This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey friends, welcome back to Side Hustle School. Chris Guillebeau, your host here. Welcome as well to Throwback Thursday. In this segment, we take an in-depth look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them. Last week, we heard from Nick, a British real estate agent who found success selling Bermuda condos to buyers in Florida.
So a bit of geographic triangulation occurring there, made for a really successful niche. Today, we're gonna hear from Reeves. He's an Austin event planner. Well, he's an Austin tech employee, a tech employee who happens to live in Austin, let's be precise here, and has a pretty lucrative side hustle planning tech events, especially during the city's popular South by Southwest festival, also known as South by or spelled S-X-S-W. You might be familiar with it.
I've been to South by a few times, and there's always like just hundreds, literally hundreds of parties and tech launches and meet and greets and product demos, all kinds of events that are taking place. And somebody has to plan all that stuff because tech companies coming in from out of town, they don't know people, they don't know venues and spaces and caterers and permits perhaps, if you're trying to block off a street, there's all kinds of stuff involved in planning events. So you need to work with somebody on the ground there. And there are lots of people running events in a case of a big festival. But this guy Reeves has found a way to enter the market and kind of establish a foothold for himself, focusing on tech events, 'cause that's the background that he has as a tech employee.
So without further ado, let's hear a story from him. What has happened since we last featured him, I think we talked about him when he was first getting started with this idea. The idea has actually worked out pretty well, spoiler alert. But let's hear the details from him. I'll come back at the end with a quick wrap up.
[Music]
All right, let's talk about planning events and parties in Austin, Texas. I'm Reeves, a 34 year old software developer by day and the mastermind behind circuit breaker events by night. Well, I'm not sure I'm a mastermind actually, but I do run events. It started three years ago when my startup was gearing up for South by Southwest. Our CEO tasked me with organizing a mixer, knowing I had a reputation for hosting small gatherings within the company.
The event was a hit and it got me thinking, maybe I could do more with this. Austin's tech scene was booming, but many companies struggled to stand out during the high profile events like South by and Austin City limits. I could fill that gap. I started by charging a flat fee of $1,500 for event planning and execution, but quickly realized that this wasn't sustainable. Now I use a tiered pricing model.
A basic package starts at $2,000 for smaller gatherings, while more elaborate events with catering, live music and interactive tech demos can run up to $15,000. My first year was a whirlwind. I planned eight events during SXSW, netting $18,000 in just two weeks, but I also learned some hard lessons. One client's last minute request for a VR demo nearly derailed the entire event. Another time my caterer didn't even show up.
Since then, I've developed a comprehensive planning checklist and always build in buffer time for unexpected hiccups. Marketing has been entirely organic. I don't advertise or use social media. I do send emails and LinkedIn messages to CEOs and COOs from time to time, but that's pretty much it. Everything comes in by referral.
The biggest challenge is balancing my day job with the increasing demands of event planning. SXSW and ACL are intense periods where I'm essentially working two full-time jobs. I've had to become a master of time management and learned to delegate by partnering with reliable local vendors for catering and equipment rental. So you asked about money. Last year, I grossed $112,000 from 28 events with March and April accounting for nearly half of that.
Another benefit has been the networking opportunities. I've connected with countless tech leaders, investors, and innovators through my events. These relationships have not only helped grow my business, but have also opened doors in my software development career. Looking ahead, I'm considering bringing on a part-time assistant to help manage the workload. I'm also hoping to expand my services to include smaller tech conferences and product launches throughout the year, providing a more steady income stream.
The Austin tech scene shows no signs of slowing down and neither does the demand for memorable events. I'm glad I followed this opportunity and I'm grateful for it every day. - Thanks to Reeves for sharing his updates with us. This is definitely an industry that has a lot of money as well. I should just mention that.
Whenever you're trying to decide on your first or next side hustle, you always kind of want to think where's the money going to come from. If there's not an obvious source of revenue, that's not a great sign. It actually might be a sign for you to go back to the drawing board. But when you're thinking about this idea, for example, he's like, you know, event planning for tech companies, well, they have money and they're used to spending money. They're not going to balk at, you know, big numbers on an invoice most of the time, at least if it's for something that they want to do and it makes logical sense.
So good choice in focusing on an industry where money is being spent. That's always a good choice, I think. Anyway, let me know what you think, listeners. Who you'd like to see featured from our archives. We're at 2,800 plus episodes now.
I love making this show for you every single day. It's always free. sidehustleschool.com, some resources there. This was episode 2,840. Be back again tomorrow.
My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
