24A Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

My business gives people the opportunity to express themselves or express a part of them that they love through the shoes they wear. The specific type of person that I believe would most benefit from my product is a young adult, specifically a college student who loves art, fashion, or just the ability to be a little bit different from everyone else. In today’s day and age, there is so much controversy on what is right and what is wrong and with technology expanding and growing so rapidly, it can be easy to become overwhelmed with trying to stay updated, we loose time to reflect on ourselves and do something that will make ourselves happy. 

I find this is common among college students , especially my friends. They are all so concerned with finding a job and being the best, and being ahead of the game, they forget to be creative, have fun, and live in the present. I believe my custom design shoes allow people ton express themselves and work creatively with me to create a pair of shoes that will make them feel special and happy. Every customer of mine is extremely content with the outcome of their custom designed shoes. Also, I find that many of my customers come back to me within a year asking for a completely different type of shoes design to either reflect a different part of them selves or show that their fashion style has changed. I love this part of my job because I feel as though I stay connected with my customers and we grow together creatively. 

Innovation

My Innovation is a personally owned and run business in which people come to me, and I custom design and paint whatever they want on a pair of their white shoes. The way in which I find customers, or customers find me is through my Instagram account. I reach my target customers by following them on Instagram. I find them through looking at the followers of my friends who are in college and follow their friends. Through this process my business has grown immensely. Most people direct message me on the account to show their interest. I then give my customers some more detail on how the shoe customizing works. Because many of my customers live in different parts of the country, I explain that they can ship me their shoes directly from the converse or vans websites. I typically work with vans or converse because they are white and are made of canvas material which is easy to paint on. After explaining all of this, I talk to my customers through either email, text, and many times over the phone to come up with a color scheme and specific symbols and designs they would like on the pair of shoes. While many of my customers want a completely customized shoe, I find that my customers are increasingly asking for a “college-football” themed shoe. This is because my target customers are college students and once some customers have seen the other college shoes I have done, they ask me to create the same for their college. For example, I recently created a pair of University of Florida Gator shoes then a couple of weeks later I received a message from a girl attending The University of Miami who wanted extremely similar shoes but Miami Hurricane themed rather than Florida Gator themed. While doing college themed shoes is by far easier to do because there are only a few colors involved, and specific and repetitive symbols and sayings to use, I really do miss the challenge of a completely customized pair. It Is really fun for me to work with a customer who has a very distinct idea of what they want their shoes to look like, and when they want it to look like no one else’s. Its a challenge and a risk I am always willing to take. I have to ask for feedback on my designs, colors, and symbols to ensure it is exactly what my customer has in mind.  

Venture Concept

I feel as though explaining the opportunity and the innovation of my small business tells my audience what the venture concept is. The venture concept is to help young adults, specifically college students, express themselves or express a specific part of them. They can do this by working with me to bring their ideas to life and by wearing a pair of shoes that most likely will be unlike anyone else’s. I don't think it will be difficult to get customers to switch from wearing basic shoes that are mass produced to my products. I think that anyone who wants to wear something that will make them stand out in a good way, would be excited to buy a pair of my footwear. Packaging and shipping definitely affect my pricing, I have to up the price for my customers when the price of shipping the shoes back to them is higher than $10. To expand my business, I would like to hire about three employees that are organized and can help me complete shoes faster. They could do this by coloring in my designs, and helping me ship my shoes back to the customers. 

Three Minor Elements:

1. My :secret-sauce” or “un-fair” advantage is my artistic talent, experience, and unique style.
2. My limitations include my time frame. It is difficult to efficiently work with all my customers, receive, design, paint, and ship back the shoes in a short period of time. This is why I think hiring employees will be beneficial. Hiring employees will definitely help my business grow. I will be able to get more done in less time.
3. Eventually, I would like to work with clothing vendors and start to get my artwork on other clothing besides shoes. My customized shoes will always be my main focus, however not everyone needs new shoes, so expanding into other types of clothing will help expand my business as a whole.