Your path to income is one of the most important aspects of the enterprise that you’re going to have to concern yourself with, and that can’t be stressed enough. There is a wide discrepancy in pricing models for Mobile Axe Throwing across the board, but this question is another of the most prevalent (and hotly contested) out in the wild: What kinds of events am I going to be a part of?
Booked Events are what they sound like: An event host pays up front for your company’s services, and no money is exchanged between the throwers and the game operators.
Pay-Per-Throw Events (PPT), on the other hand, see each thrower treated as a customer, and they pays a set fee for an amount of throws or time spent throwing.
Booked Events are those events run at a host’s birthday, graduation party, corporate event or the like where they pay up front to give their guests an experience. There are proponents of Booked Events who refuse to or seldom go somewhere that compensation hasn’t been decided on beforehand- their argument being that it isn’t worth the company’s time to take the risk with potentially nothing or very little to show for it from an income perspective.
Wanting or needing to know how much you’re able to make at a certain event beforehand is helpful. Running one Mobile Axe Throwing trailer in an area with a decent population with expendable income can lead to you being able to pick and choose your events- if someone isn’t interested in paying outright for the game, there is usually someone who will. There’s merit to these, and in some cases PPT events don’t pay dividends as the company is expecting them too.
PPT Events are riskier- But it all boils down to the numbers. If your company goes to a PPT Event with 10,000 people over an 8 hour day, you’re going to tend to do very well. It’s even better if you’re the only entertainment on the list or the attendees are well-to-do. One of the downsides to adhering exclusively to Booked Events is the number of events you’re going to turn away without gauging the returns from said events. I’m always for taking the temperature of the event- within reason.
It’s important to note that PPT Events can be broken down even further. Odyssey has a 3 options template:
- Events where you pay the event runner for the right to set up and charge individuals (fairs, large festivals)
- Events where no money is exchanged between the event host and the axe throw company
- Events in which the host pays the axe throw company on top of said company charging money from individual throwers. We’ll dive back into all of these later.
Even the best PPT Events have their down days, months, or years. Cold weather, rain, or COVID-19 are good examples of this. This is why Type 3 of the PPT Events are likely to be the bell cow as you continue to grow. Events which outright pay you to show up -or- guarantee you a dollar amount in revenue while still allowing you to charge their customers are primed to repeat. Maintaining a good social media presence as well as outreach to other venues has these events open to discussing options.
A factor here is your scope and scale. Running 2 or 3 Axe Throw Trailers means you’re likely going to have to expand and start taking risks on approaching these events. 4-5 trailers- definitely. Your company is looking at leaving money on the table if you have trailers in excess without events.
With a single trailer, it’s easier to be choosy- after all, you may have 3 potential events on a weekend.
On a personal level, Odyssey Axe Throw goes to both styles of event.
Leaving money-making events on the table is a bad feeling, and looking at the event specifics is always the best way to assess. A 40 hour, 4 day fair is an exhausting event where you’re paying just to get your foot in the door, but removing those events would mean losing a large chunk of our revenue over the fall months.
At the same time, running for 3 hours with 1 game operator at a birthday party is a cake walk, and you’re likely to be well rewarded relative to that effort. Both are good- the question is what do you see yourself doing. Our goal was always expansion, but that isn’t necessarily yours.
As you begin taking the steps to build your Mobile Axe Throwing company, these are relevant things to keep if your head because you’re going to have to have this discussion sooner or later.
Next Time: COVID Concerns- Navigating The Mucky Waters of Axe Throwing in a Pandemic
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