Most people interested in setting a vision and goals for themselves probably heard about Jim Carrey and his 20 Million dollars to self story. When I was running today I was thinking about the reasons why I am starting a business with my wife.
From the start it involved passion first and foremost. We found something that we would do for free that we truly love. Something that has a positive impact on other people’s lives.
Today I wrote three cheques to the Sick kids Hospital for cancer research here in Toronto. They are dated January 1st, 2014, 2017 and 2020. Each for increasing amounts.
My January 2014 cheque is in the amount of $200 dollars. I am going to carry it in my wallet. I am 100% committed to sending that cheque. I even know who to send it to: Donna L. on January 1st, 2014.
My 2017 cheque is in the amount of $10,000 dollars. I still have to sit and discuss with my wife. It is after all, our joint checking account. I am going to outline to her my goals… line up with her core values and circle back to her sense of community, optimism and decency.
I am not going to share with anyone the amount I wrote in my 2020 cheque. I am going to put it in an envelope and keep on the fridge. A lot has happened in less than a month. I am eating better, exercising, I read more books in the past three weeks than I read in the past three years.
I decided to use my Avion miles to fly abroad and see childhood friends I haven’t seen in over ten years, I quit video games and replaced UFC podcasts for business podcasts (School of Greatness… get it NOW). I made serious strides to opening a business that will make my wife happy.
She loves kids. She worked two years in Japan teaching 3-6 year olds. Right now she has zero interaction with kids at work. She used to dress up and play Cinderella at parties for kids. That was something she truly loved. She said every now and them she would talk to a kid that really believed… and for that split second… there was magic in the air. Moms would hug them and cry in the background. She would see something special in the kid’s eyes.
There you have it. That is our business: Princess Parties. We spent $347 dollars in a full Cinderella costume and around $200 dollars on 15 princess party costumes for kids. We are going to charge market prices for those services, but pledge a piece of the proceeds to charity.
We are going to be customer oriented. If someone asks if we can provide a different princess, we are going to direct them to our competition. We are not going to compromise the delivery of our service.
Here is our mission statement:
“An altruistic creative endeavour at heart. Our goal is to have fun extending the princess code to our business model providing a customer oriented service grounded in community, benevolence and excellence.”
We plan to make full use of social media marketing strategies. We plan to expand and at some point find like minded partners, host Mastermind groups; providing training, leadership and coaching.
Like I mentioned once… this is something we are doing that anyone can replicate in any big city with very little initial investment. Disney princesses are very diverse, so your background should not matter. If you don’t have a partner you can be a superhero donning a mask, adapting some of the same marketing strategies we are going to outline here to get and keep customers.
Everything we do for the business will be documented here. We are not going to keep any information secret. We are going to pay taxes… we are going to share successes and failures.
All posts related to this endeavour will be under the category “business”.
Silvio Kusakawa 
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