We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bobby Schuman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Bobby thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

Before we even started the business we wanted to make sure there was a market for it. We really had no idea if people would be interested in hiring some twentysomething year old punks like us to hang their Christmas lights. So during a heat wave in early October I decided to go door-to-door in a few neighborhoods just to gauge interest. I remember how hot it was because I heard the same joke at every door I went to about how funny it was that I was asking about Christmas lights on a hot day in October. About a week into November I had yet to receive a call and was ready to drop the idea completely. That is when I got my first call from a woman whose door I did not even knock on. She was given my contact information from a friend of hers whose door we did knock on a few streets down. Now, five years later she is still one of our best clients. We are very thankful for the trust she put in us and the chance she gave us.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

A product of San Diego, I played Division 1 college baseball at multiple colleges. After graduating with a degree in Economics, I played two short seasons of professional baseball and just finished my 4th season as the Head Baseball Coach of Hoover High School. I also worked on a presidential campaign in 2020.

Running Bob’s Lights is simple enough for a 12-year old to run. It is pretty clear-cut, if you need lights to be hung we can hang them. Where we separate ourselves from the competition is with our style and customer service. We are far and away the best lighting designers in San Diego and we always leave our clients happy. We also have the best looking and hardest working staff around. For the duration of the time that we are installing lights, the client gets to watch a former professional athlete, a lead singer, personal trainer and a Miss California USA contestant all drip sweat and yell at each other. What more can you ask for from an event lighting company?

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Originally we started as a Christmas light installation company. During our first Christmas season one of our clients referred us to an employee at Qualcomm which gave us our first taste of event work. In one day, we installed and removed thousands of lights and other décor all across the main quad area at their offices. We have now been Qualcomm’s official decorator for their annual holiday party since our inception five years ago and it is one of the things we are most proud of as a company.

Every year we add more and more events to our calendar. We do parties, banquets. weddings, and have even been lighting up boats and cars. This took us from a seasonal business to slightly more of a year-round business. We are still working to build a more consistent event clientele. We have recently ventured into landscape lighting which we believe has a lot of potential for growth. We are asked multiple times every Christmas season if we do landscape lighting and now we can say that we do. Stay tuned…

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Referrals. There is nothing that comes even close to how much client referrals have helped us grow over the years. We have not had to market our Christmas light side of the business since our first year. Our clients love us because we are the best and they want to tell all their friends about us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bobslights.business.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobslights/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobby-schuman-jr-b4656b177/

Image Credits
Bobby Schuman