BOULDER - Ask
any small business owner, and they will likely tell you that it is not easy
getting their dream off the ground. Let alone doing it in a three-month period.
That
is what former University of Colorado football players Arthur Jaffee and Trace
Adams are trying to do with their company StacheTats, which produces
temporary mustache tattoos.
After
graduating last December from CU, Jaffee knew he didn't want to work under
someone in the business world right away.
"I
was pretty set on trying to do something myself first," Jaffee said. "Football
was my job for five years. I was good at it, had success with it, and I needed
some time for myself a little bit."
This
past July, while discussing possible business opportunities with Adams, Jaffee brought
up a goofy idea that he had picked up a few weeks back after hanging out with a
friend and playing with temporary tattoos.
"My
buddy and I were just being goofy and we started putting them all over our
arms," Jaffee said of the fake tats. "We were just messing around and I was
thinking, 'Man, I forgot how fun these things are.'"
The
idea continued a few hours later when he saw a child crying, and Jaffee thought
that the kid would be a lot happier if he had a cool temporary tattoo. Jaffee then
continued his idea even further by focusing the product to just temporary
tattoo mustaches.
However
there was a problem for Jaffee and Adams in their venture - neither of them had business
experience as Jaffee got his degree in Environmental Studies and Adams in
Communication.
With
them in dire need of learning how to create a business from scratch, both Jaffee
and Adams happened to be going to Florida to spend some time with family, which
became the perfect opportunity to catch up on the stuff they didn't learn in
their respective majors. After two weeks of researching licensing and business
methods in the Sunshine State, the two friends had a better idea of what they
were getting into and were ready to jump right in.
Knowing
that the Colorado-Arizona State football game was likely going to draw a large
regional fan support, they decided to make the Thursday night contest their
launch date. That gave them roughly six weeks to get their idea off paper and
make it a reality.
"It's
been full throttle since we came up with the idea," Jaffee said.
In
fact, Jaffee and Adams have been so focused on making their launch date that
many of their friends in town had thought they had left Boulder, not knowing
what was going on with them. Even Jaffee admitted that he didn't go on his
Facebook page that often, if ever.
In
that six-week time, Jaffee said that he and Adams have had a hand in every
level of creating their business.
"I
have about six jobs right now," Jaffee said. "I'm our graphic designer, I do
our website maintenance; I built the website. I do a lot of finance work; I'm always
doing sales, helping with social media."
The
good news for Jaffee and Adams is that they made their launch date as both Buffs
were on campus on Wednesday giving out roughly 25,000 free mustaches, while sporting
the fake 'stache on themselves as well.
On
Thursday, they gave out an additional 50,000 free individual mustaches to
students and fans throughout the day on campus, at the CU Bookstore tailgate
and at Folsom Field before and during the CU-ASU game.
Some
of the mustaches that they produced are CU themed, with those having "Colorado
Buffaloes" and the Ralphie logo on them.
When
asked what he learned through this whole experience, Jaffee smiled and said,
"Everything."
That includes the important technical stuff
like tax and business classifications, and the fun creative stuff.
"If
it wasn't for this, there would be no way that I would learn how to do graphic
design like I can now," Jaffee said. "Same with building a website and maintaining
a website.
"I
learned what I am capable of."
