1 Million Dollars in 365 days…

Ok, so maybe it was JUST 42km, but it may as well have been 1000 miles! This is the start of the 45th Rotorua Marathon, complete with Maori Warriors giving us runners some extra motivation.

It turns out that 42km is quite a long way. This was certainly such an amazing experience and I stil can’t really come to terms with the fact that I actually completed it. You reach different milestones on the race. There’s the 1km mark, you feel great, charged and full of energy. I was still feeling great at 10km.

At 18km I couldn’t take it anymore and had to start walking. I had managed to injure my right knee (which did happen once during training). I was alternating between running and walking, but eventually it was too painful to run.

When I set out to achieve this goal and complete a marathon, I envisioned myself running the whole thing. Sometimes life doesn’t always work out exactly how we plan, but don’t let that stop you. I certainly didn’t let it stop me. I decided before I even ran the marathon that I was going to finish.

I wanted to complete the marathon (my first ever) in under 5 hours. I had trained for 12 weeks and put a lot of effort, sought lots of advice from experts, and drank a lot of water and ate a lot of carbs! I also was doing this to raise money and awareness for STOP THE TRAFFIK - an international organisation dedicated to freeing people across the world from slavery.You can read more about the fundraising at http://www.justgiving.com/ryankilfoil

I didn’t make the decision to start walking easily. I tried to run through the pain as long as I could. I had never walked any long distances before, so wasn’t sure how my body would react or how long it would take me.

“It didn’t matter that I didn’t know those answers. I knew the outcome -I would finish this marathon today.”

That really helped me get through this. It’s crazy because you don’t realise how long it takes to walk 1km until you have to walk 25 of them in a row! I kept picturing myself walking over that finish line.

The last 10km were really tough…..then the last 3 were even tougher. They were tougher physically but, mentally, I knew I had made it at about the 36km mark….when I turned the corner and saw my beautiful wife standing there, so happy to see me. It gets lonely on the road…

This is a picture of myself, walking the last 100 metres, with my beautiful wife and our daughter Sophie, cradled in her arms:

Walking with her gave me more energy. I couldn’t stop to moving because my legs would seize up so I just kept on walking as fast as I could. She walked with me for a few seconds, gave me a kiss and moved back to the car, where our 12 week old daughter was still sleeping.

At the 3km mark I got another boost, when I saw my dad walking towards me. He walked with me for those final 3km. It felt like ages, and it was so great to have him by my side. When I got the final 200m, I was greeted by the rest of my family. It meant so much to have them all there, cheering me on. I felt like I was about to cross the finish line in the Olympics for gold….what a feeling!

As I walked over the finish line, there was more cheering and the announcer called my name. 6 hours and 26 minutes of constant movement. I did it. I completed a marathon - my first ever. Sure, I was in a lot of pain and my body ached from fatigue, but I felt like a million dollars!

Sometimes in life we get thrown some challenges, and it’s all about how we respond to those challenges and the support that we surround ourselves with, that will decide the outcome.

This is me and my good friend Dan Necklen, after finishing the marathon. I couldn’t have done this without you mate. Thank for the support - you’re a legend!

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all those hundreds of people that have supported me in this effort. Those that had the courage to make a donation to make a difference for those people in this world that are still sold into slavery - by supporting my charity - STOP THE TRAFFIK.

For all those amazing people that gave me advice about running and training - thanks for your efforts, it was all worth it! To my wife and two kids, thanks for your patience, especially on my long 2 hour runs. Your support has been invaluable! To everyone else that I haven’t mentioned personally, sorry but my goal tonight is not to make this the worlds longest blog post…although it probably getting there!

I would like to end this entry, by saying to everybody - don’t be afraid to challenge yourself. This is how we grow and evolve. When you next challenge yourself, throw everything you have at it. See yourself crossing that finish line, whatever it may be. Until next time, keep those dreams alive….

 All the best - Ryan Kilfoil

I did it! I completed my first marathon! Man am I glad to get that goal achieved! Thanks to everybody who sponsored me and donated to STOP THE TRAFFIK. While I didn’t reach my goal for fundraising, we still managed to raise well over $1000 in just a few short weeks - so top effort if you helped out!

We’ll save all the detail for the next post - still waiting for some photos so I can include those too. Now, I thought it would be an opportune time to talk about achieving your goals. It turns out:

“The world is full of people who really want to help you achieve your goals”

Since I completed my marathon, I have been working on some amazing projects. I didn’t actually realise how much time and energy preparing for a marathon takes!! The clock is ticking and there are 152 days until I achieve my goal of $1,000,000

It’s all pretty full on at the moment:

• I’ve just started a new company specialising in online marketing for small to medium businesses. I’m really excited about this service and the value that it adds to businesses. I’ll let you know once it’s all up and running
• I’ve been pricing up some quotes for printing my book. It’s almost finished and should be available for sale in June! I’m really passionate about telling my story to empower other to achieve their goals!
• I can’t stress it enough - if you want to achieve something, just take action! It’s amazing what happens when you put your intentions out there!

One of my recent goals was to generate extra income every week. Although this has been one of my goals for a few months,  and I’ve been thinking about it. I’ve only started really focusing on it this week. Since then, I have received multiple business offers, to work alongside some very creative people on different business ventures.

I can’t actually believe that these have materialised out of nothing! It’s crazy!….or is it? I think it’s pretty simple. I’ve put my goals out there, and I’m backing them 100%. I’ve not afraid to tell people what I’m doing, because:

1. I know that I can achieve these goals
2. I really don’t care about people’s negative comments

So - that’s me for now - better keep on top of it. I also can’t believe how far I’ve come in just over 200 days. My current life is worlds apart from my life back then - and I have so much to be grateful for - and all from simply changing the way I think…

Part 1 (The Preamble):

There are so many things in my life that I am grateful for. One of these great things, is the ability to talk to all sorts of interesting people on a daily basis. I think this is one way you can definitely inspire yourself to take action everyday. There are some amazing people out there, and just talking to them gets me excited and motivated to achieve the things I want in life.

Over the past few weeks I have talked to some very interesting and successful people with regards to my fundraising efforts for Stop the Traffik to try and canvas more support. Some of the coolest people were listed below:

• Mike Pero from Mike Pero Mortgages
• Michael Mayell from CookieTime
• Scott Townsend from Just Tees

Without a doubt, Scott Townsend captured my attention the most. This 21 year old from Hamilton is doing some amazing things. He is the director of http://JustTees.co.nz and has come up with a crazy stunt, designed to get his business some more exposure. This is entrepreneurial thinking at it’s best!

While I can’t blab on about it too much on this post, I will talk about it at a later date. In the mean time, have a look for yourself - RIGHT  HERE! While you’re there, you may as well vote and tell your friends to do the same. Crazy times call for crazy measures!!

So I was supposed to be talking about a butterfly right?….

Part 2 The Butterfly Story:

Someone else that I met yesterday, said something pretty profound. I thought it was an excellent analogy, so decided then and there to share it with you all:

We’re all looking for success in our lives, whether that comes in the form of money, love, being healthy or a combination of these things (plus other things I haven’t mentioned). Let’s say that whatever our goal is like a Butterfly in the wild. For this purpose, our goal can be “to earn a million dollars in one year” (don’t know where I got that idea from!).

So we set out to catch our butterfly. So perhaps we buy ourselves a net to catch this butterfly with. We then spend a considerable amount of time and energy trying to catch this $#%$ butterfly with out net. It just so happens that this butterfly is one of the world’s most elusive butterflies and proves to be a challenge. So it’s time to bring in the big guns, we then purchase an even bigger net (with extendable pole) in our attempt to finally get hold of this creature.

This carries on for some time (I told you it was an elusive butterfly!). Eventually we give up. After maxing out our credit card at “Net’s R Us”and spending a good part of our time chasing this butterfly. We look around us and realise that the world hasn’t stopped while we were chasing the butterfly. Our famillies are older, our children grown up. There are some experiences that we have perhaps missed, even though they were important to us.

Some people spend their whole lives chasing the butterfly. Sometimes this can become all-consuming, and they never get the chance to refocus their lives on what’s important. So perhaps this is your chance. Your chance to refocus on what’s important in your life.

But if I don’t chase the butterfly with my expensive nets, then I’ll never get what I want!?

Well, what if I were to tell you that there are other ways to bring this butterfly into your life? Why not spend some time making a garden. Very soon, Butterflies will be FLYING TO YOUR GARDEN! No chasing involved You can grow this garden and add to it as you want. It won’t take up much time, which leaves you with lots of time to spend with your family and friends and on the other important things in your life.

So focus on the important things in your life, tend to your garden and let the butterflies come to you. Don’t spend your life trying to catch the butterflies and miss out on all the wonderful things life has to offer. Happy gardening…

Wow, what a weekend it has been! So many things happening, with just under ONE WEEK to go until I find myself running the Rotorua Marathon…

In my effort to raise ₤10,000 in just 10 days, I’ve contacted everyone from CNN, to Tony Robbins! I’ve emailed CEO’s and social networked like there’s no tomorrow, so here are some of my tips, which have actually generated some great results.

How to Fund Raise on a limited budget:

• Setup a fundraising page. For something in NZ I would use, www.fundraiseonline.co.nz, and for overseas I would use www.justgiving.com. These organisations give you the frame work to donate directly to your chosen charity and don’t cost anything to get started. To see my justgiving page, click here.

• Upload a video on Youtube, supporting your charity. This is a great way to get your message across through one of the most powerful visual mediums. Don’t be afraid to try something different to make your video stand out.

• Contact your local newspapers. They usually jump on a story about something wanting to do some good in this current economic “doom and gloom” climate. It could be as simple as sending an email to the editor….you never know what will happen.(right column, about half way down)

• Get some free press. Try sites like www.free-press-realease.com and you can get something like this in no time at all. This can give you some massive leverage.

• Use your social networking sites, such as facebook and setup a group for your charity. Invite people to join and ask that in exchange, they donate a small amount to the cause.

• Open a Twitter account and start tweeting! This is new to me, but so far I’ve connected with some amazing people, including Tony Robbins, Larry King & Hugh Jackman!You can follow me on www.twitter.com/kiwimillionaire

• Lastly, and by no means leas, EMAIL EVERYONE YOU KNOW AND THOSE THAT YOU DON’T KNOW! Include some info about what you are trying to achieve, who you are raising funds for and how they can help (include link to donate, and/or forward email to their contacts). Don’t be afraid to go to the top, email CEO’s, people making the news, celebrities.

You really can achieve so much with the power of the internet, combined with people’s passion. The only thing that is stopping you, …. is you.

If you got some value from this post, please help me with my Charity - Stop the Traffik,by donating whatever you can afford to www.justgiving.com/ryankilfoil. Thanks for your support and all the best with your efforts

Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for your patience. People say that one way to ensure you accomplish something amazing is to set your goal high and never give up until you have achieved it. This is me not giving up….

With 10 days to go until my marathon event, I’m pulling out all the stops, and I would really appreciate it if you could help me in any way you can. I think I’ve summed it all up in this video:

Oh yeah, and for those of you that noticed. I have now changed my target from NZ$10,000 (approx ₤4,000) and increased it to ₤10,000! I thought it was confusing having two different amounts in two different currencies - so I did the opposite of what I thought most people would do - and increased my target for sponsorships! What a way to motivate yourself to achieve something great!!

Here I am, about to run a marathon in just over 2 weeks. My purpose - to raise $10,000 for Stop the Traffik. This is something I feel very passionately about. I rallied for support, and found it difficult to understand why others didn’t share my passion in supporting this amazing organisation that dedicates themselves to bring an end to people trafficking all around the globe.

<<<<<<<<<<To Sponsor me now - please visit www.justgiving.com/ryankilfoil >>>>>>>>>>

Then it hit me. The reason I am so passionate about this charity, is because I know what they do, the difference they make. So that’s what I’m going to do right now. I’m going to educate you about Stop the Traffik, and how people trafficking is still alive and kicking in almost every country in the world…So please, take a moment to read this. To understand what we are allowing to happen in our world.

What is STOP THE TRAFFIK?
STOP THE TRAFFIK is a global movement working to combat the fastest growing global crime, people trafficking. Around the world men, women and children are being treated as commodities—something to be bought, sold, and enslaved.

STOP THE TRAFFIK has more than 1000 member organisations in 50 countries & a grass roots following of ordinary activists around the world. Some of us sign petitions, wear symbols of the campaign, spread the message, and some of us show our support through adapting our lifestyles.

They believe that when people act things change. And I do too.

Real Life Trafficking:

“Masud was 12. His parents were persuaded, tricked, to let him be taken from his home in Bangladesh to a new life in England. He was sold - ‘Trafficked’

He left his family home with an unknown man who travelled with him to London then onto the South West where he was abandoned in an Indian restaurant. To survive he worked in the restaurants living in small store rooms, sleeping next to jars of chutney and bags of onions. Sometimes when there was no work he was forced to sleep on the streets. He was not able to go to school and his life was controlled by the restaurant owners.

When he was 28, with the help of STOP THE TRAFFIK he contacted the local police and immigration team who helped him to obtain a passport and identity documents, resulting in him being able to return the Bangladesh to obtain a UK visa and to be reunited with his family.

Masud is now living legally in the UK. He is married and is building a new life away from the restaurants.”

Stories like Masud’s are happening all the time, making People Trafficking the world’s fastest growing illegal trade.

So I thought we were pretty isolated here in little old New Zealand, surely we don’t get this sort of nonsense here? It turns out that I was wrong:

“A graphic US Government report on modern slavery has accused New Zealand of being a “destination country” for the trafficking of women for sex from Malaysia, Hong Kong and China [for some reason Vietnamese women are not mentioned in the report….read the full story“

 Fairfax Media | Thursday, 05 June 2008

“New Zealand immigration officials admit that women could be working undetected as sex slaves in New Zealand, the Weekend Herald reported on Saturday.  The Cabinet will be asked to set up a taskforce involving seven government departments to stop human trafficking in this country…read the full story”

April 04, 2009 The New Zealand Herald

So make a decision right now. Take this knowledge and do something about it. Or do nothing. This is your chance to make a difference. Please help me support this organisation, by sponsoring me for my Marathon in 2 weeks:

<<<<<<<<<<To Sponsor me now - please visit www.justgiving.com/ryankilfoil >>>>>>>>>> 

Thank you for your support. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Ryan Kilfoil

“Ability to influence a system, or an environment, in a way that multiplies the outcome of one’s efforts without a corresponding increase in the consumption of resources.”

www.BusinessDictionary.com

 The above is the definition of “leverage”. In the past I have talked mainly about using leverage to help others, through charity etc. An example would be my fast approaching marathon, where I am trying to raise over $10,000 for Stop the Traffik. (If you enjoy this post - please sponsor me here) By contacting some local and national newspapers, I have managed to get my story run, and attracted a lot of interest in my efforts to raise funds to stop human trafficking. Seeing as I had already decided to run the marathon, the only extra thing I did to generate interest, was to simply contact a few local publications. Only a little effort compared to the massive results it obtained for me and the charity.

Today I’m going to talk about using leverage in a different way - to help you achieve success in your life. I’m assuming that by now you have some direction in your life, you have set your goals (and written them down), have your dream/vision board setup and work towards your goals on a daily basis? Excellent - if not, maybe start here. So now that you have your goals - how can you use leverage to achieve them?

How to use leverage to achieve your goals:

1. Choose a goal to focus on.
2. Find someone that has mastered that goal before. If you have a goal that hasn’t been done before, or you can’t find anyone that’s an expert in that field, then try to get in touch with someone as close to that description as possible.
3. Contact them. By taking action to simply saying “Hi, this is my goal, I believe that you have done this before, can you please give me some advice?, you’ll be surprised at the reaction you get. Lots of successful people are more than happy to share their experiences. Whether it’s just a quick email, or perhaps they take you under their wing and provide some mentoring - you’ll still be getting some top advice that you can use to achieve your goals!

As you are no doubt all aware. I’m running a marathon on May 2nd, after never running further than 3km before I started training 8 weeks ago. When I made the decision to run a marathon, I began to research running on the internet and sifted through countless pages of conflicting information about what I should and shouldn’t do.

So I decided to see if I could find someone who had at least run a marathon, and have a chat to them. Somehow I managed to do a lot better than that. I found Ross Steele, who also lives in Tauranga, New Zealand. Ross has just returned from Kilimanjaro after running his 26th Marathon!!!

Not only that, but finishing that Marathon meant that he had run a marathon on Seven different continents, making him a member of an elite club, with only 240 members world wide. Ross was definitely qualified to give me advice about running marathons. Ross will also be completing in the same Marathon I will be completing on May 2nd.

I emailed Ross the yesterday and he gave me a call shortly afterwards, only too happy to meet me to talk about this passion that is running marathons. Ross was fantastic, giving me time loads of advice and practical tips that I now see as invaluable.

I feel much better equipped for my marathon and have only grown more confident since talking to him, and learning from him. Even if it was just an hour that we spend discussing running. So I learnt what a powerful tool it can be, to talk to someone who has achieved as much success in the area that you are trying to excel in.

You can read more about Ross’s recent achievements here. So now that you’ve finished reading this. What are you going to do? Have a coffee? Get back to work? Have a sleep? Or are you going to take action, and get in contact with someone RIGHT NOW, who will be able to help you achieve your goal?

Hi Folks

You’ve probably just read about me and my crazy goal of making $1 Million dollars in 365 days! If you would like to follow my progress over the next 183 days, I suggest you subscribe to my RSS Feed or free email alerts, in the sidebar on the right.

So firstly I would just like to say thank you for visiting my site. If you’re new here, feel free to look back through my previous posts and hopefully you find something useful. Also, please feel free to contact me if you have any question: ryan at thekiwimillionaire dot com

So - back to me…needing your help. On my journey to make a million dollars, I have learnt a lot of things. One of them being, that:

“by giving to others, you receive more in return than if you chose not to give“.

For that reason, I decided to start a separate project and raise $10,000 for charity - by running the Rotorua Marathon on May 2nd 2009.

WHAT?

This isn’t your ordinary charity. About 1.2 Million children are trafficked each year. TRAFFICKING IS…to be deceived or taken against your will, bought, sold and transported into slavery for sexual exploitation, sweat shops, child brides, circuses, sacrificial worship, forced begging, sale of human organs, farm labour, domestic servitude.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

You can DONATE - instantly and securely, directly to STOP THE TRAFFIK, helping them help others enjoy what we all take for granted everyday. Here are some ideas:

• Donate the money you would have spent on a coffee tomorrow
• Run a marathon and setup your own donation page (www.justgiving.com)
• Why not take lunch from home this week and donate the money you would have used to buy your food?
• Why not have a competition between your friends to see who can donate the most?

The truth is, if you don’t do this now, you probably won’t do it at a later date - so please visit my donations page - www.justgiving.com/ryankilfoil and donate now to STOP THE TRAFFIK.

Thank you, from me and from the millions of men, women and children that are sold into slavery every year.

Thanks for helping to make a difference.

Kind Regards

Ryan Kilfoil

While one can argue that there are many secrets to a successful life, some of these “secrets” are plainly there for all to see. You may have already stumbled upon them, without realising the sheer power they can offer you.

This particular “secret” that I will disclose with you now, has helped me through so many periods of my life, where it looked as though there was no silver lining. Sometimes when things don’t go your way, despair can take over your soul and suddenly you lose perspective. It is this perspective that helps us frame our world in a more meaningful way. Perspective allows us to escape the daily grind of our supposedly mundane lives and helps to define our purpose and ultimately, our journey.

So what is this secret that will propel you to success? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you gratitude…

How can something so simple have such a profound effect on your success?

Well, I believe there are two reasons:

1. When you are grateful for the things you have, the life you lead, you are saying “thanks” to the creator / higher power / universe or whatever you believe in. You are saying “I love what I’ve got so far and I appreciate it, so give me some more!”
2. Being grateful can instantly change your mood, and make life seem that much better, no matter what’s just happened.

As I mentioned, gratitude gives us perspective in our lives. Even when you are stressed and having a “bad day”, by taking 1 minute to think about the things that you are truly grateful for, you can shift your energy to more empowering thoughts and instantly make yourself feel better.

In fact, why not do it right now? I’m sure there’s never been a better time! What have you got to lose? And I personally guarantee that you will feel MUCH BETTER after completing this short exercise. For the next 60 seconds, just think about the things you are grateful for in your life.

I’ve learnt just  how important being grateful is. I have become more aware of being grateful and use this strategy on a regular basis to keep myself empowered and positive. At times, when I feel myself slipping (yes this happens to me too!), I think about what I am grateful for, and I instantly get back on track. Now I’m doing this right now - so I hope you are too!

What am I grateful for?

• My family (my beautiful wife & two children, my parents, brother, grandparents etc etc)
• Being in a position to write this blog, and interact with an audience on an international level - the power of the internet!
• Being surrounded by like-minded people that support me, no matter what crazy goals I come up with!
• Everything that has happened in my life so far - it has made me who I am today.
• Owning our beautiful home with our garden & amazing views
• Being able to afford to give 10% of my earnings to Charity
• The ability to run & learn how to run far! Please support my marathon here!
• Being able to spend time with my wife & children
• That I feel so passionate about my purpose in life
• That my wife and I love each other more and more as every day passes

It’s funny where you can actually areas of your life to be grateful for. Again - going back to perception. Say you are angry because you have a huge tax bill to pay? How can you be grateful about that? Well, if you have such a big tax bill, then you can be grateful that you earned money to enable you to get a tax bill!

It may seem strange, but how many people out there would kill to have a job and earn money? Here you are complaining about a tax bill, when there are people in our world that would trade anything to receive a paycheck and would happily pay any amount of tax as at least they earned some money!

Gratitude has certainly helped shaped my life and the way I do things. It has given me perspective on how I lead my life and the decisions I make. It is constant reminder of the wonderful life I live and that there is so much for us all to achieve. So please, take what you can from this post - and next time you’re feeling down - just think about all the things you are grateful for!

 Tonight at 8:30pm, New Zealand is supporting Earth Hour to raise awareness for the impacts of Global Warming. In just over 30 minutes, I will be turning off the computers, tv’s, fish-tank (they’ll be fine!), lights and pretty much everything else electrical.

It’s a beautiful evening and we’re going to spend the hour outside, talking and enjoying the peace and quiet. I think it’s a great initiative, and apparently if everyone in NZ turns off their appliances and lights, there’s a lot of money to be saved too. It just goes to show what a little bit of vision and passion can achieve.

Speaking of achievements, today was a monumental day for me! I ran a half-marathon! It wasn’t  an official half-marathon, but as I have my full marathon coming up in 5 weeks, I thought it was time to push the boundaries!

I left at 7am this morning and ran a long, long way from home. Then I ran all the way back! 21km later, I collapsed on the floor after stumbling in my front door, 2 hours and 15 minutes after starting my crazed journey! After a few minutes of rest and water, I was able to hobble around for the rest of the day! I am so proud of myself, that I have completed this monumental task. I believe the mental part of the marathon is going to be the toughest, and after today, I KNOW that I can complete it, AND finish raising the $10,000 for STOP THE TRAFFIK!

All around the world, people are making a difference. It seems that this is the age of the philanthropist. The world is in one of the of the most challenging economic times ever. One would think that anarchy would rule and people would only care about themselves. I believe the opposite is happening - people are becoming more aware of “giving” as a way to heal the world.

If you have something you believe in, something that you want to see changed for the better. Perhaps now is the time to come out of the woodwork and do something towards your cause. Don’t be afraid as you have nothing to lose. The worst you can do is raise awareness, experience massive amounts of personal growth, and ending feeling like we can all make a difference.

Happy Earth Hour. Make your hour next.