Ribbon Cutting!
The month of July has been such a rewarding month, with new ideas coming in, new team members helping Captain Young Travels to grow. I don’t know where to start, I did a ribbon cutting for Party on the Lake in 2020. It was such a fun day. It was my first business adventure without my family, I was excited, scared, and what the heck am I doing with my life. Plus starting this adventure at the beginning of the pandemic may not be the best idea. To be honest, starting Party on the Lake gave me the time to really see what the Midwest needs, and learn why no one else is doing it. We see tour companies all over the tropics, as I did for two seasons. I learned why doing this type of tour guide company isn’t right for the Midwest.
Towards the end of the second season, I knew if I was going to continue this lifestyle, I would need to find another way to do this. We only have 16 weeks in the summer for boating season, with boat maintenance, slips charges, gas and other things that could happen on a boat it was time to let Party on the Lake go. Do some serious thinking over the winter in hopes I will be able to find a way to help people on the water, and still give tours. When I was in Florida Captain Young Travels came about, it was a simple idea just to promote me. I can get a nice simple website, you know like a 4-page website. My best friend is a web developer. I told her my idea and she laughed at me when I said easy 4-page website. You are reading my blog right now so clearly you can see this is no basic website.
The more and more I was developing this business I knew I had something much bigger than just me. Idea’s were flowing, the plans I have for this are endless. I am so excited to be doing this. My hometown is Waukee Iowa. I lived here pretty much my whole life, it used to be small and when I saw small town I mean small. Now if you see Waukee it’s a suburb of Des Moines but it is still my home. This is also the reason I am the Vice President of the Waukee Area Historical Society.
Thank you to everyone who helped me put this together! There are many things we can do alone, but it is always that much more rewarding with people who support us and value team work.
I decided to join the Waukee Chamber the only reason I really did was because of the Director Michael Bartos he a young up and coming leader in business he may not know it but I see that in him. He cares about small businesses; he knows that just because Waukee is growing does not mean not to take care of the small businesses.
He talked me into doing a Ribbon cutting for Captain Young Travels. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for this. Then I was thinking this is the perfect time to do it. I am heading to a reality show in August. You can use this opportunity to pitch this business to other people before you pitch it to investors. So, I said Michael you are right, let’s get this on the calendar and let’s do it. Where can we do this? I don’t have a storefront. He figured out a place where I had a way to do a presentation. Palms, the first movie theater in Waukee ever had invited Captain Young Travel to do my ribbon cutting. Most of the time there was always a fee when you rent out a room, because Waukee still has a small-town family feel and the Palms wants to help other small businesses to grow and does not charge businesses to have the ribbon cutting at their location. It really shows how businesses help other businesses without thinking about how I will make money doing this.
Commencement of Captain Young Travels
I got up in front of 30 people at my ribbon cutting showing them what I am really doing with Captain Young Travels. Remember I was at the Palms movie theater, people were coming in and out, then they saw me doing a presentation. By the end of my presentation, I had over 80 people listening and learning about this new business. Which totally gave me confidence that I can be an awesome public speaker and I love to be able to have people see my passion. Plus it got me more ready for this journey at the reality show in Kansas City. That’s another blog on how the heck did Captain Young get casted for entrepreneurship show, I am excited to share that journey. I promise all my friends, family and the Waukee Community I will make you proud. The ribbon cutting meant a lot to me, I feel this ribbon cutting was more meaningful than the one I did for Party on the Lake but that was a good one. I feel I understand more on what I am doing in this business, super excited to give more people a safe way to be on the waterways. That is my dream right now, make the waters safe for everyone and so I can have fun while doing it. I look forward to whatever will come my way in the next few months.
3 Comments
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Cindy
This is a great business idea! We wish you much success! We are so glad to have you on the Waukee Area Historical Society Board!
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Kathryn (Kathy) Clark
Brenna is truly a professional. She cares about giving her clients only the very best experience and I only see her business expanding more each year
. Well done Brenna
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Natalie Johnson
I got to hear your speech and you are a natural. Keep up the good work and this exciting momentum. Waukee is grateful to have you as an active member of our community!