah, I think you probably talked about this. The the stronger your why, the easier, not the harder, the hard one is when you're not sure what your why is, then you're kind of floundering around. But if you have a strong why, you just do everything else. The what and the where and the how. If the why is strong enough, the what and the why and the how or the what and the where and the how will figure itself out.

I'm also wondering when you're start. I love this idea and I'm. I'm actually, I want to talk to you after if you're open to it another time. Is this maybe even doing a do the Thing challenge around helping people raise money for charity in the way that you're doing it? Because I like it better than. Sometimes you see people where they're just raising money and they send out the GoFundMe link or whatever the link is, but there's no action tied to it. I love the idea of this action of doing the thing tied to raising money. So that might be something we can talk about if you're interested.

And if you want to bike, bike, bike from the Atlantic to the Pacific to Atlantic, Atlantic to the Pacific with me, that's going to be basically an easy one. Although I biked, oh, gosh, 2019, I biked some of the course. It's hot and it's hilly and it's windy. So those are the three killers on a bike that I also got lost. So that's not helpful. But I'm excited to go back and do that. And then the other one is it's all within California and the weather will be good and that's the Camino. But there's a lot of things we could do. One, it'd be really good to do. It's the do the thing challenge. And people could just do 26 miles or 52 miles or 300 miles, whatever it is, and they could raise money and say, look, I'm going to lay myself out. And I've never done the bike ride. My coordinator on the Chicago to LA bike ride had one of the days she rode with me for, I think she rode 50 miles, which is the longest she had ever ridden on a bike. And before that I think she'd run 25 or 30, which is the longest up to that point. So it's interesting what you can do. The body can do it. The mind is the thing that is the limiter. But if you, if your mind says, I can do this, your body will do it.

Yeah, and I'd love to, to talk about that idea of the raising money. So you decide in your order of things. So you decide you want to. Let's say we're doing this bike ride, so you're doing the bike ride and now you're ready to raise money. What's your plan? How do you set your goals, your actions? What does that look like for you? How are you knowing who to call, when to call them? How do you structure all of that?

All of the above. So I take a notebook, a journal, probably empty, nothing else in it and say, okay, fundraising for Route 66 bike ride. And ideally you'd have maybe five team members that are also going to branch out with their friends and they believe in you. That helps to have a small team of five or so and then pretty much tell people what you're doing. Hey, I'm doing this. It's a fundraiser for a community center and I'm raising a hundred thousand dollars. Can I count on you? And then there's also follow up and there's also. If I. Again with the other one was pretty. Sometimes I've had a year to know what I'm doing. And I've gone to, I've gotten Semper Energy, one of the biggest companies in the country, to give money to sponsor an event. But that's kind of a longer term, which you need a year or six months at least, because bigger companies budget way ahead of time, a year ahead of time to know what they're going to give money for, for marketing, promotion, charity, diversity, et cetera. But the other thing too is find out what's really going on with the companies he might have it in with. And right now, diversity, inclusion is big. So you say, hey, we're going to have blind people, people missing limbs, people of all ethnic backgrounds, religious backgrounds. We're all going to go together to show that everybody in the human race can cooperate with each other to achieve a goal. And that might appeal to somebody. And the reality is, figure out what appeals to somebody, but don't stop what your idea is. You ask them, hey, how can I help you? I did it with small comp, small restaurants. Oh, you know what? Monday and Tuesday, we're thinking about closing because not enough people come in for dinner because after the weekend people are tired. I go, why don't you give me 25$25 gift certificates good only on Monday and Tuesday. So everybody wins. They get a customer that they wouldn't have got. They're going to spend more than $25. Somebody is prodded to go into a restaurant that they've never tried before. I actually one time told people, I go, you're going to give me $500, but it's only going to cost you 50. I go, really? How's that work? Well, first of all, you're in a tax bracket that 40% is deductible. Okay. And then I'm going to give you. I gave them a sample purse to give to their wife of a friend of mine, worked for a company and they had the samples left over, 20 samples. And then I say, and I'm going to give you a $25 gift certificate. Can't remember what else there was or something else. And so you, you package it, depending on who your audience is. And again, I'm going to write the book someday, finish it. But the other thing, chapter three is believe in the cause. It's a lot easier if you say, hey, literacy is down. I really want to work on literacy. Or I want, I don't want people to drown in the ocean, in the lakes. I want everybody to be able to swim. So I'm Going to teach swimming. I'm going to fun swimming lessons. What is it that's crazy for you? You're going to lessen drunk driving. You're going to. There's always the diseases, whether it's cancer or heart disease or cystic fibrosis or something like that. But what are you passionate about? What lights you up? What do you want to get up for? Because if you have a weak why on fundraising, it's going to be really hard. It'll be really hard. And then when I said ask, big ask, who's got a ton of money? Well, family foundations, corporations, really wealthy individuals. A wealthy individual can give you $1,000 a hundred times easier than a poor person can give you $20. So in this book, I'll make a list of all the people that I think I can help. And again, I'm not just asking for money, because if you just ask them for money, that's a tough sell. If you say, hey, I think I can help this person, this company. And quite frankly, some of these family foundations, they must give away the money. So they've got to give away the money. So you just got to talk to them about why your issue, your cause, your event is worthy for them. And then it's all laid out, too. They'll say they're all into the arts or medical research or education or helping. They'll actually call out what they want to give their money to. And it's in their charter. So that's all a lot of work. That's all a lot of work.

Yeah, It's. It's so good, though, because you're getting to know. And you said it, I use this term a lot.

I love it.

It's like you're getting to know what lights you up and what feels alive for you. And so with that, then you're. You're going to be able to do the thing and then connect it to a cause that you're passionate about and you're excited about, which then gets you power to do the thing even more.

Yep. Yep. And face it, getting out of bed when it's. I mean, we're fortunate here in Southern California when it maybe dips down to 40 degrees, but it's hard to get out of bed and get on your bike or get in the ocean or get in a pool when it's 40 degrees out and you'd rather be in a nice warm bed. But you want to have every possible. Why every possible motivation. Well, in two weeks or in two months or in a year, I've got a goal for January 2025. I don't know if I'll. I'll mention I can if you want. It's big, but you gotta do the small so that you can do the large. And the small is every single day taking a step forward. And when I would have a year to raise a hundred thousand dollars every day, I'd spend some time say, okay, I gotta make a call. Okay, I've gotta talk to one of my friends, see if they'll do a fundraiser for me. I had a friend have a fundraiser at her haircutting salon. She found prizes. People love raffles. People love silent auctions, because you usually get really good deals at a silent auction. A raffle. Maybe you pay 5 or 10 or $20, and you end up with a $50 gift item. That's always nice, a gift card or something like that. There's 101 secrets and strategies to raise money for charity. Buy the book.

Oh, my gosh. You know what's so funny? I'm about to do a. I mean, divine timing. I love it. I'm literally about to do a Do the thing, start a book challenge. It's starting March 6th, and I just did the expert panel for it yesterday where we're talking about how you could write a book quickly. I will have to share that with you after. I'd love you to join. I'd love to be the how you got it published so quickly.

I would love it. I. I know that in within two months, I could write it. It's just doing it. And there's again, there's always 101 reasons not to do something, because you gotta put out a fire. You got a family member. You gotta this, you gotta that. So you gotta kind of barricade yourself for two months and just do it. I've written the chapter headings. I've written portions of it. I think when I first started, it was probably almost 20 years ago, probably 15 years ago. I don't want to die with the book inside me. Same with the song. You know, if you got a song or poem or a book, you gotta get it out because you don't want to be on your deathbed. That's the thing with. With me on my deathbed, I'm gonna say, yeah, that was pretty good run. I don't want to go back and say, you know, I never got out of the house. I never stopped watching reruns on television. It's always been some adventure, travel, adventure, live music, live comedy. Those are the things that light me up. And I know that because when I'm doing them, I feel so alive. And when I'm not doing them, I feel a little bit diminished.

Yeah, I am. I'm really excited about this. And I just feel like once you get it out, imagine all the people that will then be able to take it, and then the money they'll be able to raise and then also feel alive from being able to do something while they're helping others.

Yeah, I've thought of that. And I also with the comedy. The comedy has kind of come up for me. When I was in college, I worked the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland, and I just love getting laughs. And then a year later, I went on the Comedy Store on Sunset in Hollywood, and that was a good experience. And then kind of set it on the back burner. But then every time there's been kind of a tragedy, whether it's the 2008 economic meltdown and being diagnosed with cancer, divorce, Covid. I've always started writing comedy and delivering comedy because that's the way I've gotten myself through. And if you can't laugh at something, it's going to kill you. So figure out a way to laugh at it. And that's the way I got through cancer treatment. And when I was writing it, I said, there's a lot of people that are really not knowing what's going on, if they're going to live or die. They're in pain. And I wrote a bunch of comedy and delivered it, and I wanted to give it to an audience of people that don't know they're going to make it through. And I'd be the person saying, I made it through, and I'd make fun of it, and they. They'd laugh. And laughter is internal jogging, internal aerobics. If you're having a great belly laugh, you're releasing endorphins. And that's another great way to live rather than sit around and be depressed.

I think that's amazing that you are kind of seeing things from all different sides to be able to really do what's important to you. I was wondering, is your background in sales. Is that where you're so open to. Is that where you're getting the skills, where you're so open to talking to people and trying new things?

Out of college, I was going to start a men's retail clothing store, kind of like a mini Brooks Brothers. And I came out of college for a couple of years, and I always thought I was good in sales. Yes. I feel like I'm good in sales. I can talk to people, don't mind asking for the order, don't mind talking to strangers. But then I started two months after in real estate, commercial real estate, industrial warehouses and factories. And I just figured, if I'm going to sell something, instead of sell a tie or a belt or an umbrella, which is a mall ticket item, sell the biggest ticket item I could, which should be an industrial warehouse or office building or something like that. And I had a career in that. Still dabble it a little bit, but I bought some properties along the way which support me, which is good. But, yeah, the real estate, there's cold calling or warm calling where you might know somebody, but you say, hey, what are you guys doing with your office space? Are you going to be moving anytime soon? Or can I help you expand? Can I help you relocate? And so those are some of the skills, and quite frankly, sales skills, like every skill, you got to practice them to be good. And the charity over the last 20 years has enabled me to kind of keep sharp on asking for the order. It's amazing. People will say, I asked them for money. I go, you didn't. You did not ask him. You did not say, I would like you to make $1,000 donation or $100 donation. Would you like to do it with Venmo or would you like to do it with PayPal? And wait for an answer. But people say, yeah, I told them what I was doing. I go, yeah, yeah, you told them what you were doing, but you didn't ask for any money? Oh, yeah, I did. I said, I'm raising money for charity. I said, yeah, you said you're raising money for charity, but you didn't ask him. You gotta ask them and you gotta tell them why, why it's important, what it's gonna mean to you, what it's gonna mean to the charity, how it's gonna benefit everybody. You need a story to tell. And that's probably one of the things when people get their journal is, say, what's the story? Why do I believe in this? Cause Captain Challenge was basically gonna do three things and has done three things, which is do something you've never done before is, number one, do something that no one's ever done before. Number two, which I don't think anyone's ever done, Route 66, in the literal middle of winter before. And then thirdly, give of your time, talent and treasury to help worthwhile causes. And it takes all three. It takes your time, takes your talent, and it takes your money and the More people that you can get to believe in what you're doing, the better. Because momentum begets momentum, the more momentum you get. I remember the most successful year I was raising money, I think it was in May. I wanted to raise a hundred thousand dollars by October and in May I'd raised 35,000. And it was quite literally easy because I had so much momentum so early. You know, it was at six months, seven months ahead of time. Whereas most of the times you say, oh, okay, I got two weeks. And you're frantically calling people. Well, you know, people don't want to be frantically called, hey, can you write a check today? Can I come pick it up today? They don't like that. So you want to set the stage. You, when, when you invite people over for dinner, you don't have them come into the door, sit them down and say, here's soup, drink, eat your soup, you might sit down, you have some cheese and crackers, you have some conversation, you have a glass of wine, you have an appetizer, that type of thing. It's just the same with anything in life. You don't want to put yourself in a position of panic. And to do that you got to prepare and you got to think it through a little bit. And panic is okay if that's all you got. But you don't want to put yourself in that condition. But there's times with, with this deal, we needed a rear, the bike ride from Chicago to la. They needed to see me when I was behind the vehicle. And my sprinter van had a rear camera, rear view camera, but the trailer did not. So, gosh, maybe three days in we went and got a camera, a rear view camera for the trailer so that they could see me when I was right behind them and we would actually make some really good time because that trailer was big and was breaking wind for me. So you can go a lot faster when you're not battling a 20 mile an hour headwind. So we would make some time up and they knew I was behind them by having the camera. But we didn't know that to begin with. You're not going to know when you start the thing, you're not going to know how to finish the thing exactly, but you'll figure it out while you're going.

Also, for the listeners that don't have sales experience and that and what I, when I talk, I talk about sales a lot because that's my background. And the reason why I love sales so much is it gives you the ability to do anything you want because you're comfortable to hear the word no. You know, it's a numbers game. You don't take it personally. And I was just wondering if you have any words of wisdom for people that want to do this but are terrified of even asking someone for anything.

Well, I'll give you a couple. I've done some sales trainings, both given them and taken them. One of the things, some will, some won't. So what? Some will say yes, some will say no. And in either case, so what? Just move on, Just keep rolling. People that do do. People that don't do, don't do. So in whose mind is someone who doesn't do a doer? People who do do. People who don't do, don't do. So in whose mind is somebody who doesn't do a doer? That's in your own mind. So you just got to. The people that are going to do, are going to do. You'll find that the people that say yes usually will say yes. If you craft it in such a way, they get it. The people that say, you know, I'll think about it, maybe there's a reason. It's the next year's budget. Next month I get a windfall cash payment or something, I can do it more easily. Some of those are legitimate. But a lot of delay tactics are basically no. And what is hope is delayed disappointment. I hope he comes through. That's just delayed disappointment. You're delaying your disappointment that he's going to say no. So dumb will. Some won't. So what? And people that do do. People that don't do, don't do. So somebody that's not doing, you think is a doer, that's just your own thought that they're going to turn into it. But the key thing is no. Most people don't ask. And then you think they ask. So that's really key. That's. That's. And then my dad told me this. I was delivered papers as a kid. I said, gosh, I need. You know, I'd do much better if I had more subscribers. And he says, why don't you go to people and said, would you prefer your paper on the porch or is there a place you'd rather have your paper delivered? And of course, they might say the porch or put it on the sidewalk or something like that. And then you deliver the paper for a month. And then you go at the end of the month, you collect from the paper you delivered for the month. So your assumption is they're going to want the paper and you say, where would you like the paper delivered? Now they can always say, hey, I don't want the paper delivered at all. But the key is kind of a presumptive close. Why? People don't like presumptive close because they haven't thought it through. If I'm kind of ragtag and I say, hey, would you give me money? People are going to say, no. Why? But if you say, hey, I am super excited about this event that I'm doing for this cause and I'm gonna do this crazy thing because there needs to be a huge shift, huge shift of thinking, huge dollar infusion, and I'm gonna be part of this solution. That's the other thing too. All your listeners should say, hey, am I part of the solution? If you're going to happy hour at the local bar every single day, chances are. And that's not to say it's not a way to spend your time, but chances are, if seven days a week, you're spending a couple hours knocking back a couple of beers, you're probably not part of the solution. And figuring out what the solution is, people always complain. They say, oh, this is bad, or that is bad. And I say, okay, let's figure out together how we can make this work. Now, right after my bike ride from Chicago to LA as a fundraiser for the Project Hood H O O D Helping Others Obtain Destiny, the war in Ukraine broke out. And a friend of mine is Ukrainian and he was down. I saw him just maybe a week after the war broke out. He was really down. I said, hey, let's do this. Let's bike from San Diego, the Ocean Beach, Pacific Ocean to the Colorado river and we'll do a fundraiser for refugee resettlement outside of Ukraine. And we did that. And that was last minute. We didn't raise a tremendous amount of money, but we were able to raise awareness. And we took. I thought we were going to do it in two days. We ended up doing it three days. It's 180 miles and we'll always have that story to tell. It was hot, it was windy, it was hilly. We went over the Laguna Mountains, we went through the desert by Ocotillo, we splashed in the Colorado River. And I think probably the people that gave the most money were people that had a connection to Ukraine. So that's the other thing. If somebody has zero interest in Ukraine and you're saying, hey, help me raise money for Ukraine, it's a harder sell if you're going to people that have family in Ukraine and you're helping Them resettle in Poland. Well, it's a lot easier. So you got to think it through a little bit and be part of the solution by overriding thought is it's easy to complain. So easy to complain, so many things to complain about. This is wrong and that should be better and this should be that. Okay, can you change anything about it? Can you make one small step, big step? Can you, can you move the needle? Can you be part of the solution? If so, go be part of the solution. If not, stop complaining. Because it's not fun to hear complaining if you're not going to do something about it. And you can complain about politicians, you can complain about the weather. You know something, the weather is going to be the weather. Traffic's going to be traffic. Complaining about it really doesn't do a whole lot of good.

I'd love to hear what is your number one piece of advice for the listeners on doing the thing.

I would say start. Starting is the hardest part and that and it might not be. If you're going to run a marathon. Starting isn't starting the marathon, it's starting the one mile run with the one mile walk and then increasing it the next week to two mile run and a two mile walk and eventually you're running 26 miles. So but to start, I'm reading a book on Isaac Newton, Newtonian physics. Items at rest tend to stay at rest. Items in motion tend to stay in motion when not influenced by an outside force. So what's going to get you off the couch? Because Newtonian physics says items at rest tend to stay at rest unless influenced by an outside force. So you gotta have the outside force greater than staying at rest. So starting, get out the door, whatever it is, if it's a physical challenge, get out the door. Start. Bite size. Go. Start, start, start, start. So that's the thing. And when I, when I do the book, the first question is start early, start early. If you've got three months, start at 89 days. Don't start when there's three days left, start. That's my biggest thing. Start now, start early. And what is the earliest you can start right now. So the people that are listening right now, when you go, oh gosh, this is a problem that I've wrestled with for a long time. Okay, start now. How can you be part of the solution? Start now. Being part of the solution now, go get out the door. And the feedback you get will instruct you on what to do next. You say, oh gosh, maybe instead of going out barefoot, maybe I should wear shoes. Okay. Maybe going out with a tank top. Maybe you should wear a T shirt or a sweatshirt or a Lauren jacket. Okay. You're learning from your action, but the best lesson is from the action. You will learn what you need to do, but you won't have action unless you start. So my number one do the thing is start.

Yeah. So this is interesting because I recently have realized a lot of my challenges. So I run challenges through the do the thing community. And there's a start a podcast challenge I'm starting soon. There's a start a book challenge. I specifically changed the distinction from writing a book to start a book, because I think you're right, and I was just wondering. So the thing that I'm realizing would do the thing is it's not so much the thing that's important. The thing evolves. It. Change is kind of like what you said. When you get feedback, it could evolve. It's the do that is the more important. So do you have a suggestion for someone when they're starting? And then to be able to keep that momentum so it keeps going? Is there anything that you'd recommend there to be able to keep it going?

Well, if it's related to a charity, if you have a strong. Why, if you. A lot of times people raise money for cancer because a family member passed on from cancer or something like that. That's a. That's kind of just an example. A lot of people say, I really want to run a marathon. So to keep going, usually I always have goals. And the big goal on a marathon is the date of the marathon, and you gotta break it back. And you say, okay, the marathon's in six months. How far do I need to be running? Three months out, four months out, two months out, three weeks out, that type of thing, to get your goal. And then, of course, if you missed it, if you're. You're not on track, go ahead and do the marathon anyway. I remember I was gonna give a speech into Toastmasters, and I came to the meeting and I said, you know, I'm not prepared. I haven't practiced enough. I don't have it enough. And a guy, senior guy, said, do it. Just go. Just get up there. And in comedy, they say, you know, stage time. Nothing like stage time. Get the mic in your hand and deliver your material. And you will learn what was funny by the audience reaction. You'll also learn what wasn't well received by the audience reaction. But you will never get it unless you start, unless you get on the stage. So when you start the book, you'll learn. And if you're talking to a literary agent or something like that, they might guide you in a certain way, but the key is to go for it, and the feedback will direct and steer you in the direction. I can do it a lot. I can give you better advice on the physical things because I've had a lot of experience with that. Start early with the fundraising. Ask big, believe in the cause. Get a small little group. That would be something for anything. That's what you've got, I think, going with the do. The thing is you're having a little support group. You have five, six, seven, eight people that are trying to get on stage and perform comedy, people that want to start their podcast, people that want to start their book. So if you're accountable. I don't run, I don't bike very often by myself because I like to have accountability to another and they to me. And so I say, I'm going to meet you at the corner at 8am and I know they're going to be there, so I should be there. That's one of the tricks that I do. And you're doing it. It's kind of a trick to have a support group. Six people are going to meet and start their book. Are you going to be there? And if you're not going to be there for yourself, you're going to be there for Stacy, you're going to be there for John, you're going to be there for Sally. And that actually really works. It also works competitive. If you're going to be biking and you start biking and one guy says, oh, you know, I'm kind of tired. Oh, come on, finish it up. Let's go the 40 miles that we set out to do. And people don't want to disappoint others. So when you're in a small group, I think with a Bible study, small group, Bible study is good. Anytime you can get together with small group, very small group, it's usually just one other person. We're all journal. And when you go to a psychologist, what do they say? How are you feeling? What do you think that's from? Well, you can do that yourself. You can get out a journal and say, right now I'm feeling, and just write it all out. And it's introspective. But having another person that's going to write with you, it holds you accountable. So, yeah, I think a small group is a good way to go for starting a book, starting a podcast, getting on stage to Sing. There's a couple of groups that will get you on stage to sing because people say, you know, I wonder what it's really like to get up on stage. I really want to. I want to do that. We'll do it easy.

I just am so excited with how this interview went. I wasn't expecting it to go into the direction it did. And I'm just really grateful for you taking the time to talk to me. And I am excited to see your book, and I'm really excited to listen back because I feel like there's just so much power in how you do the thing, in the way that you're able to do it for yourself and then help others, which then goes back to you as well and the other people. So I'm just really thrilled with you taking the time to do this.

I think I got to join your start your book thing, because, like I said, I've started it maybe a dozen times, and I just need to do it. There's other things, too. You got to get them out. And there's always a reason not to. And the reason to do it is just to do it. I say that with the Ironman Triathlon 101 reasons not to do it. The reason to do it is to do it. And nobody can take that away. There's a joke you leave on your metal when you go through airport security and they go, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Oh, oh, under my shirt. Here is my medal of my Ironman triathlon I just finished three days ago.

Please share where. I know you mentioned your Instagram, but if you could share it again where people can follow you and if there's any other place that they can be able to follow your journey, that would be great.

Captain Challenge on Instagram. Daniel Edward Powell on Facebook. But Captain Challenge on Instagram, and, yeah, let's stay in touch. It'd be great to start the books together. Finish the books together. Yeah. I want to encourage people to not die with it inside of you, because the world needs your contribution. The world needs you being part of the solution. And I'm going to say that big press and big government wants you to feel hopeless and needy, and that's a sucker's bet. Go out and do something. Be part of the solution. Not listening to the naysayers. The people that did stuff were told a hundred times by a hundred different people they couldn't do it, and they just persisted and they did it.

Thank you so much. All right, everyone, do the thing.

Thanks for listening to the do the Thing podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show, but even more, we hope you'll be inspired to do the Thing. Do you have a burning question on Doing the Thing that you'd like answered? How about an inspiring do the Thing story of your own that you'd like to share? We'd love to hear all about it. Just leave us a voice message at do the Thing callcast co or email us@helloothethingpodcast.com SA.