The Update

Shoe Riz has won an award that has gone to our start up fund.

The Competition

Over the past few weeks, I have been investing my time to get a start up fund for Shoe Riz. I, the owner, entered myself into a business competition called Graves Business Plan Competition. This competition is highly competitive and had over thirty people competing in the competition. Personally, I had low expectations going into the competition and thought it would be a good way to get my business out there.

Therefore, I ended up getting selected to present in front of a panel of judges. Fortunate for me, this competition was on campus and local to me. I presented in front of the panel and felt very confident in how I presented Shoe Riz. After a few days I received an email saying that I had won. There was an awards ceremony for the finalist in all categories to be presented your awards money. When I showed up there was only six people there, because there was three winners from the two categories. In the competition, Shoe Riz was put into the lifestyle category and I was awards $2,000 for third place.

This was a huge honor for me to win third place in the Graves Business Plan Competition. Once I receive my winnings, I plan to invest the money into my company. This money will be the beginning on my start up fund to get me on my feet. It will take around a month before I receive the start up fund, but when I do I will begin purchasing supplies for the company. After this, I want to apply for a loan to put down money on a few of our mobile vans. Here is a link to the article written about Shoe Riz.

The Award Money

Once we have purchased our supplies and mobile vans, Shoe Riz should be one step closer to its big launch. The plan is to start our company local to the University of Tennessee, but will expand once revenue is seen. We plan to expand to larger universities around the south east. Another goal of mine is to start opening up a store front location that can be a drop off and pick up location as well. This will help us minimize travel times and be able to clean more shoes.

To conclude, I just wanted to say thank you to all of my supporters, family, and friends. If it was not for the people that have backed me up so far this would not be possible. Beyond grateful is an understatement, but I am so thankful for what has come so far from this venture. I hope to continue to make amazing things happen and push this venture to bigger things. The plan is to impact not only my life but the ones around me. I couldn’t do this without everyone involve, so thank you for all the support that is given to me. Make sure to check out all our services!