An off-the-wall business plan
You’ve got a great idea for a new business, but you don’t have the dough, the moolah, the greenbacks to make it fly.
Dude, it’s time to get creative, like James Martin.
The 23-year-old Corbin native graduated from the University of Kentucky in December with a degree in middle-school education.
He didn’t want to start a teaching job in the middle of the year. So he kicked around some ideas with friends and decided to open a sneaker store at some yet-to-be-chosen location in Lexington.
That’s right, sneakers — canvas tops, rubberish soles, long strings. Sneakers.
Martin has “a passion” for the Converse brand, as the Herald-Leader’s Mark Story reported in April. But he’ll have all sorts of sneakers in his store.
“Converse is my favorite sneakers,” Martin says, “but I really enjoy all sneakers.”
All he needs is the loot, the bucks, the clams to make it happen.
So he came up with the Name My Walls plan. The name of anyone who contributes $2 will be put on a wall at the store for the world to see forever.
“I haven’t decided if I will let them come in and sign it or if it will be painted on,” Martin says.
Contributors can go to www.myspace.com/NameMyWalls and click on the “Buy Now” button. Paypal will do the rest.
So far, things have been a little slow, Martin admitted. He started out asking for $1 and bumped it up to $2 because Paypal charges a transaction fee of 36 cents. In that case, $2 made more sense, he said.
Is he worried that some might view his request as a scam? Yes, he said, “but I really don’t know how to address that yet.”
At this point, it’s not a problem because, “I haven’t
