How EcoJoe™ was Born — Part I, the Beginning.

(photo by alvarezperea)

The idea of EcoJoe™ came from a blog I wrote that asks the age old question “Can St. Joseph sell your house?” A girl friend of mine read it on Active Rain and emailed me: “What do you think about an eco-friendly version of Saint Joseph statues?”

Well the light bulb went off and that was it.

Well. Producing a green product, or any product in general, when you have never done it before, was really much (much much) easier said than done. When we first had the idea, we thought we could just make a mold of some sort and hand make this in the kitchen every time an order comes in (naive, right?). I researched about what types of materials could work by mostly googling the process and looking at bio-degradble materials at my local craft stores and on the internet. My girl friend was also busy with her legal career and I was busy with my staging business. Nothing really progressed until October 2008 when I won Make Mine A $Million business competition in Micro category.

During all this time, I lost my business partner to her legal career. It looked like EcoJoe™ was going to be dead. Luckily, winning the business competition put me in touch with a lot of women entrepreneurs who already went through what I was going through. And the women were incredibly giving with their knowledge and experiences. I posted a message saying that I had this great idea but don’t know how to make it happen. Lee from Cycle Aware was amazing and shot me an email back saying that she could speak with me on this. When I told her what I was trying to do, she said “Oh no, you need to mass produce this, you need to manufacture it.” Additionally, Lee pointed out the packaging process, which I totally did not think about. She gave me a few resources for manufacturing, and there, unknowningly, I was going to make it happen.

Photo by psovartIn November 2008, I was fortunate enough to be one of the 25 women entrepreneurs selected for Sam Walton Emerging Entrepreneur award. While I was waiting in line to be interviewed by American Express (a camera and interviewer and everything, fancy!), I met the Directors of Motto Agency, Sunny and Ashleigh. I liked them immediately. I resonated with the enterpreneur stories that they had, similar ages and the styles of their design. When I envisioned the packaging, I knew I wanted something that makes a statement on the shelf, something that’s much more updated and modern than the existing products, and I wanted something that’s kitschy and fun. I placed a call to Motto shortly after I returned from North Carolina. The estimated investment of packaging design was a big investment and cash was already short, but I bit my lips and signed on the dotted line. I knew in my heart that this is the right choice. I felt that in order to differentiate ourselves as a product, we have to make sure the packaging sells and people will like them immediately.

Once I had a rough idea on how the packaging design will pan out and how the production will line up between statues and packaging, I placed the order for the production of EcoJoe™ statues.

For more, read Part II. Skipping ahead? Part iii is here.

Related posts:

1. Who will design the Next EcoJoe Packaging?!
2. Who is EcoJoe™?
3. How EcoJoe™ was Born — Part III, The Path to Neon Green?
4. How to Buy EcoJoe™
5. How EcoJoe™ was Born — Part II, How P became the Struggle of B