Good morning superpower seekers! Thanksgiving has passed and the holidays are here in full swing. This is an amazing time to be reflective and grateful.
Grateful for things like delicious food, gifts, and for the people around us! I try not to take today for granted, so I show my gratitude by planning out my sleep. If I get enough sleep tonight, tomorrow I can try to do something for others.
I recall this time last year. In our industry, supply chains were frothy but not awful. The Covid and election news was loud and overwhelming. People walked around saying, “I’ve had it with 2020. I can’t wait for 2021!”
And 2021 came and wasn’t, by default, better because it’s a new year. I would argue that it was an even bigger challenge than the year before. And so I have come to bear a warning to the mindset that today sucks so tomorrow must be better.
It’s a trap! Instead, if today sucks, you need to do something about it to make it better. And if you do it enough times, tomorrow turns out to be alright!
Since we are nearing the end of the year, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on some accomplishments. In one of my earlier episodes, I talked about a friend I had helped. We provided a bed to somebody who didn’t have one. The need to help others as I helped my friend stuck with me.
Shortly after, I met two gentlemen named Darren Jones & Scott Plemmons. These guys were delivering beds to homeless veterans and their families pre-covid. In a post covid world, their supplier had disappeared, and they asked us for our help and I said yes. At the time, I figured I’d be in trouble. They needed a lot of beds. But the cosmos have this funny way of leading you. Guiding you, if you will.
While I was forging that partnership, my boss and brother-in-law Greg Law, was out forging one of his own with a non-profit organization called Dreams 4 All. Greg had heard about it on the Dos Marcos podcast.
Dos Marcos, a mattress industry podcast, had done an interview with Keith Moneymaker, the guy who started Dreams 4 All. The organization started just after one of the hurricanes that hit the North Carolina coast a few years back. Tons of people needed bedding. Theirs had gotten ruined. Keith made it his purpose to repurpose used bedding to help those in need of a mattress.
Greg reached out and we met Keith. Keith explained his vision to us. He explained that we could provide beds to those in need in the Charlotte area. I was so fired up! Everything seemed to come into place. We could do what superheroes do: Save people!
Sleep Superhero is a title. It’s like Dragonbane. If you are Sir Marcus, Dragonebane, then you have slain a dragon. And if you are a Sleep Superhero, then you are saving sleep cycles for others.
Sweet Dreams Mattress & Furniture became the first affiliate to sign up with Dreams 4 All and help roll out their nonprofit program in our local market. We already identified several local non-profits that needed beds and started supplying them right away.
Without skipping a beat, we provide clean quality bedding to Veteran’s Bridge Home, Called 2 Care with Cove Church, and Caterpillar Ministries. And who do these beds go to? Mainly foster children and homeless veterans. Veterans who served our country strike a chord within the ranks of the Dream Team as we have many families on our team with family members in service.
We pay it forward to our veterans today in hopes somebody is there for our families years down the road.
And sometimes we get pictures from the deliveries. I love the pictures! This is why we do what we do. One day we can look back and see the people who are smiling and grateful. I’m grateful for the opportunity to help these folks. I’m grateful that our business is doing well enough that we can turn our focus and efforts to giving back to the community.
When people choose to shop with Sweet Dreams Mattress & Furniture over big box stores, they do it because they hope we give back to our local area. They are hoping we do good things around them. And we take that trust very seriously with our customers. We do not take that for granted!
Another thing I learned in this process is what it feels like to join a community. Personally, I moved to the Charlotte area in 2006. I left my childhood, school, and college communities back in Illinois. At some point in helping those around us, I realized I’m longer a stranger to the place I live. I’m no longer a transplant. This is home. This is my community!
I recently attended the Dreams 4 All annual fundraiser in Pinehurst, North Carolina. The event was amazing! Big shout out to Temper Sealy International, TSI.
I saw our Tempur-Pedic rep Casey Williams. They are making contributions in bedding for Dreams 4 All. Casey Williams has been in a few places unexpected over the years and it’s always a good sign. When I show up to a fundraiser and Casey Williams is there, I’m doing something right. I need to keep doing more of what brought me there!
The fundraiser was a success. The Dreams 4 All team celebrated all their partnerships and people at the event. I asked Keith for a statement about his local partnerships and he wrote: ”We have hundreds of businesses that back our mission. Some of the annual sponsors who have gone above and beyond in 2021 are J Signs & Graphics, PCS Pro Contracting Services, Elite Roofing, and Air Specialties of Pinehurst. They are ecstatic to commit for 2022 and 2023 as well. These businesses have helped us get families off the floor with their contributions. They believe in what we do and share the values behind why we do it. Investing in your community is key.”
I look forward to attending next year‘s event! It’s really great to be a part of the Dreams 4 All organization because we are a part of something that’s bigger than ourselves.
On the Dream Team, we call this our kingdom work. Long after I’ve retired, I hope to be still doing this; helping others, serving, and doing what I can to make the world a better place. That’s my personal mantra because that’s how next year gets a chance to be better than this year.
It’s an honor to be a part of Dreams 4 All and I hope to help it grow. We’re expanding our local partners to provide more bedding for people in the greater Charlotte area. Dreams 4 All believes that nobody should be sleeping on the floor. Nobody. Not even our worst enemies. Everybody deserves a good night’s sleep.
As a Sleep Superhero, I believe in that!
Every week, I am grateful for the chance to sit down on Sunday and plan out my sleep schedule. It’s the best chance I have of keeping my superpowers activated and at full power.
I need them! Because we got a lot of work to do! There’s a lot of people that need beds! And knowing there are people that need help is what keeps me up at night.
So with my Game Plan for Better Sleep, I’ll go to bed, fall asleep quickly and become a Sleep Superhero so tomorrow I can be an Awake Superhero!
