We were lucky to catch up with Shawn And Tina Pasquini recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Shawn and Tina, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I was laid off from a job that I had for 20 years when the covid pandemic hit. At 48 years old, I decided it was time for me to control my own destiny. I was always interested in owning my own business and had tried several business endeavors in the past, but never had the passion for those businesses. So when covid hit, I knew it was time to dig deep, find a passion, and go all out. I originally first partnered with my former martial arts teacher because I had been in the martial arts on and off for most of my life, and enjoyed it very much. However, after a couple years, I found the schedule was taking away from time with my family. There has to be a good work/life balance for one to be sincerely happy, so I decided to begin looking for a business that could meet all the criteria I was looking for. I made a list with my wife of everything we wanted out of a business, and then started looking at as many different industries we could that we found met our criteria. No business was off limits. This process took several months looking everyday. We came across the idea to have dinosaur scooter rides for kids and adults, and the business model met 10 of the 12 criteria we had on our list. Nothing else even came close! We knew in our hearts, we would enjoy the business, so we had the passion to keep it going no matter the circumstances. This business was so unique and nobody was doing it. Everyone who rides the dinos loves them. It truly is a business of fun and smiles!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
We are a mobile children’s entertainment company. We provide dinosaur scooter rides for kids and adults. We sell unique dinosaur themed merchandise. We also perform puppet shows and fossil presentations for libraries and schools. We bring the dinos to birthday parties, city events, fairs, farmer’s markets, charity events, and any other events that bring people together for entertainment, purpose, and something to do. We bring the fun to you and everyone always has “A Roarin’ Good Time” as our logo states! We love that we have loyal and repeat customers and always enjoy seeing the faces of riders who sit on our dinos for the very first time. The smiles and memories are priceless and we truly thank everyone who engages with the dinos and our staff! We are most proud of the opportunity we have been given to participate in various charities throughout the valley, and would love to give a big shout out to Cricket and the whole Wolf Raptor team with Sounds of Autism. We are very honored that you have chosen the dinos to lead the Sounds of Autism Walk each year and the Wolf Raptor guys are the greatest! We are creating a community of dino lovers and consider the business a success when we can give our time and resources to great causes! Bringing people together, supporting good charities, and encouraging people to come out and have fun no matter what their age….that is what it is all about!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
One thing we did not expect when we began the business was how hard it is to cut through all the red tape when dealing with various city events. Sometimes, the city is looking for specific themed events and will not even consider having the dinos at their event. This blew us away. We have such a fun business, and any city event that is designed to involve families and children, and is looking for entertainment, in our opinion, should at least give the dinos a chance. The cities that do have seen amazing lines of people waiting patiently to ride the dinos. People have waited in line for up to an hour and a half just to get the chance! Some city managers have failed to see the benefit the dinos provide, and this is one of the most frustrating things about the business. All businesses go through ups and downs and this is certainly a downer, but it is necessary to continue to try every year. We know this is a great business concept and this is what keeps us motivated to never give up!
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Starting this business later in life meant that we had to think very carefully about capital. From my previous business buyout, I had enough to purchase all the initial inventory. However, we still needed enough capital to weather any unexpected storms that may arise (and there always are). We made sure that we had enough money saved to get through at least 6-9 months to pay our bills in the event the business encountered any of the “stormy days or months”. We are very proud to say that this process allowed us to continue to operate in the low months, and we continue to operate debt free!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dinomaniaaz.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dinomaniaaz
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dinomaniaaz
