Next week, Ryan will be on the other side of the table as a presenter at the upcoming Dream It, Do It session scheduled for Wednesday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m. at Appalachian Brewing Company in Harrisburg (50 N. Cameron Street).
At that session in particular, they were encouraging me to take smart risks and make smart decisions, says Ryan of her first encounter with the entrepreneurial series. It was just kind of filling in the cracks of my knowledge and utilizing their experience to do it. If youre going to start a business, you should go to Dream It, Do it. Youre going to get encouragement, but not delusional encouragement.
Ryan means that would-be entrepreneurs will get honesty and hard facts, some of which may lead someone away from going into business for themselves. For Ryan, however, education resulted in her taking the old entrepreneurial leap.
Its worked out well for Ryan and Dasher, a 25 year-old company that is facing changing industry dynamics across the board. Even as mail volume continues to trend downward, opportunities abound because businesses are reducing or eliminating their mail rooms, and Dasher has the ability to aggregate mail from a variety of businesses to save on postage.
The companys revenue grew by 24 percent in the last year and it hired five new employees. Ryan expects that trend to continue based on Dashers Q1 pace. Ryan says Dasher is really a technology company thats focused on sophisticated mailings that require a lot of up-front programming. The company handles everything from advertising to insurance applications and bank statements.
Were focused on high-risk, complicated mailings that have to be right and have to be on time, she says. We also focus on high-volume mailings, from several hundred thousand to one million.
Source: Sharon Ryan, Dasher, Inc.
Writer: Joe Petrucci