We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kelly & Chris Fernandez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kelly & Chris, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

We purchased our first Volkswagen bus in 2018 and were hoping to have it restored and ready to go in a year, but the bus was in pretty rough shape and looked straight out of the 70s. The restoration took much longer than expected and after two long years, turning our beaten-up beauty into a stunning, bohemian photo booth bus, we were finally ready to launch. However, around this time, we were in the middle of a global pandemic where nearly all events came to a screeching halt. I used to wish that we were able to start our business sooner but looking back now, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Launching in the middle of a pandemic forced us to get creative and come up with out-of-the-box revenue streams for the bus. We participated in local community markets and were part of COVID-safe drive-by events where people would have their guests drive up to them, hop out and take a picture, and then keep driving. We started primarily as a photobooth bus that could be rented for big events like weddings, birthdays, and corporate events, but now we’re also renting the bus out for photo shoots, mall openings, sorority events, music videos, pop-up picnics and so much more!

Today our events are booming and we are busier than ever. We are excited to share with readers for the first time that we just purchased our third Volkswagen bus, and are in the process of revamping it to launch as another photo booth that will be ready at the end of 2022!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi! I’m Kelly Fernandez and I own The Good Times Roll bus along with my husband Chris Fernandez. We renovated a vintage 1973 Volkswagen bus and turned it into a one-of-a-kind photo booth bus experience. Chris and I met in Jacksonville, FL in 2012 when I was working in the hospitality industry and Chris was a diesel mechanic. We quickly bonded over our love of travel, music, photography and most importantly, Volkswagen buses.

I decided to move out to San Francisco on a whim and ended up living there for 5 years working in the event planning industry. Chris moved home to Miami and started working in the catering industry but whenever he had free time, he would come out to visit me. On one of his trips to visit me in San Francisco, we were at a food truck park and saw a Volkswagen photo booth bus. We loved the idea of starting this ourselves, but it wasn’t until 3 years later, that we actually decided to give it a shot.

In 2018, I had recently moved to Miami to live with Chris and we saw a 1973 VW bus for sale in Clearwater, Fl, close to where I grew up in Tampa. The bus was pretty beaten up and was bright orange and covered in rust – we had never seen anything more beautiful in our lives! A few days later, we purchased the bus and towed it to Chris’s parent’s driveway and began the extensive renovations. We first replaced nearly everything under the hood to ensure a smooth and reliable ride, then ripped out the interior, reupholstered the seats, installed new wood floors, and mounted top-of-the-line photo equipment inside a vintage Zenith 1950s television. We now have 2 Good Times Roll VW photo booth buses and are living the dream running events as our full-time jobs! As we drive the Good Times Roll bus to events, we get to see the smile it brings to everyone’s face as we’re consistently honked at and given thumbs up as we cruise along, rolling up to awesome events! We get to share our story of how we met and share our love of Volkswagen buses with everyone we encounter.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within the Market?

Our reputation has largely been built on word of mouth from past guests. We follow up with clients after every event and ask them to leave a review on sites like Google, The Knot, and Wedding Wire; so far, we have received only 5-star reviews! Prospective clients tell us that these amazing reviews, often with fun pictures attached, heavily influence their decision to reach out to us and ultimately choose us for their event.

Also, our top priority is ensuring that every single person who uses the Good Times Roll bus has a positive experience and leaves with a photo that they can remember forever. We will continue to strive to make sure that the “good times” keep rolling and that all of our guests are happy and have a memorable experience!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

We ask all of our clients how they heard about us when they submit a new request, and ~80% of them say Instagram. This is likely due to the fact that our business is very “instagramable,” and because we started investing just $5/day in Instagram ads to target on our key demographic user groups. We’ve also recently had a great deal of success creating reels on Instagram, and have found that they can get hundreds or thousands more views than a still picture, especially when we use plenty of hashtags.

To increase our social media presence and highlight the variety of events and venues we cater to, we’re constantly making new posts every week. We take tons of pictures and videos at each event showcasing the “good times” attendees are having and the beautiful set-ups we’ve created, as well as the amazing environments we get to work in. From the sunset beaches of the Keys to the glamorous ballroom inside of the Ritz Carlton Hotel, we’ve been lucky enough to work in some truly spectacular settings.

Besides posting on social media, another way we build our audience is by asking people who use our photo booth bus at local markets and networking events to follow us and tag us. This can create quite the stir when we attend super fun and unique events like the Fur the Love Pet Fest in Fort Lauderdale or the Sunny Side Up Market events that we try to attend whenever we are free. Joining industry-related groups on Facebook and posting in the groups about our relevant offerings has helped generate significant business as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thegoodtimesroll.com
• Instagram: @goodtimesrollbus
• Facebook: @goodtimesrollbus
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/99TPqoaCugb

Image Credits:
Chris & Kelly’s Wedding Pictures were taken by Laura Memory Photography/ IG: @lauramemoryphotography