Outsource (white label) work to existing companies, based on trusted relationships. Either referred to me, screened, or met in person at industry gatherings. It’s difficult to manage because multiple cooks and no ‘direct report’ but I’ve got a system now that is more efficient than most for this. I also pay premium rates to get the best - I don’t want discount work. Margings are waay lower for these, but an extra $50k net a year isn’t bad still.

I’m actually building out courses and doing consulting for my industry so hoping to help everyone who had questions and wants to go this route build their business at some point.

1. No because majority comes from corporate now. And the marriage rate thing is interesting, because while it’s declining, wedding trends are changing and resulting in more spent on memorable stuff, not the generic ‘must haves’ Experiential basically, which we are.
2. Depends, check with your state. We dont even need a business license in AZ to operate, other than a tax license (taxes are required on all services, most everywhere nowadays).
3. Depends. I think we pay around $1500-2k now a year for our GL and other policies.

Well the slight niche being the industry focus (trade show, retail stores, birthdays, etc), but offering a standardized solution for them that’s easily deployable and more affordable.

No that’s the hardest part. Huge amounts of training, trust but verify, and processes to ensure things can’t go wrong (to the extent that they can be controlled). Now though, I can go to sleep while a big event is going on without a worry most nights. There is always the occasional problem that requires my expertise, but majority of events are rinse/repeat for my team.

Don’t know what to tell you but margins like mine are still incredible for most service companies. A quick search for stats will show you margins are not that high for majority of industries. But kudos to you with whatever industry your biz is in to generate better margins, sounds like a great one.

I’m happy with where things are at now. But I would have invested more heavily into more simplified solutions that fit a broader market for at least part of our offerings (or under a different brand). Something that scales easier and still has good margins.

It was really just a lot of day in/ day out putting in the hours and grinding on every possible aspect of the business I could, improving little by little, and it all added up.

It’s all organic. SEO onsite. Social media pages are managed by someone, but all organic posts.

A lot of switching tabs forgetting what I was going to do a minute ago, getting up to get water then repeating the process.

Seriously, I’m a mess. But when I am focused, it’s coordinating events, responding to emails, sending quotes from CRM, testing new software/experiences, and researching a lot.

Depends I guess. We can print anything w/ our mfc. But also can do ai background removal w/ ai background or stock photo.

Spend at least 20-30 hrs learning it online (youtube etc). Then, hire someone, with enough knowledge to find out if they know what they are doing. OR keep investing in learning and do it yourself.

Biggest help is expanding the content on your own site infinitely. yes infinitely. Never stop adding pages, sections, posts, etc. And learn proper html SEO structure + internal linking strategies. other than that, use a listing aggregator to get your NAP everywhere possible. And collect reviews on google w/ mybiz listing for maximum benefit.

Doing everything solo. Would love to have a team for my next venture. But mostly getting customers. Always find your customers BEFORE starting a business.

Doing everything solo. Would love to have a team or partner for my next venture. But mostly getting customers. Always find your customers BEFORE starting a business.

Depends on the booking. Most is full service w/ attendant

There are lots of costs in running a business. Labor alone is like $130k. This includes payroll taxes etc, but not pass-through tax on any net profits.

Not sure what you mean? We run a headshot booth and I can assure you, we create great quality headshots using everything that would be done in a full studio setting (keylight, fill light, depth of field, high-end ff camera + lens, and whatever else is needed to achieve the look or room we have to work with) - and there are others who ONLY do this. The only thing lacking is personality - we don’t sit there and pose each guest for an hour to get different styles, etc. These are bulk jobs, so there has to be a level of speed to get through a tradeshow or corporate office scenario.

This is very true. There is more than meets the eye, and all of this took effort. So I hope no one thinks they can buy a hunk of equipment and make bank. This is not an overnight success, but something every single person/business is capable of.

Nationwide the average is closer to $1200-1500 for an equivalent service in my experience. Truth be told, not every figure is possible within every market - and Arizona has been a bit of a bummer compared to other markets we operate in now. As time goes on and more people enter the industry with low-budget offers, it makes competing harder and makes brand and sales that much more important. Our customers aren’t looking on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, etc, so we aren’t competing with every company. But even for those that do compete on our playing field, we are totally cool losing a booking and keeping our brand value in tact.

It keeps me pretty mentally stimulated. Working events is fun too sometimes. My wife has her own career and wants nothing to do with entrepreneurship or working in a business I own. But if your partner wants to go at it with you, kudos, I know some power couples in the industry and they love doing it together.

My staff and my contractors love me. My philosophy is your people are always the most important part of any business. Treat them well, and they will reward you. I would rather offset any cost on the client than force my people to work for less. Often clients tip hundreds of dollars, which I let my people keep. I reimburse them for everything, treat them to bonuses, try to make their jobs as easy as humanly possible so they are excited to work.

I dont know if I should post it, not trying to self promote but dm me if you want info

Hey congrats on your success, but i get it, margins mean everything. I would say focus on what customers are asking for already, or booking outside of your services that you could offer for little to no added cost (high margin goods). Don’t recommend providing your own ‘high-value’ services like photography, videography, etc. But you might consider other rentals or enhancements to make it easier on your clients too. And as you mentioned, you can rent some things elsewhere, but this would be a separate business in my opinion and wouldn’t help your margins much unless it’s off-season and you can utilize the same labor for this.

• $60k payroll so far (wages, taxes, etc). This includes my salary, but not the net distributions (or December bonus payrolls). My accountant did mention I should probably be paying myself more salary in the near future…
  Also, I have $72k in 1099’s.
• $25hr before all payroll fees in general
• I’m at like $~50k salary
• 22hrs average focused. I waste a lot of time on personal stuff and getting distracted. Most time consuming is thinking about stuff. Like what to do next, or how to design a new experience, etc. I get caught up in thoughts.
• I respond to them. So much of our stuff is bespoke that I can’t train 80% of the business (which sucks). Will be looking into VA for remaining 20% but mostly to take personal stuff off plate so I can focus on the business and not shopping for day-beds for my inlaws.