Rising Stars: Meet Alysson Davis

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Nolan, my husband Brian’s thirteen year old son, became interested in skateboarding around the age of 7. Brian got him a complete (ready-to-go skateboard) from Amazon, just as a test board. He totally destroyed it in like a week. After that, Brian and Nolan started going to local skate shops to get the real deal. They went to the closest one, about thirty minutes away, and Nolan got a Powell-Peralta complete. It was evident he was committed and we wanted to encourage him.

In June of 2021, Brian just asked me one day, “hey, what if we opened a skate shop in Blue Ash?” Immediately, I was on board, pun intended, and started doing a bunch of research on what we needed to do to start a business. Brian already had knowledge about the industry from building boards, skating with Nolan and talking to other shop owners. There were months of what Brian and I called “kitchen talk,” discussing how we would build the brand, what we could do to give back, looking at other skate shops in different states to see how they did it. Even as a stay-at-home mom, working part-time, and trying to juggle everything, it became apparent this was definitely something we wanted to pursue, but it was based on when and how.

In Jan of 2022, we bought an LLC and in March, the company Brian was working for unexpectedly shut down. This gave us the opportunity to move forward. Neither of us wanted to go back to the 9-5, so we set into motion getting financial backing, doing more research and all the typical things needed to start a business.

The original idea was to be online-based and run it out of our house. We contacted different skateboard industry distributors and quickly realized that wasn’t going to happen. In order for you to have access to the “core” brands, you have to be present in the community, which meant we had to have a physical location before they would even talk to us. We then had to figure out how to get money to get a location in order to buy product. Although a massive gamble, we knew we had to keep pushing.

We sought help by speaking with the Ohio Small Business Association, we got a SCORE mentor, and talked to family members who owned businesses, gathering the positives and negatives.

We had a particular location in mind, downtown Blue Ash, around the corner from where we live. That April, a spot became available in Keystone Plaza and it surprisngly remained vacant until May when we signed the lease and made a deposit. We had 4-6 weeks from then to get inventory, have the location remodeled (which luckily wasn’t much), and promote the business. It all happened quickly.

We want to be apart of our community, support active youth and help change the narrative on skateboarding. It’s such a fun and under-estimated sport.

Brian and I take lots of walks with our kids and whenever we see someone without a board, we say to each other, “hey, looks like you need a skateboard!”

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

Other than that, I would say the financial aspect will always be an obstacle for starting a small business. You have to prove to someone why you’re worth the investment. However, it doesn’t end there. You have to work at it day in and day out. Putting yourself out there in whatever way you can, even if it’s social media or small events in the area. If only one person learned of your existence, it’s one more person that you didn’t have.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?

This is a tough question for me. My definition of success is ever changing. I hit a goal I set for myself and I immediately strive for more. I want to push the limits of what I think is possible. Success is an internal progression.