We were lucky to catch up with Trey McRae recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Trey, thanks for joining us today. Any thoughts about whether to ask friends and family to support your business. What’s okay in your view?
One of the hardest concepts for young entrepreneurs to understand and deal with, is lack of support from family, close friends, and people they grew up with. I have worked with countless entrepreneurs and most of them have the same experience when it comes to who supports them and who doesn’t. The narrative is always strangers show more love and support than family and friends. I tell young entrepreneurs one of the first things they have to do is remove all expectations that they have for people. Having expectations leads to disappointment and frustration. Don’t let any one person or group of peoples lack of support deter you from being positive and staying focused on your goal. When starting any business it is natural for you to start spreading the word to the people closest to you first, but they are not the end game. We could get into all the reasons and nuances behind why some people support and others dont,, but it’s really not worth the time. Keep pushing!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
City of Dreams Marketing was initially called the TREX Spa Lounge. I started a business where I would throw spa themed parties. In the process of creating content for the brand and throwing the events I met several models, venue owners and other entrepreneurs. They all applauded and appreciated my passion for promoting and creating content. After 2 to 3 years of throwing the spa parties I wanted to move away from a service based business to a product based business. I used the same branding from the TREX Spa Lounge to create TREX Brand and TREX Skin Care. I began developing apparel and an all natural health hygiene and skin care product line. At that point I began to understand that I had a love for the process of building brands. That is when City of Dreams Marketing was created. I used all the connections I had made while building the TREX Spa Lounge to create a marketing network. I used TREX Brand and TREX Skin Care as examples of all the resources I had access to, in order to create content promote and advertise a brand.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Resilience is key when you are focused on building anything. There are always going to be distractions and obstacles that get in the way. My journey was no different. In March of 2014 I was blessed with the birth of my daughter TJ. Unfortunately her mom and I were not able to see eye to eye on how she should be raised, and it landed us in a custody struggle which is still going on now. I have used the situation as motivation and as an example of how important it is to communicate and be a genuine person. These are fundamentals for anyone who wants to be successful in anything in life.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
More than anything my reputation in this industry is built off of who I am as a person. I am passionate about what I do and I genuinely love helping people. Alot of times money is what motivates people and that can lead to problems. I built my skin care line around my daughter and I have used it to teach her about ownership and entrepreneurship. Alot of people see the work I do with my daughter and can tell that I’m not doing anything specifically for the money. It’s about my love for teaching and empowering people. When you focus on your passion you become a magnet for money. Never compromise yours morals for money.
Contact Info:
- Website: Dreamstorenyc.com
- Instagram: Thecityofdreams3