In the following pages, I’m going to share my secrets to closing deals with brands and becoming a sponsored pilot. To say they have worked for me in the past is an understatement. These tactics are directly responsible for some deals that I’ve successfully closed with some amazing brands, and I’ll continue to use them in the future. These tactics take into consideration a critical asset of any business that wishes to survive in today’s times, people’s attention. Without it, they would not sell their products. I will show you how to capture it and wield it as a tool for closing real sponsorships today. You may not believe it now, but if you use these tactics wisely, you might just end up getting your next gear for FREE. Have fun. Experiment. Let me know if they work for you too.

1. THE NINE TACTICSTO BECOMING A SPONSORED
PARAGLIDING PILOT
By Rhys Fisher
SAMPLE CONTENT FOR BACKERS

2. THERMALCROSSINGS.COM
A SUPPLEMENT TO
When you know what companies need, you can
create a compelling proposition.
When you know how marketers think, you can
craft an offer they cannot refuse.
That’s what I do.
I am a sponsored paragliding pilot

3. WE PLAY BY THEIR RULES
LONG ENOUGH AND IT
BECOMES OUR GAME
Orson Scott Card

4. EVERY COMPANY NEEDS
PEOPLE’S ATTENTION
PEOPLE
SPEND TIME ONLINE
CONTENT
GETS DISCOVERED
BRANDS
BUY IMPRESSIONS
PEOPLE
FIND PRODUCTS
COMPANIES
MAKE SALES

5. EVERY COMPANY NEEDS PEOPLE’S ATTENTION
Attention is today’s most precious asset. People used
to make purchase decisions offline, today they find
out about new offerings online–certain websites are
more influential than others.
I’m talking about sites like: Facebook, Youtube,
Reddit, Twitter, Blogs, and Indiegogo.
You may not visit all of these sites, but many people do.
Our job is to create communities under these “roofs”.

6. A TACTICAL APPROACH
In the following pages, I’m going to share my secrets to
closing deals with brands and becoming a sponsored pilot.
To say they have worked for me in the past is an
understatement. These tactics are directly responsible for
some deals that I’ve successfully closed with some amazing
brands, and I’ll continue to use them in the future.
These tactics take into consideration a critical asset of any
business that wishes to survive in today’s times, people’s
attention. Without it, they would not sell their products. I will
show you how to capture it and wield it as a tool for closing
real sponsorships today.
You may not believe it now, but if you use these tactics
wisely, you might just end up getting your next gear for
FREE. Have fun. Experiment. Let me know if they work for
you too.

7. BRANDS DON’T KNOW EVERYONE;
HELP THEM EXPAND THEIR REACH
TACTIC
1
People have problems and companies offer solutions. Your
job is to make the introductions. Companies pay to acquire
new customers, and when they do, they pay for impressions.
This tactic is simple: entice brands by dangling potential
new customers in front of them. Give them an opportunity
to rack up more impressions, and you are giving them
something they have a dedicated budget for. If you are
doing it well, it is cheaper for them to acquire new
customers through you than from alternative advertising.
This doesn’t mean that your Facebook page that gets tens
of thousands of impressions a week is immediately worth a
new wing. There’s a fine line between marketing being a
cost or a profit, and it’s all about something called
conversions. Which leads us to the next tactic.

8. BUILD RELEVANT FOLLOWINGS
TACTIC
2
Those impressions need to convert into real paying
customers. Millions of dollars are wasted every single day
on ineffective advertising. No company can afford long term
to flush cash down the toilet. This fact is your opportunity:
start making relevant conversations with possible
customers, and this becomes your argument for some
serious discounts or even FREE gear.
I’ve seen tweets go out to hundreds of thousands of
followers and not lead to a single conversion, and I’ve seen
an email go out to 1000 passionate fans which sold
hundreds of products. The difference? One had spammed
their way to a vanity following and sent out an irrelevant
offer. While the offer resonated with a small following of
hard core fans who were generally excited every time we
sent an update.

9. START A PHENOMENA
TACTIC
3
Tim Ferriss, an entrepreneur who has built one of the most
influential blogs on the web, taught me that to build a high
traffic following without killing yourself, you need to plant
the seeds of a trend or phenomena–something with a sticky
message. An idea that can house a community. Polarise a
population. And allow for a narrative. If its spreads, you’re
golden.
I’ve designed these types of phenomena before, and from
my experience, here’s some advice. Don’t reinvent the
wheel. Look for ideas both outside and inside your market
that are working, add your personal twist, and then make
them your own. Think the idea for this post was all me?
You’re wrong. I borrowed the structure from Ryan Holiday.
My Indiegogo? Project Brabham. You get the point.

10. SHOW BRANDS WHAT
THEY WANT TO SEE
TACTIC
4
The next step that’ll help you get sponsored is showing
brands traction. Traction basically just means that what ever
it is that you have started is building momentum. A good
indicator wether or not you have traction is the number of
spam emails you receive getting pitches for web
development and marketing services. You’ll see..
Thermal Crossings started off as a three sentence paragraph
on how I would learn how to hike and fly a paraglider over
the Tian Shan, which quickly turned into a 2 page website.
Since then I’ve assembled a team of some of the most
respected pilots and coaches from around the world, been
featured in the Gazette & Herald, been shared by
influencers like FlyBubble, have guest posted to
StayAdventurous, raised over £1,900, and as a result, I can
now proudly show the support from both Niviuk and
Sup’Air. That’s traction.

11. CREATE GOOD ART
TACTIC
5
Let me start by highlighting that good content is art. Critics
of “content marketing” call it a “sweat shop” for a reason,
it’s hard work. I’ve sometimes spent over 20h just to write
one article! If you want people’s attention, at some point
you are going to have to publish something cool,
interesting, useful, funny, inspiring, or strange. Something
that elicits a click, like, share, or some other form of
engagement. Without this critical component you’re simply
adding more noise to the internet.
However, don’t let a lack of experience stop you from
publishing something. You might not get it perfect first time
around but who cares. Brands certainly don’t. They care
about conversions remember. Besides, with today’s tools
like Google Analytics it’s quite straightforward to see what’s
working and what’s not. So publish something and then
learn how to create art that performs–that’s science…

12. GET INTRODUCED
TACTIC
6
The number one challenge when you’re the new kid on the
block is trust, and the best way to create it is to get
introduced. Getting a relevant, quality, to-the-point
introduction does to trust what an adrenalin jab does for the
heart rate. It SPEEDS things up!
Once you have an interesting proposition, ask a friend,
family, or colleague to introduce you to a brand. I’ve asked
world record holders in the past to introduce me to their
sponsors, and I’m almost certain that this really helped close
the deal.
It kind of makes sense when you think about it… Who would
you rather give £100 to? A random stranger or a friend of a
friend who has been introduced as someone who would
spend that money wisely.

13. TELL THE STORY & EXPLAIN
HOW BRANDS WIN
TACTIC
7
By now you should be quite good at telling people what
you’re working on, why it is so important, what makes it
unique, and most importantly how brands can benefit from
sponsoring you. In other words, telling your story. It’s what we
humans have done since we could speak, and here’s the
reason, stories work. Stories allow us to help others
understand complicated ideas.
To get sponsored you are going to be telling a very specific
kind of story, and it needs to be told in a specific kind of way,
the proposal. You’ll need to answer the essential questions
above as well as what are you asking for and what you will
give in return, in a nicely packaged 12-20 page document. If
you purchase exclusive access available from £20, send me a
message requesting an example, and I’ll send you one of my
draft proposals that has worked in the past. It cost more than
£250 to produce…

14. BE PATIENT & PUSH WHEN
YOU HAVE LEVERAGE
TACTIC
8
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Despite your emails traveling
around the world instantaneously, there are people on the
other end. People who eat, sleep and who throw objects
when angry just as you do. And I know you don’t want to
hear this, but sometimes they need time to make a decision.
So once you have received confirmation that your proposal
will be looked at, give them some space. Let them come
back to you. Being in a rush shows that you need them more
than they need you. Not a good start if you want the best
deal.
The only time you’ll want to apply a little more pressure is
when you have leverage. For example, another deal on the
table. Traction. Or maybe you wake up one morning with a
nothing-to-lose attitude and feel like bluffing it. Either way
it’s critical that you give them a good reason to hurry up.

15. DO ONE THING WELL;
HELP THEM SELL
TACTIC
9
None of these tactics will work unless you help fulfil every
brand’s true purpose, which is to sell and get solutions into
the hands of real paying customers. It’s simple. But not
always as easy as you would imagine. So you’re going to
have to be prepared to work. This is why you are getting
sponsored after all. I’m not saying that you have to close the
sale, just assist.
Have you ever purchased a product after seeing some cool
pictures on Facebook? Propose to send in monthly
photoshoots. Have you ever found out about a new product
while reading articles? Offer to do a write some articles of
your own. Do you see a company lacking useful reviews?
Offer to create a comparison post. But never forget what
you are really doing. And that’s helping them sell.

16. WE TAKE THESE RISKS NOT TO
ESCAPE LIFE...BUT TO PREVENT
LIFE FROM ESCAPING US
Wise Pilot

17. WHERE SHOULD YOU GO FROM HERE
CONCLUSION
You may think that these tactics require too much effort. That doesn’t mean
that they don’t work. They do, and they are being used to close real
sponsorship deals both inside and outside of the paragliding world. Even as
you read this.
Thermal Crossings is a vol-biv paragliding expedition funded through your
contributions. I’m not asking for donations. You are paying to access the inner
stories throughout the next two years. I wanted you to know the standard of
my work, so this time I’m letting this one go for FREE. However, from now on,
most of the good stuff will be sent to backers only.
If you want to go VIP and receive exclusive updates whenever I publish info
that demystifies sponsorship and paragliding progression, you can do that
from as little as £20. For more info, please visit the projects crowdfunding
page at igg.me/at/thermal-crossings
To reserve your exclusive access today, visit the
Thermal Crossings Indiegogo page

18. IGG.ME/AT/THERMAL-CROSSINGS
BUY VIP ACCESS
INDIEGOGO
THERMALCROSSINGS.COM
CAMPAIGN ENDS
JANUARY 10TH By Rhys Fisher

19. SPECIAL THANKS TO: