“You ready?” asked Casey as we walked out of the hotel room around 8 a.m. to go to our first media day with our brand new client at the time, ProFast Supply.
This was only the third construction supplier that we had ever worked with, and the team was feeling a bit nervous.
We had taken on plenty of other projects, but this time, it was different.
We identified that working with construction suppliers might be the perfect pivot, and if all went well, we had ourselves a path to transform an industry.
Quite frankly, it all started there.
Setting the Stage
Casey and I brought along one of our videographer connections, Chris, who we recruited to help us with this specific project.
We were ready to take on the day. With our report time at 9 a.m., we needed to show up 30 minutes before to set up and have a brief strategy meeting prior to the media day.
Like we all saw our parents do whenever going to a new place, we decided to rent a car to have complete control over our time and so that we could go from point A to Point B without waiting 20 minutes on an Uber.
A Long Day Begins
We had just flown in the night before, all of us coming in at 11 p.m.
We didn’t get to the hotel before midnight, and the second we went into town, we, of course, went out to grab some burgers. By the time we arrived at the hotel, we were exhausted from a full day of travel in a brand new city that neither of us had really been to before.
I woke up the team around 6 a.m. to get ready for the day.
We embarked on our normal routine of a quick breakfast and coffee and then headed out the front doors, blasted by the Orlando heat.
The Shock of the Morning
We got to the car, and each of us threw our bags in the back. Casey sat in the passenger seat and I was driving. Chris was messing with his camera equipment in the back, and I was already ready for some A/C.
I put the keys into the ignition, cranked it up, and the second I did, it was like the whole car blew up!
The noise that came from that 2010 Subaru Outback sounded like a 10,000 LB tractor, and Casey and I both jumped out of our seats.
We looked at each other, not knowing what the issue was. Chris came up to the window and sai,d “Yep. They stole our catalytic converter.”
We all just started laughing. Casey and I got out of the car and looked under the car. Sure enough, there was a missing catalytic converter.
Facing Unexpected Challenges
Of course. Our first major media day of our careers, all of the prep work and meetings to get ready for the client, all of the strategy meetings, and our future was about to be completely thrown out because some thief stole our catalytic converter around 3 a.m. in the morning.
It is not a good look to show up late to your first meeting. I thought that this would be an easy fix, but at every turn I was thrown an obstacle.
I went up to the front desk and asked them “do you mind checking the cameras so that we can create a police report?”
The response: “I’m sorry sir, we don’t have any security cameras on the premises.”
No SECURITY CAMERAS? Now I understood why we were the target. No security, and they knew it was a rental car and they knew I probably had insurance to cover it and it was not a big deal….right?
Wrong, after calling Enterprise, I found out that in my nervous energy and my consistent need to save money, I denied the car protection for a grand total of….drum roll please…$5.00 + Tax.
After all of this chaos ensued, I knew that I needed to get to ProFast ASAP. We ordered an Uber and got to the store 10 minutes after we were supposed to be filming.
Luckily, they have an extremely understanding and great team and laughed it off with us.
Looking Back
We had a great media day…but I didn’t get all of that sorted out until 6 months later. My own insurance wouldn’t cover it without raising our rates so the best thing to do was simply to pay for the replacement and go on down the road.
The moral of this story? Just pay for the $15 protection and don’t park in the dark alley of your hotel.
To this day, ProFast is one of our best clients so I suppose it all works out in the end.
At least we have a story to tell.
