Recalibrating…
So, it’s the end of August 2025. It’s been about 4 years since I have written a blog post about Dork Dancing. But guess what — all along, Dork Dancing has been active! We have been dancing twice a week in Da Nang Vietnam, twice a month in Denver, once a month in Portland, and once a month in St. Louis — for years (with the exception of St. Louis, that’s a new location)! There’s a ton of good stuff that has happened. Too much to report really.
Anyway, I want to kickstart this blog again because today is my first day working on Dork Dancing full-time since early 2022. Writing is one of my ways to express my creativity, clarify my ideas, and communicate what’s most important — so it’s a process I want to recommit to. So lets get going….!
Why am I still here, obsessing over Dork Dancing…? Over time, it becomes more and more clear that Dork Dancing is what fuels my soul. It’s my soul purpose. It gives me meaning and joy. It creates impact. And I am uniquely positioned to expand this. If I don’t take more responsibility for this campaign and brand, who else will? I need to invest in this and learn to trust myself and my ability to lead myself. I need to create opportunities where others have not. I am going to give myself grace. Patience and persistence. Good things take time to build.
I find myself living in St. Louis, MO of all places. And it’s here where I’m going to work hard to build Dork Dancing into a more viable enterprise. We have excelled in creating meaningful impact for years — affecting thousands of people. But we have not capitalized on our impact monetarily. Within the nonprofit world, we have not documented or measured our impact. We are not systematically reviewing our strategies and improving. We have been unsuccessful in applying and securing grants. We have not entered sales mode, approaching a high volume of potential clients/ customers who would pay for Dork Dancing as a service.
If Dork Dancing is going to grow, it needs to validate its business model. We have successfully inspired a spirit of volunteerism within our community, which is great. It has generated tremendous impact for people of diverse backgrounds, across the globe and lifespan. But now we need more structure, strategy, effort, and discipline. This starts with me. I need to play, experiment, and see what works. If I have an idea, I’ll try it — and see what happens.
It’s always been my dream to be an entrepreneur. I have done that. I am living that. I am fulfilling that. I’m on my path, and I’m excited to take you with me! In this blog, I’ll be sharing what I’m learning, what I’m experimenting with, and what’s working and not working. I hope you may be interested in following along!