Today we’d like to introduce you to LaKeisha Eldemire.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
After working for the Marriott Hotel for ten years, I was laid off after a work injury. I was almost 40 years old and didn’t know what to do. I knew that I didn’t want to waste another ten years of giving my life to a company, who at the drop of a dime could close the doors on me. That’s when I sat my kids down and had a long talk with them about our future and what we should do to sustain our lively hood. My son who was 16 at the time suggested we start a mobile video game truck. I never heard of such a thing and wasn’t very interested. You see, he loves video games and as a parent, I didn’t want to invest my saving into anything that pertained video games. After seeing his idea and doing some research, I gave in. So we built our first mobile video gaming truck. It has 6 TVs, Virtual Reality, Driving Simulator, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. It was such a hit amongst children, teenagers and adults. Fast forward to almost four years in business, we have expanded to not only offer mobile gaming, we now offer a mobile spa bus, bounce houses, movie night, Gellyball, custom sleepovers, pony rides and a petting zoo. We have two locations in Cleveland, Oh & Central Florida. We have also signed our first Licensee in August of this year.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It has been a very bumpy road. No one wants to give information about business without charging you. I had to do a lot of research for my industry. It’s very unique industry and it’s very competitive. Trying to start a business with little to no money can be frustrating. Trying to find funding or even trying to get approved for loans is very hard when you’re not an established business. I personally maxed out credit cards, cashed out my 401k and applied for grants. It was hard trying to find customers and get bookings. It takes a lot of leg work.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a mobile entertainment company and we currently have a game truck and spa bus that my son & daughter both run. Eventually, we want to be able to offer everything mobile. We bring the entire party so adults don’t have to stress about the activity part of parties. We specialize in bringing communities and families together. We care about the people and we love to interact with everyone. There will never be a kid/adult coming to one of our events and feel left out, that’s what sets us apart from brick & mortar companies.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Sometimes you must take risks especially in business and in life. If you always play it safe, you may just be letting something great pass you by. I myself risked everything I had in my saving and also put myself in debt betting on the fact that our mobile game truck would be a success. I didn’t break even until my second year in business and didn’t really see a big profit until my third year in business.
Pricing:
- $400 for 2hrs of unlimited game play
- $350 for 2hrs of Gellyball
- Prices vary for our Spa Bus
- $300 for our Backyard Movie Night
Contact Info:
- Email: 2flymobilegames@gmail.com
- Website: www.2flymobilegames.com
- Instagram: 2flymobilegames
