Homecoming

And so this road trip has come to an end.  8,000 miles and 35 days after I left home, I made it back safe and sound.  I met many interesting people along the route, took some orders, told my story, and came home with the feeling that Daydream is going to make it.

 It’s great to be back home with my family.  In this picture, I am hard at work with my 2 sons packing up some SquashBlox orders.  Maybe next year I’ll pack up the the whole family and the dog and hit the road.  But until then, keep Daydreaming…

Job Security – an impossible dream?

As I make a bee line home to Hoboken to join my family again, I take a moment to reflect on this trip.  This has been an odyssey of discovery on many levels.  At the core, it is a way to promote Daydream Toy.  From that perspective it has been a success.   At a few stores, as I wheeled my SquashBlox house full of samples in and introduced myself, people said they had already heard about me. 

“Hi, I’m Gordon Haas, and I am a toy inventor traveling the country visiting specialty toy stores, can I tell you about my Daydream?”

From a market study standpoint it was effective as well.  Many people give birth to ideas and think they are great, just as everyone loves the children they create.  Just because I like my products and a few other stores have taken a chance doesn’t mean that it will have the legs to create a sustainable company.  I was so excited to see that my catalog had almost a universal appeal to the buyers I met.

And from a career standpoint it was interesting as well.  As some of you who have started your own business can attest to, being an entreprenuer can be a bit stressful.  There is certainly no security or guarantees.  There is little job security when starting out or when times are lean, and the risk is great.  We have all heard the stat that  99 out of 100 new businesses fail.  It was a big decision whether we should take a huge risk on my dream.  Before I ventured into the toy industry, I was an engineer working in technical sales.  I was employeed by a public wire and cable company dealing with telecommunication giants such as Lucent.  I left a great career in the electronics industry to chase my dream.  As I drove home through Pennsylvania, I got off the highway at the exit of my old employer in central, PA.  When Lucent ran into a slump a couple of years ago, my employer got hit hard and was forced into bankrupcy.  As I drove by the old wire and cable manufacturing plants that I used to spend much of my time at, I saw they had been turned into car dealerships and community centers.  With nostalgia for the good old days when I could count on a steady paycheck and a team of support to get the job done, I realized that there is no real secure path in a career.  Since there is risk with any career path, why not have a little fun on the journey?

Rounding 3rd and Heading for Home!

Click on the attached map for my route so far.  My marathon toy store scavenger hunt has turned out well.  I arrived in Chicago just in time to park my car and hop on a flight to LA.  I exhibited the Daydream product line at the LA Gift Show and it was a hit!   It was one of our best shows to date.  I spent 2 days in LA, then took a red-eye back to Chicago for the Chicago Gift show which is the same weekend.  We did quite well at that show as well.  I have many new sales reps selling our Daydream, so it was great to meet them and work with them.

No More Store Pictures – OK, Just One.

For those of you keeping score at home, you may have noticed that I stopped taking pictures of toy stores.  As we searched online for stores in areas I was about to visit, Google Maps posted images of many of the stores.  I was a bit disappointed, because my backup plan of making a coffee table book if this company didn’t work out was blown to bits.  But just for old time sake, here is one store with great curb appeal (inside and out).  “Once Upon a Toy” in Edwardsville, IL is loaded with style.  The interior display of merchandise matches the hip exterior.  Inside, there are fun toys and funky decor at every turn, including the one of a kind chicken chandalier – yes, a faux chandalier with little rubber chickens.

Baseball in St. Louis

I made it St. Louis, home of the Cardinals, 2006 World Series Champions.  Am I too late to ride the wave?  Here is a picture of our world champion-designed Daydream Toy Baseball collect-a-ball series.  Posed in front of the Gateway Arch…Play Ball!

Cornfields, Walt Disney, and Mark Twain

As I drive through the prairies of Missouri, I am taken by the beauty of this land.  Not only is it fertile with crops, but apparently has cultivated some of America’s great creative talents as well.   Driving down a secondary highway bordered by endless fields, I pulled off the highway to get gas in Marceline, MO.  I was completely surprised to see signs marking the birthplace and childhood town of Walt Disney.  An hour or so down that same lonesome highway, I saw signs for Hannibal, MO, birthplace of Samuel Clemmens, AKA Mark Twain.  Although, I have taken little time on this trip for siteseeing (besides toy stores), the coincidence of happening upon the small home towns of these two legendary figures was too great.  I enjoyed a few moments at small museums and walking the same streets that these creative geniuses walked as boys.  Maybe a drop of that creative energy will inspire me to new toy inventions.

Oklahoma and Kansas

From Texas, I drove up through Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Topeka and Kansas City.   The wide open spaces of this part of the country are mirrored in the size of some of these toy stores.  Spacious, large stores, with lots of merchandise and plenty of room to browse about and play.  The drive between cities is long, but my friend made me a great music CD mix and named it “Random Roadtrip Radio”.  In between songs, he recorded “guest dj’s” such as my wife, my little boys, and friends.  It was great to hear familiar voices.

One week until Chicago.

I have blown through Texas like a tornado, my back hurts and I don’t know how much longer I can survive on drive-through fast food.  But life is good.  I visited stores in urban and suburban neighborhoods of Houston, Austin and Dallas as I continue north into Oklahoma.  It’s always fun too, when I happen upon a toy store in a small town that I had not highlighted on the map. 

From now on, the stretches between cities becomes much longer.  It was also easy to navigate my route along the East Coast and Gulf Coast.  Now, as I head inland the planning gets more challenging. 

Daydream on Bourbon Street.

There are all sorts of creatures in the French Quarter.   

Today I visited a few stores in the New Orleans area and Baton Rouge.  The people in the shops were friendly and welcoming and plan to carry Daydream products.  On the way, I passed through the French Quarter for this picture along with café au lait and beignets at Cafe Du Mond.  Then it was off to Texas.

Alone in Alabama.

After visiting some stores in the resort towns of Florida’s Panhandle, I made my way through Mississippi and Alabama.  In order to make it to the Chicago Gift Show in a week from Thursday, I need to keep moving 7 days a week.  Unfortunately, I passed through some nice little towns like Fairhope, AL on Sunday while the stores were closed.  I did some window shopping and left my catalog with a note and moved on towards New Orleans.