The real cost of storm chasing - and how to fund it

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We had a good discussion on this topic during the last TGT podcast, so I thought it might be worth a thread. Do you know what the TRUE cost of your storm chasing really is? If you sit down and look at the numbers, you might be shocked.

Using my expense/mileage reports that I use for tax purposes, the cumulative cost of my storm chasing/photography/weather coverage "operation" since I started in 1993 is into the six figure range. Yes, SIX figures - that is not an exaggerated number, and I have all of the documents to prove it! In a nutshell, if you go to my web site and look at all of my footage, photos and chase logs - know that to get a similar amount of material, you'll need to commit to close to the same expense!

How would you figure the true cost of your chasing? It's pretty simple, but will take some effort to go through your records and create mileage and expense reports (use a spreadsheet software to do both):

Cash Expense Report: Go through your bank statements and highlight every purchase that was chase-related - hotels, computers, airfare, cameras, gadgets, cables, small parts, etc. Don't include vehicle expenses like fuel, tires, oil changes, etc - we'll get to that next.

Mileage Report: Now, tally up all of your miles driven during chasing. Include everything - both Plains and local chases. If you haven't kept a log, use Google Maps Directions to estimate them (point to point directions will show miles). Once you have your mileage tallied up, multiply it by the IRS's standard business mileage deduction for each year. In 2013, the deduction was 56.5 cents per mile. This will give you a dollar amount that reflects the true costs of operating your vehicle for chasing (fuel, maintenance, tires, depreciation, etc). That's the number that's probably going to shock you! You may not see the depreciation expense in terms of cash expenditure, but you'll see it eventually when you must buy a new vehicle or make major repairs more frequently than the average daily driver.

Now, let me make a few qualifying statements about the six figure amount. It's a cumulative total over 22 years. Even so, it's probably higher than most chasers will see (though not by much). How did I afford all of this? Simple - I have always operated my photography and weather footage as a part time business, and worked very hard at it. As a result, that six figure expense has been covered with weather video income over the years. I take it seriously. I've used brokers. I file taxes as a business and use an accountant to do them, send invoices, etc. I have even had registered business names at various points.

Another important point is that the bulk of my weather and photography income over the years has been mainly from mundane things like winter weather and rain, and even corporate video shoots in a studio setting. In other words, I've paid for my higher-end cameras and some chasing expenses by putting the equipment to work on both chasing and non-chasing things. I sometimes say "storm chasing" as an all-encompassing thing, but it's more accurate to say "weather video" in general. Case in point - I made a large chunk of my income shooting simple rain video in Charleston, WV - boring stuff like people walking down the street with umbrellas, etc. The icy road video has tended to perform well, though it is very expensive and difficult to shoot. If I were to separate out the income/expense for different categories of weather, "storm chasing" meaning convective phenomena like lightning and tornadoes, would have been almost always operating in the red. This is because a tornado video requires long-distance travel and hotels and is harder to sell, while rain/snow is generally something that requires no travel and only a few hours of time.

Some may be thinking to themselves "why is he sharing this publicly?" Well, it's because the weather video market has been declining for years. A lot of this stuff is becoming common knowledge in chasing. I don't really have much to lose by sharing this info at this point in my life, and I figure it will be helpful for others to know. I still do some winter weather work, but the rain/snow/fog/frost/wind video has not been as profitable in recent years. I haven't done a "people with umbrellas" type shoot in years. Icy road footage is simply brutal to shoot - even I'm at the point where I don't want to do much of it any more (it requires very long hours standing out in freezing cold, snow and freezing rain). I have replaced the declining weather video income with other things like still photography and some web design contract work, all which falls under my part-time business umbrella.

My main point: chasing is more expensive than you think, and you're not going to make a profit from it unless you really diversify and make chasing a part of your overall business.

I know there are some who are saying "to heck with all that, I can't stand the thought of mixing business with chasing". That's fine if that's your thing and if you have the disposable income to finance your chasing. But in my case, the only way I have been able to do everything I've done and see the things I've seen is to operate this way. Yes, it has taken a lot of work, but it's all been worth it.

By the way - I have NEVER broken off a chase to send in video early. I always wait until the storm is done - even if it costs me sales! Some might break off early and miss tornadoes to feed video, but it's really a myth that it is common practice or even necessary to make a sale.
 
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That's the number that's probably going to shock you! You may not see the depreciation expense in terms of cash expenditure, but you'll see it eventually when you must buy a new vehicle or make major repairs more frequently than the average daily driver.

Wow you weren't lying! Just last year = $5100 for me. Dont ever let my wife see this thread please.
 
Great discussion and post by Dan.

Some points:

I always tell new chasers to join ST and find a chase partner so they can split the cost of chasing. When I first started chasing, we would save money by sleeping in our chase car and eating bologna sandwiches.

I'm hoping gas prices will stay low through the chase season, but I'm sure they will find some way to justify higher prices before then.

The big problem right now is climatology / drought. Target areas are all over the place and many chase days include long shot possibilities due to capping and LCL issues.

As most chasers know, the options of funding your operations are quite limited. Photos and videos sales were once profitable, but those days are gone. If you decide to conduct tours, the costs of advertising, insurance and modern equipment is quite high. You are also committed to keeping everyone safe, so you have to back off with higher end risks which can limit your own enjoyment. The other options like live feeds and media reports pay little and are for the most part, only providing a promotional and profit making machine for others while you are taking all the risks. Such reports do provide warning information. The bottom line is how much is it worth to distract from your own enjoyment and freedom to fund your chasing or make a profit.

W.
 
Seems like a more popular way to fund chasing these days is crowdfunding (Kickstarter, Gofundme, etc). I've seen several campaigns that have been successful, although I'm not sure what the success rate is compared to failed campaigns. You have to have a very sizable audience for this to be an option it seems.
 
I just never understood the crowdfunding thing. People take family vacations every year without asking strangers for handouts. Storm chasing isnt that much different. Most of my funding comes from deciding to eat a can of Campbell's soup while the rest of the family eats Applebee's. I take the money I would have spent if I had gone and put it up. By the end of the year, after turning down numerous Starbucks white chocolate mocha's, fast food, movies, and other frivolous things, I have half my trip cost saved up. But, a good chunk of that saved money goes to everything I passed up all year, but crammed in a 3-4 week span on the road.. and scratch off tickets lol. This year I decided to go the Shane Adams route and get a credit card I can pay off the rest of the year. just one card, one bill.
 
This year I decided to go the Shane Adams route and get a credit card I can pay off the rest of the year. just one card, one bill.

Must have me confused with someone else LOL. We pay for chases out of pocket, as they come, as we can afford to.

As for the thread, I've never bothered looking into how much I spend chasing because it's gone down as a loss since day one. It's a passion (that I accept) costs money that 99.9% of the time I will never see a return on. An ROI was never part of the equation for me, because I just love chasing. Some people take trips, vacations, tours, cruises, etc etc. All of those are naturally accepted losses; families don't setup lemonade stands on the beaches of Maui trying to get some of their plane ticket money back. Chasing is the same way for me. It's something I love, I have to do, and isn't expected to pay for itself. We don't do all the "luxury" things normal people do, like everything I mentioned above. The money we don't spend by giving up all of those kinds of things, goes into chasing.
 
...families don't setup lemonade stands on the beaches of Maui trying to get some of their plane ticket money back.

Hanging on to this analogy!

I see it as a loss in terms of dollars too. I fund it with bits of unrelated freelance work throughout the year. Good point from Dan of using the $.50-6.0/mile. It's all to easy for me to think that my 3200 mile chase last year cost $350 in fuel and $40 for an extra oil change—when actually it's more like $1,800 from adding all the wear-n-tear/depreciation + other maintenance. Sheesh.
 
I try to save my money for equipment, gas, other expenses...if I don't have the money, I can't go chase. My wife and I are in debt repayment mode, just one student loan left. Meanwhile we each get a weekly allowance to spend on whatever, and don't touch the "house account." I stash a chunk of that weekly allowance in a safe place every week, so if that means my lunch is a can of spagetti-o's for work or not have beers during the football game, so be it. Its all for the good cause of me getting out each year and not having to be worried about money.

I also don't chase very far. My longest one day chase was a 1,000 mile bust and the sticker shock of how much premium fuel I put in my Forester was sobering. That was during the $3.80/gal times. Ouch. I figure I average somewhere between 50-300 miles when I go out. Stay fairly local, which this year will be awesome since I moved out to the plains. Extends my range that much further.

I save during chases by packing a lunch and drinks. Sleep in the car if its an over-nighter. Even mixing premium and regular fuel to save a few bucks if I need to.

I've never sold anything weather related. Its all for me. Nothing on youtube. I don't have a website. Its my hobby, I love it, but I still need to save my pennies to pay for it. If anyone is out there worrying about if you can put gas in the car to get home, you need to rethink your approach and priorities. Chasing is a money pit, plain and simple. Worth it, yes. Cheap, hell no.
 
If you actually have a legitimate DBA name and you are willing to register that with the state, then you can write off chasing expenses, assuming you have some sort of an income from selling video or the like. I was able to make this work for one year, after consulting with a tax professional. However, it's normally a loss for me and funded out-of-pocket as a hobby. All told, it costs between $2,000 - $5,000 out of pocket, if you include all the fuel, food, lodging and other miscellaneous expenses incurred, tied to the length and amount of chasing done in a season.

As others have stated, the sale of video really doesn't cut it anymore. It might make chasing less expensive, but unless you can show a bona fide profit on a consecutive basis, then 3+ years of losses, when expenses/write-offs are weighed with profits, net it as a hobby and the IRS will not accept continued classification as a "business" expense for tax deduction purposes. Hence, it's just something that I budget for and pay for it out-of-pocket as the chasing comes along. I refuse to rack up debt and pay it off from AUG-MAR.
 
Well said, Shane!

I don't set aside money specifically for chasing. Rather I just incorporate the related costs (mostly gas money and food since I generally don't buy new or upgrade technology from one year to the next and don't chase enough for vehicle maintenance to be a significant issue) to each monthly budget that I run. I just know that when April, May, and June come around, I'm going to spend a few hundred dollars more than I otherwise would if I didn't chase. It's very easy to manage.
 
I look at it like big game hunting. I used to go hunting pretty often out West and In Alaska. Now I "hunt" in the plains. Putting yourself in the right position to see your prey in Wyoming is similar to putting yourself in the right position to see a tornado and successfully shooting an elk then is my shooting a tornado now.
The money spent on either one I always justified to myself as an opportunity for some much needed R&R. It's vacation time whenever I hit the road. I've never looked at the total cost because i think everyone needs a chance to unwind in their own way and you really can't put a price on it. I can't think of a whole lot of other things that can let me unwind and recharge my batteries like chasing can. So, after all of that, I try not to think about how much it might cost so it doesn't stress me on my "vacation"
 
As others have stated, the sale of video really doesn't cut it anymore. It might make chasing less expensive, but unless you can show a bona fide profit on a consecutive basis, then 3+ years of losses, when expenses/write-offs are weighed with profits, net it as a hobby and the IRS will not accept continued classification as a "business" expense for tax deduction purposes.

This is a good point that Jesse brings up, and is the reason I put in the extra work (rain/snow/corporate video) to make sure the business turns a profit most every year.

Shane has a point about the beach analogy. But think of it this way: What if you had sources that would pay you half-decent money for the seashells you collect on the beach? It wouldn't take much time to go out for an hour a day and pick up some nice specimens, something most people probably do anyway when they go to the beach. You drop those seashells off and get a check that pays for the airfare. You can then use that money you would have spent on the trip to pay off some bills at home or treat yourself to some other things throughout the year. Not a perfect analogy I know, but hopefully that makes sense.

Again, I know it's a matter of preference. All methods brought up in this thread are valid ways to accomplish the goal of being able to chase.
 
I've never sold any photos/video so to me, chasing is similar to going on a vacation or weekend trip. I usually figure that the price of a chase trip starts at $500 and goes up with additional days. On longer chases I usually have rented a vehicle, add in gas, food, and lodging so that right there is around $500. Last year I bought a new camera and tablet which added even more to the cost. When this time of year comes around I usually just cut back on spending, make sure that I pay off any debt, and then save up what I can.
 
What if you had sources that would pay you half-decent money for the seashells you collect on the beach? It wouldn't take much time to go out for an hour a day and pick up some nice specimens, something most people probably do anyway when they go to the beach. You drop those seashells off and get a check that pays for the airfare.

Oh, I certainly see your point, and I wasn't disagreeing with the notion of planned ROI. I was just using that analogy to illustrate how I view my chasing the same way other people view their "normal" 2-week, etc etc annual trip vacation. I have had minimal sales and ROI from a very few attempts over the years, but it takes money to make money and right now we're just not financially setup to be able to chase most events, or take a day and travel for winter weather type ENG events. I would probably jump at the chance if it ever presented itself, but I've made my choices through the years and I'm pretty much in a place where (for the time being anyway) we're just gonna have to keep chuggin' away with what we have/where we're at.

Bridget, being a woman and a Mom, is far more sensible than I am regarding real life and normal living, and her presence in my life has certainly helped in regards to financial planning and day to day living. She's like a bank with money, and comes up with little ways for us to save on daily life stuff, the kind of things I'm either (1) too ignorant or (2) too impatient/lazy to do on my own. Much of the success I've enjoyed since she came into my life I owe to her. I still am constantly anxious and uptight when I think too far ahead about how we're gonna pay for the next chase season, but I remind myself that we're a "take it a day at a time" type of couple. We always seem to have what we need when the chases come around (to a degree), and while that never guarantees us chasing success, it can somewhat guarantee we'll have the chance to succeed.
 
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