Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kelsey Green. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kelsey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

My grandfather, Lawrence Countryman has been the biggest supporter of my small business. At first, when discussing my idea of owning and operating an escape room experience, he was skeptical that people would pay to do such a thing and didn’t believe I had paid to do them myself. I tried for over four years to get him to do an escape room with me! But, being the person he was, and without so many questions, he jumped right in and we began building our first escape room, “The Bankers Office” in the warehouse space that he generously rented to me. When customers began booking appointments and the business was becoming a success, my grandfather claimed that the escape room industry was just a “fad” but despite this, he continued to support my dream and excitedly watched my small business grow. He then went on to help build four more escape rooms, each one becoming more challenging, elaborate and detailed than the one before. Unfortunately, our newest escape room “The Blue Bird Hotel” was his last build as he unexpectedly passed away in early December of 2022. I was in the midst of testing the escape room. He was able to see the finished escape room before passing away a couple of days later, but sadly did not get to see it open to the public. This escape room was his proudest one, as it has one of our biggest kept secrets and you’d be shocked like everyone else when you find it. My grandfather ultimately accepted that the escape room industry was not a “fad” and was eager to see what else we would be able to come up with together. Without my grandfather, I would not have had the opportunity to establish my small business and his endless support is truly the kindest thing that anyone has ever done for me. I wish that I could share this interview with my grandfather, because I know that he’d be proud of me and all my accomplishments.

Kelsey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

In May 2019 we began the early stages of creating, building and operating an escape room experience, which became Escape Old Snohomish. One month later, in June of 2019 we opened our doors to the public with just one escape room experience “The Bankers Office.” This escape room has since retired, along with our second escape room experience “Great Aunt Sue’s Cabin.” We did not know how far we would come, but here we are!

We currently offer three escape room experiences ranging from easy to moderate to hard: “The Alcazar Theatre,” “The Harvey Airshow Caper” and “The Blue Bird Hotel.” We are a unique escape room as we build and design our escape rooms entirely from the ground up. All of our escape rooms have been based on historical places/events/people from and around Snohomish, WA and we hope to build more in the future!

At the time of opening, I was just 19 years old attending Washington State University studying Hospitality Business Management. I had just finished my Freshman year and was heading into my Sophomore year in the Fall of 2019. I initially wanted to open a small business to gain knowledge and hands-on experience about owning and operating a small business, before I graduated with the wrong degree.

I originally floated the idea of opening an escape room experience with my parents. At first, there were many questions I did not have the answers to. So I began my research; I researched what it would take to actually make this become a reality. A couple of days later, we revisited the topic while at a family dinner with my Grandfather present. The biggest question about opening the escape room was the location. Luckily for me, my Grandfather, an entrepreneur himself, had space in a warehouse he owned that he generously rented to me and luckily it was in the perfect location too. This was only the beginning, I then applied for our business license, opened our accounts for the business and built our very first escape room.

I’m beyond thankful I took the leap of faith, opened my own small business and finished my Bachelors degree in Hospitality Business Management. I couldn’t be more proud of what I have created here at Escape Old Snohomish.

These past four years have not been easy by any means, but truly have been so worth it. Within my first year of owning and operating a small business, a Global Pandemic shut the entire world down; for many businesses this shut them down completely. I am beyond fortunate to still have my small business open and operating successfully.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I began owning and operating my small business, Escape Old Snohomish, in June of 2019. I was not even a year into owning and operating, before the world shut down due to the Global Pandemic in March of 2020. At the time, we had been told that we would only be shut down for a couple of weeks, which then turned into a couple of months. When I was finally able to reopen my doors in February of 2021 I was apprehensive of the future as so many small businesses were facing extreme hardships due to the closure. During the Pandemic, I was still attending Washington State University (online) and I was taking a course where we were learning about how a pandemic affects small businesses while literally going through it with my own small business. Through this semester-long course, we learned that small businesses have fewer resources, along with fewer reserves which made it extremely difficult to be able to reopen with the uncertainty if their small business would be successful or even have the funds to recover. Unlike many of my classmates, I already had a little bit of exposure to this knowledge as my own small business was dealing with these factors and the fear of not being able to recover after an event like this. In fact, there were many in the escape room industry that were not able to recover, in turn shutting them down for good after the Global Pandemic. However, through this course I learned that if I wanted my small business to be more successful than ever before I needed to work harder than other businesses to overcome the negative impact that the Global Pandemic had on small businesses. Don’t get me wrong, there was a point in time where I wanted to give up and had very little hope of reopening my doors, but I was motivated to give it my all even if it ended up failing in the end. I know that there were many small businesses that were not able to make it through this unpredictable time, but I was determined to beat the odds and open my doors once again because I truly love what I have created. I have a passion for creating the best possible escape room experience from the ground up for our customers and was not ready to let that dream fade away. When we were officially told the date that we would be able to reopen our doors, I began heavily advertising on all social media platforms to get the word out. After reopening, it was extremely slow but began picking up as the next few months went on and more people were comfortable going out again. I’m incredibly grateful that I was able to reopen my doors after the uncertainty that came about due to the Global Pandemic.

I specifically want to thank my parents Cheri & Dave, aunt Teri Jo, boyfriend Stephen and grandfather Larry for never once giving up on me and my dreams during the uncertainty of the Global Pandemic. I now have three successful escape room experiences at my small business; without those very important people in my life, I would not be the person I am today and I would not be as successful as I am. Thank you for always pushing me to achieve more than I ever thought possible.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Social media, community involvement, memorabilia, and word-of-mouth have been the most effective strategies for growing my clientele.

Social media is an integral piece of our marketing and advertising strategies because we create content for our clientele to interact with which helps build brand loyalty and promotes sharing the small business with others.

Community involvement has built my small business exponentially. We currently participate in hometown parades, donations to organizations and other community activities. Our involvement in the community has built positive relationships with clientele, future and past, along with the opportunities to collaborate with other businesses within our community.

Memorabilia we have just recently begun giving out a “master key” for each of our escape rooms when completed successfully. Each of our escape rooms has a unique design and the master key is dedicated to the specific escape room from which our clients have successfully completed. This has had such a positive impact on our clients overall experience. In addition, this is a great keepsake and collection for our clients to have!

Word of mouth is the most effective strategy in my opinion, because if someone has a good experience they will share it with others. Since opening our doors in 2019, I have heard time after time that our clients heard about my business through a friend of a friend and so on.

Overall, I think that all of these strategies have played a huge role in effectively growing our clientele. However, typically speaking, there is never just one right way or one right strategy, but multiple strategies culminating together to create the best possible outcome.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.escapeoldsnohomish.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/escapeoldsnohomish/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/escapeoldsnohomish
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelsey-greenl/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/escape_old?lang=en