Financing Your Dream

How do you afford to have all these horses and focus on your rodeo and barrel racing goals, Rhonda?

I think this is a question that gets asked of anyone pursuing their dreams when the dream is a pay to play game, like rodeo and barrel racing. No doubt it's tough as there is no guarantee payday. You have to pay to even have a chance to win money. No sick days, no paid vacations, the work is every single day of the year despite the weather or how you're feeling. 

Money was the excuse I used for a long time as to why I couldn't chase these dreams, and money was legitimately a part of it. I did not grow up in a rodeo family. A horse family, yes. But not rodeo or barrel racing. I also did not grow up in a rich family. Money was often tight. 

As an adult, there were times I was in survival mode. If you are in survival mode, please know that I am not speaking to you in this blog. When someone is in survival mode, they are only focused on the minimum needed to stay alive. I completely understand when people are worried about putting food on the table that they are NOT going to focus on side hustles or chasing dreams that don't have a guarantee. I hate when people preach a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" to people who can barely afford shoes. Soapbox about that over! 

Now that I am not in survival mode, some ways I contribute to our household monetarily are starting my own businesses. This allows me to schedule my time around the horses. 

I am co-owner of a western + cowgirl boutique called Neon Daisy. Before this shop I did own a bookish themed shop that was quite successful, but I closed it down because of personal reasons within that specific niche that I could not take mentally anymore. I almost closed down Neon Daisy as well, but then I found a partner to help me and things are much better. 

You can shop Neon Daisy here! We are shopneondaisy on all social media platforms, and we have an affiliate program where you can earn commissions. 

I also am a brand affiliate for a few places (like you can be for Neon Daisy), so when people order using my code I earn a commission. I do this with Amazon, so when I create blog posts about products and link them I earn commission. You'll always see a notice about this on my blog posts. I suggest signing up for those with products you feel strong about. 

I also give beginner barrel racing lessons as well as some general riding lessons through Barrel Racer University (click for more info. and to follow us online) which is a program I started after noticing that beginners did not have a place to go to learn at a reasonable price in my local area. I also help intermediate to advanced riders trouble shoot with their horses. I started this a few weeks ago, and classes have been full. Eventually I hope to add an online paid program component as well. 

I also teach a homeschool horsemanship class for a homeschool program that I am part of. Follow that here. 

As you can see I don't have a SINGLE source of income, but rather several things that added together provide for me financially. And I am working on making the rest of our farm profitable so that we can qualify for USDA grants. This is something I am working on starting this year. Follow along here for that! 

I am fortunate enough that my partner takes care of things financially for our family. If I did not have him this would be harder as I would have to be working full time for someone else. But there are tons of ways you can earn extra money in addition to the things I already listed. I'm going to give you a list below! 

Ways to Finance Your Dream

• re-do furniture you find on craigslist
• sell things you make
• sell artwork you make
• sell digital items 
• design and sell notebooks (amazon has a program for this)
• do a print on demand apparel shop
• monetize your YouTube
• monetize your podcast
• brand affiliate commissions
• walk dogs (use the Rover or Wag app)
• clean stalls for pay at stables
• sell your knowledge
• teach a homeschool class
• give lessons 

I'm sure there are tons more ideas, and I believe in you finding something that works for you! If you're trying to figure out a way to just ride some horses, I suggest offering to trade labor for riding lessons. 

Thanks for being so supportive. 

Make sure to follow me on social media for more! 

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