Dancer Waltzes Into Staffing Agency for Performers

Notes from Chris

Episode 1282

Thirteen years ago Kristal Mallookis moved to New York City after graduating as a dance major from the University of Colorado. She had big aspirations in the Big Apple, one of which was to make it as a professional dancer. She was convinced that in no time at all her schedule would be full of auditions.

But soon, she encountered the reality of living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. The cost of living was piling up. So, after six months of slow dancing, Kristal decided to pick up some part-time work to make ends meet.

To find it, she looked on Craigslist for odd jobs that paid in cash. She came across a gig handing out flyers for a local cafe. It looked easy, it was close by and perhaps most importantly, it wouldn’t interfere with her plans of dominating the city through dance. Kristal took the job and danced all the way to the bank.

As the weeks went on Kristal kept a lookout for more odd jobs, eventually being recommended to Cafe Metro, a popular NYC chain. They needed someone bright and friendly to be their “sampler.” That is, someone to grab the attention of passers-by and offer them a taste of the delicious coffees that awaited inside. Kristal fit the bill, complete with a fake Italian accent!

Once again, she turned out to be a natural. She began to realize that creative performers like herself were well suited to this type of work.

The problem was, Kristal was only one person. She couldn’t possibly take on all the hours she was offered, and stay on top of her dancing.

But… she was well connected. The business owners who knew Kristal, also knew that she’d be able to find someone reliable them if she was unavailable.

The enthusiasm she’d built for helping people find jobs began to overshadow her desire to become a dancer. Kristal started looking at expanding this ‘staff recruitment’ thing into a real business. She already had the supply chain from the businesses and the staff from her friends and colleagues.

All she needed was a name to tie it all together. She chose Mustard Lane, by combining two of her favorite Beatles songs, Mean Mr. Mustard and Penny Lane.

Mustard Lane would make money by sourcing staff for a business's needs. Kristal would look to her pool of performers to see who fit the bill. On finding someone suitable, she’d sign them up for the gig and bill the business for the time the performer spent working for them. The money she made would come from a percentage of the hourly fee.

There was no shortage of staffing agencies in New York, but her point of difference was that she’d target side gigs for aspiring performers. Work that could be done at unusual hours and lent itself to their innate talents. She continued to use her network to drum up business, and for the next several years she operated using only her cell phone.

To this day Kristal has performed zero marketing, outside word of mouth.

Now, she employs two full-time staff members and her business makes mid-six figures per year. She has a dedicated office in Manhattan and works with performers in over thirty other cities from afar.

 

---

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more Kristal and her staffing agency at, MustardLane.com.

SEE ALSO:

• German Agency Helps Designers Work Less, Make More: Noticing that new clients have lower budgets for web design, a woman in Berlin creates a series of low-cost kits.
• College Ministry Leader Starts Digital Agency: Drawing on a Nigerian heritage work ethic, a ministry leader turned entrepreneur uses social media to build a digital agency.
• College Grads Start Multi-Million Dollar Agency in Social Media Wild West: Today’s featured hustlers were in the first wave of college students to use Facebook. It didn’t take long to see how big it would become—and how much money they could make with it.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,