He Found a Side Hustle With No Competition - Ep. #307

Derek (0:00)

I did $10,000 in sales and bookings.

Chris Koerner (0:02)

Last week?

Derek (0:03)

Just last week.

Chris Koerner (0:03)

Holy cow.

Derek (0:04)

I got it on Amazon.

Chris Koerner (0:05)

But it's not like commercial, right?

Derek (0:06)

No, it's not commercial.

Chris Koerner (0:07)

How much did it cost?

Derek (0:09)

$250, maybe $300. And there, so I was like, let me just kind of toss this up on Marketplace.

Chris Koerner (0:14)

You weren't trying to make it a business.

Derek (0:16)

No, absolutely not. It was a Christmas gift for my family.

Chris Koerner (0:19)

Okay.

Quick heads up, I'm actually filming this on my front porch right now, so if you hear a bird or a dog or a car, just stick it out. I promise you it's worth it. So I found this guy on Facebook Marketplace, total stranger to me, who bought his kid an inflatable movie screen for Christmas, and he turned that into a business. His first screen cost about 300 bucks on Amazon, and he just threw it up on Facebook Marketplace to see if he'd get any bites, and of course, he got a bunch of bites. Now, he's having $10,000 weeks and working towards 100 grand this year at 80% profit margins. And his big unlock was when he realized, we can't even start these movies until 930, because in Texas in the summer, it doesn't get dark until then. That doesn't work for little kids, so he built his own version of an indoor, air-conditioned, inflatable outdoor movie theater that is printing money that literally no one else on the planet is doing. You're going to love this. Please enjoy. All right, Derek, tell me about your business.

Derek (1:14)

Backyard movie theater. I started it two years ago.

It was a Christmas gift for my family.

Chris Koerner (1:21)

Okay.

Derek (1:22)

Yeah, so for my wife, I got a 10-year-old son. At that time, he was eight years old. I thought this would be a great idea. We'll watch movies in the backyard, set it up, got a couple of chairs, inflatable chairs.

It was nice. Wonderful. They enjoyed it. My son was going back to school or was ending school, and he was like, hey, daddy, I want to do a movie night for my friends. So I ordered some more chairs for his friends and all. Did the whole movie night. Parents came through and they loved it. So I started getting people just in the neighborhood like, hey, do you do this? And I was like, kind of did this as a Christmas gift for my family now, my son doing it because he was going back to school or ending school.

And it just kind of started from there. So I was like, let me just kind of toss this up on Marketplace.

Chris Koerner (2:11)

You weren't trying to make it a business.

Derek (2:12)

No, absolutely not. Just that little twinge when I did it for my son and the parents came through and I just threw it up just to see if I would get in the office.

First one was an HOA that did it and I wasn't prepared. Totally transparent, I was not.

Chris Koerner (2:34)

That's good. If you are prepared, you've waited too long.

Derek (2:36)

Yeah.

Chris Koerner (2:36)

That's what I say.

Derek (2:37)

So I get there, I see the food trucks outside. I'm the man in a truck.

Chris Koerner (2:41)

Everyone's legit. They all have businesses. They've been doing this and you're like, yes. What am I doing here?

Derek (2:48)

I just did this for my son, for my family. I get there, the wind is blowing. Now, mind you, I got this inflatable. It was a Christmas gift, so I got it on Amazon.

Chris Koerner (2:57)

But it's not like commercial, right?

Derek (2:58)

No, it's not commercial.

Chris Koerner (2:59)

How much did it cost?

Derek (3:01)

$250, maybe $300.

Chris Koerner (3:03)

How many inches is it or feet? How big is it?

Derek (3:05)

This one was like, I think it was 16 feet.

Chris Koerner (3:08)

Okay.

Derek (3:08)

So I get that. I go to this HOE event, I see all the vendors setting up. I get there, the wind is blowing like 10 miles an hour. I blow this thing up.

Chris Koerner (3:18)

Which for Dallas, that's not even all that much.

Derek (3:20)

Yeah. But for this thing, are you familiar with the oil changes and those things out front?

Chris Koerner (3:24)

Oh yeah.

Derek (3:25)

That it was doing that to the inflatable.

Chris Koerner (3:27)

They're going to be watching the movie like this.