Business Spotlight On Grant Winners JL Fun Colorz

JL Fun Colorz is a custom crayon shop run by two brothers, Jordan and Joshua Liburd, from Tampa, Florida.

For as long as the boys could remember, they wanted to start their own company. Entrepreneurship was in their veins, especially after watching their parents successfully run a small business.

In 2019, JL Fun Colorz became a reality.

“The best part about being a small business owner is having creative freedom in every aspect of our business. We are able to make decisions about every detail of our products, from choosing the colors of our crayons to the packaging itself,” the brothers said.

Jordan and Joshua’s attention and care for their product is evident.

“We love selling our crayons at vendor events because it allows us to connect with our customers. Seeing a child’s reaction to our crayons is one of the best parts about owning a business,” JL Fun Colorz said.

You can shop their Etsy shop and follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

Q&A With Jordan & Joshua About JL Fun Colorz

Do you have any current plans for the grant money? What are your plans for JL Fun Colorz?

We plan to create advertisements to bring traffic to our website and increase sales. We also plan to sell our crayons at vendor events to gain local exposure. The grant money will allow us to purchase the necessary items to create an attractive vendor display. Additionally, we would like to partner with local businesses to be able to sell our crayons in their stores. The Opportunity Grant allows us to now purchase the supplies to produce our crayons on a larger scale.

What are the most important things you have learned about being a small business owner since you started your business?

The most important things we’ve learned about being small business owners are providing great customer service at all times, the importance of time management, networking, accountability, and the importance of philanthropy.

Do you have any advice for kids who might be thinking of starting a business?

Starting our own business is definitely a lot of hard work, but it is very rewarding.  Write down all of your goals and business ideas, and make a plan to achieve them.

Once you have a plan, you can start taking the necessary steps toward reaching your goals and achieving your dreams. As long as you are doing something that you are passionate about, you will be successful.

What is the biggest crisis your business has faced? And what did you do/are you doing to overcome the challenge?

The biggest crisis our business faced was when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

In the early stages of our business we were only selling our crayons at vendor events, but these got canceled due to the pandemic. A year after we started our business, we had no way to sell our crayons. We had to build a website, focus on selling our crayons online, and build our social media presence.

Tell us your proudest moment as a small business owner!

Our proudest moment as small business owners was being aired on national television (The List).

The episode featured successful kidpreneurs and our business was featured. We had no previous knowledge that we would be a part of the show, so it was a genuinely shocking surprise!

Vendor Round-Up

And which of our vendors and partners are assisting JL Fun Colorz on their small business journey?

🖍️ What site does JL Fun Colorz use for eCommerce? Previously Shopify and now Etsy.

🖍️ What POS do you use at farmer’s markets or in-person events? Square.

🖍️ Who is your credit card processor? Square.

🖍️ Who do you use for business banking?  MidFlorida Credit Union