The Most Profitable Side Hustle No One Is Doing Yet Transcript, AI Summary & Key Points

00:00 I did 10,000 in sales in bookings. Mhm. 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 did it cost? 250, maybe 300. It was a Christmas  gift for my family. Okay. So, I was like, let me just kind of toss this up on marketplace.  You were trying to make it a business.

00:15 No, absolutely not. The first one was an HOA. Okay.  I wasn't prepared. Be totally transparent. I was not. That's good. But if you are  prepared, you've waited too long. Yeah, that's what I say. Does anyone do 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.

00:43 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 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.

01:09 And his big unlock was when he realized we can't even start these movies until 9:30 cuz  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 airconditioned inflatable outdoor movie theater that is printing  money that literally no one else on the planet is doing. You're going to love this.

01:29 Please enjoy.  All right, Derek, tell me about your business. Uh, 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 8 years old. I thought this would be a great idea. We'll watch movies in the  backyard. Set it up. got like a couple chairs, inflatable chairs.

01:49 It was nice. They enjoyed  it. My son was going back to or 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?"

02:10 And I was like, I just kind  of did this for as a Christmas gift. Yeah. Yeah, you know, for my family now, my son doing it cuz  he was going back to school or ending school and uh it just kind of started from there. So, I  was like, but let me just kind of toss this up on marketplace. You weren't trying to make it a  business. No, absolutely not. You know, I I 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.

02:37 The  first one was an HOA. Okay. That that did it. And I wasn't prepared. Be totally transparent. I was  not prepared. 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 attra. Everyone's legit.  They all have businesses. They've been doing this. And you're like, "Yes, what am I doing  here?"

03:00 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,  right? But it's not like commercial. 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  ft.

03:19 Okay. So, you know, I get that. I go to this HO 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, which for Dallas, that's  not even all that much. Yeah. But for this thing, are you familiar with the uh oil changes and  those things out front? Oh, yeah. Yeah. That it was doing that to the inflatable, it was they're  gonna be watching the movie like this.

03:41 Yeah. It was It was a nightmare, but a great learning  experience. So, I comped 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  setup. So, So, sorry. Did you not end up going through with the movie on that? Oh, I went through  with it.

04:02 We just set it up in the amenity center, but some people had left. It just killed the  vibe. 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. Mhm. So, took me a few months, ordered a 20 foot industrial movie screen.

04:23 And how much did that cost? I think it was about 3500. Wow. another in shipping cuz it was  coming from overseas. I probably spent another $9 to $1,100. Okay. So, was this like from Alibaba?  This was from from Alibaba from one of their Okay. Yeah. So, from there I was like, "Okay, now if  there's wind, I'm prepared for movie night." So, it just started rolling from there.

04:50 I started  getting pretty much bookings from people in my neighborhood. Uh marketplace would come through,  just kind of random. Okay. Uh, and it just kind of kept going. Schools started booking from me and,  uh, I've just been doing it for the last like year and a half, two years or so. How much did you  charge for the first real booking? The fir the first real booking, I think I did that for like  $290.

05:11 Okay. How did you land on that price? 290. Yeah. How much is it going to cost? You know, and  I started looking around. My prices were way like rock for for that event since it since it tanked,  you I should have gave them 290. Yeah. Um 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?

05:41 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 had for my my family. I started adding them because mainly for birthday parties. So I  would add like 10 to 12. So then I started adding packages. So if you wanted six uh inflatable  chairs, 10 inflatable chairs, uh big party might have 20 inflatable chairs.

06:04 Uh some of them  were the cinema looking chairs. Uh 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 the lights and pretty much a overall good experience  for a movie night. Yeah. Yeah.

06:22 Real quick, please subscribe to my channel. I know it's kind of lame  to ask, but it means a lot. Thanks. All right. So, do you charge extra for the chairs and all that  or is 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  chairs.

06:42 So, they just kind of I tried 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 which is 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 believe it was like 450.

07:05 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 all from 375 to 850.  Even more. I have one that my my top tier for just that one is 1,500. Wow. Yeah. Do you get a lot  of those? Uh I've had like about four of them. Okay.

07:32 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 sync it, you can always Okay. So, I just run wire to it so it's like seamless. How  much is your um 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.

07:55 This is a good projector then. Yeah, it's a good  projector. Okay. And then, um, how much for your speakers? Speakers? Uh, I got the top-of-the-line  JBL and those speakers are 1,500 each. Each. Okay. Yeah. 3,000 for the speakers, 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.

08:16 Yeah. And that's just for that theater. Yeah. 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. 9:30 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.

08:46 It's not going to be over till 11. Yeah. So, I was  like, how can I start showing movies earlier? So, I looked into a uh 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.

09:02 They couldn't do it. Found another one. And it took me about two  months to kind of design it out. I wanted air ducts so I can put a air condition in each corner.  I wanted lighting on the inside. So when I did that, I really wanted you have wanted you to have  a a theater experience. So I put full carpeting. It's amazing. Full carpeting, LED lighting.

09:25 And  it's all inflatable. It's all inflatable. Holy. It's an inflatable room. It's an inflatable  for watching movies with air conditioning. Air conditioning. Does anyone do it? I'm the only  one. Really? Like anywhere? I haven't. I looked. Yeah. I because you had to make this for your UK.  It's not like you bought an an indoor inflatable movie theater.

09:45 I wanted to. It would have been so  much easier. I would avoided shipping the three or four 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 did all  that stuff cost you? Just the inflatable alone, I spent 2,000 on that.

10:05 Okay. when I started adding  like I had to do carpet, I probably spent another I don't know maybe about $400 on carpeting. Uh  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 Yeah. is colder than your house.

10:25 Yeah. So I probably spent about $150 to $200 on the 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 five grand? 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?

10:51 So that one is if you do it what I call 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 the my clients who get them, every time  I pull up to their their house, they're sitting on a few acres.

11:22 Okay. Uh I So that's your client  for this. Yeah. Someone with a few acres. Yeah. They don't blink at the uh if they 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 normal outdoor?

11:38 Like, um, 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 wow 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 till 9:30. But in there, it's dark all day.

12:07 We're saying Yeah. And during the day, like right  now, it's going to have like a tint to it. When the sun goes down, it's like completely dark.  Wow. Yeah. You just invented that whole industry. It's But I was I was really trying to solve a  problem because Yeah. kids are going to bed. A movie starting at 9:30 for a seven-year-old. Yeah.  I was like, this in the summer, you think, okay, great.

12:28 The summer I can watch a movie. It doesn't  get dark until late. Yeah, it doesn't get dark till 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? It's I still don't have like a a system like for instance just  last week and I don't have a formula for it.

12:44 Like I did 10,000 in sales in 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 see  just seeing what comes through referrals and it just comes through. I I saw your your podcast  with Kyle.

13:09 Yeah, the appliance rental. Uh no, he was talking about Oh, yeah. Yeah. The website  landlord. Yeah. Yeah. I was just wa watching that and I was like like a system like that where I  can get leads. So I don't I haven't like I don't have like this bonafidey like I'm getting traffic  a repeatable system. Exactly. You're relying on Facebook Marketplace.

13:30 Yeah. Okay. Referrals. What  do you think your sales will be this year? Um 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 um stuff purchased all it's just  your time. It's just my time. Yeah.

13:49 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. Uhhuh. What did you do in  revenue and profit? I think it was probably about 40. Yeah. Is this the only thing you do or do  you have a job? I was flying drones commercially. Okay. Yeah. I was flying drones commercially  and I was like, "All right."

14:13 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 drink  word 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 my thumbs and Christmas came around, got this  and I just kind of went in on this.

14:30 Seems like you obsess over something and then you you have  to get it perfect. Yes. You're not content with two air conditioning. Like it's 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 I put on music beforehand. Oh yeah. I put on movie coming. Same thing you would get  at the movies, Coming Attractions, and I'll put on music after the movie is over.

14:55 And if you're  watching this on YouTube, go ahead and check out our $5 a month YouTube community where you get  free business plans that are super thorough, 30 plus pages, as well as exclusive videos that  I don't publish anywhere else. See you there. And how I tapped into the LED dance floors was when  a movie would end, I would have music or YouTube uh videos playing, Taylor Swift, whoever.

15:18 when I  get back after the movie's over, the kids are in the back dancing. You're like, hm, yeah, how can  I monetize these kids dancing? So, I was like, let me start looking into these LED dance floors.  Yeah. And that's how that whole thing. So, tell me about that business. So, the LED dance  floors, it's something that I just introduced. I just got that.

15:38 So, I've been uh 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 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?"

16:00 Well, you only  have enough equipment to do one. And I was like, "Okay, how can I if someone wants to do a a 10x10  and someone else wants to do a 16x6, how do I do that, you know, in the same day?" They was like,  "Okay, well, you need to get extra um, you know, supplies like power and all that." So, I was  like, "Okay, let me kind of triple up on it."

16:18 So, if I book three in a day, I'm just not stuck with  a, you know, not shamming, say $1,000, but what if 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 on Facebook Marketplace. People want a dance party.

16:42 Um, mainly what I've been getting is weddings. Okay. Um, milestone, anniversary, someone's 30th,  50th, 25th. Uh, mainly it's been weddings. And just here recently, which I hadn't even thought  of, it's been schools in year celebrations. Mhm. Yeah. And I mean, what is this exactly? It's  like it lights up. I'm not familiar with it. So, it's a LED dance floor and they come in these  these uh twoft panels.

17:07 Okay. So, I have a a 24x 24 dance floor. So, you can get as small as like a  8 by8 floor. Okay. Or you can get a 16x6 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?

17:38 Yes. And they light up and do they have sensors to like based on where you step? No, they don't.  They don't. And does it like sync to the music? It it does sync to the music and the technology  is not great. the the best effect you're going to get is just the revolving uh colors, but you  like would have to put the speaker like really close to the equipment for it to do it.

17:59 Okay.  So, they're not there yet. Okay. For a 24x 24, how much in 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 a 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.

18:28 Yeah. How did that first one go? It  went great. I even set it up in my home for my son and my wife and uh my wife was like, "All right,  once you get this, you know, get a few pictures, I want it out of here, but leave a size 8 by8 in  case me and Ian want to date just in case." Yeah, exactly. Man, that is awesome. And you're able to  like cross-ell and upsell and cross-promote.

18:44 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. Just didn't have a dance floor. So, that's where you got the idea. Absolutely. What  advice do you have for people wanting to start any of these businesses? Uh, I would say do  your research first.

19:07 You know, find a good, you know, manufacturer. the the lowest prices 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 up  to this first event bong.

19:28 But, you know, 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 I'm in North Dallas. I got  this movie business. I got this LE dance floor business. Am I answering a couple questions?  Yeah. So, uh, typically I'll reach out to people out of state cuz someone local might be like,  I don't want you infringing on my business.

19:52 So, I'll just reach out to someone out of state  like just be transparent and tell them what I'm doing. 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 nineto-five job, you've had  those days where you wake up and you're like, "Oh, I don't want I don't want to go to work."

20:16 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 backyardmovtheater.com. How'd you get that domain? I don't know. That  was open. Oh my goodness. Yeah, it was open. Backyardmovtheater.com. Uh on Facebook is  backyard movie theater and on IG is backyard movie theater Texas.

20:44 Okay. Yeah, that's incredible.  Thank you, Derek. Thank you. I appreciate it. Absolutely. Listen, I need more people like  this to interview on my podcast. So, if you know of someone with a sidehustle or a business  that's unique and cool and super profitable, email Molly M o lycof-founders.com. That's one  word, co-founders.com. Mollycofounders.com. Tell her your story and we'll give you a  hundred bucks if we end up interviewing them.