In the first episode of Festival Geeks, Michael Priest introduces himself and shares the business journey that led him to festival vending. From wedding photography and tuxedo rental to repair work, dry cleaning, manufacturing, and 7T Designs, Michael explains how decades of entrepreneurship—and more than a few hard lessons—shaped the idea for Festival Geeks.
He also lays out the mission for the podcast: helping vendors avoid expensive mistakes, make better decisions about equipment, pricing, setup, and event selection, and move from having a product to successfully completing their first festival. Michael also previews the future of Festival Geeks, including practical downloads, a vendor community, and short documentary-style stories about people who have turned their passions into profit.
In this episode
- Michael’s path through several different businesses
- How 7T Designs moved into festival vending
- The pandemic pivot into selling online
- What Michael learned from working both as a vendor and behind the scenes with festival organizers
- Why equipment, pricing, booth setup, and event selection require careful planning
- Why Festival Geeks was created
- The future vision for vendor tools, community support, and mini-documentary vendor stories