Matthew from Phoenix

[mb_bossman]

Hey everyone, Matthew here from Phoenix AZ. Recently read Fastlane Millionaire and Unscripted and felt compelled to join this forum, but haven’t found the time to post anything meaningful yet, so figured I’d start with an introduction.



First, a bit about my journey.

I’ve always been an entrepreneur. In middle school I sold Japanese candy and sodas with a 500% markup (until the principle scrapped my business ventures). As a teenager, I modded Xbox and Playstation controllers and consoles (lights, emulators, you name it). I swear my neighbors thought I was dealing drugs, as random strangers would roll up to my parents house passing cash out the window in exchange for their box of ‘goodies.’ Later in life I began a brief 5-year career at a Fortune 100 company, where I learned a lot of valuable skills, but soon realized the corporate life wasn’t for me. Along the way I completed my bachelors and MBA, because I figured – why not? Although to anyone else considering doing the same, evaluate your reasoning for it, as I can tell you I’ve learned more from Youtube than in any of my college courses combined. But I digress.

I officially quit my job back in Feb 2017 and it would be the last ‘job’ I’ve taken since (or so I thought). I knew my potential and stumbled upon a niche industry which I thought could serve as the perfect opportunity as my official entrepreneurial launching pad, so I dove in headfirst and started a photo booth business. Along the way I made a ton of mistakes, and had trouble building a sustainable business for the first few years, so I pivoted into other industries/companies learning valuable skills that I could use and also profit from, including web design and SEO. All the while still running my photo booth business.

In 2019 I met a like-minded guy who was running his own national rental business and offered to partner with him in leading growth/marketing, while integrating photo booths into his current lineup of party rentals. This had partial success for me, and huge success for him. Ultimately ended up massively increasing sales ($100k + in first year, and well beyond after) and reducing heavy overhead cost (people-hours) with automations and order flow fulfillment processes, in addition to growing them as the most prominent player in his industry through SEO. It was fun, but I realized I was back to helping someone else grow their dream and felt I needed to step down and focus more on my core business. However, before that happened, we had stumbled into a new business together. Short term rentals.

With a bit of experience in staying and also hosting Airbnbs (would travel for several weeks out of the year while renting my place during prominent travel-dates in my hometown), I saw an opportunity for short term rental management. With a focus on SEO I had actually unofficially started offering this service a couple years prior and ignored requests until demand became too much to just put off. So, a handshake deal later, we were in the short-term rental management business. Over the course of the next 2 years, we managed around 15 individual properties, generating abo $30k in monthly revenue. With around 10 qualified leads every month through purely organic means, we had a constant new and existing client base. However, I quickly discovered short-term rental management is not for me. We took longer than necessary to hire an operations manager while we scaled revenue/properties, and during that time it took a toll on my mental health. The thought of pending lawsuits and responsibility from a guest setting property on fire, throwing a rager in the middle of then night with cops being called (happened quite often), or person squatting in the property shooting up heroin were too much. Even with insane insurance and liability coverages, I just didn’t want to deal with the headache. If they were all my properties, I probably wouldn’t have minded, but when you have a guest and a bunch of demanding owners you are responsible for, it compounds in the worst way. So, I sold my stake of the business to my partner, and called it quits. Also, during this time, my photo booth business had grown substantially and it made more sense to just focus on one thing and try to do it really well.

Today, my photo booth rental business continues to be a success, with over $188k in owner-profits generated in 2023, but it’s just not enough. And I don’t mean not enough money. For the amount of time, energy and work involved, I know I could just have easily been running a $10-mil dollar business, but my path has led me here and now I’m finally starting to understand the importance of systems, scalability, reach, and impact. However, I feel stuck in my new ‘job.’

As you can see, my focus has been slightly divided, but I’ve poured tens of thousands of hours into this business along the way, and have become known as an expert in my industry (and it shows when we are able to book multiple 5-figure jobs consistently with major brands). I’ve just never seen my business as incredibly scalable in the sense that we are a business that relies on experiential and personalized live events, which requires industry-specific technical expertise, human resources, and constant last-minute work that can’t be regularly scheduled (thanks to unorganized corp clients), making everything ‘urgent’ all the time. We’ve switched from all wedding-clients to mostly corporate, but even with repeat bookings, there is nothing consistent or scheduled past a certain date. I went from enjoying my freedom, to despising Mondays again, and doing things that I love much less than I often want to (ie Snowboarding and Working out), in order to work (in) the business. And just as it seems I get a handle on growth, things go wrong (random computer driver failure, etc which results in more things being added to my plate due to the highly technical expertise needed for troubleshooting or re-integrating necessary components). Thankfully, I don’t work many/any live events, but the day to day is still slowly killing me. I thought about hiring a manger, but in an audit of my time, I realized the things I spend the most time doing are the things that seem to require my specific expertise. Recently read the e-myth and this further opened my eyes to the same principles MJ talks about. In thinking how to make ‘franchiseable’ systems in my business, I can see a way, but it would require a lot more human resource components and reinventing of the core business that we’ve become known for after all these years, and I’m not sure it’s what I want to do, given other viable opportunitiues.

So, here I am today, with thoughts about whether I try to force a square peg (my business) into a round hole (my goals), or find a way to get out and start over with something that truly fits the CENTS framework and would make more sense long-term. Anyways, posting is a start, and I have a lot of business ideas that I’ve started to evaluate against this framework, and have begun further optimizing things in my photo booth company to make transitioning easier, should I find a suitable buyer. My hope is to connect and learn from those who have experienced some of my same struggles and ultimately found a solution. And to begin changing my ways of thinking and doing, to achieve the life and freedom I sought from the start.



P.S. As a newer Phoenix transplant (March 2023), I’m looking for a community of local Fastlane peers so I can stop being the smartest guy in the room (WFH so it’s either me or my dog). Obviously hoping to use this online forum as a sounding board and for accountability when I begin taking action on my next steps, and appreciate the power of digital community, but also love some good old fashion facetime and am hoping to foster relationships with any peers who happen to live in the area.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

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