(gentle music) - [Announcer] Envista is pleased to support Working Capital.

Switch to empowered, switch to Envista.

Learn more at envistacu.com.

- [Narrator] GO Topeka's Entrepreneurial and Minority Business Development is proud to support Working Capital.

We share the vision to assist local entrepreneurs with growing their business.

- [Man] Additional funding is provided by the Friends of KTWVU.

- Welcome back to another episode of Working Capital.

On today's show we meet two businesses whose owners dared themselves to dream big.

Whether you're stump planning a big event or just need to get away for a good cup of Joe, today's featured entrepreneurs have you covered.

Stay with us as we learn a little about connecting to community business.

It's all about business on Working Capital.

(upbeat music) Hello and welcome to Working Capital.

Dare to Dream Event Management has 25 years experience in helping people in businesses with their event planning.

Cheryl Clark can design and manage any size event you can think of.

From professional athlete draft day parties to your little one's fifth birthday party.

No event is too big or too small.

Cheryl, welcome to Working Capital.

- Thank you for having me.

- Yeah, it's great to have you here today.

So Dare to Dream Event Management, I've seen some of your photos on Facebook, stuff is beautiful, but where did you get the inspiration for this business?

- Actually, back in 2014 is when our business opened.

And I've been doing a lot of work for the community, over 25 years, civic and non civically, for churches, nonprofits, and other organizations 'cause I have a passion for event planning.

So in 2014, two friends of mine, basically strong armed me and said, you really have a talent for this, you really should open your business.

So after I thought about it for quite some time, I went ahead and opened up Dare to Dream Event Management.

- That's fantastic, now, this is not your only career.

I mean, you are balancing this.

How do you find the time management with a full-time career and then adding a second career?

- This is my full-time part-time fun job.

(both chuckling) So I really enjoy event planning, it's a passion that I have.

So, the balancing act is really, it's one of those things that you know you wanna do and so you just kinda go for it.

And so it's not, it hasn't been really hard for me to balance it because I have a love for it.

So it's my fun job.

- Yeah, so 25 years before that, where did you spark?

I mean, who were you around when you were little?

Was there someone who really inspired you with this creative path?

- Actually my entire family is pretty creative.

My mother's sister, her older sister, she's passed away now, she used to do weddings, she would do redesigns of homes, make curtains, Cadillac curtains.

I mean she was that lady.

Yeah, do it all.

And so I got a lot of my inspiration from her because that's the things that she loved and then being around her, of course, you know, when you're little you're like, I wanna be like her.

So that's where that came from.

- Okay, what was one of the toughest obstacles you had when you opened this business?

- Wanting to know if I really really wanted to do it was an obstacle because it was my fun job.

And I didn't want it to become a burden in doing so.

I wanted to always have fun, always continue to be innovative.

So at first it was kinda like, you know, on that water like yes or no.

But once I jumped into it, I knew that I would wanna continue to do it.

So that was an obstacle (chuckling).

- How did your family take this?

I mean, career, career, you also have a family.

I mean, how do you find that time in there or have they been a big part of helping out?

- They have been a big part of helping out because they know I love it.

They know I am the one that always does the family dinners.

Our house is pretty much the love hub where everybody comes and gathers all the time.

So they were pretty receptive to it.

- So you've been around since 2014 really doing this now, how have you marketed your business?

How do you grow your business?

- A lot of it has been word of mouth.

People will tell if you do a good job and they will tell if you are horrible.

So word of mouth has been really big for us, Facebook, Instagram, our website is up now.

And so that's been a lot of our promotion.

- And I'm guessing, I mean, really with people coming to you, if you don't need to market, I mean, looking at weekends, you got 52 weekends a year, so you may have one or two events a weekend.

I mean, you kind of only, if you were totally swamped, only have about 100 to 200 events you could do a year, if you can manage that so, how do you manage when you have three or four things in the same week?

I mean how do you, what tools do you use for this?

- Well I have a team of people that are really great that happen to be my family.

All six of the people that work for me are my family.

So they understand our expectations, they know exactly what I want.

So, that's been pretty easy balancing, training others to do what I do.

- Now, all of our businesses across the spectrum had a heck of a last year dealing with COVID.

How did you guys deal with that, with kind of the downturn in events?

Or because you were an event planner, did you kinda have an uptick in a way just because you're able to kinda make sure everything is right and kind of around COVID guidelines?

- You know, to be quite honest our business really jumped off last year when COVID started.

And then this year, it's been overwhelmingly good as well.

So it's, it hasn't been a pullback for us 'cause people are wanting to still celebrate.

We're just finding ways for them to celebrate safely.

- With this kinda going gangbusters, what, how do you turn people away?

- I've learned how to say no.

Because with the balancing, I have to live a little bit, you know.

I have a husband, I have two adult children and a grandson.

So I'm really learning this balancing act and originally it's been hard for me to tell people no because I love a good party.

If we can party, let's party.

But I am telling people, no I can't.

- It's a good word to learn.

So it's time for a short break.

Please stay with us as we talk more about what dreams may come for Cheryl and her business.

We'll be right back.

You're watching Working Capital.

(instrumental music) Welcome back to the show.

Cheryl, you just recently received a Women of Influence Award here in Topeka.

I know you've gotten a lot of these awards.

How have those affected your business?

How those affected your outlook on the community?

- It's actually given us a lot of promotion actually.

In winning those awards, it really shows me that the work that we're doing here in the community is being noticed and people are appreciative of what we're doing.

And so it's just been a really good thing for us.

Winning the Women of Influence Award for the Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year, that was great.

So unexpected, amazing.

And then in May we won Minority-Owned Business of Distinction award with GO Topeka, the Topeka Greater Partnership.

So that was great as well.

We've got a lot of things going on (chuckling).

- And it's nice too.

I've noticed, some of your multimedia influence, I mean, you're not just highlighting your business, you're highlighting other businesses, whether it's women owned business or other just local businesses, you know, kinda shop local type of feel.

How does that reciprocate with you?

I mean (indistinct).

- I love promoting other people.

It's great, it just helps me know we're not out here alone, you know.

And we wanna support other businesses.

We want them to win as well.

So that's been a really great highlight.

We do that every Friday, on our Facebook page and then we put it in other groups.

So other people know that they're here because there's a lot of businesses that people don't know about.

- And are there any other groups you're helping out with?

What else do you do to kind of help mentor or get involved with other businesses?

- Actually, on the mentorship part, I have a high school student that I'm mentoring right now.

She wanted to be an entrepreneur and event planner.

She said I didn't know we had any in Topeka.

So when she heard of our business, she just wanted to ask me a few questions and I just volunteered to mentor her and she's overly excited about it.

So I'm excited too because I'm ultimately trying to work myself out of a job.

When I say that, you know, there's a difference in working in your business and working on your business.

I wanna work on my business so it can elevate and be much more than what it is now.

- And that just reinforces me the passion you have for this.

I mean, people can be good at business, you know.

You can be a good business runner and find the right niche.

But, you really, the passion shows in all this and the way you kinda, I don't wanna say over the top, but I mean, you make it, you make their dreams come true from what I've seen, so that's fantastic.

Now, with that in mind, what's some of your most memorable events you've worked on?

- Oh Jay I've had an opportunity to work with a array of clients.

From professional athletes to the everyday work in person, to the working mom that has, a single mom that has four kids.

So every event, I could tell you basically all the events I've ever planned because I love every single one of them.

So I don't have one, particular one that is the most memorable for me, but I do have a lot of clients that they're so grateful, those crying clients (chuckling) that walk in the room and they're just, on the floor.

I've made a high school student do it, at her graduation party.

She was overwhelmed by everything.

So those things are memorable for me, but I remember all of my events.

- And that probably makes it more rewarding than even the paycheck.

I mean when you see those faces and you know those videos and memories are gonna be with them forever, you really did create the atmosphere (indistinct) - Yes, that's what I love.

- So with that in mind, what have you been doing lately?

What's some of the new offerings you have at Dare to Dream?

- We're doing pop-up picnics, well the weather's changed, but we started that June 1st, rolled that out.

And we went really strong up until about the end of August, 1st of September.

We did over 50 picnics.

It was a hit here.

It's not done in Topeka and we're doing the luxury pop-up picnics and they love it.

- So was it like multiple in a day?

I mean you got enough where you're like, okay, you can come at two, then we gotta reset, so you can come at five.

- Father's Day We had eight, on Father's Day.

- So, how many people do you have helping you on those days?

- For the pop-up picnics, believe it or not, it was just me and my husband.

Because I wanted to connect with the people.

I wanted to make sure that this is working for next year.

I wanted feedback directly from the clients.

And I'm that person, if it doesn't work or something you think I need to change, tell me.

I wanna know, I want your input.

So my husband and I did all of them this summer.

- Oh that's fantastic.

I like that he's actually helping.

That shows that he actually is involved and, you know, believes in what you're doing.

He's just not home watching football and like, oh go do your thing, I'm glad you're out of the house, you know, I got my free time, so.

- Right.

- [Jay] Has he been there the whole time?

- He has.

- [Jay] How else does he help you?

- Yeah, he's been the driver, the loader, the secretary, you (indistinct) (Cheryl chuckling) I'm telling you he's been everything to me when I need someone to do it to try to take a little bit of load off me.

I do have some employees but some of the stuff day to day, I do because I don't wanna bog down other people but we've grown a lot.

So going into 2022 we're doing some things different.

- So where do you go from here?

- Oh, you know, up.

We continue to go up, you know, we're revamping some things, changing the way we do business a little bit, getting my team more involved because I'm doing other things.

Like this week I'm going to be speaking with the Kansas Chamber, the Women in Business Panel, I'm gonna be a part of that panel.

I was a part of another panel, with the International Associates of Business Communicators, that's what it is, IABC.

I was on one of their panels as well.

So I'm doing a lot of business things, promoting our business so, that's what we're doing.

- Congratulations on the awards, congratulations on the great work I've seen and I look forward to seeing some of your events in the future.

- Thank you so much.

- It's time for another short break.

When we return, we order the new scoop on Milk and Honey Coffee Co, stick around.

You're watching Working Capital.

(instrumental music) Welcome back.

Milk and Honey Coffee Co has defied the odds in their first year of business.

The dream couldn't be derailed by a pandemic, it only made the backbone of the business stronger.

Darlene Morgan and Chris Hartman created a space for community to gather and grab a good cup of coffee, hot chocolate or tasty treat.

Darlene, welcome to Working Capital.

- Thanks Jay.

- I love your new coffee shop.

I've been out there a few times.

Now it's in a spot that most people don't think of new businesses opening up.

Tell me about the location, why you chose that?

- Well the location was chosen simply because we feel like there's so many coffee shops on the other side of town and this was an area that was really needed.

And not only that, I am actually a graduate from Highland Park High School and my girls attend Shawnee Heights.

So the location was really important to try to stay close to home.

And we're just very fortunate to find this building.

- And it really is becoming a community space.

Tell me a little about that, about some of your employees, about how you kind of have integrated into the community there.

- The space was actually created just based off a dream.

I mean it was something that I really, and Chris too, we wanted to do.

We wanted to bring communities together, bring Highland Park, Shawnee Heights communities together and create a space where people could come, do ministry do tutoring, mentoring, you know students can come over and study.

And not only that, you know a lot of the students that work there are from within the area so it makes it really helpful to them to get to work and stuff.

- And even with that the students, do they have some involvement with the building?

I mean did I see they helped with the murals?

I mean they're kind of connected even on that side of it, not just building the community, but it seems like they've been helping with the feel of the place.

- Well two things there.

So students refers to like, you know, the students from Highland Park and Shawnee Heights.

So we created an opportunity for them to do the murals.

So we reached out to both schools and they just were thrilled to try to, you know, partner with us and create these murals.

And so we got a lot of entries and there were a handful of students selected for each side of the building to create the murals.

The team that actually works there is also really crucial because they, I tell them they're a part of this place.

They're just not people who come and work there.

They actually are invested in this place.

And I tell them you guys are making a difference too, you're making history right alongside Chris and I.

And so that's why a lot of the milk and honey sleeves that we have are actually done by everybody that works there.

So everybody has a good part in this.

- And I love those sleeves.

Let's talk a little bit about that.

Each sleeve you get on that cup of coffee, what does it have on it?

- It has an inspirational saying or it has a quote or it has a Bible verse.

You know I think that was really part of the reason why we came there.

It wasn't realized until later on, but I think God absolutely had a purpose for us.

And it was to bring hope to the community.

My daughter, Olivia, actually had this idea that we were gonna write on the cups, a short time after we opened the shop and I was like, oh, we can't touch the cups too close you know, pandemic and all.

And we decided, hey, you know, these sleeves create a perfect opportunity to just write messages.

And it's just worked out so well.

everybody gets something that, you know, means something to them.

- Why is there so much passion behind coffee?

How does the coffee play in to this whole thing?

- You know, as Chris said once, you know coffee brings people together.

And I think it really does because it creates a space and an opportunity to just, you kick back, you're just enjoying a hot cup of coffee or tea or something.

You can sit, you can read, you can visit with people.

It's just inviting.

It's a place that community can come together and you don't have to rush.

You know we're all in a rush these days, it gives you a chance to just sit back and just embrace the moments and just, you know, be yourself, just hang out.

- And it seems like the community really is embracing this.

I mean, from even some of your business partners that are around town, you're using some Hazel Hill Chocolate and some of the stuff, your Blue Jazz coffee, I mean, you've even just won a Women of Influence Award.

I mean, tell me a little bit about how community has really helped you with this.

- Community has always been vital when we opened the shop.

Community has just been, you know, one of our mottos is community driven.

And so we try to locally source so much.

So then to create the syrup, with Hazel Hill, they created the syrup for us, the sauce, that we can use in all of our coffee drinks, was something that, you know, was phenomenal.

I mean it's something that we actually were happy to do.

But I mean it's not just that, it's just not only doing the Hazel Hill.

Then we use two local honey providers, T Creek Honey, as well as Fifer Honey Farms and of course Blue Jazz.

And then you get into all the artists works, all the artists that are local that display their art there.

So definitely community and locally sourced.

- That is fantastic.

Well, it's time for another short break.

We'll be right back.

(instrumental music) We're back to learn a little more about Milk and Honey.

Okay Darlene, what was one of the biggest obstacles you faced opening this new business?

- Well that's kind of a given, it's the pandemic.

But you know, you, a lot of people may call it an obstacle.

I think it wasn't until a few months in, we just saw it more as a blessing in disguise because it gave us a lot of opportunity to really polish things up, staffing, stocking, learning everything there is about running a coffee shop.

So in a way it definitely was God given to us.

I mean we don't want a pandemic to happen.

However, we have the drive-through and so- - You were able to adapt.

- Exactly.

- And speaking of the pandemic, you opened up, on your grand opening day, how long after did they start closing everything down?

- Three days later, yeah.

- So, how did you take that curve ball and start making it work for you?

How did you make that business model work with that pandemic starting to rage?

- I gotta give credit to our team.

You know our team is a lot of younger people than myself and Chris and they have this resilience about them.

So the day that I walked into the shop, hearing that you know we were gonna have to shut our doors, the team was just like, okay, what do we do?

How do we do it?

We're gonna run coffee out the door to people.

And it was incredible.

- They picked you up.

- They totally picked me up.

- That is fantastic.

So, speaking of your employees, and we talked a little bit earlier about some community, partners that you kinda have.

Recently, you did launch something kind of new at your establishment.

Tell me a little about it.

- We launched our own Milk and Honey Coffee Blend.

It's a house coffee, It's not a flavor of coffee.

And this was something that actually came from the ideas of Kevin Conard and Dustin Fluke over there at Blue Jazz.

And when they mentioned, you know, creating a coffee just specifically made for milk and honey, man, Chris and I just jumped on that.

And so we gave them a couple of blends that we were interested in, Dustin put it together and it took three different tries and third time was definitely a charm.

And it is, it's just really, it's really good.

It's a light, flavorful, chestnut, kind of a nougat blend, but just leaves, you know, a nice lingering flavor, not a bitter at all.

- And of course you want me to come in and grab a cup of coffee from you, but can you buy that coffee and take home with you?

- Yeah you can absolutely buy it.

So the days that we feature it are Fridays and Saturdays, as a brewed coffee, but we keep one pound bags on the shelf at all times.

So of course the first day we sold it or we launched it, we ran out like within three hours.

But we're definitely making sure the stocks, you know, is there at all times.

- So where do you plan on going in the future?

What's the growth for Milk and Honey?

- You know that's probably a good question for Christ.

I don't know, I don't know.

I mean we are getting to the point right now where the team is just fitting in and they're just working things out.

You know Chris and I are to the point where we're feeling comfortable with how we're serving people, with how we're running the business and even, you know, trusting our employees to open shop, you know here and there.

And we just kinda have to, you know, I don't wanna rush it.

Yeah, I would love to, you know, have another shop open.

I can kind of visualize something fairly small.

I do know one thing, I wish we could give our baker, Sean, you know, a bigger kitchen.

I think that would be so cool.

So I think if we did anything, we would kind of gravitate toward that so that we can offer more baked goods on a regular basis 'cause we ran out.

- So what did it take to open your business?

What kind of capital did you have?

What did you have to rely on?

- A lot of faith (chuckling).

Honestly a lot of faith, knowing that, you know, this was meant to be, it was meant to happen.

You know Chris put in a lot of his retirement funds into it and that's where the brunt of it came, along with, you know, Topeka had some funding available for us, small business loan, you know the small business administration and honestly Heritage Bank was absolutely crucial and super helpful.

Could not have done it without them.

- And you don't do this for applause, You don't do it for recognition, but you were named a Woman of Influence this year for what you've done with Milk and Honey.

How do you feel about that award?

I mean a little justification of what you're doing?

- When I think about that reward, I think about how I have to see that God absolutely worked in my life because I told the women there at the ceremony, you know, three years ago, four years ago and prior to that, being a woman of influence was definitely not a consideration.

And so God did a lot of work in my life and changed a lot of things.

And I think seeing it through how people come in now and they're happy and we're making a difference with the students and the schools and local businesses that's where it's at.

It's, you know, I can influence, but you can only go so far without, you know, giving credit to the businesses, the people in Topeka.

It's, that's where it happens, that's where the influence comes from.

- Well Milk and Honey is definitely a new bright spot to peak and I look forward to seeing it for years to come.

- Thanks Jay.

- We've reached the end of tonight's show.

I'd like to thank Cheryl Clark from Dare to Dream Event Management, along with Darlene Morgan from Milk and Honey Coffee Co for being with us this evening and sharing their stories.

As always, if you know interesting businesses or management techniques, we wanna hear from you.

So give us a call, drop us an email or send us a letter.

We look forward to hearing from you.

See you next time and thanks for watching.

It's all about business and you've been watching Working Capital.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Envista is pleased to support Working Capital.

Switch to empowered, switch to Envista.

Learn more at envistacu.com.

- [Narrator] GO Topeka's Entrepreneurial and Minority Business Development is proud to support Working Capital.

We share the vision to assist local entrepreneurs with growing their business.

- [Man] Additional funding is provided by the Friends of KTWU.