Brett Smiley: The Festival Seating Mindset That Turns Unexpected Logistical Nightmares Into Growth

Taking the risk to start a company is a feat few are fully equipped for. Any business owner knows that the first few years in business are anything but glamorous. Building a successful business takes time, lessons learned, and most importantly, enormous growth as a business owner. What works and what doesn’t when one starts a new business? What are the valuable lessons learned from the “University of Adversity”? As part of this interview series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brett Smiley.

As a successful sales champion and entrepreneur with a medical, graphic communication, and financial background, Brett Smiley has pulled from seemingly diverse industries to create his path. His experience and milestones have all been achieved while working for some of the largest and most well-known companies in each sector. Smiley has built a business from the ground up and grown sales to an impressive level over a short period of time using various skill sets acquired throughout his business life, including those used to create conCHAIRto.

In 2018, after attending his 18th Austin City Limits Music Festival in a row, Smiley realized there was a better way to safeguard and enhance the fan experience and increase festival sustainability efforts by providing internalized seating solutions through chair rentals. On his flight back to Cleveland the next day, he drafted the initial thoughts of what has now become conCHAIRto.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

My Father had a record collection that contained about 1,000 albums, so I would come home every day after school/sports and pick 5–10 albums to listen to. This experience opened my eyes to the tremendous talent musicians possess, which led me to become a music festival and concert aficionado, attending well over 100 events. I’ve personally attended every Austin City Limits Music Festival, and during my 18th one, I came to the conclusion that allowing personal chairs inside an event creates way more potential problems versus upside benefits. I saw lines and wait times getting longer, security searches becoming more stringent, and the type of contraband confiscated posing a much bigger danger. I thought there had to be a better way to provide fans with a seating solution while removing and limiting these threats. The plane ride home after the event was when I started developing conCHAIRto.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?

One of the hardest things I’ve personally faced in the startup phase of conCHAIRto was and is the raising of funds for scalability. A business can only operate “bootstrapping” for so long. The frustrating part was that everyone I spoke to about the conCHAIRto business operations, revenue verticals, growth opportunity, and investment strategy all had nothing but positive responses and belief in the business, but a lot weren’t willing to back it up by providing said investment. This creates a ton of self-doubt not only about your business but also about yourself! Having supreme belief in what conCHAIRto brings to the table regarding safeguarding outdoor events, helping organizers get closer to achieving their sustainability goals, and having thick skin will always keep me focused on the inherent successes right around the corner. Our growth in the first 2-years of operations proves this for me, so I will make it happen no matter what it takes.

Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

I kind of hit on this in my last comment, but I would be remiss if I didn’t say that the values my mom, dad, grandma, and some fantastic coaches instilled in me have always been a big part of who I am and why I do things the way I do. I’ve never been the best, biggest, fastest, or strongest, but I’ve always found a way to persevere.

So, how are things going today? How did grit and resilience lead to your eventual success?

In any business, the learning curve never ends. We try to be better in every aspect of conCHAIRto, knowing that, in the end, our customers and fans deserve the best. If you focus everything on the people around you and who you are ultimately doing business for, then it’s hard not to be successful. conCHAIRto is roughly one year ahead of our initial projections regarding the number and size of festivals and outdoor events we are working with at roughly 25+ events so far this year. The investment dollars are starting to come in, allowing us to hire high-level talent, add new products/services that fit our model, and work on creating more streamlined logistics. Our #1 goal is to make conCHAIRto the “norm” for outdoor events, much like Uber and Lyft did in the rideshare market. One day, I hope I hear fans say, “Let’s just conCHAIRto!”.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The funniest thing happened at our first event in Miami, Florida, this year. We partnered with a Latin Music Festival, and our pre-sales were going horribly. The festival owner kept telling us not to worry and that the orders will come in. He said, “Our fans are just really last-minute decision-makers.” About 5-days before the event, we only had about 1,000 pre-orders, so there was a lot of guesswork on how much inventory we should bring for this festival, which was expecting 20,000 fans per day. We sent 4,000 chairs to the event, and before the gates opened, we still only had about 1,300 orders, so we stocked our booth with 2,500 chairs, giving us an extra potential 1,200 chairs for walkup business, thinking this would be plenty. However, within the first 2-hours of the event start, we were almost sold out. The problem was that our remaining chairs were in a storage area and they weren’t allowing heavy equipment or machinery operation during the actual event. Crap…what do we do? We ended up putting roughly 30–40 chairs at a time in the bed of an ATV, driving outside the festival footprint, and throwing the chairs over the fence from an adjacent sidewalk. It took about 25 trips, but we made it happen. This is the kind of stuff you have to do in business because things are going to happen that aren’t expected.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

It’s definitely our name and our people! We get so many organizers and fans who make great comments about the name conCHAIRto. I wish I could take credit for the name, but it all has to go to a great friend of mine, Lisa, from my University of Arizona days. Our people stand out because we make the process fun, add humor and personality, and make the process extremely efficient. Nobody wants to stand in line all day, so we strive to ensure our customers can collect their chairs within 5–10 seconds. My staff consists of a blend of 2 of my former college hockey teammates and best friends from my hometown in the Cleveland, Ohio area. We all know how to deal with each other in any situation because we’ve done it so many times before. The best part is that we hold each other accountable, and when the tough conversations need to happen, we all show up with a very professional attitude.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

I’m a massive fan of maintaining balance in my life. Starting/Owning a business can become your sole focus, but you have to take time for yourself to spend with family, stay healthy, be happy, and rejuvenate when needed. Surround yourself with great people, and don’t be afraid to delegate responsibilities. You know your business best and want it to be successful way more than anyone else, but for that to happen, you need to be at the top of your game.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I always think of my grandma when it comes to questions like this. My parents divorced when I was really young, so I was only able to see my Dad one day a week. My Mom worked a ton, so the real constant in my life was my grandma. She helped me study, took me to practice, prepared my meals, helped me fold newspapers for my paper route, and taught me the importance of working hard and treating people well. I can’t thank her enough for being in my life.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I believe I have brought goodness to the world, but other people would have to be the judge of this. Most of my life has been spent in a medical device sales career. I know it’s a sales career, and I have been very successful, but I focus so hard on doing what’s best for the patient/physician that I don’t feel like I’m selling. I’m genuinely just here to provide as many people as possible with a better quality of life, more confidence in their surroundings, and provide as much joy as possible for the short time we’re here. I’m a people person, so I hope it’s a positive experience when I’m around. conCHAIRto allows me another platform to meet new people and help provide a positive experience.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first launched my business,” and why?

1 . Secure Financing Early — It’s tough to start and grow a business if your finances aren’t in line, personally and professionally. If you’re struggling to pay bills at home, it will affect your business and vice versa.

2 . Surround Yourself with Great People — Your emotions will be all over the map, so you need the best people around you to keep you grounded, bounce ideas off of, and delegate responsibilities. My partners are my advisors!

3 . Don’t be afraid to Make Mistakes — Making mistakes means you’re taking chances to better your business. The big thing is to make sure you learn from these mistakes. In business, mistakes tend to be pretty costly, so remembering them tends to be pretty easy.

4 . Be Flexible in your Business — You might think you know what’s best for every situation, but nothing is ever the same. Sit back and listen to the people across the table, your employees and your friends. Other perspectives are a phenomenal way to make fewer mistakes.

5 . Be True to Yourself — Truly evaluate your skillset, and don’t always feel like you are the best person for every task. Consult or bring people in that allow you to focus on what you’re best at.

Can you share a few ideas or stories from your experience about how to successfully ride the emotional highs & lows of being a founder”?

There will always be a ton of emotional swings. Success typically doesn’t happen overnight in business, so it’s important to continually review your mission statement, check your goals, redefine them if needed, and remember why and who you’re doing this for. Positivity and passion always win in the long run!

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I personally think we as a country need to do a much better job developing programs to help our Veterans and the homeless. I know there are some programs available, but I don’t feel they are doing enough. I think our leaders can do better at creating opportunities that provide shelter, medical care, education/training, jobs, and other services to make us a stronger nation.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Website: https://conchairto.com

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/conchairto

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyConchairto

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myconchairto

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!