Andrea and Neal
It's been 10 years?!
In the words of someone, "Time flies when you're having fun!" And it has. If you'd asked either of us early on in our relationship if we planned on going into business doing 'arty' stuff, Andrea would have been a hard no and Neal would have pondered the thought for a bit. Sometimes ideas like that stick with a person. For the last ten years Neal's passion for art and his desire to help people unleash their creativity hasn't always lined up perfectly with Andrea's love of teaching and business prowess. However, over all, they've built a strong business and have overcome the standard business issues as well as shifting their entire business model during a global pandemic. To say the last ten years has been fun, educational, a challenge, a passion, sometimes loved, sometimes hated... would do a disservice to the act of owning a small business. Before I get all verklempt, let's take a look back over the last ten years:
- June 9, 2015 - attended Cork & Canvas at Straight Upp - Andrea and I share a birthday, so we were looking for something fun to do. When we left, I said, "You know, I could do that," and she replied "I think that's the first business idea you've had that I could get on board with." And the rest is history.
- June 22, 2015 – registered with the State of Kansas and received our Employer Identification Number
- Sept 2015 – first Paint & Sip at Tallgrass Taphouse - We began doing pop up events and our very first was with 13 participants at the Tallgrass Taphouse. Ask me about the practical joke we pulled that night, it was a good one!
- Dec 2015 – May 2016 – events at Liquid Art - as we gained traction with our pop up events, we started looking for a place to call home. Our first 'home' was Liquid Art, where we hosted events on a monthly basis.
- May 2016 - December 2018 - Neal painted rocks and Andrea carried them to the craft fairs and sold them. Of course Andrea became resentful of always having to carry the rocks, so...
- Jan 2018 – May 2018 – Signed on for Iron Clad membership - The Iron Clad was our first shared space experience, and was a great launch pad for moving into our own leased space.
- May 2018 – Nov 2019 – 4th street location - The first real 'home' for Uncorked Inspiration. For about 18 months, we hosted events next door to Wine Dive, which was such a perfect partnership! Then an amazing opportunity presented itself...
- Nov 2019 – present – Purchase of Straight Upp Studio at 1223 Moro - After discovering that Straight Upp was for sale, Andrea told Neal to "See if they have any excess inventory they'll sell us for cheap." Taking this advice, Neal called, and well, technically, you could say they bought the excess inventory... and the business. This allowed them to expand into the world of ceramics and more. If you want to hear the whole story, stop by and join a paint and sip, Neal loves telling it.
To our creative community, thank you so much for the last 10 years! We know we wouldn't be here without you. Even after ten years, our hope is that you have as much fun as Andrea and Neal do at Uncorked's events. So sit back, create, sip, and repeat.