Business Description
As the sole creator/artist of jupey krusho I create original characters, character content and character goods. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles from Minnesota I started applying at studios such as Dreamworks, Disney, Warner Bros. and the like. I soon realized that while I loved to create characters and story, I mostly enjoyed creating my OWN characters and stories. Each of my characters, no matter how bright and colorful they are, come from a place of suffering or pain. The joy of jupey krusho is turning that discomfort into a positive energy and creating a magical world of characters from it. I started jupey krusho because I live and breathe creation, I make a habit of turning negatives into positives and I believe the world can never have too many original characters.
My biggest challenge has always been funding. While I love my job at the Guild my job title is Administrative Assistant and the pay has been adequate enough for my business early on but now as I’m trying to reach a bigger audience outside of California I need more funding. For the future I want jupey krusho to be recognized as a leader in original character content and goods. In 2016 I made a lot of changes to jupey krusho that has shown an increase in interest. Various efforts including, but not limited to, weekly online comics, increased product output and entering the character licensing world have all helped grow jupey krusho more in 6 months than in the 6 years combined While it’s nice to make sales at conventions and shows nothing is better than inspiring someone. I’ve had numerous people tell me online and in person that I’ve inspired them to follow their dreams of design and have answered every e-mail from a young artist that I’ve received. Lately I’ve been meeting more and more fans at shows who follow me on social media. It’s an incredible feeling to see a human life standing in front of you that you helped inspire and encourage to follow their dream. I also am proud of not giving up on my dream and it’s fun to sit back and look at all the colorful goodies I made. Thanks again!
What is the purpose of this loan?
After putting thousands of dollars into the project myself I used a small business loan to help with the mid-process expenses of making two 14″ vinyl designer toys. Even tho I’m still making payments with my own money I would like to have a toy release in November for the toys and also showcase the toys at my final convention for the year, DesignerCon – a place where vinyl toys are showcased and sold in front of a design saavy crowd. The Kiva loan will be spent on finishing up the toy molds, castings, details(painting) and packaging – ensuring their completion in time for a launch and DesignerCon.
The other loan helped finish up the cost of the molds($4800) and the Kiva loan will help fund the castings, details and packaging of 200 figures(100 of each figure). The castings, details(painting) and packaging for 100 figures will be $1500 so x 2(two different figures) that’s $3000 total.
I’ll be reaching a brand new audience with these designer vinyl figures and they will be a bit larger then most designer figures so they will definitely stand out. A new audience and a great profit margin will really help catapult jupey krusho to the next level. Besides having an online website to sell the figures I also have a distributor(Disburt, Inc) who is a wholesaler to stores across the world. I have a list of the top toy/figure blogs around the world and contacts for top toy stores in the Southern California area so once prototypes are created I will send out a few samples to these experts to gain exposure.
With the completion and success of these figures I will be able to continue to make other toys and figures while I create free content for them on social media and comic sites to gain interest and familiarity.
I displayed an early prototype of this figure at a 4-day convention in downtown Los Angeles and had over 90 people sign up for my mailing list because of it. I was interviewed at the convention(Anime Expo) because of the prototype. I also have a production blog for the toy here: www.battleboko.com
This is the biggest financial risk I’ve taken during my 9 years creating work at jupey krusho but I truly believe it will also be the most fruitful. I’ve never had so many show such interest in an item of mine before it even came out. I believe the exposure and revenue created by this project will open doors to create more desired products and form new business relationships.
This Kiva loan will help me realize one of my biggest dreams ever: entry into the designer vinyl toy world. I have an endless supply of characters so the possibilities are endless for more toys and that is my long-time dream and the endgame of most of my characters: to see them in 3D form for others to touch, feel and experience on a personal level.
My girlfriend’s son(10) and daughter(3) have had a very difficult life and I want to show them not only to follow their dreams but to never give up on them. It’s taken me almost 10 years but my dream is so close to becoming a reality. I want to see them at the toy launch and feel their excitement and positive energy as they see how hard I’ve worked and see other people enjoy and appreciate my hard work.