The story behind 2018 and how we let down Sparketh customers
We failed you.
When Dwayne and I started Sparketh in 2015, we were two 20-something year old college kids with big dreams to build a safe, exciting, and creative platform for kids to learn arts. We were building the Netflix for arts education. We worked hard after classes, taught ourselves web development, and quickly learned how to shoot and edit videos.
College was amazing but this was our calling. We dropped out of college and launched at one small homeschool expo in our hometown Atlanta. After the expo we were ecstatic for those first ten customers… Those first ten friends… those first ten moms that didn’t buy just the product but bought into us and believed in our grand vision.
Each year we worked hard to get closer to bringing that vision to life. We went from Dwayne teaching to attracting a handful of more fun and talented instructors. We went from one expo, to three, to eleven expos a year. We went from four courses to having published over 500 videos for kids and teens to watch. But each of those little steps forward were nothing compared to 2018.
2018 was going to be our biggest year yet. We weren’t stepping forward. We were leaping forward to get closer to that vision we set out on. We had over 20 expos scheduled all around the United States. We had a cool new subject, baking, ready to be released for our students. And most excitingly was the brand new, cutting-edge platform we planned to launch later in the year.
But as we got to hustling early 2018 in anticipation for the biggest growing year of Sparketh to date, there was one problem. We weren’t growing. Behind this awesome little startup with thousands of art video lessons, hundreds of students, a neat blog, a dozen instructors, a trendy instagram, many affiliate partners, and new courses every week, was still just two college kids with big dreams. And it was clearly too much for us to handle.
We yanked ourselves from state to state across the country. 4 hour flight here. Sell, sell, sell. 10 hour drive there. Post each day on instagram. Respond to a dozen support requests. Record courses and get them uploaded. Get on another 4 hour flight. Write and publish a new blog post. We were burning ourselves out. But we never stopped. We never quit. And we never complained.
The cookie started to crumble when we put Sparketh and our responsiblities over our health. Despite my better judgment, I kept traveling, working, and never sleeping. And knowing the limitations of having sickle cell disease, I got sick and was hospitalized in May, right in the middle of our tour. And with me tied down to a hospital bed across the country in Seattle, there was just one guy left to keep things afloat.
Dwayne.
And he worked his heart out with every bone in his body. He showed up to those expos alone, he got the courses published, and he responded to the non-stop emails from students and parents. I don’t know how he found the motivation to get up everyday and hustle his heart out. Maybe it was to keep me from being on an IV drip and depressed the business might falter at the same time. If not for me, it was for the thousands of Sparketh families that gave us a chance to chase our dreams.
But it wasn’t enough. Although we made it through the tour, I never fully recovered. My health was getting worse and I ended up in and out of the hospital for the rest of 2018. And that wasn’t the worst part. Dwayne ran himself rugged too. His mental health and happiness deteriorated and he unfortunately ended up hospitalized as well.
And by some kind of creepy coincidence we ended up hospitalized in the same Atlanta hospital at the same time with no one to run our business.
And that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. We couldn’t take it. We were being suffocated by everything Sparketh. The emails. The new platform. The weekly courses. The sales. The metrics. The goals. Everything. And the only thing we could do was pretty much nothing. We took a giant step back from everything Sparketh, to focus on the one thing we’ve been ignoring… our health.
In that time, emails weren’t responded to in a timely manner. Courses weren’t uploaded nearly as often. The user experience and transfer to Sparketh 2.0 was lackluster and filled with bugs. And new exciting subjects like baking and stop motion fell to the wayside. And the bare honest truth is we failed you. We failed the ten moms that believed in us in 2015. And we failed the thousands of parents and students that came after.
We apologize for our faults and we understand that we could do better. 2018 was a mess and you, and all the people touched by Sparketh, whether directly or indirectly, deserves better.
But through it all there is one thing I can say… We never gave up hope. Even in the darkest of moments we knew it wasn’t the end of Sparketh. We knew we wouldn’t quit what we started. Not like this. We were down but not out. And even though it took longer than we expected to fully bounce back, we would of waited a century to continue the journey we started.
Now we’re back and better with a lot of great things planned. We’re moving slower and a lot more deliberately these days. And we’re ready to go beyond Dwayne and Tim and build the team of Sparketh. A team that will support not only us, but you and your family on your journey to true creative freedom. It won’t be quick. And it won’t be easy. But it will be well worth it. We just hope we can still be a part of your story.
