Featured on What Works Network — Dana the Dreamer

I was working as a professional social worker and happened to be in transition between jobs– my husband had a side business for development and design and had an upcoming project and basically said “remember that dream we’ve always had to do something creative together? well I created an email for you under C. Breimhurst Media Co (our old business name)” at that point, he just left the rest up to me. At first I was like “sure! I’ll answer your email for you haha” but after time and space, I got curious and started asking questions only to find that entrepreneurship was fun and exciting to me!

There were so many women entrepreneurs (I’d say at least ten or so in the past year) who inspired me to keep going and to actually OWN what I stepped into… some of them are in this community! They were a source of inspiration all day every day for me. Many of these women when faced with life transitions or a shift in focus didn’t wait for the world to define them, but instead defined what they bring to the world. That’s the true definition of a life-changer, a community builder and it made a HUGE difference for me to hear their stories and accept their encouragement.

A website re-design for a band! It was fun and I learned a LOT about managing projects and coordinating content– it was a springboard that put me on the path to the content first/client centered approach we use now when we design or develop anything.

Last fall—I was mid-rebrand for our business but we made the decision for me to go full time as a volunteer on a political grassroots campaign for a month leading up to the elections– maybe a risky move to do mid-projects, but for several reasons, it was one of the best decisions I have ever made! I know stepping away helped me realize just how invested I was in making Pennant Creatives what it is today and also solidified for me that part of the reason I’m doing this work is so that I have flexibility to participate and lead in my community work without having to worry about a paycheck to do so. It was awesome to realize that I can own and run a company, continue my community work on boards and through activism, and have the flexibility to do both because I am the Dreamer at Pennant Creatives! As someone who has many passions, It’s awesome to realize you CAN and should wear all the hats.

Success for my business for me means that I’ve left our customer feeling great about what they are presenting to the world and that through their interactions with us, they feel encouraged and empowered to keep going– building a business can be lonely so we try not to make our design and development process lonely.
For myself, it’s defined as leading by values, leaving the community a better place as much a possible by the work I do, showing up for my family, and using my creativity to inspire and empower others in the work that they do.

It varies SO much! On a typical day I wake up with my family (my designer/husband/partner-in-crime and our spirited 2 year old daughter– oh, and our fur baby 2 year old pup) and help get everyone up and running. Then the work day either looks like collaborative meetings or networking to keep our projects on track around town or online, planning, writing, designing, and strategy work sessions at my awesome co-working space, or sometimes getting work done between toddler play times, during naptime, or in between community work on a campaign or with one of the boards I’m on… it just depends on the day. Being a ‘work from home family’ we stay flexible and nimble– we love that the four of us can be together a LOT right now and the schedule DOES lend itself to creativity and focusing on pockets of productivity and of course as any toddler or puppy parent would also acknowledge: a little banana goo and the occasional chaotic day and/or mandatory naptime for all (yes, even for the dreamer and the designer).

Strengths based outlook– my ability to look at every situation with the possibilities and strengths in mind REALLY helps when managing a company and keeping projects on track with happy campers in tow. 🙂

Knowing and understanding my target market! But I hear this comes with time…

Getting to know so many AMAZING businesses and learning about the awesome work that they do. I never tire of it.

Being myself! I spent the first year of business chasing shiny objects (which is totally normal so don’t feel bad if you do it!) and then got kind of tired and so I just decided to try a more authentic approach. So now I’m tapping into who we are and how we roll to guide our operations and culture, and tapping into my introverted qualities to have quality conversations instead of a hyper networking type approach that I felt pressured to accomplish in my first year. It’s more authentic to me, people get the ‘slow roll’ approach and get to know us, and in the process everyone gains something they need– be that empowerment, a service we provide, a new friend, or a great conversation. Sometimes the simplest thing really is the best thing… and sometimes it’s not even all that shiny and that’s ok!

We’re trying out a vlog that might turn into a podcast. It’s called The Dreamer & The Designer. It’s in VERY early stages, but it’s on IGTV and YouTube right now and we hope to focus in on how it feels to be a work from home family.

I love hearing all of the different experiences that all of the entrepreneurs have at the WW Network. I feel like every time I visit the community I learn something new! I am looking for some coffee dates to get to know people one on one better –I know WWN has some fellow introverts– message me!