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How do I get an idea from paper to up and running off the ground?

Veteran

Brian Quinones Austell, GA

When I was homeless in Louisiana, I was in a shelter close to down town. There was a lot of very artful graffiti in the area and I met a few of the artist. While I was there I came up with the idea to make a job for myself and all the guys at the shelter.

In the same compound where we lived there was a empty building on the other side where I knew we could set up shop. The idea was to get artist to give us prints and we would print them and sell them on the street and online.

I still think this is a good idea and I would like to Peruse it. At least get informed about it.

11 February 2016 12 replies Small Business

Answers

Advisor

Richard Gauger West Chester, PA

Brian,

Thank you for your service and congratulations on your entrepreneurial spirit. I like your business idea.

As a SCORE mentor, I agree with one of the other respondents that connecting with a counselor from SCORE (whether in a face-to-face meeting, by email or phone) is good advice in terms of covering the bases.

If you have limited start up capital, you may want to consider visiting local area art galleries to pitch your idea. You may find an owner or owners who see the social (and business) value of supporting homeless and veteran graffiti/amateur artists by donating a corner of her/his gallery to an exhibition space for which you would pay a commission on each sale to the gallery (as well as to the artist).

A marketing strategy for this approach might be to feature displays of the work of different artists each month along with a short narrative about the artists. The gallery might even included a broader narrative about your "Invisible Artists Project" which expresses the idea that veterans and the homeless are often invisible or forgotten or whatever other marketing title and taglines you may want to use.

While the empty building in the compound may seem to be a convenient location for your business, it may not be convenient or accessible to the demographics of your targeted customer segment. For example, if socially conscious, affluent consumers are your most likely customers, then the art gallery venues may make sense, By the way, if your "pitch" is successful, you could conceivably find a number of gallery owners who want to be involved in your "project" particularly if part of the pitch is that you donate a percentage of each sale to a homeless/veteran organization.

I hope this is helpful but I'm just brainstorming without knowing your full situation or circumstances. In any case, however you decide to start up your business, I think the basic business model you describe is a good one. Best wishes for success.

Rich Gauger

14 February 2016 Helpful answer

Advisor

Mike Wilson Oakland, CA

Hi Brian,

I am a big believer in Lean Start Up principles...I won't go into that here. The thing I suggest you do (btw all the above is great advice) it test your idea. Think creatively about how to validate the idea you have in mind.

How about staring by creating an Instagram feed of the images you speak about. See if people respond, see which images and artists get the most likes/shares. Suddenly you have potential customers you can ask ... "hey how much would you pay for a print of this?" "What if you could have exclusive access or first look?"

This is FREE and will tell you in a few days if your idea has merit. You might discover other opportunities AND most important discover if you really have a passion for this kind of work.

Good luck!

Advisor

Tim Thoelecke Jr. Morton Grove, IL

Brian,
I agree with Jim Rohrbach on "Think and Grow Rich." Great book but the meat is at the beginning.

I also like "The $100 Start Up." Very easy read and full of great info.
My favorite biz book out there is "The E-Myth Revisited."

If you don't have time to read, many of these are available as audio books from the library. 15 min here and there and you'd be amazed how many books you can get through.

And, after 25 years in business for myself, I finally started taking advantage of SCORE. It's free and valuable.

As for your concept, I think it has real possibility. But a simple business plan and discussion with an advisor will really help you determine if it is viable as a business.

Advisor

Jim Rohrbach Evanston, IL

Hi Brian!

Read the first 4 chapters of the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Since it is in the public domain, do a Google search on "free Think and Grow Rich" and you can download it for free.

Get in touch with me when you've done that and we'll take another step together. Sound fair?

Jim "Da Coach" Rohrbach
http://www.SuccessSkills.com
Coach@SuccessSkills.com

Advisor

José Olivares Phoenix, AZ

Hi Brian,
Have you started a business plan? If not, I can help you with it. Just let me know.

Advisor

Sabryna-Joi King-Bell Chicago Heights, IL

Greetings Brian,

Business Ownership is a wonderful thing!

Visit you local library or SCORE Office and secure a Business Plan Template.

Crafting a Business Plan from start to finish enables you to truly see your business proposition's viability.

Going forward, financial institutions, angel investors will base their decisions on your Business Plan.

Finally, Business Plans are constantly evolving. Don't hesitate to make changes.

Life is short...follow your dreams!

Best of Luck!

Respectfully,

Advisor

Sam Wright Sammamish, WA

Brian,
I'm not offering the "how to" but rather commenting on "what you have in mind". Many years ago while preparing to renovate an abandoned Seattle steam plant for a large bio-tech company we came upon a basement that had been used by homeless folks for several years. I have to say the graffiti on the walls of the basement were nothing short of incredible. Before the renovation started photographers captured the art work and many of those pictures adorned the new facility and may still be hung there today.

My point is that you've got a great idea. Best of luck on your venture.
Sam

Advisor

Stacey Murphy Denville, NJ

Brian, I admire your creativity and initiative. I hope you are very successful at this. All these answers are great! I especially like the concrete suggestions that Emmanuel recommended. Definitely do ALL of those things. I wanted to add that I took a FREE online course through coursera.org called Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies. The instructor, who is EXCELLENT, walks you through an Innovation Opportunity Canvas approach that helps you plan out your business plan. The only cost is a PDF that if I recall correctly was $7. Here is the link to the course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/innovative-ideas

Only other suggestion, the city of Philadelphia has done an amazing job of cleaning up grafitti and collaborating with artists. You may want to google what they have done, what organizations have been involved, and see if you could get a mentor or connections there, so you're not recreating the wheel.

All the best to you! Stay in touch with this board and let us know how things go and what else you need from us :)

Stacey

Advisor

Emanuel Carpenter Alpharetta, GA

Brian:

First, I highly recommend you seek a mentor. You can find one for free through SCORE here: https://www.score.org/.

Second, you will need to flesh out a sales and marketing plan and financial plan to see how this business would be viable. You need to find out if enough people will pay for prints for you to run a business from it. You need to determine how much the artists will be paid, how much you will be paid, and if the money is something you can live off of.

Third, it is honorable that you want to help your fellow veterans. However, before you can help your fellow veterans it makes more sense to create a profitable business. After creating a profitable business, you could start a foundation to help veterans. Not only can you use cash from your profitable business for the foundation but you can also seek grants to help fund your cause.

Fourth, get to know your local librarian. Ask the librarian for resources that can help you to start a business.

If you are a book reader, there are a few books I highly recommend you check out:

"Do You" by Russell Simmons
"The $100 Startup" by Chris Guillebeau
"Do More Faster" by David Cohen and Brad Feld (The inventors of Tech Stars)

Bonus: If you are a disabled veteran, you can apply for the free Veteran's Entrepreneur Program. Any veteran can apply, not just Post 9-11. There are several around the country. I'm currently a student in one at Oklahoma State University. It's six weeks of online learning and then one full week of courses on campus. All expenses are paid, including air fare and lodging. Here is a link to one in Houston: http://www.tvc.texas.gov/Houston-Academy-2016.aspx . Google "veterans entrepreneur program" for others.

Advisor

Stefan Beyer Kirkland, WA

As for getting started, the you'll either need to get the capitol from an "angel" investor or a government program for start-ups; most banks won't lend to companies/organizations less than 2 years old. If you view it as more of a way to help get homeless people off their feet, then you might be able to partner with some local charities.

Rocio's article she attached is good to go through too. I do have some specific questions you might need to ask yourself before moving forward (the initial post was rather brief on the idea - which you might have done intentionally):

1. How would you get permission to use the empty building? There might be a current landowner, or it could be owned by a bank or the city. Also, would it require repairs before you can use it? How much does it cost.

2. How would anyone know your organization exists? Your main resource is art which someone else made; how would they know your organization is an option? How would customers know about you as an option to buy art from?

3. With online retail outlets (like Etsy) which allows artists to sell their art directly online, why would an artist use your organization? What's the draw for them?

I'm not sure if you've already looked into these things, but they're good questions to go over when making your business plan.

Good luck! :)

Veteran

Brian Quinones Austell, GA

It would be for profit, I would like to see any possibility of partnering up with the va and other non profits to help homeless veterans the best I can.

Advisor

Rocio Briones Austin, TX

Brian,

One of the first things I learned when it comes to starting a business is to determine what type of business you want to create - for profit or not-for-profit. This will narrow down the scope of your search and provide you with direction on what funding opportunities are available. Also, it would benefit you to develop a business plan. I found http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/76140 to be a good first start on creating a business plan since it highlights a number of questions you should be thinking about.

Good luck and thank you for your service.

Respectfully,
Rocio

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