We recently connected with Max Rivera and have shared our conversation below.

Max, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

When I started in the business, I was still working a full time job and running events on the side for about a year. It wasn’t until I was unexpectantly fired from my job that really pushed me to take the business forward. Sometimes in life you need that push, and I’m thankful it happened to me. We ran pop-up markets for a year and a half before deciding to push our business forward and think outside the box a little bit more. We started with our first larger festival, “MAKRS Holiday Fest” in December 2021 and brought 3 new festivals this year (2022). All of the festivals went well, but the one that really stood out was our Bull City Boos Fest! Sometimes it’s all about trial and error and learning from your mistakes. We need to test the waters and see what people are really interested in and then figure out how to make each event better year after year.

Max, 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?

I got into this industry by co-owning another pop-up market company and learned a lot from that business. I learned how to run events and pop-up markets, but ultimately had a different path that I wanted to take for the business and split from that business in 202o to start my own. As I’ve been in this industry longer, my passion has really grown for events and creating something that’s unique and that people are craving. People want to be emersed into an event, which is why events like burning man, Bonnaroo and others do so well.

The MAKRS Society is in it’s early stages and we’re doing everything we can to evolve this business to run large events and really bring something unique to the community. We started from pop-up markets and are now getting into larger events and festivals. We are going to continue to push the boundaries of what events can look like.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Pivoting is crucial if you want your business to last and grow for the years to come. We are in that pivoting stage right now. We started out with pop-up markets, but saw a need for larger events and festivals in our area that aren’t being put on. Pop-up markets have become pretty saturated, so we’re looking for new ideas to bring small businesses to the community.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Our business was different in that we didn’t need any outside funding to get it started. There are so many different ways to go about building a business and depending on the business you create, you may or may not need outside funding. I love the way that my business works because I didn’t need that upfront capital, but it did take a little more leg work on the front end. It all depends on what you want to accomplish. I personally like the freedom of owning it myself and not having investors, but it’s usually a slower start this way. On the other hand, getting investors and upfront capital can jump start your business a lot quicker, but you may not have as much freedom.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.themakrssociety.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themakrssociety/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMakrsSociety/

Image Credits
@kellyfayrishtaphotography Kelly Fayrishta Photography