We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cari Carter. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cari below.

Cari , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I started Magic Box Vending completely by accident. It’s not the path that most entrepreneurs take – I did not plan for this business to become what it has today at all.

I’ve got a varied employment past. I worked in Tech starting in the 90’s through the mid 00’s, sold Vespa scooters, owned and operated a handmade retail storefront, bartended, founded a social media company, among other stimulating pursuits. I was offered a vending machine from a friend of mine who needed to get it out of a bar she was working at, and knew I loved making and selling trinkets. Maybe I could do something with the machine? It was $100. I couldn’t say no. I knew nothing about vending, vending machines, or how the entire process of even moving a vending machine would work. What was I going to sell? I had zero clue.

There wasn’t an “idea phase”,. I jumped in a decided it’d be a fun hobby, or at least something to try out. I tried to move my $100 vending machine, and realized I really had NO clue how to move it. This thing weighed well over 600 lbs, and I was gonna need help. The owner of the bar I was working at said I could move it in. What was I going to sell? I had no idea. Once it was loaded into his truck, and moved into the bar, I told him that the next time the vending machine moved, it’d be because I’d sold it. That was in 2015, and the same $100 machine is in exactly the spot we moved it into.

The next several months I worked on what I was going to sell. I got some fun/funny snacks. I got cookies. I made some earrings. I started taking things from around my house and making “Mystery Fun Bags” with funny things that came from my vast collection of stuff I’ve collected over the years. Costume jewelry from my grandma. Socks. New underwear. I tried a lot of things out, just to see what people would buy. One of the biggest surprises was vintage Playboy magazines. (This is a 21 and over establishment that the vending machine is in). I really started leaning more into “what WON’T people buy”, and just kept pushing it.

Cari , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As I mentioned, I’ve got a varied background. I’m nerdy & tech savvy. I’ve worked in account and project management. I’ve also got ADHD, so I’ve tried a LOT of different things, and my brain is pretty much always spinning.

Did I plan on getting into the vending machine business? No,. However, I’ve had the luck and life experience to pretty much create my dream job for myself. I get to shop, I spend a lot of time at thrift stores, and I get to work with a very fun and prolific creative community in Portland and Las Vegas (Magic Box expanded into Nevada in 2020).

I get to sell FUN. Each of my locations has a hand selected/curated selection of items. Recently I placed a Magic Box into Wonderwood Springs, a cafe next door to a new indoor mini golf course. What did I add as a special product to that machine? Argyle socks. I mean, your game is gonna improve 1000% if you’ve got cool socks on, right?

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

When. I started Magic Box, I bought my first machine for $100. Not a lot of money. At the time, I also wasn’t making a lot of money, so adding products & inventory to the vending machines had to be inexpensive for me. I’ve sold a lot of things on eBay & Poshmark over the years so I ramped up my online sales of things I needed to get rid of, and set that money aside to invest solely into Magic Box. Since a lot of the items I was selling were “mystery items” from my house anyway, I was able to clear out a lot of space from drawers, put it in a cute paper bag, and put things into the vending machine. I had my first machine for about 2 years before growing and adding more machines.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I ran Magic Box by myself for the first several years. Fortunately for me, II currently have a. team of wonderful employees who are genuinely invested in the success of the business. I’m not sure that I’m great as a Manager, but I know from prior experience what I personally didn’t like in managers I’ve worked for in the past. So, I try to ensure that my team can talk to me personally, and if there’s anything they need, I’ll help however I can. I trust that everybody can do their jobs, and don’t need to be.micromanaged. Ugh! Micromanagement! Ugh! Meetings! Ugh! Emails! Clear and easy communication without bureaucratic BS that you find in corporations is not for Magic Box. It’s a vending machine company. It’s supposed to be FUN.

I hope that I’m someone they are happy to work for, and feel like they’re respected, seen and heard as the creative and innovative people that they are.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.magicboxvending.com
• Instagram: @magicboxvending