Small Business Interview with Lance Lewsader of Bolt NWA – Small Business Show 116

The Small business show episode 116 for Wednesday, April 26, 2017. Greetings, folks, and welcome to the Small Business Show. The show by, for and about small business owners here in Durham, New Hampshire. Durham, easy for me to say. Durham, New Hampshire. I'm Dave Hamilton.

And in Concord, California, I'm Shannon Jean. How are you doing, man?

Well, I thought I was doing okay, but we'll see how it goes. How about you?

I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good.

Pretty good.

I'm excited. And we're moving into spring here and getting a little bit of weather out here.

We are now getting all that rain, which is typical of this week. There's always a musical that I play drums in at the university this week. It's a one weekend thing and invariably I've done it four years. And all four years, the day I load in my drums is the day that it is pouring rain every single time.

Classic.

Yeah.

But by Sunday it's going to be gorgeous if. If the. If the previous. If history is any indicator. So there you go.

That's great. Hey, I saw you got that ghost pepper salt that I sent out to you.

Thanks for sending that to me. I haven't tried it yet. No, but I just got back last night, so I will, I will be trying.

It scares the heck out of me, so. But I know you're passionate about those peppers, so I. Those things, man. Yeah, that's good. Hey, here's my segue here. Speaking of passion, you know, we always talk about the show, you know, finding something that you're passionate about and creating a business around it so you can have a great time and, you know, lead a charmed life. And our guest today on the Small Business Show, Lance Luc Sander, he seems to have created just that. It's a fun business. I'm sure it's very challenging. We want to hear about it. Called Bolt N.W.A. it's an escape room experience business. So let's find out if you know, it's all fun and games. Thanks for joining us today, Lance.

Howdy.

How you doing out there?

I am good, sir.

That's good. We're really happy to have you on the show and learn about your business. I've been hearing more about these escape room type experience companies. Tell us about what Bolt does and a little bit of history about it.

Okay, so Bolt is an escape room experience. We locked you in a room for one hour. You've got to solve a variety of puzzles, clues, riddles, all sorts of fun things like that in order to Escape from the room.

Okay, nice. That's cool. And so what was the impetus, you know, to, to start and where'd that come from?

Well, I, I did work in IT before, and a co worker of mine and his at the time fiance went to an escape room in Kansas City, Miss. And after they played, he posted on Facebook and said, we escaped. Now, this gentleman is someone who, he sits at home, he plays video games, he does not do anything, you know, really adventurous, I guess you'd say. And so when I saw, you know, him say we escaped, I immediately perked up and said, what did you just do? And he told me about, you know, what they did, the full experience. And I was like, oh, my God, this is so cool. It's every gamer geek's dream. And so we, you know, we were like, we've got to bring that to, you know, our area. And, you know, we partnered up with him and his fiance, my wife and I did, which was an adventure, you know, going to my wife and saying, hey, you know, we're. We're safe and secure in life. We're, you know, we've got a farm, doing great. I want to throw this all, you know, window and, and jump into a whole new experience. And, you know, it took me about one evening of sitting down saying, you know, we can actually do this. It's. It's something that's possible for her to buy in on it. His fiance, of course, was in. In like Flynn the moment that, you know, we even said anything. So it was, it was from there, we. It's been an adventure.

Yeah. Oh, that sounds great. That's awesome. So the concept out there then, you know, where people are escaping and everything, I mean, is it taking off pretty quick like it has out there? Like, I see it here in California, it looks like it's growing pretty quick. How do you market the business? What do you do to get to get the word out there?

Yeah, so when we started, there were 950, I believe, in the United States. As of January this year, there were 2500 in the United States. So it has blown up in the last year and a half. That's great for us. We wanted, when we started Bolt, obviously there's nothing that says Escape whenever you say Bolt. So we wanted to be unique and have a different name. I'm sure you've looked at other escape rooms and most of them have, you know, city name Escape or, you know, area Escape or, you know, something with the words escape in it or something along those lines. So something unique was what we were looking for in a name.

Sure.

And then also, you know, I don't know if you've looked at our logo, but our logo does not have a key. It doesn't have a door, it doesn't even have a lock on it. You know, we wanted to stand out, so we made our logo. Being geeks, we chose a 50s comic, kind of the bang pow aspect of it. And so whenever we had our uniqueness formed, we said, okay, now we've got to get people's attention. Facebook has been our biggest promotional effort. We have figured out. I think I've pretty much got Facebook down, been learning. Instagram just recently started into Snapchat, which is a whole new world. It's definitely interesting. We have Twitter, of course, which I find it's okay for communicating with customers, but it doesn't really do much as far as marketing for us. Right. We've done a little bit of radio. It's. It's hit and miss. We've avoided TV simply because the cost of entry is extremely high for local television. So we've not done much of that.

Yeah, that's an interesting thing. When I had a business down in Texas, in Austin, we found the same thing, but we found it did pay off once we did it. I guess it depends on whatever market you're in. I mean, obviously, if you're in Manhattan, TV advertising is probably totally. Ever unreachable for a small business, but. But maybe not. Maybe they find a way to do that. Yeah, exactly.

That's cool. That's good. So I was, you know, looking on your website, trying to, you know, figure out exactly what you folks did when we first, you know, connected. And I saw information on the site about becoming a bolt franchisee. So can you talk about that process and what your. What your plans are for that?

So about eight months, seven. Eight months into our business, we had some people actually contact and say, hey, you know, we're really interested. You have a very unique name and a very unique experience. We would love to work with you. And at the time, we're like, man, we don't have a clue how to go about doing this. And sure, franchising is a adventure that once you take it on, it grows into an insane monster, I guess you'd say. Sure. We spent about a month and a half learning all the ins and outs and then contacted a company that I found online who had a good reputation, you know, decent reviews. There wasn't one, anything bad about them. And, you know, they. They then worked with us in developing Our franchising package, which I, I couldn't believe how much information that they detailed from, you know, how many parking spots should you have, you know, what you have for signage on your door, on your wind, you know, throughout the building. They wanted to detail pretty much every aspect of the moment we unlock our door to the moment we lock our door at night. But they do it in a, you know, line by line document, which took us about three months of work to get done because it's a lot of editing, paperwork, you know, correcting errors, going back and forth with the copy editor. And after that we actually had a, we have a manual that we can give to anyone who purchases a franchise that tells them how to run the business. And we of course, provide the assistance in setting up puzzles rooms, you know, all that kind of fun stuff that makes us who we are.

That's awesome. That's great. And now do you have someone that's specifically in charge of that aspect of the business? Are you handling that?

That is me. I am. I am the person who decided to take on that insanity. And it's been a fun adventure. We actually did an email blast about a month ago. We have about 15 people who have expressed interest. They've all received the initial package that just basically says, you know, here's what bolt is, here's what your costs would, of course, all estimated because different areas can cost a lot. Different prices, you bet. And then we give them about a month to mull over, you know, everything they've been presented and then we contact them back and say, okay, you know, do you think this is something for you or is this something you want to pass on? That's right. So I've got about a week before I've got to start sending out emails again.

Huh, that's great. Well, you know, it's intriguing. Go ahead.

I'm curious about, yeah, about the franchising thing. I mean, the regulation and stuff on that are kind of a pain in the neck. How are you, how are you dealing with that?

Well, luckily, when I worked, I worked with a company called Franchise Marketing.

You happen to be an expert.

Okay, yes. And so they, whenever I worked with them, they kind of trained me on how if someone says, you know, how much does it cost? And you know, I say, okay, well, it's $30,000, you know, initial investment. And then you've got another anywhere from forty to a hundred thousand dollar investment when it comes to your location, your props, your, you know, any kind of build out, all that kind of stuff. So they, you Know, they, they told me, okay, you gotta make sure you're very specific. It is 30,000. Everything beyond that is based on their geographic location. And I was like, okay, okay, so I get that. Of course, we, we cannot make an express promise of, hey, you'll make, you know, 200,000 a year or you'll make 10,000 a year. We have to tell them this is what we made. And if you follow our, you know, our guidelines, you should be able to make this. It is not a guaranteed success, though.

Yeah, that's great. That's awesome.

Now I'm curious about a different thing. So you have, by looking at your website, you've got three rooms at your location. I would assume that repeat business is something that you would want to foster. So how do you. I mean, obviously, if I'm someone who comes and visits room one. Sorry, not. I shouldn't call it room one. I should call it. I should look at what these rooms are.

Ones like the vault.

The vault, right. I could visit the vault and then I could visit the hostel or whatever. But once I've exhausted the three rooms that you have, do you evolve those maybe once a year? Once every two years or something so that the fans keep coming back to get a different experience?

Yes. So one of the things that sets Bolt apart from almost every escape room in the industry is that not only do we change out our themes, but periodically we shoot for about every three weeks, we change the puzzles, clues, riddles, everything within the room. Its.

So even if the room stays the same, it's still. It's different puzzles to get out of that same room.

Exactly. So, for instance, Daydream is our take on Alice, Wonderland, the Mad Hatter. That room, you know, we, we will go in and we will change props, we'll change puzzles, we'll change clues, we'll add things to it, we'll take things out and make it a whole new experience. And we have several families, in fact, who have played with us, well, more times than we honestly count. There's one who. They have played with us over 10 times throughout our different schools. And they played in Daydream for their first time. They actually are on our leaderboard. They set the record time, and when they got out, I said, okay, obviously this room is too easy, so I'm going to make it harder. And they were like, yeah, that's a great challenge. They actually came back a couple weeks later, played again, and did not get out. And they, you know, of course, when I opened up the door to retrieve them from the room, they were a little, A little hurt and they said, okay, go ahead and laugh. You got us. You know, you won. They allowed me to gloat and have some fun.

Well, it's a great challenge, you know, for, for them as well as keeps you guys creative and on your toes at the same time.

Yeah, absolutely.

Challenge for the business owner too.

Yeah. Yes. I love it.

I think that, I think that's cool. That's some great feedback. So, you know, it sounds like everything went absolutely smooth and you didn't have a single problem. But we always like to hear, we always like to hear about those problems on the show because, you know, everybody has them. We like to share and commiserate, you know, and to learn from them. So what's the best mistake you think you made? You know, what mistake taught you the most when you were setting it up or getting the franchise going? That kind of thing?

Well, remember when I said that we partnered in the business with my friend and co worker and his fiance. We got into business and, and we opened up October 1st of 2015. December 6th of 2015. They came to us and said, we want out of the business. We are done.

Wow.

Now, they, of course, said, hey, we, we want our money back. And, you know, we looked at him and said, you, you bought into this business knowing that it would be a while before you get anything. Sure. We spent, oh, about seven months going back and forth with them saying, we can't give you anything. You, you know, you, you're not gonna get anything.

Right.

They, during that time period, they never came to the office. They never, you know, continue to work for us. They just said, we're done. And they walked away. And so I learned very quickly, consult with a lawyer. And I did just that. And they, you know, they informed me, hey, you don't owe them a dime. When they walked away, they walked away from both the responsibilities and the profits and anything they would have been owed.

So that's a good lesson. We talk about partnerships all the time on this show because they can be fantastic and it can be disastrous. And, you know, like, it's. It's like a marriage, right?

Yes, yes. And you, you want to make sure you have everything written down, you know, to the last little detail of, you know, who's going to do what and if it doesn't get done, who's gonna pick up the slack and, and follow behind them.

Yeah, that's great. It's good advice.

We learned a little bit.

That's awesome. That's a, that's a really gets A very good answer to the mistake question.

Unfortunately, it might be the best ever.

Yeah, Yeah, I' sorry for you, but it's a great answer.

We're still going, so.

Yeah, that's right.

That's right. Yeah. You persevere, man.

Persevere.

That's it.

You got to keep powering through it, you know, so, you know, keeping going and everything and, you know, measuring success. It looks like you've had some success. And, you know, we all measure success differently sometimes. It's obviously your profit and cash and that kind of thing, but, you know, I have a sense that you might have also a little different outlet, you know, outlook on it. How do you measure success with your business? You know, what makes you feel good when you go home? Things went well.

Well, obviously, yes, money is. Is king. That is the number one factor. But for us, it's who we've reached and how we've reached them. We have always been big about being involved in the community. There's almost no charity we will turn down. I mean, if the charity contacts us and says, hey, we want to work with you, almost every time we say, hey, we're. We're on it. We'll. We'll give you, you know, vouchers to play. We'll sponsor an event. We'll. We'll do just we can. And so I love whenever, you know, like, I. I was at the grocery store the other day and I was walking through and I, I, of course have my bolt hat and I've got a shirt that, you know, I. I advertise myself, you know, I'm a walking billboard.

Shameless self promotion man.

Yes. And. And a gentleman come up to me and he goes, hey, man, I loved that room. It was so much fun. We almost got out. I'm coming back. And I. And I kind of looked at him like, oh, man, I don't remember where. When he played. I don't remember anything about it, you know, and I felt so bad. But at the same time, I'm like, hey, that's great, you know, I can't wait to see you again, you know, so that, to me, you know, far exceeds the money. It's. The people that we get to interact with are so cool. You know, we. We had. We're in Bentonville, Arkansas. Not a huge metropolitan area, but decent size. I had students in here today from Baxter Springs High School, which is in Kansas. It's about an hour and a half drive away. And so reaching them, that was awesome. You know, I'm going to another school, local school, Next week and helping them actually set up an escape room in the classroom.

Nice.

That is, that is success. That is, that exceeds all of it.

Yeah, I love that. And that will, you know, if you follow that part of it, I think the cash and the profits part of it, quickly follow that. Right. You got to have that drive. And I commend you for recognizing that and reaching out and getting involved in the community. It's a critical part of success. I agree.

Yes. And in fact, it's even in our franchise documents that if you own a Bolt franchise, you must join your chamber of commerce and you must give at least 10% back to charity.

Wow, that's cool. So it's like a multiple bottom line type scenario. Yeah, I like it.

I think that's great.

So what do you think the biggest obstacle to your success is? What's in the way that you've got to have to maneuver yourself around to power through.

So there's a couple of them. One is knowledge of escape rooms. Now they're, they're starting to pop up in pop culture, obviously television, different media formats, but we're still on a day to day basis telling people about escape rooms. So the first hurdle is that one there. The second is because we chose unique names, we are not, you know, blah escape rooms. We are Bolt. And so getting people to know who Bolt is and what Bolt does is the second hurdle to, you know, growing our business and, you know, obtaining higher success.

Yeah.

So for us to overcome those, it's a lot of education. You know, whenever we get gas at a gas station, if there's someone filling up next to us, we'll say, hey, have you ever heard of an escape room? Well, you have now out. And we hand them a card. If, when we go in and pay, we do the same thing. If we go out to eat it, you know, our family goes out to eat, we leave a card in the waiter or waitress's little book with the receipt and we usually throw on a 10 or 15% discount code that they can then use with us. So we're educating people and we're not being overly aggressive about it and going, hey, you know, you got to come in. It's, hey, here, here's some information about us. If you want to use a code, here you go, come see us. If you don't, no worries. You know, it may not be for you, but at least we try when.

It'S interesting, you know, and I've done this myself, I really am a firm believer in having a great name and a tagline and, you know, in the beginning when we start talking, you point that that was kind of one of your strengths, which I agree, you know, you stand out and stuff, but also, it can be a little obstacle to get it out, get the word out there. But once people know it, you know, then they. They remember it because it different.

Yes, yes. And of course, our tagline is can you bolt? And so, and the great thing is if you actually Google, can you bolt, you actually will find our franchise website. So we, we use. Kind of used that to help play it up a little bit.

That's great. That's. That's a. That's a great idea.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

So, okay, looking back, and I think I might know the answer to this, but we'll see. You know, if you could go back to when you were first getting started with the business, you know, what, Crit tip, you know, what piece of advice would you tell yourself based on what you've learned so far that, you know, maybe would have made things a little smoother for you?

Well, definitely would have told myself, hey, do not partner with friends. You know.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Go at your own. You know, it was. I mean, it was worth it because I did learn some things and, you know, without it, I, you know, who knows what would have happened along the way? So I never want to say, hey, don't do what you already did, because a mistake was made and we learned and we grew. So, you know, I don't know if I can necessarily tell myself, don't do it, but I might warn myself that, hey, it's gonna be rough.

I like that. Yeah, that's good. Well, you know, Lance, it definitely sounds like you're living a charmed life out there and, you know, building a great future for yourself. And that's what we're all about on the show, and we really appreciate you coming on and telling your story and sharing it. How do our listeners learn about your business as you know, your Bolt business, but also make sure you tell us, how do we learn about your franchise business as well?

All right, well, they can obviously go to www.boltnwa.com and they can learn about the rooms that we currently have. They can, if they're local or even if they're not local and want to travel here, they can book a room. They can also get our contact info on there. They can go on Facebook. And we are at Bolt, Bitma on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter. We're. We're all over the world with Bolt NWA and Bolt Bentonville.

That's great. And then the franchise info@canyoubolt.com Is that correct?

Yes, sir.

Right on. Well, that's great. It's a great story. It's a great business. And, you know, keep in touch. We'd love to let people see how you're growing.

Absolutely.

Thanks so much for coming on, Lance. This was. This is fantastic. It's so cool just to hear somebody hear about somebody starting a business that. That just delivers fun. I mean, I know it's work, but, you know, the end result is fun. That's awesome. Sweet.

Absolutely.

Very cool. Folks, you know where you can find Lance, and you can find us here at BusinessShow Co or visit us on Facebook. The best way to do that is to go to BusinessShow Co Facebook, and that'll bring you to our small business support group where we all help each other out. It's good stuff. Share anecdotes. Have a fantastic week one. Thanks, Shannon. Thanks, Lynn.

Hey, you bet.

Keep living that charm life.

Yeah.