1995: The Jam Teen Club
My first “real” business – I rented a roller skating rink and used my income at the radio station I worked for at the time to get commercials for promotion. The location of the rink hindered the amount of people we had each week, but it was a success in my book. I raked in my current weekly wage in 1 night. This is where I also learned the power of advertising and marketing. By simply mentioning Pepsi and B.C. Pizza (local to Northern Michigan) in my commercials I got all kinds of free stuff to help make my club better.

The business ended when I wrecked both my cars in 1 day – YES 2 CARS /1 DAY.  I got into an accident in the morning, and then coming home from the club night I was hit by a drunk driver which totaled my other car. I had to borrow a car for a couple weeks until I was able to put some cash together to get something else. At the time I was also setting up for college in Midland. I wanted to continue the club by moving it to Gaylord where I had lived (club was originally in Petoskey), but my girlfriend at the time sort of put a kabash on that.   I still think I would have done well on the weekends, but she said I didn’t have time to do it. — hmm