GoGreenGo -- Putting the Idea Cafe grant win to work!

Editor Note: As a rule, all Idea Cafe grant winners provide monthly reports on how their business is doing since receiving Idea Cafe's Grant. Here is the first update from Susan Jenkins, owner of GoGreenGo, where she passes on her business wisdom and entrepreneurial spirit, and shares thoughts on how to use the grant money most effectively to take her business to the next level.

First of all, I want to thank Idea Café for making these grants available to small business owners. It’s such a great thrill to be able to participate in the grant process and such an honor to be the recipient of the 7th $1000 Grant. I wish the best of luck to the next group of entrepreneurs that will have the opportunity to win the grant and take their business to the next level….

Of course, now the work really begins, figuring out how to maximize the intrinsic value of the grant and how to use the money most effectively to take the business to the next level. Actually the next level is to start production. Up to this point Go Green Go has been more of a vision than a reality…. Now it’s time for that vision to become a reality.

So, where do I start? Great question. Over the course of the next couple of months I hope to share with you how “Go Green Go” came to be, the ins and outs, the good, bad and the ugly of starting my own business. All of which are just starting to unfold. This grant will serve as the impetus that is needed to get the business off the ground. Go Green Go is a startup T-shirt business that will promote eco-friendly activities. It is a one woman show at this point.

I have been asked to address, on a monthly basis, my business accomplishments; the problems or lessons I’ve learned and my business goals for the next month.

The obvious accomplishment for this month is the winning of the Idea Café Grant – this alone will serve as the greatest accomplishment for many months to come. I believe that this will allow me to gain the credibility to be able to go forward with my business.

In thinking about “What’s next” I need to set priorities, this is difficult because everything is a priority… But first things first. I’ve decided that over the next month I will work on finalizing the design for the first T-shirt. This shirt will promote the eco-friendly activity of walking……Go Green …..Go Walking. I decided that walking was a universal activity that would apply to the greatest number of people and would also serve as a great way to test the market response to The little green guy carrying the earth and the line of T-shirts. As the company evolves so too will the activities.

The design phase is perhaps the most tedious phase of the project. I have the basic concept of what I want on the shirts, but I’m relying on volunteer help to do the preliminary design. (I don’t have the computer skills needed to design the shirts). Then I send the designs out to friends and family for feedback. Then it’s back to the drawing table to refine the design. We have gone through the phase a few times and I think that we are ready to implement the feedback into the creation of the final product.

So, I need to get to work……thinking, re-thinking and thinking again. ‘Til next month.

Stay tuned…another exciting update from GoGreenGo is coming soon…