Many times during the past past three years Jean and I wondered if we could keep going. The move to Rohnert Park was much more challenging than we expected. We expected some losses to cover the expense of packing up and moving but the losses continued year over year. It seemed that we were spinning our wheels and soon would lose it all. We were in raw survival mode.

We opened Fundemonium with the goal of building a welcoming place for our community to come together to share their creativity and enjoy FUN activities with each other. When I was a child, I was interested in slot car racing, scale model building, and art. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to find and connect with other kids who shared the same interest and with experienced adults willing to share their knowledge and help me improve. I wanted to create a place where kids like me could find others to share their passion with, whether that passion is playing games, building models, running trains, or driving and flying radio controlled models.

Somehow, during the move, we lost touch with our goal. We slipped into a more generic effort of promoting products to buy and let our passion for community activity and play fade to the background. We advertised in print and on radio, we hired website support and social media experts, but our message was too generic. Like so many other businesses the theme was buy, buy, buy; discounts and sales. If we had lost touch with our passion for community, activities, and play, how could we expect others seeking those experiences to find us?

Fortunately we connected with a great business coach, Andy Springer of Asentiv. Andy helped open our eyes, “Steve,” Andy said, “You are hosting a big party at Fundemonium and you are not inviting your friends to come play!” He pointed out that we were not a toy, hobby, and game store that offered activities and parties; we were really a community gathering place and activity center that also sold toys, hobbies, and games. We realized that if our reason for being was the experience of gathering, sharing, and playing we had to make our message personal. With Andy’s help we began to reach out to our friends, supporters, and to our new home of Rohnert Park and personally invite them in and to experience Fundemonium.

And you responded. Now in our fourth year in Rohnert Park, Fundemonium is having a good year. We are offering more events and hosting more parties than ever before. More and more people are coming through our doors and returning to experience the thrill that is Fundemonium. We have moved from survival mode to optimism and growth mode. Fundemonium will not just survive but thrive and we have you to thank for that.

Please join us for our Customer Appreciation Party on October 14th, 2018 to enjoy Fun, food, and gifts as we celebrate 14 years in business and 4 years in Rohnert Park.