Moth Attack - 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 Megan Dean, owner of Moth Attack, 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.

Hello, Idea Cafe! First off, a big thank you to the folks here at Idea Cafe for giving me and other small business owners opportunities like this grant. I know how competitive grants are through my non-profit experience, so I'm thrilled to be on the receiving end of a grant with so many deserving applicants. I found Idea Cafe because of the grant and stayed for the advice they offer those of us still figuring this out. Building bicycles is the easy part for me. Learning how to run a business was a huge challenge for me, and I learn something new about it and myself everyday.

February is always a tough month for me for some reason. I was fully determined to make it through February 2010 unscathed and managed to make it a great month. I had a race bike promised to someone in February, and had some hang-ups along the way. I'm definitely still learning a lot about building bikes as I try new things, so I expect to have some unexpected delays. Every bike is easier and smoother than the last. It's a large part of what I love about building custom bicycles. It's always different and allows for some playing around with the artistic side of it. I had to do some late night finishing work to get it together, but managed to get it to the painter just in time. I also launched a fundraiser for my local velodrome by raffling off a custom frame. We're not going to be picking a winner for the raffle until the end of a race series held at the velodrome, so it's going to be highlighted through July. It's both great promotion for me, and will help one of my favorite places to spend my spare time.

I like to over-extend myself regularly, but I've been working on saying, 'no' to things I know I don't have the spare time for. I work part-time at a non-profit bike organization as well as building bicycles for myself, so my biggest issue is always time-management between the two and the rest of life. I've been focused on getting my waiting and project list down and on schedule this month. During the second weekend in April is a regional custom bicycle builders show in San Diego. Last year was my first as an exhibitor, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I'm really looking forward to this year as a repeat exhibitor with a better idea of what I should expect.

Thanks again to everyone that helped get to this point. I'm excited about where things are headed in the upcoming months!

About the author

Megan Dean, owner of Moth Attack

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