Is Tech a scary word in the Burbs?

Having grown up with my own mini business' aka side hustles, at ages 6, 9, 12, while hitting three pointers, being on the mound, and selling lemonade on corners through town based on where traffic would be, Red Bank and it's greater area is what I and WE have called home.

It's 45 minutes from the biggest city in the world. Known hundreds of years ago for it's "red banks of soil". It has train, bus, and boat access nearby. Red Bank is not just a hip 'town' any longer, but is growing to be a place to live, work, play, and build on ones passion to create a great life ahead. Let's call it a building hub, some would say into a Metroburb, but we shall see moving ahead where the town decides to take it. 

While costs in the area are quite escalated, creative and innovative ideas equal those to build out spaces and places that foster innovation, collaboration, creativity, and truly with exciting times ahead. For a mom who wants to start a candle company via e-commerce or a dad who wants to launch a product to try to get on Shark Tank, opportunity is there to do so and so is a community of people in the greater red bank area that supports those initiatives. They not to overcomplicate the T word while being open to seeing how it improves their lives and business' ahead.

There are 168 hours in a week and with very changing times we are all forced to look at our lives, goals, passions, skills, and what is ahead to be able to plan for our futures, our kids futures, and the future of our goals and dreams. How we get there has and is changing and 40 hours goes out the window as we all know. Kids have to work again early, not be handed a $30 free new phone upgrade, but rather figure out how to earn that new phone with minimum wage being 5 hours of work to do so. Parents are forced to think more creative (innovative) for their kids to grow up prepared for life and also they are forced to think more out of box to bring more revenue into their household so they can afford to still live in this area. All while planning for or funding college, taxes, and overall cost of living as one of the top 35 most affluent places to live per capita in the US. Not to mention of course NJ, our Garden State, being the most densely populated state in the US and with a high overall cost of living as well.

Building a business is not easy. Learning is a choice. Application is a skill. And seeing the big picture is somewhat of a gift and driver both in itself. The passion to do it all is a will. But fostering trust again, being open minded, learning from others, and doing something you have never done are all a bit of a leap for some. Building a community of people who are like minded and who become more like minded (aka educated on future success), takes time. It takes passion and care for what we call home. Red Bank and it's greater Area is home and we are excited to build that passion for a hub to grow and ignite that spark the Red Bank has, and also needs ahead. 

Finally, tech is a scary word for the suburban masses. Owners. Moms. Dads. Anyone basically who didn't grow up with it. Say Gen X or higher. If you watched MTV and had your own keys to the house, probably you as a first gage. Understanding tech is a choice many older and younger people close off to. And some embrace as sponges for learning for themselves but to educate others around them too.

That is why the community Upstart Garden is NOT a tech hub. It is a place for ideas, launches, collaboration, strategy, learning and FUSING TECH into a business. Fusing Tech means understanding how it can help, what it does specifically for THAT business be it a solution, plugin or platform for a brick and mortar or online business. It may be as simple as how to incorporate Web Theory into your site to make people more engaged with it; aka User Experience while having 5 in a room to talk about it, whiteboard, and think tank to get it done, and quick. 

Why don't more boutique style stores in the greater area use e-Commerce? Why don't they drop ship inventory in their store to bring in revenue from all over the Eastern Seaboard? That is just one example of bringing more fuel to our community outside of the Garden State into it to fuel business ahead.

Why arent' there collaborative spaces in Red Bank now? Aha! For a few reasons, reasons we know that will change sooner then later.

Red Bank will continue to innovate and ideate to become more known as a place for innovation, not just high end stores but high end growth too looking out for each another ahead as a collaborative whole. That is the mission, to support our area.

Upstart Garden, aka The Garden', is here with a lot of supporting towns around it to build conversations within, foster a huddle of leaders who will continue to choose to learn, grow, and connect their passions collectively together.

Join the community if you haven't already on Meetup: Upstart Garden Greater Red Bank Meetup and the upstart garden page on Facebook: Upstart Garden as well as give us some intel on you on your Meetup profile with 5 clarifying questions we want to know about you before being accepted. All members aka cultivators are pre-vetted, so please note.

Grow on,

The Upstart Garden Team