Last night, we had so much fun attending the Indy Dream Year Pitch Night–a night celebrating dreamers and also celebrating author Ben Arment and the launch of his book Dream Year.
It was our 9th wedding anniversary last night, and during the whole event, I was thinking about the night Mike and I spent together launching into a our biggest dream nine years ago exactly. The similarities were striking, really. Last night our best man, Mike’s dad, was sitting across the table from us and cheering us on. We stood up, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, in front of a crowd of expectant people. Both nights, we were so confident in our decision to make the leap. We trusted, both times, that God has good for us.
We had friends take time out of their full lives to support us. In a lot of ways it felt like we were pledging a big promise in front of people who we love. In a word, it felt like commitment. When you put words to a dream, you are fleshing it out and making it real. You are putting it into the world and opening yourself up to rejection or criticism. It’s scary but exhilarating, much like when you pledge your life to your spouse.
Author of Dream Year Ben Arment says that your dream won’t have guts and longevity if it isn’t borne out of a frustration that is unique to you. And, as much as we LOVE ethical fashion (and we DO!), our frustration is that there are hurting families everywhere. Wildly Co. is our vehicle to fund our day to day (and satiate our love for business!) while we make our mission in life to love families well.
So, the fun thing about Dream Year Pitch Nights is that 10 dreamers get to pitch their idea to the audience and have the potential to win a bit of money to help make their dream happen. We each presented 20 slides at 20 seconds a piece (VERY stressful with the timing! ha!) in the format of Pecha Kucha. This format made for really compelling and dynamic talks–I’d highly recommend this format if you’re planning a presentation event!
We are WILD about our dream, but there were SO many amazing ideas pitched–so we were CRAZY excited, thrilled, shocked to win the prize money! We can’t wait to put it towards making Wildly Co. even more awesome.
We’re so grateful for Ben Arment–who is the epitome of kind and generous–and Mike Rowell–an emerging face in the Indianapolis scene. They put on an amazing event, and we were so proud to participate.
God is good and we are so grateful. Below is the talk we gave last night at the event!
Today, we’re attempting to make it to 50% funded on our Kickstarter (as of now, we are $705 away)!! We’d be MASSIVELY grateful if you thought about pledging. We have SUCH fun rewards at each pledge point–and each and every pledge REALLY makes a difference for us in this dream.
If want to join with us in the dream, we’d LOVE for you to join in our Kickstarter. We’d be SO grateful!!
