Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with David Phillips, Founder of Premium Event Staffing, located in Parker, CO, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We provide event staff for all types of events. This includes dishwashers to high event staff.
Tell us about yourself
After 20 years in the for-profit Education industry, I decided to take the leap and go out on my own. Although I had limited knowledge of the bartending business, I researched bartending schools and decided not to buy one but to build one. I was familiar with the Texas Education requirements for schools, so I quit my job, prepared the application for approval, and started searching for locations to build the school. This was in July of 2007. By October of 2007, the first class started in Lewisville, Texas.
One year later, I decided to open a second school in the Fort Worth area. In 2009, I started to receive regular calls from people looking for bartenders for their parties. At first, I would just connect a graduate with the client and let them handle the details. Shortly thereafter, the calls started to increase, so I tested charging the client myself and asking a graduate to go work the party for just experience and tips.
In 2010, the calls were almost daily, so I created a website and started to organize my processes for staffing events. Since I was a one-man show, I could only handle so much with running the two schools and now staffing events. I kept things small until 2014. At that point, I incorporated the staffing company and started to take on more events for servers as well. Most of the bartending school graduates have serving experience, so I had an endless supply of staff to use for the events.
In 2015, I decided to move back to Colorado. I kept the schools running remotely while expanding the staffing operations into Colorado and Illinois. Business took off, so I decided to hire a corporate team to assist with growth. I closed the schools in 2018 to focus my time and energy on the staffing company completely.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Building the staffing business without knowing a thing about staffing.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Learning to let go of day-to-day operations and let my team handle things more.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Be prepared for a lot of work.
- Don't be afraid to take chances and make mistakes.
- Do something based on your strengths and passions, not only your skill set.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://premiumeventstaffing.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/premiumeventstaffing/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/premiumeventstaffing1/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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