It’s hard to believe that about a year ago, I set the wheels in motion to start a little business called EZPZ Video Game Parties! It was a whirlwind to begin with: various legal/business filings, financing, insurance, market research, yada yada. The year has been a wonderful one, albeit a balancing act between the business and my “day” job. This is the busy season of said job, and it’s also a busy birthday season…so last month I began the search for employees to hold down the fort while I’m off working elsewhere. So meet EZPZ’s newest team members!

David lives in Salinas but is a native of the great state of Michigan. He has plenty of experience in customer service and, fittingly, is an avid gamer. He’ll take care of the heavy lifting in my absence: driving the Mobile Game Theater to your event, making sure everything is running great and that your guests are having an awesome time.

Kat is from Seaside and currently attending Monterey Peninsula College (MPC). She knows console games inside and out and loves working with kids. She’ll be David’s co-pilot, helping him navigate and identify hazards and obstacles when the trailer needs to back up.

Both are dedicated to making sure your birthday kid and their guests have a great time, playing the best multiplayer games and keeping memories that will hopefully last a lifetime!

They’ll be in touch with me in case anything comes up, but we’ll take extra measures to help mitigate any issues that may arise.

I’m grateful to be in a situation where EZPZ is quickly becoming a well-known option for birthday parties, fundraisers and other events, which makes it possible to hire wonderful folks like Kat & David!

As mentioned in my bio on our About page, I still often work in sports broadcasting as a graphic operator. This time of year is very busy, as I’m part of a crew that works college football for Fox Sports (usually on FS1). While I’m happy to be working with this excellent crew, there are a couple of disadvantages while trying to run EZPZ Video Game Parties.

The first is probably obvious: if I’m away on the weekends, it makes it hard to keep the business running! Perhaps you’ve noticed very little availability on our reservations page; this usually means that I’m out of town. The good news is that I’ll have some employees soon  who will keep things running while I’m gone.

The other disadvantage isn’t as obvious. I just noticed today that the more I’m away, the less connected I feel to the community, especially the business community. When I’m home, I’m in frequent communication with chambers of commerce, schools, customers, media, vendors, and so on. When I’m on the road, most of that interaction is sidelined…if anything, I send a hastily-typed email saying I’ll contact them on Monday, with apologies.

Today I was running around, talking with the folks at the Monterey County Weekly, running other errands and talking with fellow business owners here in Marina. I’ve always known that participating in the community is vital to a local business, but I realized how little I’ve been doing that lately. Often I’ll shelve such activities with the excuse of being tired or jet-lagged. As a small business owner though, I can’t afford to allow those things to remain on the shelf.

Now that help is on the way in the form of employees, it’s my hope that these two “disadvantages” will evaporate and that EZPZ will continue to grow and thrive, literally bringing fun and games to kids throughout the Central Coast!