Women-Owned Business Series: Amanda from Go To Market
Jan 30, 2024 brooklyn,brooklyn women-owned,business owners,community,empowerment,female founded,female founder,love brooklyn,women-owned,women-owned business,women-owned business spotlight series
Welcome back to our Women-Owned Business Series! We’re happy to feature Amanda from Go To Market, a merchandising company aimed at revolutionizing merchandizing for companies. Read on about her journey!
First, tell us about your business and anything special we should know about it or you.
Go To Market is here to revolutionize the way the world handles swag. We are kicking aside dusty branded merchandise models to make swag that’s sustainable, flexible, and fashion-forward. We are anti-boring when it comes to design (we’re going beyond putting your logo on everything) and anti-junk when it comes to what we’re printing on (no pens, keychains, or stress balls). At Go To Market, our mission is to create branded swag that builds loyalty, develops community, and increases your bottom line. When done right, branded merchandise can actually build your business.
Why do you feel a connection to your work?
In my first company, I always wanted to buy cute branded merchandise for my team. But each time I ordered, I ran into the same roadblocks: committing to just one design, picking out sizes at random, finding a place to warehouse my goods in my NYC apartment, minimum order quantities that were too high, etc. So when I discovered print-on-demand technology in 2019, I realized that entrepreneurs would benefit dramatically from having an alternative to bulk merchandise– especially one that is also high quality and sustainable. That’s where Go To Market was born. The business helps me connect with other business owners and entrepreneurs, which is something I love about having my own business.
As a business owner, community is everything. In what ways do you serve your community and how has your community served you?
By making merch easy and sustainable, we’re bringing joy and accessibility to our community. We often hear from clients that our calls with them are the most fun part of their day and that they squeal with glee when they see their branded merchandise. We are harnessing the powerful connection people have to a brand and expressing it beautifully – and beyond just their logo – on items and gifts.
What advice would you give to young women who want to start a small business?
I like to be honest about how much work goes into being an entrepreneur. When you see a successful entrepreneur, you see them in the moment of their success, not in the hundreds or thousands of hours of work that came beforehand. It’s sexy on social media to show “shortcuts” but even those influencers are hustling. It always comes down to the hustle.
What women inspire you and why?
Any woman who is working hard and still maintaining their work/life balance in a healthy way for themselves and their family.
What do you think are the most significant challenges for women business owners or women in leadership positions?
Confidence is a big challenge for so many women. When I was younger, I didn’t have the career confidence to believe that I could be an Entrepreneur. I went into corporate instead and hated every second of it, but I was happiest when I was running my own projects and able to move at the breakneck pace of my own ideas. Once I gave entrepreneurship a try, there was no turning back. Running my own show suits me perfectly (despite it being way harder than corporate) and I knew going back to corporate wouldn’t work for me.
Go To Market is hitting their 4 year mark this year! They are so proud of the expertise they’ve developed and the stores they have designed for ther clients.