This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features Charles Eide, 40, the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based founder and CEO of corporate events company EideCom. As a teenager, Eide side-hustled as a DJ, then began to produce major events at the University of St. Thomas. Read more about his journey here. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Image Credit: Courtesy of EideCom. Charles Eide.
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What was your day job or primary occupation when you started your side hustle?
I was raised by two sales-minded entrepreneurs who really pushed me to think outside of the box. My mom taught me that I needed to learn to sell. In high school, I waited tables and sold web development services full-time while building the beginnings of EideCom. I also shot wedding videos during peak wedding season. I was shooting weddings on the weekend and editing videos during the week with no downtime, which led to burnout. This pushed me to believe there was something bigger and better out there for me. While I didn’t love the grind of the wedding industry, I loved being part of life-changing events. I always knew I was supposed to do something bigger in the events industry.
When did you start your side hustle, and where did you find the inspiration for it?
I started EideCom in 2003. The inspiration came from attending a sales conference with my mom and falling in love with the impact that events have on humanity. At an early age, I had a high intuition when it came to large rooms of people and how they were feeling; it was like having X-ray vision. For some reason, I had a natural ability to understand the dynamics of audience engagement from a very young age.
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What were some of the first steps you took to get your side hustle off the ground? How much money/investment did it take to launch?
I started by borrowing my dad’s home theater system to DJ parties, which evolved into weddings. At one point, my dad told me I had to stop abusing his home theater system and buy a professional audio system. I remember maxing out my first credit card with a $2,000 limit for a trailer to connect to my Saturn L200 sedan to transport my DJ equipment — it was hilarious. Imagine this teenager showing up to your event pulling a trailer with a Saturn; no wonder my prices were so cheap. To me, it was a fortune if I made $200 in a night.
Image Credit: Courtesy of EideCom
If you could go back in your business journey and change one process or approach, what would it be, and how do you wish you’d done it differently?
I would have hired better people earlier. In the beginning, you think you can do it all. After gaining experience, I’ve realized some people are much better at certain things than I am, and I should have hired them sooner.
I also would have clarified and enforced our ideal client profile much sooner. We wasted energy early on trying to be everything to everyone, which slowed our growth and diluted our brand.
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When it comes to this specific business, what is something you’ve found particularly challenging and/or surprising that people who get into this type of work should be prepared for, but likely aren’t?
The logistics. Live events don’t get a second take. Coordinating hundreds of moving parts — gear, trucks, talent, timing — with zero margin for error is something most people underestimate.
Also, sales and finance never get the attention they deserve in our industry. Most of that is left to the biggest players. We’ve realized that building a strong sales team and a robust finance team makes a huge difference in success or failure.
Can you recall a specific instance when something went very wrong? How did you fix it?
We were doing a show in Las Vegas for a massive client. They had Matthew McConaughey and several other large speakers taking the stage the next day. When their CEO came to watch rehearsals, the massive LED wall started glitching. It continued to be a problem, and the CEO and his team left in frustration. On his way out the door, he asked me if he could trust me to get it done. I assured him we would figure it out. Millions were on the line for us and him.
Late that evening, after much troubleshooting, we realized there was a computer with a bad component in it. This wasn’t an ordinary computer, but a supercomputer that was very specific to LED wall processing. We called everywhere and no one had one in town, but we found one available in Los Angeles, which was quite a drive or a short flight away. Luckily, I had spent my years learning to become a pilot and had my airplane with me. We headed to the tarmac to fly to Los Angeles at midnight to pick up this computer with only hours remaining before the show started. As we took the runway, we got a phone call that they had finally found one on the ground in Las Vegas, and it would be in the ballroom in minutes. We shut the airplane down, headed back and continued troubleshooting into the early hours of the morning until it was perfect.
I sat on the sidelines waiting for the CEO to show up that morning, and when he did, he asked me if we were going to have a good day, and I assured him that 10 out of 10, we would get this right. Of course, I was sweating bullets and scared to death of the opening video about to play, hearing the countdown on the headset. I had never felt the anxiety I was feeling. Without hesitation, the video played back perfectly, and the rest of the conference went exactly as planned. At the end of it all, that CEO came up to me and admitted he was worried, but that he trusted us the whole way. We have now secured that customer for life. It’s always about being willing to get the job done. You have to know your outcome.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of EideCom
How long did it take you to see consistent monthly revenue? How much did the side hustle earn?
It took about five years to start seeing consistent revenue. We started with a few thousand dollars in revenue per year. Initially, it was a couple of hundred dollars at a time and turned into enough to pay the mortgage, but that was about it.
What does growth and revenue look like now?
We’ve been seeing between 30% and 40% year-over-year growth. Last year, we did $20 million in revenue, and we’re heading to $100 million in revenue by 2030. We’re the go-to premium production partner for Fortune 500 brands seeking high-end production for large-scale conferences, events and meetings.
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What do you enjoy most about running this business?
I love the people. I really believe that our people are our edge. I’ve spent my entire life collecting amazing humans around me, and EideCom is the result. Most companies get this backwards. They say, “Always put the customer first,” which is completely wrong. If you put your team first, the customer will always get what they need.
What is your best piece of specific, actionable business advice?
Sales is oxygen — without it, you die. So, learn to sell. Remember the acronym JET. Just Execute Today. While someone else is making plans, you execute. Get out there and build relationships, sell your product and hire the best people you can afford.
