Written by Jacob Breeden, Artist and CEO of Process Art House, LLC. For more information on Process Art House visit their website www.processarthouse.com
We opened our business less than two years ago. It was an idea that many people had told us would not work. Especially not in Amarillo. But we held on to our belief that if we did it our way – it would at least have a fighting chance.
With a dedication to our concept, a severe lack of sleep, ample amounts of elbow grease, and a bit of blood, sweat, and tears we threw ourselves into the fray and opened our doors. And suddenly, to our pleasure (and admittedly moderate surprise) things started to work – and it seemed like we might be on to something after all. The community was behind us. The idea had traction.
Now we needed help. Our experiences and backgrounds had prepared us for many of the hurdles we faced as we entered into the startup phase of our business. As things grew more complex we quickly realized that being in business is not the same thing as running a business.
We found the Enterprise Center through our relationship with the SBA who assisted in our early phases of development. On the recommendation of a few friends (who also happened to be clients of the Center) we signed up. It was one of the best moves we made to date. The Enterprise Center gave us the tools we needed to turn our concept into a real business. They embraced our ideas, yet asked us the tough questions we knew needed to be asked. They helped guide through finding the answers while providing us with a crash course in every phase of business development.
We are still clients of the Enterprise Center. We are still learning. And we are now growing!
As of this week, my wife has left her job to join the Art House full time. We are now supporting our family of five through the business we built together. What we initially planned to be part of our 5 year plan has become a reality in just under 2 years!!
We are excited and terrified all at the same time. It is a tremendous feeling. When we took this leap together we had no idea how many people would be standing there waiting to catch us and welcome us into the world of business ownership. We have many people to thank for getting this crazy idea of ours off the ground, and the crew at the Enterprise Center are certainly among them.
I have never had more fulfilling life as the one I have now. If I had to do it all over again, I would start right now. We had faith, we took the leap, and we have no regrets.
