One Spark Client Interview: Dragonboats/In the Pink

What is you idea?

Our idea is In the Pink...a one-stop shop for women with all types of cancer.  As a non-profit, we are always searching for creative ways to generate funding.  We brought dragon boating to Jacksonville as another healthy activity to get cancer patients engaged after treatment.  It was so well received that we opened up paddling to all people.  We now have several teams that paddle all year long.  We hosted Jacksonville's first dragon boat festival in September 2013.  In the Pink hosts several dragon boat teams. This sport is for everyone, regardless of age of athleticism. For more information, contact Marty at 536-3475 or email: millardm@comcast.net. We have one team for breast cancer survivors only called the Mammoglams. The funds raised at the festival stay at In the Pink, helping men, women and children in the Jacksonville area.

 

Why One Spark?

We decided to participate in One Spark to expose people to In the Pink and the dragon boat festival.  We hope to generate funding to assist US in expanding our services for cancer patients.

 How has the event been for you?

One Spark has been great.  We have met many people who were unaware of In the Pink yet know people who are in need of our services.  We have also found a lot of people who are interested in being involved in the dragon boat festival on September 27, 2014!

 
What's next?

After One Spark, we will continue to pursue funding to allow us to continue our services at In the Pink.  www.jaxinthepink.net
 

Amazing Finish to One Spark! Three FSBDC Client Winners! Congratulations!

We had 60 clients in this years One Spark crowd sourcing event. Congratulations to all of them as they made a great deal of progress vetting their idea and branding their concepts in front of 250,000 attendees. 

Congratulations to One Spark client winners Theatre on a Mission, Snyder Memorial Restoration and Aqua Jax for their first place finishes!. We also had checks presented to the St. Augustine Aquarium effort as well as the folks from Catty Shack Ranch!

But the work is just starting, and these winners as well as most of the other clients we assisted during One Spark will start digging in an planning their next steps after One Spark. Our team of experts is excited to be part of this process. We will keep this blog open longer to track the progress of these clients going forward!

The victorious Theatre on a Mission crew!

Snyder Memorial Restoration aka Amplify!

A big Jacksonville win by the Aqua Jax team!

One Spark Client Interview: Old Maid Cat Lady #20158

Old Maid Cat Lady has been a long time client at the FSBDC. The owner Lynn Thompson, has an amazing website and seeks to take her line of offerings to the next level via One Spark. We caught up to her at the Landing.

Describe your creator idea.

My project is way beyond the idea phase; I've been operating this online department store for cats and cat lovers for the past four years! It goes beyond a normal e-commerce site in that it's also a resource for cat owners. Cats are often misunderstood, so I try to help people understand feline needs and how to provide for them so they can live more harmoniously together. The project I'm presenting for One Spark is to get funding for expansion of my team by two people: one to help with operations work, and the other to focus solely on SEO. That should free me up to do more marketing and outreach.

Why one spark?

I knew last year that I needed to do a project for One Spark, but was not sure exactly how to make it apply to my business. The impact of this event, and its potential to raise awareness of OldMaidCatLady.com were just too much to resist. So I attended last year to get ideas, read through the material about how to become a Creator, and figured out a way to present a project that would fit within their parameters and still give me something I needed.

How is One Spark going so far?

Traffic was slow the first few days where I'm located, which is a bit out of the main traffic flow. But the crowds picked up a lot on Day 4. Lots more people stopped by and not only voted for me, but took one of my brochures and said they'd be checking out my site. So it should lead to increased sales for me.

What is next after One Spark?

I spoke with a guy who said they're holding an event soon to match up Creators with investors, and I'll look into that. The leader of my peer-to-peer mentoring group also told me she wants to put me in touch with some venture capitalists she knows who may be a good fit. I have taken this retail site as far as I can by myself, so my team definitely needs to expand, and it's not even making enough now to pay my bills, so an injection of capital is definitely needed. Until that comes, I'll continue doing as much as I can alone, continually tweaking and improving the site, processing and following up on orders.

Location: The Landing, 2nd floor #20158

Lynn Maria Thompson
Author - Speaker - Editor
President, Thompson Writing & Editing, Inc.

Proprietor, OldMaidCatLady.com

Neptune Beach, Florida
www.thompsonwriting.com

www.oldmaidcatlady.com

Phone (904) 242-0054
Cell (904) 955-2367
Fax (904) 458-8021
E-mail lynn@thompsonwriting.com

Follow me on Twitter @gatorlynn and @OldMaidCatLady

One Spark Client Interview: Theatre On a Mission

We found Chelsey Cain and her crew working the One Spark crowd in the middle of the street. Great mission and a great location! Theatre On a Mission ( a nonprofit), has been getting a lot of votes so far at One Spark. #20124.

Tell us about your idea Chelsey.

Theatre On a Mission is a student-driven service project. It began with my

dream to meet and inspire a young orphan I sponsor in Kenya. I want to bring the joy of theatre to children whom may never get the opportunity to experience it. So I asked a few of my friends to help me take a theatre camp to the orphanage in Kenya.

Their first trip was an amazing success. The team conducted a week-long theatre camp and incorporated the children at the Foundation Stone Ministry Orphanage into a play that helped raise enough money from the surrounding Bondo community to get running water to the orphanage. The group traveled to two additional village schools, teaching those students theatre games and more. Over those two days at the schools, the sessions included over 1200 students!

Students from UNF, UF, FSCJ, Douglas Anderson, and Sandalwood High Schools have come together to make this dream come true. In July of 2014 another team of students will be making a second journey to Africa to bring theatre to the children living in the Foundation Stone Ministry Orphanage.

Why one spark? How is One Spark going so far?

One Spark seems like the perfect opportunity to let people within the Jacksonville community learn about our project and to excite those who already support us. It has been a huge challenge so far, but we believe we are growing as a team and have to strength and the confidence to over come any challenge that comes our way. As of yesterdays votes we were in the top three movers in our category.

What is next for Theatre On a Mission after One Spark?

Continuing raising money for the trip. We have a Theatre on a Mission Benefit show coming up on May 4^th at Theatre Jacksonville in San Marco.

For more information: 904-449-6019.

FSBDC at UNF Up and Running at One Spark!

Did you see the photo shoot of the Barnett Bank building? This incredible downtown asset is now open during One Spark! Take a peek inside to find creators, a great lounge, and UNF assets like the Division of Continuing Education, as well as our own fully staffed table! There are big plans for this building to open a new chapter as an epicenter in Downtown...Visit us!

Kevin Monahan, Ali Stephens and Stephanie Royal are ready at the FSBDC booth!

.beta/initiative headed to One Spark. An interview with Client Creator Brad Cantrell- Booth # 20981

We have been talking to Brad Cantrell about his One Spark project known as the .beta/initiative. Check them out at the SunTrust Building #20981:

What is .beta/initiative about?

The project is a collective of some of the brightest young minds in their respective fields from around the world (as well as Jacksonville! .beta/initiative represents the collaborative efforts of a highly networked group of researchers in various disciplines.

What inspired you to take on this project?

As scientists, we've learned that cross-discipline application and extrapolation often yields some of the most promising techniques.

As artists, we see collaboration between the individual and the community as key. We strive to understand further what we've seen first-hand; how key collaboration leads to some of the most powerful insights, to some of the most relevant and interesting creations.

So we're kind of like a really weird, slightly more nerdish version of the Avengers.

Why One Spark?

Well, the beta concept was originally developed in Jacksonville! Participating in and contributing to the healthy growth of the city is an opportunity we wouldn't miss, and One Spark is a perfect event to showcase and gain support for the project.

How to Win One Spark Was a Hit!

It was great fun working with 20 of our client One Spark Creators Thursday night. Participants got a great overview of the One Spark crowdsourcing  event and received dozens of tips on how they can put themselves in a position to win money and brand their idea properly. 

Attendees were the first to receive a manual that provides advice on every aspect of One Spark and included a pitch outline for them to follow. The SBDC's Jared Bailey had them write out a pitch for use during the festival. 

The hit of the evening was when Kristin Keen, last year's winner, (Rethreaded), made herself available to answer questions from this years Creators. She even brought her check from last year!

The manual will be downloadable for free on this blog starting Monday!

Hemming Plaza Transformed for One Spark!

Great pictures of Hemming Plaza being transformed into a very different place. Perfect for  serving as the the epicenter of One Spark. Check out the article by the venerable Metro Jacksonville!
Here is the T-U article as well...