The Koerner Office - Business Ideas and Deep Dives with Chris Koerner - He Found a Side Hustle With No Competition - Ep. #307

Episode Date: June 9, 2026

Check out my newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠��⁠⁠⁠https://TKOPOD.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and join my community at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://TKOwners.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠━I sat down with Derek from Backyard Movie Theater to talk about how a simple Christmas gift for his family accidentally turned into a real events business. He started with a cheap inflatable screen in his backyard, landed his first HOA booking before he was ready, learned the hard way, and then upgraded into a full commercial outdoor movie setup. We talked about his packages, how much he charges, and how he built a higher end inflatable indoor theater with carpet, lights, AC, and a full movie experience. Derek also broke down his newest add on, LED dance floors, and why weddings, schools, and private events could become a huge part of the business. You can find Derek at https://backyardmovietheater.com/Enjoy!---Watch this on YouTube instead here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tkopod.co/p-yt⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ask me a question on or off the show here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-ask⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more about me: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-cjk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn about my company: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-cof⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow me on Twitter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-x⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free weekly business ideas newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-nl⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Share this podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-all⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Scrape small business data: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-os⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠---

I did 10,000 in sales and bookings. Last week? Just last week. Holy cow. Very minimal effort. I got it on Amazon. But it's not like commercial. No, it's not commercial.

How much should it cost? 250, maybe 300. It was a Christmas gift for my family. Okay. I was like, let me just kind of toss this up on marketplace. You weren't trying to make it a business. No. Yeah.

Absolutely now. The first one was an HOA. Okay. I wasn't prepared. Totally transparent. I was not. That's good. If you are prepared, you wait.

Yeah, that's what I said. Does anyone doing that? I'm the only one. He just invented that whole industry. 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 $100,000 this year at 80% profit margins. And he even built an indoor inflatable movie theater because he realized that most kids can't stay up late to watch a movie, but you can't have an outdoor movie until late here in Texas because it stays light so late. 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 gonna love this. Please enjoy. Hi, Derek. Tell me about your business. Backyard movie theater. I started it two years ago.

It was a Christmas gift for my family. Okay. 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. Watch movies in the backyard. Set it up. Got like a couple chairs, inflatable chairs. It was nice. They enjoyed it. My son was going back to, or it was ending school, and he was like, hey, you know, 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 I just kind of did this as a Christmas gift Yeah you know 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 market place You weren't trying to make it a business No, yeah Absolutely no You know, 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, you know, get any off. The first one was an HOA. Okay.

That did it. And I wasn't prepared to be totally transparent. I was not. That's good. If you are prepared, you've waited too long. Yeah. That's what I say. So I get there.

I see the food trucks outside. I'm the main attraction. Everyone's legit. They all have businesses. They've been doing this and you're like, Yes. What am I doing here? You know, I just did this for my son, for my family.

Yeah. 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. But it's not like commercial, right? No, it's not commercial. How much did it cost? $250, maybe $300.

And how many inches is it or feet? Like, how big is it? It was, this one was like, I think it was 16 feet. Okay. So, you know, 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 and out. I blow this thing up. Which for Dallas, that's not even all that much. Yeah. But for this thing, are you familiar with the oil changes and those things out front? Oh, yeah, yeah. It was doing that to them play the way.

It was. They're going to be watching the movie like this. It was a nightmare. But a great learning experience. So I compliment them, I was like, hey, I'll do this again for you. In the meantime, let's take it inside the amenity center. But it killed the whole vibe of doing a outdoor. movie set up.

So, sorry, did you not end up going through with the movie on that? Oh, I went through with it. We just set it up in the amenity center, but some people had left. It just killed them. It wasn't a great experience. You comped them. Yes. Okay.

Yes. So I said to my wife, I was like, you know, if I'm going to do this, I need to invest in a commercial, you know, theater system. Mm-hmm. So it took me a few months, ordered a 20-foot industrial movie screen. How much should that cost? I think it was about $3,500. Wow.

Okay. Another in shipping, because it was coming from overseas, I'll probably spend another $9 to $1,100. Okay. So about- Is this like from Alibaba? This is from Alibaba from one of their. Okay. Yeah. So from there, I was like, okay, now if there's when, I'm prepared for movie nights.

So it just started rolling from there. I started getting pretty much booking from people in my neighborhood. Marketplace would come through, just kind of random. and it just kind of kept going. Schools started booking from me. And I've just been doing it for the last year and a half, two years or so. How much did you charge for the first real booking? The first real booking, I think I did that for like $290.

Okay. How did you land on that price? $290. Yeah. How much is going to cost? You know, and I started looking around. My prices were way like rock. For that event since it taints, you know, I should have gave them $2.0.

Yeah. But from there, you know, I just started kind of sourcing around to see like how much what it would cost. And then I would go to other movie events, like when schools would have them just to see like, okay, how are they doing? How can I do it better? You know, what could I, you know, improve upon? So I would go. I started adding the like the chairs that I have from my family. I started adding them because mainly were for birthday parties. So I would add like 10 to 12. So then I started adding packages. So if you wanted six inflatable chairs, 10 inflatable chairs, big party might have 20 inflatable chairs,

some of them were the cinema-looking chairs, others were the LED chairs. So I kind of carved out a niche that I didn't see anyone else doing. So I've always been like, okay, how can I make it better? And mainly it's been for kids. So, you know, they want the lights and pretty much an overall good experience for a movie night. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, please just take half a second and hit subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you're listening to this right now. It would really mean a lot. All right. So do you charge extra for the chairs and all that or does that just part of the package?

It's, I pretty much put it in a package. So if you do like say a package, we'll call it package one. It may come with six chairs. Package two may come with 10 shares. So they just kind of try to do it. Okay, what's a happy medium? Yeah. And people just typically nine times out of 10 they're going to choose a package. Okay. What do your packages cost today? So a beginner package was just a complete screen and speakers starts at 375. Okay. So if they want to do, say, like, six chairs, that's going to be like, I think it's like $4.50. Okay. You do 10, 15 chairs.

Say like a customer did one with 20 chairs, LED chairs, that one was like, I did a little customization, but that was 850. Okay. Yeah. Wow. So they go out from 375 to 850. Even more. one that my my top tier for just that one is 1500. Wow.

Yeah. Do you get a lot of those? I've had like about four of them. Okay. Yeah. Dang, still. But you still need a Bluetooth speaker, right? Or two?

I don't use Bluetooth. They are Bluetooth. I just don't do it because when you sink it, you can always. Okay. So I just run wire to it so it's like seamless. How much is your projector? My projector? Well, when I do it, I do it as a package.

but when I got it, I think I spent like $1,100 on it. This is a good projector, then? Yeah, it's a good projector. Okay. And then how much for your speakers? Speakers, I got the top of the line, JBL, and those speakers are 1,500 each. Each, okay. Yeah.

3,000 for the speakers. We call it 4,200 if you include the projector, another 4,500 or so. And then chairs. So you're in at like 10 grand for all the hardware and equipment, give or take? Yeah. And that's just for that theater. I have an indoor theater that's just a game changer.

Oh, tell me about that. So the indoor theater, like in the summer, it starts getting dark at 9.30. So like I said, a lot of times, families do this for kids. 930, like I got a 10-year-old. You know, he'll try to like stay up late. But if a movie's an hour and a half,

it's starting at 9.30, it's not going to be over until 11. Yeah. So I was like, how can I start showing movies earlier? So I looked into a one of those inflatable theaters on Amazon. But I was like, it's going to be like an oven in there. That's not going to work. So I just started looking around, looking around.

So I went to my manufacturer that I got my first movie screen from. They couldn't do it. Found another one. And it took me about two months to kind of design it out. I wanted air duct so I can put an air condition in each corner. I wanted lighting on the inside. So when I did that, I really wanted to have, wanted you to have a theater experience.

So I put full carping. It's amazing. Full carpet. It is. And it's all inflatable? It's all inflatable. It's an inflatable room. It's an inflatable room for watching movies with air conditioning.

Air conditioning. Hold. Does anyone do that? I'm the only one. Really? Like anywhere? I haven't. I looked.

Yeah. Because you had to make this for your UK. It's not like you bought an indoor inflatable movie theater. I wanted to. It would have been so much easier. I would avoid it shipping the 34-4 months. to get it. So I just kind of like kind of had it in my mind. I wanted, you know, the screen on the inside. I didn't want to look like you taped up a screen. Yeah. You got to do it right. Yeah.

It's beautiful. How much should all that stuff cost you? Just inflatable alone, I spent 2,000 on that. Okay. When I started adding, like I had to do carpet, I probably spent another, I don't know, maybe about $400 on carpeting. The ACs. I picked them up off marketplace, so I probably got those for maybe about 150 each, I tried to like, okay, maybe I can just do two of them. I did two, and it's like, oh, it's comfortable, but four is colder than your house. Yeah. So I probably spent about $150 to $200 on the ACs. I already had the speakers, the projector.

So pretty much I was done. Yeah. Yeah, I was done. So all in on that, $5,000? No, I would say probably about $35. Are you able to use the same speakers and the same projector? Yeah. Okay.

So the room is the only extra. What do you charge for that setup? So that one is if you do it, what I call it if you do it right with the carpet where it's plushed out, it's $1,700. Wow. $1,700. How many takers do you have on that? I've had probably about $10. Wow.

Yeah. That's crazy. Do you try to upsell them to that? No. Either you see it or you don't. Yeah. And here's what I noticed. A lot of my clients who get them, every time I pull up to their house, they're sitting on a few acres.

Okay. So that's your client for this. Yeah. Someone with a few acres. Yeah. They don't blink at the, if they say, oh, can I get so much off? It's probably not for you. Yeah.

A lot of times people will just pay in advance and say, Derek, I'll see you in a month. Yeah. Yeah. Man. What types of events want an indoor movie theater versus your normal outdoor? Like, how do those types of events differ? They're almost the same customer. It's still at their home.

It's still in their backyard. They just want a different experience. It's a definite wild factor. I mean, in Texas, in the dead of summer, this is perfect. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's perfect because, one, it's not going to get dark until 9.30. But in there, it's dark all day. Oh, you're saying.

Yeah. And during the day, like, right now, it's going to have, like, a tent to it. When the sun goes down, it's, like, completely dark. Wow. Yeah. You just invented that whole industry. But I was really trying to solve a problem because kids are going to bed. A movie starting at 9.30 for a 7-year-old?

Yeah. I was like, this is not in the summer. You think, okay, great, the summer I can watch a movie. It doesn't get dark until late. Yeah, it doesn't get dark too late. And you cannot project on a screen like you can't beat the sun. No, no, no. You can't.

How long have you been doing this? For two years. And what are your numbers like today? I still don't have like a system like, for instance, just last week. And I don't have a formula for it. Like I did $10,000 in sales and bookings. Last week? Just last week.

Holy cow. Yeah. So that was with the, I do LED dance floors. We'll get to that as well. But just last week. And I don't know. I'm just out there like on Marketplace. I'm emailing.

Just seeing what comes through referrals. And it just comes through. I saw your podcast with Kyle. Yeah, the appliance rental? No, he was talking about FCO. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, the website landlord. Yeah, yeah. I was just watching that.

And I was like a system like that where I can get leads. So I don't have like this bona fide. Like a repeatable system. Exactly. You're relying on Facebook marketplace. Yeah, referrals. What do you think your sales would be this year? With the addition of the LED dance floor and looking at kind of just what I did last

week on like very minimal effort I'll probably do about 90 to 100 yeah mostly profit yeah because after I get all my stuff purchase it's all it's just your time it's just my time yeah yeah so like 70 80% profit margins yeah absolutely oh my gosh what did you do last year last year was your first full year uh-huh what did you do in revenue and profit I think it was probably about 40 wow yeah is this the only thing you do or do you have a I was flying drones commercially. Okay. Yeah, I was flying drones commercially.

And I was like, all right. You know, I've always been a serial entrepreneur, me and my wife own a drinkware business as well. So I'm all over the place. But yeah, we have a drinkwear business. And I wanted to do, because we were shipping to Macy's American Eagle. And it was kind of on autopilot. So I was kind of twiddling my thumbs.

Christmas came around, got this. And I just kind of went in on this. It seems like you obsess over something. And then you have to get it perfect. Yes. You're not content with two air conditioning. It can't just be comfortable. It has to be like a movie theater where you're freezing.

It has to be right. I want to show you. I put on music beforehand. Oh, yeah. I put on movie coming. Same thing you would get at the movie is Coming Attractions. And I'll put on music after the movie's over. And how I tapped into the LED dance floors was when a movie would end, I would have music or YouTube videos playing Taylor Swift, Yonthe, whoever.

When I get back after the movie's over. the kids are in the back dancing. You're like, hmm, how can I monetize these kids dancing? So I was like, let me start looking into these LED dance floor. Yeah. And that's how that whole thing. So tell me about that business. Listen, I need more people like this to interview on my podcast.

So if you know of someone with a side hustle or a business that's unique and cool and super profitable, email molly, M-O-L-L-L-Y at co-founders.com. That's one word co-founders.com. Molly at co-founders.com. Tell her your story and we'll give you $100 bucks if we end up interviewing them. So the LED dance floor is this something that I just introduced. I got that. So I've been talking to the manufacturer for like over a year like trying to get the best price and really trying to since it's kind of a language barrier. Like I'm trying to ask them like give me the

questions that I don't know to ask you. Yeah. And so that like that took a year. So I'm like, okay, so what if I want to do a, you know, a dance floor but someone else wants to do it? Well, you only have enough equipment to do one. I was like, okay, how can I, if someone wants to do a, a 10 by 10 and someone else wants to do a 16 by 16, how do I do that, you know, in the same day? There's like, okay, well, you need to get extra, you know, supplies, like power and all that. So I was like, okay, let me kind of triple up on it. So if I book three in a day, I'm just not stuck with a, you know, not shaming, say,

$1,000. Yeah. If I can make $3,000, I want to make it. Yeah. So it just took about a year just to say, okay, this is how I think I want to do this. Okay. So how does that business work? Like you post about it on a Facebook marketplace. People want a dance party? Mainly what I've been getting is weddings. Okay. Milestone anniversary. Someone's 30th, 50th, 25th. Mainly it's been weddings. And just here recently, which I hadn't even thought of, it's been schools.

And in the year celebrations. Yeah. And I mean, what is this exactly? Like it lights up. I'm not familiar with this. So it's an LED dance floor and they come in these two foot panels. Okay. So I have a 24 by 24 dance floor.

So you can get as small as like an 8 by 8 floor. Okay. Or you can get a 16 by 16, which is good for maybe about 70, 80 people. If you're having like this full-on reception wedding, typically that's going to be a 20 by 20. or 24 by 24, which will accommodate about 100 to 125, 30 people. Okay. So people dance on top of these? Yes.

And they light up. Do they have sensors to like based on where you step? No, they don't. Okay. They don't. And does it like sync to the music? It does sync to the music. And the technology is not great.

The best effect you're going to get is just the revolving colors. But you would have to put the speaker like really close to the equipment for it to do. it. Okay. So they're not there. Okay. Yeah. For 24 by 24, how much equipment does that cost you? For, for rental or just to buy it? To buy it. It was about 20,000. 20,000. And then what do you charge for 24 by 24? 3,000. Okay. So, all right, eight, seven, eight rentals and you've paid it off. Yeah. How's that going so far? I've only done one. Okay. Just like when I, when I spoke with Molly, I was like, you know, I got something new that I'm excited about. Yeah. How did that first one go? It went great. I'd,

I'd even set it up in my home for my son and my wife. And my wife was like, all right, once you get this, you know, give a few pictures, I want it out of here. But leave a size 8 by 8 in case me and Ian won the dance. Just in case. Yeah, exactly. Man, that is awesome. And you're able to like cross sell and upsell and cross promote?

Well, it was perfect because, like I said, when I would show up at the end of the movie, I would have the YouTube music videos playing. They were already dancing. Yeah. just didn't have a dance store. That's where you got the idea. Absolutely. What advice do you have for people wanting to start any of these businesses?

I would say do your research first. You know, find a good, you know, manufacturer. The lowest price is not always the best, you know, down the road. So, and that's just what I did. Like, do your research. With the movie thing, I just kind of, I didn't start it as a business. I started as a Christmas gift that evolved into that. That's why, you know, I end up looking crazy when I showed.

to this first event. Yeah. It was a great learning experience. So I would say, you know, do your, do your research, you know, talk to people. You know, I reach out and ask people like, hey, you know, I'll tell them, you know, I'm in North Dallas. I got this movie business. I got this L.E.

Dance 4 business for my answer to a couple questions. Yeah. So typically I'll reach out to people out of state because someone local might be like, I don't want you infringing on my business. So I'll just reach out to someone out of state. It's like, just be transparent. and tell them one of them. What side of your business are you most excited about?

I think they coincide, really. It's just one business. Three different kind of services or products. Yeah, because one thing, if you ever worked a nine to five job, you've had those days where you wake up and you're like, oh, I don't want to go to work. With this, like, how do you say that to yourself when you know kids are looking forward to this movie night that's coming up?

So, you know, it's exciting. What is your business? Where can we find you? I'm at backyardmovieether.com. How'd you get that domain? I don't know. That was open? Oh, my goodness.

Yeah, it was open. Backyardmoviether.com. On Facebook is backyard movie theater. And on IG is backyard movie theater, Texas. Okay. Yeah. That's incredible. Thank you, Derek.

Thank you. I appreciate it. Absolutely. Hey, guys, if you're still listening to this, it's probably because you haven't had a chance to take your AirPods out. You're still mowing the lawn. You're still driving, what have you. If you're still here with me,

I would really, really love and appreciate a five-star review on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast. It would mean a lot if you want to go the extra mile. Share this episode with a friend that might have an interest in starting a business. It would mean a ton. Hope you have the best day of your life today.