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Reply to "Get rich quick!"

Thanks Lyman. For all curious, yes I am fine. Very rare cancer of the salivary glands, the removal of the tumor was done thru my throat, and I could not turn my head properly for many months. But I have had a clean bill of health for a full year now, and I seem to have full mobility. The cancer made me re-evaluate my work and life experience. I, too, was working too hard, and after having done no work all last summer, I gradually went back with many changes. I am not making the same amount that I once did, since I refuse to work more than 50 hours in a week, with the very rare occasion that a large race is in need of special attention. That happens about twice a year. Getting the course measurements during my lean times, like summer, helps to get me thru to the next big race I have to work.

I had contacted Bernie Conway with the IAAF and earned my appointment to be a B-grade measurer before I was ill. I wanted to offer my clients one more option for certification, and it will be a way to measure other places in the world. My appointment came last December, and I will start measuring out of the country in September. There is a whole different pricing system for these races, since some of them are in third world countries and the races are not widely attended. Getting our message out there is the main goal for some of these places.

Fortunately for me, I do most of my measuring for one racing company (one race director). Since I have done so much work for him, I am on call to get the work done, and all of his courses are already on my computer. I just remeasured a 5k that only had a change to the start and finish. He was charged the certification fee and a couple hours of work to make the application and readjust the maps.

But for new clients, I use google earth to electronically map out the course and try to get a handle on the actual measurement. I am usually accurate to within 10 to 15 feet over course of a marathon. Most race directors are amazed when I ask about areas to change the course. They believe MapMyRun is accurate enough for the actual course measurement. My mentor, Tom Ward, who I will always cherish for having given me the opportunity and guidance to learn the art of Measuring and mapping courses, always used to do a rough measurement, especially at Disney. But since I took over doing all of the paperwork for his measurements, he has me do the rough with google earth, and he feels confident that it is close. This has saved him many late nights out at Disney World.

As for charging my new clients, I also do not give the client the certificate until I get paid. I ask for half at the time of the measurement, and they will get mapwork. For anything over a 15k that usually means a series of maps for every few miles of course as well as the overall map. Your course director may have many people out setting up a small section of a course, so these maps work out well for them. Then I give them the certificate when I receive the final payment. For the smaller races, I usually get paid in full at the time of the measurement. I haven't had problems since I went to that way of billing.

I haven't had to do much "design" or last minute changes to courses, so I haven't thought about those charges yet. I usually inform my race directors that they should be on the lookout for construction or problems within the month before the race. No one has approached me with those problems so far.

It is nice to see what you charge for the little "extras", like last minute measuring, changes on the fly, and course design. It will help as I take on more of this work.
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