The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 90,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

How to make 15-20K in 4 hours..EVENTS!

sWALK90

Slowly figuring it out
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
168%
Sep 29, 2015
363
610
H ,TX
Did you have an insurance? Just in case someone got hurt? How about the venues? You looked for something like empty warehouses or rather nice ones?

Nope never had insurance....there was a few fights at some but no one never seriously injured.

It all depends on the purpose....we had Tipsy Thursday in a regular hall that we rented..it was nothing special.
Now for a valentines party we would normally go with a upscale club and make a dress code..
For a homecoming party i rented a warehouse in which we packed it out and had to open the back wall to let more pople in..

Just google venues in your city or ask around if the hotels have ballrooms.
 

SweetTooth

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
183%
Nov 20, 2014
167
306
Earlier this year I threw a birthday party for my 20th. Promoted it a month before on the event date on Facebook and had relationships with the house owners and local DJ's, security, bartenders, front door money handlers, and good friends to help promote the event. Charged about $3 for girls and $5 for guys.

Day of event, there was an estimated 250-300 people in our two story house. Had a line going four houses down the road with people.

Then the cops came, they came about three times but the third time (when there was a line outside and the peak attendance of the night) was when it ended. Everyone ran, it caused a chain reaction. The idiots handling the money ran. Somehow the cops got inside the house. The house owner was detained and later ticketed. An underage girl on synthetic acid had to be taken to the hospital (medically she was fine, just had an insanely bad trip). Keep in mind a lot of very serious stuff happened that night that the home owner had to pay for. The majority of people were under 21.

I saw the opportunity though and always kept it in the back of my mind. Your post brought back the memories of that great night haha. The competition out here in Vegas for underground raves and house parties is weak. I used my copywriting skills to blow the completion out of the water. There were other events that night that ended up dead because of our event. I'm friends with a lot of the hosts and well known guys out here in Vegas that through unofficial house parties. I also know tons of DJ's. I think with some professionalism, a lot of money could be made.

I have some questions for you. How do you handle the legal side of this? The cops here crack down on house parties for underage drinking and drugs and noise complaints. How did you pull that off? Legally there has to be the proper licensing, did you have any of that?
 

danoodle

Freedom Seeker
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
118%
Feb 1, 2011
251
297
Kansas, toto
The only "major" event I have ever planned is my 10 yr HS reunion, and I BARELY broke even. That was after the golf course manager gave me a huge discount on the venue pricing. The mistake I made was not taking money upfront. So many people said they would be there and didn't show. I had probably more than triple the amount of catered food needed.

I have always been fascinated with large scale events, I love going to festivals and raves and seeing a huge event like EDC would take insane planning. We always had parties in college and would charge $5 per cup, but that was so small scale. I can easily see how this could be a fastlane endeavor if you scaled it up.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

sWALK90

Slowly figuring it out
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
168%
Sep 29, 2015
363
610
H ,TX
I have some questions for you. How do you handle the legal side of this? The cops here crack down on house parties for underage drinking and drugs and noise complaints. How did you pull that off? Legally there has to be the proper licensing, did you have any of that?

In vegas? that could be a crazyyyy amount of money made...remember i did it in a very small town. Population 110,000.
Vegas is where everyone goes.

As far as the legal side...
i started when i was in high school....alot younger than everyone else so i could of got in trouble my self from drinking and ect ,but building relationships with the cops really help. Some venues require you to have insurance and i always had cops and security so i never really had any problems. Also i didnt do House partys, you are just asking for trouble. If you rent a venue its a lot safer plus they take care of all the bar legal stuff and alcohol licensing!
 

sWALK90

Slowly figuring it out
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
168%
Sep 29, 2015
363
610
H ,TX
You said you got tired of the partying and girls...why do you HAVE to be present at the events?

To make sure everything is right.....would you just expect everything to go well and someone hand you over a random amount every night? Theres no way to tell if it is the correct amount or if you have been shorted....ive seen plenty of people steal and lie about stuff in this game..

Where the name Janky Promoters come from...
 

Draven Grey

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
137%
Oct 21, 2014
114
156
48
Denver, CO
To make sure everything is right.....would you just expect everything to go well and someone hand you over a random amount every night? Theres no way to tell if it is the correct amount or if you have been shorted....ive seen plenty of people steal and lie about stuff in this game..

Where the name Janky Promoters come from...
That depends on how you build the business. Cirque Du Soleil doesn't have the owner at each one. A promoter with a small staff can build events into a pretty large business.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Stevo1

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
135%
Jun 23, 2014
26
35
47
That would be a small book lol..


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I think/know this business could be Franchised where you are the Franchisor. Then it would be fastlane without a doubt.

The trick would be to create a really strong brand around the events that could then be sold off nationally to Franchisees to run there own events across the country.... even the world.

I have an events company running completely different events from those mentioned above. I started running them myself for about two years, but realised that I couldn't take it any further than say 20 miles from where I lived as time and costs made it un-workable. I had an agreement drawn up from a solicitor to allow me to Franchise the business.

I currently have around 35 Franchisees running these events around the UK and only two months ago gave up my last event to a Franchisee so now only collect royalties off each event that is run and a start up fee.

My business is far from fastlane as the events themselves aren't hugely profitable so my fee remains low, but it brings in a passive income at the moment of around $2,000 a month.

There are many things to think about and many ways to "skin the cat" you mention money being involved and the trust issue, but this could be navigated by either charging a set fee per event that is run by the Franchisee or providing a central tool for ticket sales so you can see the amount of tickets being sold and then taking a percentage as your fee.

The big task is documenting every piece of the process to share with your Franchisees our manual for very small events is running at around 150 pages already.

If you start looking further into this feel free to send me any questions. We have made a lot of mistakes on the way.

I think by the time this thred has finished you'll be back on the party bus!!!
 

ZeroTo100

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
179%
Feb 2, 2016
361
645
New York City / New Jersey
Thanks for the info. We have a guy that's had experience running their own event, so we're following in his footsteps. Would it be taboo to have more than one sponsor if they're in different niches? For example, we would pitch our advertising points to an alcohol sponsor, music magazines (such as Complex, Noisey and Fader), then we could even have a third sponsorship for a clothing brand. Would this be a problem or have you done something similar?

As for the event, we already plan to spray champagne into the crowds with water guns, throw beach balls in, get the crowd involved, etc.

Not at all. Cross promotion is a good thing brother! With music magazines, see if they can squeeze you in on an upcoming newsletter with a link on where to buy tickets. I would also try and structure a deal with them and see if they would be willing to sell some tickets directly from their site. Give them some comps too to give out for free. If they're a sponsor, they shouldn't have a problem doing it. I've done this before, plenty of times.

Word of advice, definitely get something in writing though. Have your attorney draft up a small (non aggressive) proposal for them.
 

sWALK90

Slowly figuring it out
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
168%
Sep 29, 2015
363
610
H ,TX
This thread inspired me to start my own rap festival. I've got six artists confirmed (as well as a DJ) and I'm in the process of confirming the venue. The performers are up-and-coming artists. We're going to set up a site with our name, throw up a poster on the site, along with a plugin for ticket sales, which will send money straight to our bank accs. We drew up contracts for the artists so that they get paid after the event, meaning our initial overhead is low. We're in the process of creating a poster for the event, which we will post in university facebook groups and have it promoted on Twitter. It's going to be a lit event in Toronto. If all goes well (or not so well), I'll share my experiences in this thread in an effort to help others.

Two things that you have to know about the event planning game are:
1) Music is a cut throat industry with a lot of ego. Being too nice can get you F*cked over. Negotiating skills come in handy.
2) It's stressful to say the least.

Nice ,this is what i was hoping to to do..inspire someone to take action...have you took a look a eventbright for ticket sales?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

ZeroTo100

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
179%
Feb 2, 2016
361
645
New York City / New Jersey
Find a new venue. Don't work with people that you have difficulty building relationships with. If you get that gut feeling of a lack of trust, chances are it won't bode well. He needs you more than you need him. Everyday his venue doesn't fill, he loses money. That's just the bottom line.

We've been having difficulties finding a venue. At the moment we found a venue that holds 700 capacity. We signed the contract and paid the owner the money, in cash, however something that concerned me was that the owner was getting angry that I was asking him for a receipt at the point of purchase, when he said that he would send an invoice closer to the event (which is in April).

I managed to talk him into writing me a receipt at the point of purchase, but I'm suspicious of this guy. He's been trying to strong-arm me by saying that "he doesn't like it when people don't listen to him" and that he's going to keep getting angry if we don't listen to him. I'm assuming he's angry that I've asked him to write out a receipt, which took two minutes. What should I do moving forward? Even if I've already paid and signed the contract?
 

Mac

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
159%
Feb 10, 2015
261
415
27
That's true. Our event is happening on a Friday.

Just an update:

Right now we're at 16 tickets sold (presale). The event is on April 22, 2016. So me and my team decided to start approaching people Downtown Toronto at Dundas square (picture it as a mini version of Time Square). To my surprise, tons of people were saying they've seen the poster for our event before, which means word of mouth is really driving our advertising. Social media has had little gains so far. We've invited over 800 people to our event page and only about 20 have opted into going.

When we were handing out flyers around the Eaton Centre (a huge mall) and on different university campuses, tons of people were saying they were going. We even met a couple of music bloggers that said they'll write about our event. It's amazing how small the world is when you get out and start prospecting, I even share mutual connections with some of the people I was pitching to. Plus it's a great opportunity to get over approach anxiety when reaching out to really hot girls.

I even mustered up the courage to start walking into random shops and pitching. I think I've got a solid lead for a sponsorship from a barber shop (this is a huge barber shop, not just a small one). The owner told me to make sure that I sent them an email with all the information about the sponsorship, they seemed very eager. We've also landed two clothing vendors for $250 a piece.

Today I'm going to go pitch to more clothing shops in the Downtown core and I'm going to hand out more flyers. This might sound a bit taboo, but I've also been taping flyers over top of ads on the subway (ha-ha). Handing out flyers on the subway has been great as well, since people have no service and are forced to look at something.

Tell me what you think of our website, www.staywavieent.com
 

ZeroTo100

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
179%
Feb 2, 2016
361
645
New York City / New Jersey
Thanks for your helpful words man! We got a reply by one club in the meanwhile!

70% of door entry would be our share. The good thing is that we would have to pay no rent for the venue. So our risk would only be the cost for security (approx. 600$ and marketing; DJ will very likely cost nothing since a friend of ours would probably do it for free.) Realistic entry prices would be 10-12$. Club capacity is approx. 750 ppl. What do you think? Am I missing any important point in the financial planning?

My first impression is that that's a fair deal considering the fact that we haven't hosted any events yet.

Please, don't take this the wrong way but this deal is not a good deal. Few things you should never do - pay for security and give up any share of your door money.

Here is why - In the event that a fight breaks out or something happens involving your security team, you are the person that hired them. You're at somewhat of a liability. The venue owner almost always hires his own security team - you just hire your own door man. Number two - how come I don't see you earning a percentage on your bar sales? This is crucial. You should be entitled to 20% of the bar sales as your patrons will be there spending there money. 3 your door money is your money that you pay the DJ with and your subs. It's all cash remember that. You never give that cash up and you never let the owner know what you're doing at the door. Actually, nobody should know what your door money is. Keep your sister at the door handling the cash. 4. I don't see any comped bottles or drinks. You should get at least 10 comped bottles on a 750 capacity room. Entry should be 15 at the door. Your friends should have to pay too. Thats why you hire a door man so that he can be a complete a**hole and only allow women in. Thats how you make your money because guys will want to pay to get in.

Also, don't hire your friend to handle the DJing at your party. If he is ok to open up for 2 hours thats fine like 10 am but when it starts to get busy switch up with your main set. Bottom line, music will make your night. Spend the money. Not only will they make the party but they'll promote it also for you.

Marketing budget is usually your own. Once had a deal with a hotel that gave me and my partner 2k plus a $500 marketing budget every Wednesday just to show up. The place promoted itself which was sweet - free money.

Good luck.

Where are you located anyway?
 

Late Bloomer

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
143%
Apr 17, 2018
950
1,356
The goal for anyone entering this market would be to eventually own a venue, restaurant, festival, or event production company. It's a market that will help build your relationship development skills, your marketing skills, and your negotiation skills as well.

That looks like a totally believable and very powerful exit strategy, when you're ready to move into the next level up in this industry. Very cool!!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

El Príncipe

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
291%
Jun 1, 2018
57
166
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
@sWALK90 @ZeroTo100 @Mac @iAmAttila and @Stevo1 thank you all for your contributions to this thread. This is a pure gold mine for me.

I've recently moved into a position as the "events guy" for a big bar/restaurant and of course I've thought about organizing my own events, so this thread really gets my juices flowing!

Just turned 29 and done with the party scene so looking for other industries though. What are some other spaces you guys have looked at or got experience with? Concerts/live music? Food events? Career/business events?

Also, while reading TMF I was thinking this road violates the commandments of entry (anyone can decide to throw an event right?) and scale (you can make a couple grand, but can you make a couple million?), and wondering about time (how do you detach yourself from operations?).

What are your thoughts on this guys? Know it's an old thread, but hopefully you guys are still out there and active ;) Thank you for all the insights already shared!
 

ZeroTo100

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
179%
Feb 2, 2016
361
645
New York City / New Jersey
Thank you so much for the feedback @ZeroTo100 it's appreciated more than you might imagine!

Congrats on your kid and the other one on the way, I hope they and your wife are doing amazing!

I've gone back through this thread and your first introduction thread and noted down everything valuable in a pad. Thanks for all the insight.

How is your current business doing? You commented on a big RE deal but also wanting to build a remotely run business?

Also, how did you exit your event business exactly? Did you sell it? (if not, why not?) Find someone to operate it for you? (if not, why not?) From your posts I get the impression you just pulled the plug on the whole thing.

This last week I've been thinking a lot about venturing into this business and wrote down a to do list. One thing keeps nagging at me though.

You wanted out of this life once you met your wife and got serious with her. I want out too. My reasons revolve more around health and lifestyle. But basically I don't want to create a business for myself where I have to be in and around clubs at late hours on a regular basis.

Apart from that I love events though. Planning and setting them up, meeting with different parties, talking deals, etc. Also I love Hiphop and I'd love to contribute to the culture in my city, country and even whole of Europe (I love Spanish rap, and one idea is taking Spanish rappers to Amsterdam, but I'm doubtful whether there is a market for it here).

That's why I'm thinking more of maybe festivals or something involving live acts, maybe a block party, or some sort of indoor event. Day time/evening events basically, not night. There are events being done in this space (I'm visiting all Hiphop festivals this summer), and I think they're not bad. But neither are they really pushing boundaries I feel (except for one). And here the demand still outweighs the supply in this space. There is room for another player.

Some sort of food festival geared towards vegans could be interesting too (turned vegan for aforementioned health reasons). This market is taking off here, the first players have arrived, but everything is still up for grabs. Also this demographic has more money to spend.

Mentioned business events because that's where most of the money is. But I got very little affinity with that market.

I guess the first order of business in front of me, is figuring out how to start off a small, day time event in the Hiphop space. How to make it different or better than what's currently out there. And how to get people to know about it. Would you say that's about right?

If you were to start out with (small) festivals instead of night clubs, how would you do it?

Thanks dude. I appreciate all the love and I'm alway's around if you ever need. The past year has been pretty wild for me. I had a pretty sweet real estate flip in a high end area in Queens, NY. The house was a hurricane sandy house but only the first floor was damaged and the original owner had it inspected for mold, fixed all the electric, etc. She just never put walls or flooring up. I jumped on it and flipped it. It was a brutal experience that I would never recommend anyone to do ever. I did a lot of work with my dad who's been a GC for many years. His company manufactured PVC fence in the NY area but he came on to work for me. Pretty weird hiring pops to help out but no better person but him.

My system is a little different than probably 80% of the people on here. You see, I did everything I was suppose to do as a young adult. Went to college, started businesses, all that jazz. The thing that will push me exponentially ahead in the coming years is the thing I've been doing the past 14 years...I go to this job every single day (monday to friday 6-2), sign in and basically work (if thats what you call it lol). It's one of those jobs where you get a pension, health benefits free till I die, 401k, etc after 20yrs. I'm 34 and I'll be done in 6 years. BUT I do consider myself an entrepreneur. This job allows me to hustle on my ventures all I can DURING* work and obviously after work (getting out so early). It supports my entrepreneurial ventures like MJ recommends doing but with an added twist - that pension after 20 and those health benefits.

In terms of my life, most of my "BIG money" that paid my wedding, townhouse that I just sold, engagement ring, cool vacations, cash for investments - came from ventures and hustling (NOT A JOB).

I got out of nightlife because I felt like I had to grow up. I looked around and people that worked for me were much older than me at the time. I looked a their life and I wondered if it was right for who I was. I sold off all the assets of the business - pretty much our email list at the time was the main thing. I dissolved the company and shut it down. I launched a few business after, one being a nutritional supplement box. This was the most successful failure of my life.

After that, I studied internet businesses that were selling on all the top brokerages. Bought a couple of sites, launched a few sites. I learned a lot about buying sites and selling sites.

Through life, opportunities come and go. Sometimes you can be so bent on making a move and something steps in front of you that is ripe and you put everything on pause - which I did with that flip. Now I just sold my house and I'm buying a new one. I'm also going to buy a rental for cashflow (check out to buy or to hold thread). I would suggest following the guys in that thread for real estate and ecommerce advice. They are animals in that field, totally crushing it! I always leave myself with enough cash for opportunities. When I get through my home purchase and the rental purchase, I'm back to business.

For your event questions...
First you have to decide what event space you want to get into. Than you have to study your competitors. You can always be different than them in terms of what you're producing BUT find out how they are marketing their events to your target audience. Go through their funnels, follow their social pages, go to their events, buy their tickets, literally know their every move. Connect with their people and let their people sell to you. Spy on them!

Once you know who your competitor is and you know who your customer is you'll know how to be different and you'll know what you can provide to your patrons that isn't being provided. You may even find that your competitors employees want something more than their employer is offering...You can offer it and bring them on board ;).

You have to get really creative...You want to throw a festival and push the boundaries? How about throwing a festival but marketing it as an 3 day weekend camp for adults.

There's no such thing as a small festival. You don't run an event, marketing the sh!t out of it, to not blow the doors off it. If I were new in the field and I wanted to start a business in this field, I'd go work for someone for a few months. You may find a cofounder.

If you want a direct answer, I would find out who I'm selling to (actually find them), what I'm selling to them(my experience vs my competition). Than I'd go find a venue and see if we can work a deal and if I can get the numbers to make sense.


P.S. I'm not re-reading this for typos lol
 

ZeroTo100

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
179%
Feb 2, 2016
361
645
New York City / New Jersey

The width of experience you have is impressive, having been in all kinds of businesses. Also funny how you exit a business and the most valuable asset is the email list

The most valuable asset was me. I had the contacts through years of hustle. I had developed the network. I was the brains behind every marketing campaign I've ever executed. It wasn't the kind of business I could just sell. I had a team of people that worked for me - that enjoyed working with me. I had so much control that when I left, other promoters tried to step in and scoop them up but some left the business and others started doing their own events and are doing well still.

I'm still curious why you didn't try automating it? Ever considered owning a venue and your thoughts on it? Still too much "in the life"?

Try automating an event on big nights when you're doing 3000-5000 patrons paying $100 a head to get in the door in "cash." When you structure your deals a certain way with venue owners, you have to be there or at least have someone you trust closely counting that cash and clicks. It's the real world brother - when you're bringing in a lot of cash and you have people to pay you better believe you're not going to be sitting home on your a$$ playing "automate my business and live life the digi nomad style." That's called a pipe dream. All due respect to those that do, but they are 1 or 2 man internet businesses. If you want to automate something, limit your ticket sales and sell them only online or sell rips to other promoters and let them sell. If you consider this automation, I've done it a million times. My team did all the leg work but you still have to be there.

You're right, maybe I'm thinking too small, not wanting to take risk. When the risk might be in actually not going big and not pushing it for all it's worth.
Here is a tip for you, hire a dj that has a massive following. Scale the ticket sales. Get them through the door and make your money on your bar deal. Try to squeeze out 20% of what the total bar brings in. Again, the business changed. Festivals weren't huge at the time. They are now. Back than we had dungeon style nightclubs lol.

The bar/restaurant I work for currently is co-owned by a guy who formerly ran big, big festivals here. I'm learning a lot from just being around him and sitting in on meetings etc. Since I've taken on the events and marketing duties there I've kind of been under his wing a bit. He's sold all his interests in festivals though and I think he's done. So probably not a potential partner, but definitely a mentor.

Agree, get him to mentor you!

PS. Can you elaborate on the 3 day adult weekend camp idea? Is it something you've done? One of the players here is doing a weekend festival with overnight stays. Not sure if it's the same of what you're thinking of though
.

We will save this for another day. Prob not a good place for a brainstorm session.

Good luck bro.

P.S. Start connecting with promoters, you're going to need to pull them under your wing.[/QUOTE]
 
Last edited:

ZeroTo100

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
179%
Feb 2, 2016
361
645
New York City / New Jersey
Ken Elshoff said:

This thread got me thinking about how little entertainment there is in my hometown (pop. 23k)...so, i went to a local facebook group (a 'community chat group') and created a poll, asking people what type of entertainment they want to come to town. I was surprised....

Thats right -- comedians won by nearly 60% over the next option

I guess the folks in my town need a laugh..

Well, knowing where your customers hangout online is half the solution.

There used to be a funnybone nearby but it closed down long ago.

Why did it close down? Do people spend on entertainment in your town? I don't see why they wouldn't unless you're pricing yourself out. It's easy to say this town needs something over a poll until they actually have to open their wallet, go inside, and hand you it.

How do you choose a comedian (Based on their price? Based on their availability? Based on their following? Based on which ones have historically drawn a large crowd in this area?)

Based on their following. If their numbers make sense, it might be worth breaking even on the ticket sales but making your money up on the bar sales (bottles included).

How far out do you book the event?

If have no clue what you're doing or you never done it before, you should hire a consultant and give yourself at least 3 months. Study companies already doing it (in other areas).

How many pre-sales does one need before realizing the show is going to be a flop and canceling it?

Forget canceling it. You're taking a loss so you better make it work!

Depends on how you'rep reselling. In this case, you should scale your event tickets in a way that the price of the tickets go up as you get closer to the event. Also, you may find groups of people online that hang together. Give out a few comps that will force the others to come with and buy their tickets. It's all in the way you market the thing. There are so many ways to go about doing it. If you have a good lineup and you're priced right, there is no reason why your target audience wouldn't jump on board. Unless of course, they have something better to do.

What other unexpected costs will be incurred? (sound system? Hotel for a comedian? transportation of comedian to/from airport? license to put on show in someones venue?)

Depends on who you're working with. If you're paying a guy $17k to spin for 2 hours like we did, you better believe he's getting his own room. No license. You may need permission to put names on marketing materials though. In some cases, artists didn't want certain names on the flyers either if their name was on it. I've been in situations where people just pulled out last minute over this - It can get messy.

Will eventbrite work to sell tickets? How about at the door (can you sell eventbrite tickets through cell phones using stripe or something similar?)

Is this a serious question?

I don't expect anyone to answer these questions here, but my point is that it would be great if there was a one-stop shop to learn all of this stuff.

You're welcome!

See you guys in a few weeks.[/QUOTE]
 
Last edited:

sWALK90

Slowly figuring it out
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
168%
Sep 29, 2015
363
610
H ,TX
@AgainstAllOdds
Why'd you get away from promoting? If you're good at it, keep doing it. Cut out the partners. Hire employees (or interns).
On a good night you made $18,655. Without partners, you need 3 of those events a year to be living okay. 10 events and you have a nice life. Then grow from there.

Employees/interns would be the people who would pass out flyers for me and we just flat rate them a certain amount after the events. I left it alone because i Graduated and moved to another city to find a job(slowlane mindset..graduate college,go find a job, get married..[not yet])....and now im making a nice amount so i just kind of left it alone...plus the late nights+ alcohol+girls all over you are a drain after a while. I now have a girlfriend who i met a few years back and she wasnt liking it too much...

Also: Did you take a cut of the bar profits?
And did you run Facebook ads targeting individuals that have attended similar events? That's easy marketing right there.

No i did not because it was kind of a deal for both sides because the venue holders realized how much money we were making vs the 800-1200 they were making and they wanted a percentage instead of a set amount. So to make it equal we let them keep all bar money that way everyone made a nice amount of money in the end and that made a good relationship between us and the venue holders. No i didn't run any ads via facebook i just keept posting it on my wall and tagging people in the flyers....i knew nothing about adsense at the time.
 

sWALK90

Slowly figuring it out
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
168%
Sep 29, 2015
363
610
H ,TX
so, you're a millionaire?
No lol but its a very easy way to make money quickly. . i did it in school to pay for college and I lived off it while working part time at heb seafood lol ....

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

sWALK90

Slowly figuring it out
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
168%
Sep 29, 2015
363
610
H ,TX
@sWALK90 .... Providing some great inspiration here and a nice contribution to the Forum ! Congrats on success in doing your thing. Everything you posted is solid.

I have some experience in this area and I understand why you got out of it. In order to continue, you need to stay close in touch with your market, and preferably you are your market. It's a tough business to run long term.

Love the raising the rates at the door as the night went on. I experienced this and it was crazy.

When I was involved...we ALWAYS had problems with fights. Security was serious.

Again...good job and contribution !


Yea ..i mean my school was basically all Houston students and that's where im at now so im still pretty strong as far as my market but them late nights are rough..and take a toll on you after a while... and thanks! Hopefully someone can use this and be successful with it .
 

Bigguns50

Platinum Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
199%
Feb 12, 2013
1,852
3,694
Sedona, AZ
Oh.... @sWALK90 ... I forgot ... The reason I clicked on this thread was to give my opinion on the Title.
Sorry, but I don't like it one bit. I was thinking "No..this IS B.S. You don't make that much money in that amount of time." Now....after reading your posts, I get it...but...it's still a bit misleading because it doesn't take into account all the work you had to do to get people to your venue.

Now....the purpose of the Title is to get people to click it. I did not click it for the reason you had in mind. I think this style is outdated....or I'm just tired of seeing such titles. Which makes me wonder if they really are effective. But...I could be wrong. ( btw...I don't care if I'm wrong or right. It's all about learning). I'm only giving you the 'targets', or potential customer's point of view. I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination in copy.
 

Michał Kóska

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
101%
Jan 10, 2015
200
202
33
Did you have an insurance? Just in case someone got hurt? How about the venues? You looked for something like empty warehouses or rather nice ones?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Bigguns50

Platinum Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
199%
Feb 12, 2013
1,852
3,694
Sedona, AZ
Very interesting ! You know....I blew right past the "Ask me Anything" Title :wacky:! Didn't even realize. I think that also gives credibility.

Very nice work !
 

sWALK90

Slowly figuring it out
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
168%
Sep 29, 2015
363
610
H ,TX
Very interesting ! You know....I blew right past the "Ask me Anything" Title :wacky:! Didn't even realize. I think that also gives credibility.

Very nice work !
Yea I just added that when I posted the last post...to see if it makes a difference

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk
 

sWALK90

Slowly figuring it out
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
168%
Sep 29, 2015
363
610
H ,TX
To make it short I got this arrangement for a restaurant/nightclub for $25/person: cover included, one drink and an appetizer. I would pre-sale at $35. I needed to give the restaurant a head count... run ads on Facebook and Facebook groups for my target audience, got like 40 FB RSVPs and a lot of likes but no one actually bought the ticket (started advertising three weeks before, waited till 24hs before event). Since this happened I guess I chickened out to actually call a 40 people reservation to the restaurant and then be out $1000 if no one showed up (right now that's a LOT to lose and didn't even have it, it just seemed like a dumb risk)

I really want to try again because this audience is pretty much exchange students with a lot of money to waste (no room and board expenses) and their main need is socializing and having cool experiences during their stay. I just don't know where I went wrong and don't think I'm gonna have a different result by trying the same thing I did last time
.

Did you mass invite all your friends? When using FB events we would mass invite everyone’s friends from like 4+ pages and every time you post on the event walls they would get a notification. We didn’t do this as much because they started making it difficult to add all users but it is still possible with a couple of plug ins or JavaScript.

As far as this event goes..what was the purpose? Dinners are usually personal …some type of celebration, work related, graduation, anniversary, holidays, promotions ect. If someone on Facebook said there’s a dinner @ such & such 8pm on Saturday for $35 and I didn’t know them..i would ignore it.. If I were doing so I would rely more on face to face personal communication. Use Facebook as you did but go around and put flyers on cars, dorm rooms, and get in front of them. Word spreads fast, oh you heard of this, yea everyone is talking about it..yea me and my friends are going, hmm me and mine will too. Make your flyer custom to your audience! Make a site…make a reservation list…get emails, phone numbers…contacts! Make yourself known in person or on social networks before you ask someone to come to a event with drinks and appetizer/food. No one will come if no one will vouch for you.

I would start off with like a mixer or gathering…then have a sign in sheet or something to collect contact information.

I searched mixer flyers and posted a couple for example…


Edit - Maybe I should establish myself with some free events? I was thinking of making like a free yoga class or something (remember in my case it's not just about nightlife, although I think those could make the most $$$ and attendance) I was wondering if maybe they didn't trust the brand enough to buy in advance. My main thing is that they don't show up, like they look for the bigger better deal at the last minute or something.

I think I sort of answered that above too…free events…mixers,gathering ect…get contact information, learn what they like to do, then make a plan to start charging…
amy-lehrman-DLSH_mixer_big.jpg

us-0316-348583-front.jpg
 
G

GuestUser140

Guest
I will hopefully be able to use this and my experience to transition to the FASTLANE!
Just need to figure out how or find a product/niche..im thinking eCommerce,,
Im 3/4 through the book..i will start my progress thread when complete.
Any questions?
Wait.

You make a quick $2500 doing something fun, so now you're looking for an e-commerce fastlane?

$2500!

The plan's right in front of you. Read TMF with your background in mind, you'll know exactly what to do. More parties, bigger parties, outsource repetitive work.
 

sWALK90

Slowly figuring it out
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
168%
Sep 29, 2015
363
610
H ,TX
The only "major" event I have ever planned is my 10 yr HS reunion, and I BARELY broke even. That was after the golf course manager gave me a huge discount on the venue pricing. The mistake I made was not taking money upfront. So many people said they would be there and didn't show. I had probably more than triple the amount of catered food needed.

I have always been fascinated with large scale events, I love going to festivals and raves and seeing a huge event like EDC would take insane planning. We always had parties in college and would charge $5 per cup, but that was so small scale. I can easily see how this could be a fastlane endeavor if you scaled it up.

Should of sold tickets on this one so roughly a week or so before you should know how many to expect....but yes if you charged 15 to get in and maybe free drinks it would of been a lot better because not everyone wants to pay for drinks and some that didn't drink had a free party..plus when you hear free drinks everyone comes..
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top