Starting a business is a little bit like playing a board game.
It takes a bit of skill and a whole lot of luck.
Take the trio of Sylvia Alexander, Bob Cavin and Germaine Redding. When they rolled the dice on their Test of Time Enterprises about 1 1/2 years ago, they had little more than an idea.
But with some strategy, hard work and a few chance encounters, they put their product on store shelves.
The trio's idea was an American history trivia game they eventually named "The Whole Story."
The first order of 5,000 games, selling for $17.97 each, shipped to a southeastern U.S. retail chain for the holiday season. The partners also have a Web site at www.testoftimegames.com.
"It's been great, but a lot of work," said Cavin, president of Test of Time. "This is what we've been waiting for - this moment."
It's taken thousands of dollars and several years of planning and research for Test of Time to get to this point. And, the partners agree, there's a lot more work to do.
Planning their moves
They still need to find a local retailer. And, like the entrepreneurs behind many small business startups, they're pinching pennies to get the job done.
The group meets every Wednesday at the Capital Area District Library's downtown branch, planning their next move.
The work started in 2004, when Cavin and a former partner came up with an idea for an black history board game.
He enrolled in the Lansing Microenterprise Fund's entrepreneur training program to work on a business plan and began connecting with local mentors to help guide him through the process of starting a business.
Cavin met Redding in the training program. Redding was looking for business tips to expand his local property management firm.
Being involved with the game seemed like the perfect way to fulfill a dream of being more involved with kids, Redding said. But the duo needed more funding than the $6,000 loan they secured through the Microenterprise Fund.
Enter Alexander.
Taking a gamble
It was 2005, and Cavin and Redding heard about a toy and game convention in Orlando, Fla. It seemed like the ideal opportunity to get feedback on their game.
Alexander agreed to finance the trip. She took out a loan against her 401(k) retirement plan.
"It was totally not something I would do normally," she said. "I'm usually safe. I'm getting close to retirement."
The trip eventually paid off.
Cavin and Redding met a buyer from Fred's Inc., a Memphis, Tenn.-based discount chain, who was interested in the game and the company that eventually would manufacture it, Aurora, Ill.-based Rehtmeyer Inc.
"We were all fired up there," Cavin said. "We were just in awe that we made it. Here we are at this major conference with Hasbro and Mattell and Milton Bradley."
But there was one problem. The concept was good, industry officials told them, but a black history trivia game was too niche-oriented for their first product.
They needed something tailored for a general audience. The partners shifted gears.
"You always can come out later as a spinoff game using those different ethnic groups," Redding said. "The smart marketing thing was to make it all inclusive.
"We didn't know that. We were just thinking we had a game and we were going to get it sold."
Back at the drawing board in Lansing, the partners began researching more questions - and answers - and continued to develop the game. The next stop was a toy and game show in New York City.
Pulling it off
They didn't have the glitzy presentations of some other game makers, Redding said, but it was there they sealed the deal.
"We had vision, we had hope, and we had passion," he said. "If you have that, I don't care what you're trying to do, you're going to pull it off."
That's the lesson Alexander, who never thought of owning her own business, said she's learned from this project.
"I think there are a lot of people who could go into business who are afraid they have to have this huge amount of wealth and brilliant stuff going on," she said. "You don't. You have to have that stick-to-itiveness and just think of some creative ways to get around problems."
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