I'm not even sure where to begin but I will be as open as I possibly can without putting anyone else at risk about this situation.
DREAM is over.
When I say DREAM is over I mean simply the passion, the love, and all the fighting I did for the last 7 years has burnt out like a candle that was left on too long. I don't know where I am anymore and I don't even think I am enjoying myself any longer.
What went wrong? A lot. When DREAM was at it's peak I was doing everything I could to take care of everyone. I worked really hard to make sure that everyone was well fed, well clothed, and well taken care of. Until it wasn't. That is when everything started to fall apart.
As some of you may know I was part of a donation event with a big content creation and esports team and that went south very fast. They didn't oblige to our contract and in one day we lost over $30,000 which was supposed to be donated to our partner non profit but it ended up in the hands of an organization that did nothing for us.
This started a major spiral. I had to take out loans to cover the loss and my employees and from there the cycle started. Banks didn't want to work with us during the pandemic so we had to work with loan sharks. Interest added up and it kept coming and piling as I was trying to grow this brand even more. I worked with creators and did all their collabs and spent so much money to make sure things went right. I am grateful for all these people we worked with and I went above and beyond to make sure they were paid even more than we originally agreed upon.
Once we did our Care Bears release we lost another $30-40 thousand dollars due to being attacked by people because we launched it during Pride Month. We were called "groomers" because we put the Care Bears on rainbow colors. Inflation was also at its peak and that caused us to lose a lot.
So did I let my employees go and downsize? No. I took out another loan to make sure I can keep everyone well fed. It kept going and going until I hit a wall. I did everything I could. Free gifts, bad bags, mystery bags, whatever I could do to keep things afloat.
But I lost it. At some point I couldn't even tell myself this was fun anymore because I was stuck on a sinking ship and I forgot what I loved about this brand.
I let the H3 mob get to me about Handle With Care. They attacked us so much it threw me off badly. I let designers come into this brand and make designs that didn't mesh with our audience or my vision. I have a hard time saying no so I just let things keep going. I let outside noise cloud my mind so much I couldn't even focus at the tasks at hand. I even hired a designer who lied to me about their history and it cost me and my team so much time and money.
But all this...it's my fault. I take full responsibility for not running this brand like a business and ran it more like a center to take care of people. Throughout all the struggles I still donated, I still paid wages, I still took care of the people I needed to take care of, and on top of all of it I still found a way to get things to people that they wanted.
But now...I can't handle it anymore. If I'm going to keep DREAM alive I need to do the things I want to do. Which is why next week we are fully rebranding with a new logo and a new look. It is my last call and try at this. I want everyone to feel that passion and love so I need to do something for ME.
DREAM as it is now is dead. Whatever we have is what we have and we are going back to basics. Back to where I was. Back to where the messages this brand used to put out.
This situation with the vendor ruined me so bad. We've lost tens of thousands in the last few weeks and I can't even wrap my head around fixing all this. A new website, a new drop, and a new look to our operations and in the same day that vendor literally robbed us of all of our abilities over a misunderstanding on their part.
Did they fix it? No. Of course not.
So where are we now? I don't know. I know I am going to do what I've wanted to do for the last 3.5 years with this brand and that is find the representation of it that it so desperately needs.
There is a reason I am doing a big sale now, it's to get rid of all the stuff we have that I don't think matches my vision for the future. I love everything we have put out but right now I must present DREAM in the light I want to present it in.
If you want to continue to support us throughout this journey please do. I think a lot of you are going to love our direction next week. For now, I need to move and recoup these losses. I need to make my employees feel comfortable. I need to keep my family happy. Most importantly, I need to look out for myself.
The DREAM that has been around since 2022 is done. The old DREAM will be back and the new logo and icon will represent everything I stand for.
Don't call this a funeral, call it a renaissance.
DREAM FOREVER & Never Stop Dreaming,
- Sammy Dreamin'