It took a village of exceptionally knowledgeable and creative folks to get Relationship Reveal™ made. Volumes could be written about them.
Here they are:
Meg Van Deusen, PhD. Meg is a subject matter expert who consulted on the content. Her decades of experience as a clinical therapist, working extensively with couples, was invaluable. She is an outstanding person as well who made me laugh and never lose hope that this project was a good idea. I will never feel the same about the word "enable" again. Through her wisdom, I have a love of attachment theory. She practices in the Seattle, Washington area.
Piper Lauri Salogga, Founder and Principle at the Living Sensual Institute and Piper Lauri Salogga Interiors. Piper is a certified Master of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, life coach, and an expert in Feng Shui. She added depth of thought around neurology and the influence of language on the human experience in relationships. Her passion for living and creating deeper connections between people brought a lively and knowledgeable energy to the process. Her support and great energy has kept me going during the more challenging parts of the project when I wanted to give up.
Char Davidson, Owner and Creative Maven at Small and Mighty Creative. Char is in a word, amazing. She took my vision and made it into something tangible. Her creative leadership was spot on, not to mention always on time. And, best of all, she made the process fun, which was crucial. The end result was more than I hoped for and something I will always be proud to say I was part of.
Rochelle Short, freelance writer, editor, and social media consultant. She owns her company Type A in Seattle, Washington. Rochelle rearranged my thinking about so many things by asking great questions and putting a critical eye all over the project. I smile when I see her handiwork, whether it was word placement or enough focus on her favorite topics.
Ann Gosch, Editor at byGosch Editorial Services. Ann brought her decades of non-fiction editorial experience to bear and made sure all of the i's were dotted and t's crossed. I hope she doesn't read this section and weep.
Kirk Meiser, Emerald City Graphics. Kirk had a painful job. He received a box many months ago with the idea it should simply be replicated more or less as it was. With each new idea and design change, new box requests were sent over and he responded to each of them with a good sense of humor and a great deal of grace. I chose ECG because they were local and produced great work, but mostly because Kirk was great to work with and he understood the complexities and challenges of producing something for the first time. He was filled with honesty and creative ideas.
Madhu Singh and Zainab Hussain, legal masterminds at the Foundry Law Group. One of the toughest challenges as a new entrepreneur is knowing how to navigate the legal world surrounding your product and business endeavors. Madhu and Zainab were knowledgeable about every question I asked and there were many, many little and big ones. They helped me with every detail from NDA's to forming the LLC. It was invaluable to have a relationship where I could call and have my mind set at ease quickly and wisely. They were patient and kind, and for that I am grateful. I know as my business grows, they will grow right along with me and I am looking forward to that journey with them.
Carol Whitfield, owner of Clooney Dog & Friends Photography. Her passion is pet photography but she is so brilliant at it that I convinced her to take product pictures. The results were just as beautiful and she created images that aligned with the brand look and feel and brought out the vivid colors of the packaging. It was also a fun afternoon of collaboration and marveling at how wonderful it was pursuing what you love.
Kim Lancaster, fellow writer and owner of Web Works Creative, is a member of my weekly writing group and has been a key cheerleader, problem solver, and idea generator. She listens patiently and knows exactly when to step in with words to make me feel good and makes suggestions in ways that keep my skills growing.
The BIG Group (the Business Ignition Group of the Women's Business Exchange) is a group of exceptionally talented women in all stages of entrepreneurship who came together for eight months to support each other. We were led by the incredible mystic and mentor, Megan McGeowin and Chris Estes, owner of Group Estes Realty. They both gave us so much guidance throughout our time together. I would love to shout out all of the groups amazing businesses and adventures but we agreed that what happens in the BIG room stays in the BIG room so until I have permission, I will keep their identities mum. Suffice it to say, they are an intelligent, creative, generous, insightful, gifted, and fun group of women. I look forward to being on this journey with them for a long time.
Julie and Rumi. My very first users. You added one of my favorite cards, Imagination. We have been colleagues and friends for decades now and it continues to be a huge gift.
The test team: Nic, Pele, Meg, Cindy, Greg, Patty, Todd, Roma, Lynn, Inderjeet, Jim, Michelle, Doane, Beth, Julia (who also taught me about confidence) and a few others behind the scenes were the first full-product testers and provided pivotal feedback and encouragement. I couldn't have done it without them and I hope they will see their work in the finished product. Here's to making our relationships better while having fun!
My offspring. She is the queen of moral support and encouragement. My business problems (e.g. how much will I have to pay for storage if a pallet is this big and the product is this big) have become her extra math homework and she took each challenge seriously. Her research skills to find a shrink wrapping machine were much needed. She taught me how to shrink wrap and if you are one of the first packages shipped, it was likely wrapped by her.
Russell. He stood by patiently while I burned the kettle, abandoned the laundry, disappeared with my PC, and ordered piles of Thai take-out.
My family. They provided moral and design support. Best suggested name from them, "Dog House No More". I bet if they never see another email asking about colors and logos they will be really happy.
My friends. Answerers and fielders of my biggest questions. "Will you read this?" "What do you think about this idea?" "Do you think I should really do this?" "Will it work?" They are a network of amazing, smart, and successful business people, parents, partners, and friends who know just the right answer at just the right time. I couldn't get by without them.
Jane Park, CEO and Founder of Julep. When Jane spoke at the Women's Business Exchange in Seattle, she transformed how I looked at being an entrepreneur. Her lessons learned were invaluable in helping me through my mistakes, and reminding me to have a sense of humor. They were going to happen so learn something and move on. She was more eloquent than that so apparently I have more to learn.
Thank you to everyone who participated in making this project come to life whether through encouragement and support, or direct hands-on work. My world goes round because of you!