Welcome to a new week! As you know, I am working on an idea I have regarding a reality series here on Enemy of Debt. I am completely overwhelmed by ALL OF YOU who are seriously interested and I’m super excited about the potential this idea has for a variety of reasons.

Thank you for the enormous response I received from last week’s post!

Here’s why I am so excited!

Enemy of Debt will get some extra exposure, which will in turn lead to more people getting out of debt! 😀

The contestants will be motivated by their very real desire to get out of debt, my over the top enthusiasm and encouragement, and of course, the GRAND PRIZE! (I am currently working this detail out, and hopefully I will know something by early next week!)

The readers will be motivated by what they see happening throughout the competition and strive to become debt free themselves!!

MORE PEOPLE in general will become excited about paying off their debt!

I am hoping that this will turn into a regular series every year here on Enemy of Debt, so if you are not selected for this competition, do not worry. You’ll have another chance to participate in the future if you haven’t already paid your debt off by then.

As I said, I am working out many details right now. This part is hard because every part of me wants to just DO IT RIGHT NOW!!! I really want this to be BIG, and in order to make it BIG, I need to prepare and iron out the details. Just like with anything else, including your financial plan, this idea is NOTHING without a well thought out plan in place.

Here’s what I have decided so far:

The competition will cover six months, instead of the 9-10 I mentioned in my original post.

There will be 8 contestants selected for the competition.

The grand prize will be $1,000!

There will be a prize given to the winner of each financial challenge which will happen monthly.

I am considering the idea of selecting one member of the “audience” — a reader — each month to win a prize.

I will be picking four additional people that will act as stand-ins should any of the main eight people selected drop out or something beyond someone’s control happens to force them out.

That’s all the details I can mention at this time, but this is shaping up to be SO VERY AWESOME! I can’t wait for this to get underway!

Now comes the hard part of choosing the FINAL EIGHT! Now I could just go through the list of comments and choose the eight, but I would rather not be put under that kind of pressure. 😉 PLUS, there are some things — stuff that will be relevant to the competition — that I need to know about each of you before I can make my decision.

So I hope if you are seriously dedicated and determined to pay off your debt, taking the time to answer these questions will not deter you from your initial desire to be a contestant. All of you have to know that, just like with reality television, there will have to be a level of transparency.

Your goal: GET OUT OF DEBT!

My goal: TO HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE!

The only way to do that is for you to be willing to reveal basic financial information that will possibly be shared with the “audience”. What you need to know is; I am not looking to exploit or sabotage any of you during this process. I will not do anything during this competition that will undermine what you are hoping to accomplish. I only hope to encourage and “lift up” each contestant so that they may reach their debt free goal!

This will be quite different than your typical reality show.

Now let’s get to business! 🙂

The Questionnaire

In order for you to be considered eligible for this competition, you will HAVE TO answer these questions. Consider this your official entry to be selected for this competition. I said in the beginning that I was only looking for serious contestants. If you are not serious about seeing this ALL THE WAY THROUGH, then perhaps you should just watch from the virtual “audience”. Also, keep in mind that, I will be giving away a $1,000 GRAND PRIZE! That’s not small change, so the verification questions below are necessary.

I need a commitment from those selected. This isn’t just a month long project where 3/4th of those who start it, fall off the radar after the first week.

VERY IMPORTANT: These questions will need to be answered by the end of the week — Saturday January 29th by midnight — to qualify! Post answers in the comment section of this post OR send me an email to the address posted at the bottom of this article.

Are you committed to participating for the entire length of the competition? (six months) Yes or No Are you willing to record and post short videos, related to the competition, on youtube? (If you can’t do this, there is no need to continue on. In order for this idea to work there has to be something that I can post weekly to outline your struggles, accomplishments, feelings and so on.) Yes or No What is your “best guess” of how much debt you owe, NOT including your house? What is your annual household income? (At this point this can be your “best guess”, but will need to be more exact before the competition begins.) If selected, are you willing to provide more details about your debt? Yes or No VERIFICATION : Are you willing to send (via mail or email) scanned proof of the debt you owe before the contest begins? (Personal account information will need to be blacked out before copied or scanned. All I need to see is ; Company owed, amount owed, and a visible date on the document.) Yes or No VERIFICATION : Are you willing to provide proof (via mail or email), at the end of each month, of the amount of debt you paid off? (Personal account information will need to be blacked out before copied or scanned. All I need to see is ; Company owed, amount paid, and a visible date on the document.) Yes or No Are you willing to talk with me regularly throughout the competition via phone, webcam, etc.? (This will be my way of getting to know each of you as friends, help you out where I can, encourage you, and hold you accountable so that your efforts are successful. These conversations will be confidential, unless of course I ask your permission to share something we talked about.) Yes or No Are you willing to hold me accountable in my own weight loss goals? Yes or No How long do you think it will take you to pay off your debt?



Now for the BIG QUESTION!

I want you to tell me why I should choose you for this SUPER AWESOME DEBT ELIMINATION REALITY CHALLENGE! Your answer must be no more than 200 words. REMEMBER I have to read all of the entries myself. 😀 (You could write in word and copy to the comments section to keep track of the word count.)

You might want to include things like: (just examples)

What’s your story?

Why you want to get out of debt so bad?

How long you have been in debt?

Are you a single parent?

What you like about the prospect of becoming debt free?

Those are just examples of what you could include but don’t let that keep you from being creative with your responses. The more creative you are or the more I think you want to seriously do this, the more likely I am to select you as a contestant.

I am sure I will have some people complain about the requirements, especially the verification questions. Did you really think I was going to just blindly give up $1,000+ in prizes to just anyone? This is a blog. For that reason, anyone could pretend to participate and even pay off debt just to win the BIG prize.

I want this to be a REAL reality series, with REAL effort, and REAL debt paid off!

I can’t wait to get this show underway! If any of you have any questions about this post that you would rather ask me in private, please email me at FREEDOM@ENEMY OF DEBT.COM. I will respond to any and all questions in a timely fashion and good luck to you all!