I was 18 when I started selling water outside of music festivals. It started when I was working at Summerfest for Saz’s restaurant booth making $5.25 hr. in 2011. They paid so low because if you’re supposed to be taking home tips, they can pay you less. Except, the bosses were known for cutting employees out of their tips. I was upset by this but realized something. When coming through the employee entrance they didn’t check our bags, or ask employees to have a certain size bag that was see through. Summerfest is the largest music festival in the world, it runs 11 days and is held annually in Milwaukee, WI.
This is when I started smuggling beer inside and selling it to the crowds. Especially to supplement for such low wages. I walked around holding a beer can yelling “$3 beer”. I would make $150 in 30 minutes. I would fit roughly 35 beer cans into my backpack and put my work uniform rolled on top. I would sell the beer for $3 a can, and people would gladly tip me. This worked for the first 5 days. My problem was that I wasn’t switching up the location of where I was selling it.
When I got caught selling beer, they breathalyzed me. I passed the breathalyzer. The cops didn’t confiscate my money, and I was told to not come back to Summerfest for the rest of the event. I was “banned”. I figured they were bullshitting, there’s no way they can monitor their cameras that effectively and hunt down banned people. Especially when they didn’t take my picture and put it up on a wall. They had some people’s pictures up on a wall, but with crowds as big as they have. It’s very hard. Plus, it’s best for the cops to use their resources on acts of violence or drug offenses. Not someone selling beer. The cops said, “Why can’t you just sell water outside like the other people.” In total, I didn’t get in trouble. They never saw me physically selling the beer, but I probably had 5 beers left when they caught me. Yet, everyone at Saz’s knew I was selling beer to the crowd before arriving. It was a random stranger who said she saw a minor selling beer.
Later when leaving Summerfest, I purposely walked past the people selling $1 water. I asked them how long they’ve been doing this and how much they made. I listened to these people and they told me they made THOUSANDS selling $1 water! Especially at an 11 day music festival with over 100,000 attendees. That's when I decided to sell water for the rest of Summerfest.
My co-workers at Saz must have thought I was a broke bum selling $1 water after being caught for selling beer inside. They must have thought that I got a heavy citation. My co-workers knew how much I was making in 30 minutes when I was working at the stand. I was a braggart. I kept saying I didn't know why I kept showing up for the low wage food service work just to get ripped off.
The year I started selling $1 water in front of Summerfest, Summerfest broke the record for attendance. At one point the lines were so long that they just started letting in people for free, since the estimated wait time was an hour to buy tickets at the gate. They made this decision so their vendors could make more money and sell out of products. That year, people didn’t care if they were buying warm water. Usually, people get picky about the water bottle coming from the bottom of the cooler, but that year. They didn’t care.
I would go to Sam’s club and buy 40 pks of water for about $4. Along with bags of ice. Then load the waters in my van and pack the ice and water bottles into my coolers. The way I would get the coolers into the crowd was with a dolly. I would use a long strong rope and tie the coleman cooler to the dolly. Then wheeling it into the crowds of thousands of people. The biggest rush was everyone leaving the Summerfest grounds when the festival ended. To replenish my supply, when I ran out of water after the first dolly, I was actually strong enough to lift a 4ft by 3.5 ft wide cooler full with water bottles and ice over a few blocks distance. I never parked far, so I would be walking not too far.
It was extremely physically taxing. The biggest problem area was my back and shoulders. I would be hunched over in my van loading up to 1,000 water bottles.
When Summerfest ended, I couldn't get enough of this entrepreneurship thing. I also had earned the nickname "hustle girl" from some traveling t-shirt vendors. They were a family crew from Indiana who had a van and travelled to festivals and concerts around the U.S selling t-shirts. They made killer money. I met many interesting and inspiring people. By no means is the life of a street vendor easy. One musician, Cassie, a saxophonist got assaulted. She was punched in the face during a hate crime incident from a drunk festival attendee. I did festival vending for a few years, but called it quits when it got too dangerous. These food cart vendors make thousands a day. One hot dog cart had a really shady owner, a Greek guy named George who constantly bought hookers. Well, word got out that he hired a thug to rob the other hot dog stand - Hot Diggity Dog at gun point when they were leaving for the night. This would make sense as to why Hot Diggity Dog stopped vending abruptly.
After Summerfest I did festivals in Chicago. North Coast Music Festival, Lollapalooza, Riot Fest, then night clubs after the festivals.
The picture below is me getting peddled into the crowd from a nice pedal cart man. He saw that all night I had been wheeling and carrying the waters all by myself as a small female. He said that not many men would even have the guts to do what I was doing. Thus, he gave me a free ride to the front of the Lollapalooza exits.
I’ve been a problem solver my whole life. I didn’t realize this until one of my long drives back from Chicago to Waukesha. I’ve had so many problems in my life. I’m someone who hates problems and excuses. I realized then, I was always finding creative solutions to my life. When I went into technology and solving problems, it was just natural for me to fall in love with my true passion.
So, I did the festival vending selling $1 dollar waters. I had gone to school in Bozeman, MT in 2011 for a semester. The fall right after my first water selling. Then worked food service and tax preparation in WI, again while selling waters, sodas, and glow sticks during the summer months. Then in 2013 I was in a business competition to start a traveling food cart business.
FYI- That's not my phone number anymore. Go ahead, call the unfortunate person who now has that number posted online!
I had a series of unfortunate events that I'm not going to get into detail here, but I did return to university for accounting. Got into another incubator for entrepreneurs, did security dispatching work for one of ADT's main competitors EMERGency24. I was able to put banks on test, monitor the alarm systems for the IRS repossession warehouse, cruise ships, and even dispatch the secret service to the U.S Embassy of Costa Rica! Any time there was a small alarm in the embassies, you dispatch the secret service regardless of the level of alarm's severity.
While at Carroll University in 2016, in February I attended an Edward Snowden Skype-in talk in New Hampshire. That's where I learned about Bitcoin from the mainly techie crowd. Well, from then on I was hooked, but didn't know how to get into Bitcoin without more guidance. Fast forward to December 2016 and I purchased my first bitcoin around $700-$800, but wanted to get in at $400 - $500. I'm still kicking myself for not getting into Ethereum at $7. I first got in around $13. THE AGONY!
I was lucky enough to get in earlier than most, but I barely have any cryptos at all. I had an emergency situation come up and they were a lifeline.
I've actually been learning about Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and decentralized technology part-time since December 2016. Full-time since March 2017. Since it consumed my life before officially giving into deciding I was going to be a mover in the crypto-sphere. Then under a year later from full-time studies. Going to conferences, meet-ups, and taking online courses... I would have never guessed I would have an idea for a cryptocurrency gamified education platform for new cryptocurrency users! That idea was born in October 2017. Seven months after full-time learning!
Fast forward to January 2018, I attended the North American Bitcoin Conference, been writing articles, engaging with the cryptocurrency community with my Crypto Maven social media handle and have a panel talk tomorrow on Cryptocurrency, FinTech, and Diversity.
The best thing about it all. That I'm moving to Chicago on Feburary 1st, just a few blocks from where I used to be a street vendor selling $1 water. I'm a few blocks away from Grant Park and Lake Shore Dr.
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