Keep Whale Watching Panama Afloat
Donation protected
Funding my Life's Purpose
As you know, sharing the beauty of the Embera people, their gentle way of being and peaceful quality of life with visitors and sharing the joy of the Dolphins and Awesomeness of the Whales and their wisdom with others is my life purpose. I love to see the distinct softening of the faces of every person I take to the Embera Village as well as the huge smiles I see on each person I have taken to see the dolphins and whales.
I feel in this way, I am touching the lives and hearts of every single person who goes on my tours. I believe strongly that my tours are helping to make the world a much kinder, gentler, more respectful and better place for us all. By spending time with the Embera people my guests are reminded of the beauty and easy joy of simplicity and how family and community are much more important than work. After being with the dolphins and whales and learning more about them my guests are often left in awe and wonder about these incredible animals and hopefully are inspired to take action to care for and protect the ocean environment so the dolphins, whales and all life on the planet can live long and healthy lives.
I am posting this crowdfunding campaign with a very heavy heart to say that even though I have been trying absolutely everything I can think of to increase my business and income flow, things just keep getting worse and worse. Now, I am at the point of having to come up with $20,000 before January 20th. If a miracle does not happen before that I will have to close or sell my tour business and stop living my life's passion and look for some other means of surviving.
The day tour business for the last few years has been less than normal and this year, we are at 25% of normal! Right now is supposed to be the busiest season of the year for our Embera village tours. It is not just our tour company that is experiencing these dismal numbers, but tourism in general in Panama is extremely low and nobody can figure out what is going on.
As a result, it has been impossible to meet our basic monthly business and personal financial commitments and each month that goes by I just get behinder and behinder. The mountain of debt grows bigger and bigger each day, to where now, I see no way out without a major infusion of cash somehow, some way.
We have also had some major unexpected financial hits as well. For example, due to bad mechanics (not mechanical, but human caused), our tour van had to have its engine completely replaced, not once but twice (two different mechanics) within the last year, to the tune of $11,000. Plus, the Cetacean Summit which I held in California in September 2015 was very poorly attended despite a major campaign by all presenters to promote it. (The same event in Hawaii in 2014 netted a $9,000 profit.) Leaving me with a $25,000 debt I am working hard to pay off.
I have also done a lot of inner work on looking at and clearing any and all limiting beliefs, blocks and emotions that might be limiting my access to receiving a steady and plentiful flow of income. I have found and learned a lot about myself and had some great breakthroughs, and yet, I am now in the worst position financially of my life.
So now here is where I am at. If I do not come up with a minimum of $20,000 to pay for some overdue debts by January 20th, I will be left with no alternative but to either sell our tour company or simply close business, file bankruptcy and walk away figuring out what to do or even where to go from that day forward.
Even facing all of this mountain of debt and stress, I woke up this morning feeling hopeful and positive and believe that hopefully this campaign will help to significantly recover from my current situation and give me some breathing room to rethink our business strategy so that I can continue to live my passion in sharing the Embera people, the Dolphins and Whales with others in an easy and sustainable way.
As you know, sharing the beauty of the Embera people, their gentle way of being and peaceful quality of life with visitors and sharing the joy of the Dolphins and Awesomeness of the Whales and their wisdom with others is my life purpose. I love to see the distinct softening of the faces of every person I take to the Embera Village as well as the huge smiles I see on each person I have taken to see the dolphins and whales.
I feel in this way, I am touching the lives and hearts of every single person who goes on my tours. I believe strongly that my tours are helping to make the world a much kinder, gentler, more respectful and better place for us all. By spending time with the Embera people my guests are reminded of the beauty and easy joy of simplicity and how family and community are much more important than work. After being with the dolphins and whales and learning more about them my guests are often left in awe and wonder about these incredible animals and hopefully are inspired to take action to care for and protect the ocean environment so the dolphins, whales and all life on the planet can live long and healthy lives.
I am posting this crowdfunding campaign with a very heavy heart to say that even though I have been trying absolutely everything I can think of to increase my business and income flow, things just keep getting worse and worse. Now, I am at the point of having to come up with $20,000 before January 20th. If a miracle does not happen before that I will have to close or sell my tour business and stop living my life's passion and look for some other means of surviving.
The day tour business for the last few years has been less than normal and this year, we are at 25% of normal! Right now is supposed to be the busiest season of the year for our Embera village tours. It is not just our tour company that is experiencing these dismal numbers, but tourism in general in Panama is extremely low and nobody can figure out what is going on.
As a result, it has been impossible to meet our basic monthly business and personal financial commitments and each month that goes by I just get behinder and behinder. The mountain of debt grows bigger and bigger each day, to where now, I see no way out without a major infusion of cash somehow, some way.
We have also had some major unexpected financial hits as well. For example, due to bad mechanics (not mechanical, but human caused), our tour van had to have its engine completely replaced, not once but twice (two different mechanics) within the last year, to the tune of $11,000. Plus, the Cetacean Summit which I held in California in September 2015 was very poorly attended despite a major campaign by all presenters to promote it. (The same event in Hawaii in 2014 netted a $9,000 profit.) Leaving me with a $25,000 debt I am working hard to pay off.
I have also done a lot of inner work on looking at and clearing any and all limiting beliefs, blocks and emotions that might be limiting my access to receiving a steady and plentiful flow of income. I have found and learned a lot about myself and had some great breakthroughs, and yet, I am now in the worst position financially of my life.
So now here is where I am at. If I do not come up with a minimum of $20,000 to pay for some overdue debts by January 20th, I will be left with no alternative but to either sell our tour company or simply close business, file bankruptcy and walk away figuring out what to do or even where to go from that day forward.
Even facing all of this mountain of debt and stress, I woke up this morning feeling hopeful and positive and believe that hopefully this campaign will help to significantly recover from my current situation and give me some breathing room to rethink our business strategy so that I can continue to live my passion in sharing the Embera people, the Dolphins and Whales with others in an easy and sustainable way.
Organizer
Anne Gordon
Organizer
Coopertown, FL