Are we really doing this?

Hi, name is Stevi and my partner is Charles and this the question we have been asking ourselves for the last month.

You see, we are in the earliest stages of trying to transition a dream into a reality. We have this wild idea of opening a local business that is a mashup of all the things we love most about life. Imagine a local market specializing in high-quality local produce that you can afford, a tea shop, a growing space for a permaculture garden & greenhouse, and an after-hours cozy lounge with live jazz. In a perfect world, it’s so close you can even walk or bike there.

For the longest time, it felt like just a fun dream. Something we talked about on long drives to pass the time. We’d banter back and forth about all the cool things we would do if we had our own business, ideas flying around, “Oh! And what if we had our own chickens on the property!?”. But at the end of the day, we’d always tell ourselves we couldn’t take that kind of risk. What if nobody would like it? What if we try and fail? We have a family to think of after all. It’s probably too crazy.

But then we always come back to this idea, this thing we could build together, and over the last year there started to be a shift. The questions started to go from what-ifs and morphed into how-tos. We bought this website domain, created an email account, and social media accounts, you know, so that the business name didn’t get taken before we could use it someday.

Then we started talking to other business owners we know and respect asking for advice. We started researching how to get funding, properties, and zoning requirements. It was just for fun until it wasn’t just for fun. It’s something we really want. It’s something we believe in. I mean, if that’s not worth taking a risk on, what is?

So we’re diving in, or at least, we’ve climbed up the ladder and are standing on the diving board looking down at the pool building up the courage to jump.

Everything and everyone says you gotta start with market research, so that is what we are currently doing. Or that is what we think we are doing. To be clear, we don’t really have any idea how one is supposed to conduct market research other than you can quickly Google, but hey, we’re out here trying to make things happen.

So this week we are launching a survey to the community. We’re also pulling local demographics, looking at potential competitors, and examples in other cities where similar(ish) businesses have been successful.

But let’s call a spade a spade, this thing we want to do is kinda WEIRD. There’s nothing exactly like it anywhere that we’ve found. Certainly not in Indianapolis, or more specifically, Irvington where we hope to open our doors. There are farmer’s markets and specialty shops sure, two cafes (if you count a Starbucks), and one location for live music. But nothing like our thing. Nothing like The Greenroom.

So the next big question we have to answer is - Does anyone even want this? Follow along if you’re curious. Take the survey if you live in Irvington or the surrounding area. Let’s see where this journey takes us.