Back on the road to our next event in April, the Minnesota-Wisconsin-Iowa TRIO Tri-State Conference in Rochester, Minnesota! We are headed to the Land of 10,000 Lakes and home to The Purple One himself, the artist currently known as Prince. Full disclosure: this post was composed after a loooooooong Prince bender of watching his best performances on YouTube and singing along to Purple Rain and When the Doves Cry at full volume. We bear no responsibility for what follows.
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The spring of 2016 is a bit of a blur for DreamCatcher. With only two of us in this little baby company, we have to split up when the calendar overlaps. That means two sets of materials for the DCC booths and two volunteers to travel with us on the road. Whitney's husband Drew steps up to join her in Oklahoma and dear friend (and former TRIO colleague), Meredith, joins Aimee in Missouri. Let's pause for a minute to give a shout-out to those who've made this venture possible. These friends include former TRIO colleagues whose expertise and knowledge of federal TRIO programs -- including Upward Bound, Educational Talent Search, and SSS (thanks, Mary Kate!) -- have been lifesavers when it comes to reviewing our materials and providing advice. We have a long list of peeps who edited materials, provided feedback, assisted with booth design, and supported us along the way. Our jobs in TRIO gave us many gifts, not the least of which are these precious friendships. Here's to treasuring old friends and making new friends along the way!
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Texas Association of Student Special Services Programs (TASSSP) will always be special to DreamCatcher. It was our first conference as business owners and marked the first sales for our company. The positive feedback and response was beyond all expectations. Thank you, Texas TRIO! Ya'll were good to us. But it's time to hit the road to Kansas...
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It is Day 2 of the Texas Association for Student Special Services Programs (TASSSP) conference in Galveston, Texas and DreamCatcher Curriculum has just sold our first products, only 29 days after scrambling to start our business in time for this event. Walking along the beach on Galveston Island, taking in the gorgeous sunset, hearing the waves splash against the rock pier, the feeling of pure joy is hard to contain. If we didn't have dinner reservations half an hour from now, we would likely be skipping down the shore with our bare feet in the sand.
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We traveled all this way (Galveston, Texas isn't exactly in our backyard) and still have no idea if this will work, our little dream of a company. Will anyone even buy our materials?
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Looking back, it doesn't seem possible that we could accomplish so much in such little time. Amazing what you can do when your heart is set on it. All those weeks of work and planning--even with the flurry of meetings, curriculum drafts, and seemingly millions of things to do--it was SO. MUCH. FUN! It doesn't seem possible that we could be doing this for our day job. Well, hold on.
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Without a doubt, we know starting a brand new company is risky. Quitting the jobs we loved, also risky. Having no source of income for several months, incredibly risky! But running the risk of a lifetime's worth of disappointment over NOT TRYING? The risk of regret would be too great. We had to go for it. Here's the tale of how two friends and kindred-spirit colleagues founded a company with absolutely no experience in business...
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This is us! We are Aimee Gutowski and Whitney Srsen, two long-time friends and colleagues with unusual last names and much in common. We are both country girls, being raised in a rural setting (Aimee grew up near Mannford, Oklahoma; Whitney is from Greenland, Arkansas). Both of our families struggled financially and couldn't pay for college expenses. Both of us were the first generation in our families to attend and graduate from college.
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