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

Christina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

My story begins after a divorce. After 7 years as a stay at home parent with some freelance work as a copywriter, I reset the clock on my life and career back to nearly where I started as a young adult. Any one who has experienced divorce, especially with children involved can relate to how life changing that situation is but to also include re-entering the corporate landscape with such a huge gap on your resume certainly adds to an even bigger hurdle to overcome. It took me a few months but I landed an amazing job at Yamaha Financial Services. Sure, it was at a lower level than where I had last left corporate America but to know that I was wanted and valued as a employee again gave me a renewed sense of empowerment I never had before. As the story goes with most corporate entities, nothing good seems to last forever. Major changes had occurred at the top which trickled down and altered the course of the entire company morale. One by one, the best were leaving and I found myself looking to do the same.
As luck would have it, I landed myself at a private money lender owned by a major bank that was a mere blocks from my home! It was like a dream to be able to drop off and pickup my kids from school every day without worrying if traffic was going to keep me from making it in time. The fridges were stocked with drinks, snacks and food aplenty. It was magical until it wasn’t. As with my previous employer, nothing good seems to stay golden. Once our beloved CEO was let go, it was the end for most of us. On the bright side, with the layoffs came a severance pay which allowed me to figure out my next steps without the stress of financial burden.
I spend hours a day applying to anywhere from 20 to 30 jobs per day with just a few call backs for interviews. I had fallen into the category of “we like you, but you are overqualified for this position.”
It was draining both morally and physically. I was feeling defeated day in and day out. We took a few days to visit my parents in Las Vegas to celebrate my daughter’s birthday and have some fun away from my stressful job hunt. My son who is a lover of arcades but claw machines specifically had asked to visit a place we had gone to before that was exclusively claw machines. We had so much fun, that we went 2 days in a row! That trip planted the seed of what now is my newfound path. When I came back, I quietly began the research into how I could open up one of my very own, here in the South Bay of Los Angeles.

I created a business plan, formed an LLC and began my journey as a small business owner with zero experience in the arcade industry or how to start a business on my own. After many loan denials, I had so much faith that this idea would be a success, I decided to double down and poured my savings into this new venture. I put my trust in the hands of manufacturers oversees where language was definitely a barrier, struggled with gaining the respect I needed as a female minority business owner with the vendors I needed to hire to get my store open, and eventually navigating the complex world of city beau acracy. While the intent was always to bring a wholesome, family friendly entertainment venue to my community, many of the antiquated regulations made it so challenging for me to get my doors open. I was over budget and began paying rent on a storefront that could not open due to city regulations. After connecting with the right folks including the mayor and city councilman of my district who helped advocate for my business, I was finally given the green light to open. 10 months after signing a lease to my store, I tearily thanked the line of customers who waited patiently for me to finally open the doors.
The last 5 months have been such a whirlwind navigating how to handle a thriving business. I was and am still in awe of how welcoming the community has been and how much support I have received as a new small business. Sure it could be my combined 20 years as marketer and mom under my belt that helped me succeed, but I like to believe it is because I put my whole heart into this business and it shows by the smiles I get to see every single day from my customers.

Christina, 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?

Having spent nearly 20 years in marketing, ranging from account management, email marketing, copywriting as well as traditional marketing, I’d like to say I know a little here and there about what sells. My time away from corporate life allowed me to taking parenting to the next level by exploring every sight and sound Los Angeles and Orange County had to offer, throwing my kids the most amazing birthdays and really taking the job of Mom pretty seriously. I was the troop leader of my daughter’s girl scout troop, the team mom for her club volleyball team, oversaw the volunteer based nutrition education program at my kids’ school for several years on top of being a volunteer in their respective classrooms.

All of which combined has lead me to venture into the claw arcade business where I could provide a place for other parents like myself who are always on the hunt for a fun, safe, clean place to take their kids to enjoy time with one another and offer a venue to celebrate birthdays. I am most proud of the how I was able to create an environment that both appeals to parents, kids, young adults and even our more senior community by combining a nostalgic game and adding some modern twists to the overall allure.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I’m pretty proud to say that I build my social media following in pretty organic way, word of mouth. For my type of business, I started where I was most familiar with my local community, more specifically the Moms. As part of a Facebook group with thousands of members from the 8 major cities comprised of the South Bay of Los Angeles. Once I was on the verge of being able to open my doors, I asked for help in finding great staff who could understand the vision I had for creating a welcoming environment for all to play. They delivered. When I announced the soft opening and even the grand opening celebration, they came and haven’t stopped coming.

From there, I needed to find a niche that would help them continue to come and spread the word and that was birthday parties. Something that was much needed in this community were new, fun, safe places to hold them and I have been the go to spot for these amazing celebrations.

But I also needed to find a voice within my social media, so I began to take a cue from my favorite movie, Toy Story. Putting my copywriting skills to good use, I began speaking as the the toys themselves, creating personalities for my various characters. It has been a hit and people love hearing who’s going to be speaking next!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I believe my presence and really being attentive to my customers has helped build the reputation that this is truly a family run business from a family that cares. I care if my customers have a great time, I care if they aren’t satisfied with their ability to win. My staff and I do everything we can to ensure that each person truly leaves with a good memory of my business. This is without a doubt a customer experience type of business where I am not selling a good or service so the work must be done in selling the overall experience.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_clawcade/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Clawcade/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-clawcade-torrance-2
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@the.clawcade

Image Credits

Adrian Bravo