More Than Just Business: An Inventive Artistic Resource
My name is Alex, and I'm an Otaku as well as a budding entrepreneur.
For well over a year now I have been staffing and running anime, sci-fi, and even Brony conventions all over the country. Whether it's by myself, with my friends, or with my company CMC Group LLC, fan gatherings like these are what I love.
But what has struck me the most isn't the guests or panels, but the artists, musicians, the authors, and the people who create that come to display their work at these conventions. It isn't easy being an artist or otherwise as several of my friends can attest. Travel is expensive and sites like DeviantArt and Etsy can be hard to stake your income upon. I wanted to do something that's fun, passionate, and that can be a service to creatives in Kansas City and abroad.
Anime Source KC is a co-concept, multiplatform consignment and retail project. Besides traditional Brony merch, manga, anime, and Asian pop music sales, contributors and future customers will have the opportunity to feature their creations on a no-obligation consignment basis. What makes this different from traditional retail is not only what we sell, but also how we sell it. All regular and consignment sales will be seamlessly integrated in our storefront, our online store, and at various conventions we travel to each month. This means not only that we remain convenient and accessible to fans, but all our consigners get that additional exposure online and at conventions without any additional cost to them. This provides our project and our consigners with additional exposure they would otherwise never be able to reach.
Moreover, our store will also feature a manga and anime library free of charge to the public. While not only attracting more people to the business, it also enhances the sense of community while providing a complementary resource to fans.
Why IndieGoGo?
I only graduated college a little over a year ago, and while I (thankfully) have my finances in good order, banks rarely lend to new, small businesses without significant collateral. I don't own a home or an expensive car, so that option is a bust. Small Business Administration (SBA) loans have more favorable terms, but I will need some money upfront before a loan can bridge the gap.
Having worked with my local Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for the past year on financing options and business planning, crowd sourcing has become the best option to bridge that gap. Having worked with similar sites in the past, I choose IndieGoGo because of its capabilities and focus on small business and entrepreneurship.
So Where's The Money Go?
29,000 dollars is the minimum required to start this business and truly take it full time. Even with that amount, I will be securing a 25,000-dollar loan from the SBA too. Thankfully this type of loan will not require collateral and has good interest rates. I believe that I should have a stake in this too, and extra funds beyond the minimum will go towards offsetting the loan amount.
Here's the general breakdown of where the funds go if you put the funds together.
Furniture and Fixtures - 8,000 dollars
Initial Payroll - 11,000 dollars
Initial Inventory (non-consignment) - 7,000 dollars
Rent and Utility Deposits - 5,000 dollars
Initial advertising, legal fees, accounting, and other costs - 3,000
Working Capital (for non-initial, monthly expenses for the first 3-6 months) - 20,000
Monthly costs can include advertising, wages, rent, shipping, insurance, merchant services, travel, phone, Internet, and utilities.
To make it worth your while and fit within your budget, we have some great perks starting at just 10 dollars. These include early access, discounts, and gift codes. Higher levels of giving also provide name recognition, advertising space in store and online, and more!
Our Impact: How We're Different
When I first came up with this business idea some time ago, it was supposed to be nothing more than a storefront. But in today's world, you need to serve your community and your customers in order to be successful as a small business.
It's Not Just Anime and Ponies: These are mediums from which various works and genres are derived. We welcome western and other visual arts too! Remember, though, all consignment products must be original works to avoid ugly things like copyright even if they do use the visual 'style' of anime or MLP.
To the Cloud: In order to save on materials, integrate our selling platforms, and stay mobile when we travel, we'll be using cloud services like Office 365 for productivity with Xero, Vend, and Shopify for merchant services, accounting, and point of sale. This way we can take our store with us using only a tablet and a laptop.
Sustainability: In keeping with our mobile philosophy everything we do will focus on sustainability. Furniture and fixtures will be sourced from sustainable sources with recycled material. Paper and packaging use will be kept as low as possible. When we ship, we will only use recycled, FSC certified sources for packaging. It also helps that our storefront would be within biking distance of our city's recycle center.
Co-Concept: We can cater our offerings to meet demand by scaling traditional retail and consignment offerings as needed.
Multi-Platform: Everything we sell goes with us - with you -in real time. Our consigners get exposure in store and online. Moreover, we bring your goods to fans that want to buy them at the various events we want to travel to.
Community: Next to our proposed storefront is one of the largest Asian food markets in the Kansas City area. Who can argue with Ramune, Pokey, manga, anime, and a Starbucks next door to each other?
It’s About You: When you contribute, you invest in yourself as an aspiring creative too!
Other Ways You Can Help
Can't contribute? No problem! Share this with all your friends, artists, authors, and artisans you know. This cannot launch without them. This cannot sustain itself without the community. Thanks so much again in advance.
In addition, if this succeeds, we will be looking for manga and anime donations for the circulation library too.