Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Rayne Lacko, Author of Dream Up Now, located in Seattle, WA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Dream Up Now offers arts-based, social-emotional learning materials for teens aged 12-18. In 2024, we will release guided journals for students in Kindergarten to Grade Two and Grades Three through Five.

  • Helping Teens Move from Darkness into Light -

Dream Up Now is the teen journal for creative self-discovery for young people ages 12-18, from Free Spirit Publishing, the leader in social-emotional learning for 40 years.

Featuring 18 recognized leaders in the arts exploring 36 dark and light emotions, this journal — and a series of online and in-person workshops and pop-up camps — combines emotional and social wellness skills with engagement in various art forms: creative writing, art, movement, music, and poetry, moving from darkness into light. Our customers are parents, educators, librarians, counselors, therapists—and students, of course!

Tell us about yourself

I am a Young Adult author who is an advocate for the arts. Writing and arts are at the core of everything I do. I am deeply motivated to help young people manage their emotions by using their natural creativity. When a teen is given an opportunity to shine a light on their feelings, discovering the words or images to articulate pain, trauma, disappointment, or fear relieves it of its power.

Expressing it with words, visual images, or movement relieves pain and helps the participant to take inventory of their strengths, pinpoint their talents, and create a concrete plan for directing their days toward the completion of a heartfelt goal.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment is that my passion for social-emotional learning continues to grow. The more I engage in research, teaching, and creating materials to help teens and young children understand and manage their emotions, the more energetic and motivated I feel. I am growing with my business, and I’m helping others to grow too.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

The hardest part of being a business owner is getting the word out to the people I most want to serve. Our global community is saturated with incoming information—some of it useful, and some of it entertaining—and it’s difficult to bring my voice to the people who could benefit from the emotional support materials we’ve created.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Choose something that will help you grow personally and that serves your community.
  2. Never stop learning. If you love what you do, it is a joy to always be learning more about your industry, how you can become better, and how your product can become better.
  3. Get support. Running a business is demanding. From creating a product to promotion to filing taxes, it helps to have a team. Many services can be outsourced, thank goodness. But it’s a lot more fun if you share your journey with others who care about the work you’re doing.

Where can people find you and your business?

Facebook:
https://bit.ly/3Y5YgaK
https://www.facebook.com/dreamupnowjournal/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dreamupnowjournal/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raynelacko/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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