Angie Cherubini (00:01 ):

We would’ve been, I, I know

Angie Cherubini (00:03 ):

We would’ve been standing there

Pat Cherubini (00:04 ):

For, and it’s been a long time ago, but it wasn’t just me. It wasn’t just, Angie’s true. There were like 10 of us. We couldn’t get in the freaking room.

Angie Cherubini (00:11 ):

And if you’re listening,

Angie Cherubini (00:13 ):

Those people know are watching those people know who they are. Oh

Pat Cherubini (00:18 ):

My God. Don’t remember. We didn’t. Did we get, we didn’t get, No, we couldn’t get in. We couldn’t get out. So we didn’t make it. We’re lucky. We’re not still there.

Announcer (00:27 ):

Starting sustaining and having a successful small business is hard, but you already knew that, but wouldn’t it be great to have a podcast that talks to and digs in to the people who’ve made it problem solved. This is local vibes, small business success stories, talking to successful small businesses from around America. You’ll hear awesome stories about how they got started and how they survived and thrived online. And in their communities, we find out their special vibe. Welcome to local vibes,

Announcer (01:06 ):

Brought to you by ultimate online marketing.com.

Announcer (01:11 ):

Now, here are your hosts, pat and Angie Cheri.

Announcer (01:15 ):

All right, let’s do this.

Pat Cherubini (01:27 ):

We do not want scripted. So we just say, Hey, what’s going on? If we, we veer off some other path, that’s where we go.

Angie Cherubini (01:35 ):

Okay. Well, I mean, I think we need to say, um, you know, welcome to you, Kim, and thanks for, for coming on here. And, and Kim Workman is actually a client of ours. How long has it been? How long have it’s been a good

Kim Workman (01:52 ):

Six give or take.

New Speaker (01:54 ):

Six. Really? Wow.

Angie Cherubini (01:56 ):

Wow. I didn’t realize it. It really had been that long. I knew it was a long time, but I didn’t know. It’d been that long. Um, yes,

Kim Workman (02:03 ):

Because I asked you to, to help me start the website and this August, I will be in business for six years.

Angie Cherubini (02:10 ):

That’s fantastic.

Pat Cherubini (02:11 ):

That’s success right there, especially now. Yeah, the last two years, we’ll, we’ll get into that a little bit, but yes. Why don’t you just start off by telling us who you are and what you actually do, what your business is.

Kim Workman (02:24 ):

Okay. My name is Kim Workman. I am the owner and operator of escape, escape rooms in Newark, Ohio. We currently have three escape rooms. Um, and we are on Sirocco avenue in Newark.

Pat Cherubini (02:39 ):

Nice. So an escape room that is

Angie Cherubini (02:43 ):

Yeah. Explain to people exactly what an escape Bruin is, because I think some people might think it’s

Kim Workman (02:51 ):

Like,

Angie Cherubini (02:51 ):

I’m scared of that

Kim Workman (02:53 ):

Panic room, which is not exactly correct. The easiest way to describe an escape room is if I throw you in a jail cell, you have 45 minutes to try to get back out of that jail cell. And if you can get out in 45 minutes, following the clues, different scenarios that I’ve left in the room for you, you’ll probably be successful at getting out in 45 minutes.

Angie Cherubini (03:18 ):

Awesome. And you know, truth be told,

Pat Cherubini (03:21 ):

Don’t tell it

Angie Cherubini (03:23 ):

We’ve been through it with our friends. And Kim actually had to give us a clue to get into,

Pat Cherubini (03:31 ):

We couldn’t even escape into the escape room, let alone escape from the escape room. So we had to cheat and have help. Oh,

Angie Cherubini (03:38 ):

That was fun.

Pat Cherubini (03:39 ):

Sure. Were not the only ones I hope

Kim Workman (03:42 ):

You were not the only ones. That’s good. Um, a challenge could even be getting into the building even when the door is unlocked. So

Angie Cherubini (03:51 ):

Really?

Kim Workman (03:52 ):

Yes.

Angie Cherubini (03:54 ):

You’ve a lot of people

Kim Workman (03:55 ):

They have to pull and by code the door is actually a push.

Pat Cherubini (04:02 ):

Oh,

Angie Cherubini (04:03 ):

Oh, interesting. Well, that’s pretty cool. Well, Kim, how, tell us, how, how did you get started? What made you decide, Hey, now is the day that I want to start an escape room?

Kim Workman (04:19 ):

Well, all my life, I, and to start my own business played the devil’s advocate for myself, could never come up with something that I thought would be a success. And then about seven years ago, I went on a vacation, a family vacation, and we went to an escape room, which was something I had always wanted to do once I started seeing them coming up and be coming popular and I absolutely fell in love with it. So I came home and drove 21st street, drove 79, looking for the perfect location and kinda got frustrated and gave up a little bit. Then I realized that there was a building for sale, um, in my own family that my dad had a building for sale that he and his brother had worked to put up. It was a building that had been used as a lawn Mo repair business. So it took me a year to clean it, but I did turn it into the tape room that it is currently got, had a lot of the grass and oil off of the ground and gasoline after

Pat Cherubini (05:28 ):

Here. If I, I think I told you once, I don’t know if you remember, I actually was a customer of your dad in that, in that shop. I was a boat mechanic in a previous life and he was one of the few that could actually do the machine work on the engines that we need. And I was in that a few times. I remember how, how much grease was in there.

Angie Cherubini (05:49 ):

Yeah. It seriously took you a year.

Kim Workman (05:52 ):

What’s that?

Angie Cherubini (05:53 ):

It seriously took you guys a year to clean it up.

Kim Workman (05:56 ):

It did my dad and I spent some time with blow torches and scrapers and on the floor and patching holes, cuz things had hung from the ceiling getting machinery out of the building. Um, I like to say it was kind of like getting a little boy to clean his room because dad didn’t wanna move a lot of this stuff. I bet he did.

Pat Cherubini (06:16 ):

So rid of much

Kim Workman (06:17 ):

Constant pushing it out the door so that he could make way for my stuff.

Pat Cherubini (06:24 ):

Well, I think you succeeded at that cuz it doesn’t look anything like a machine shop anymore.

Kim Workman (06:28 ):

It doesn’t look like a machine shop and it doesn’t even smell like a machine shop. And that was that

Angie Cherubini (06:33 ):

That’s key. So does your, does your family work with you?

Kim Workman (06:38 ):

Absolutely. My dad does all of my building for me. Whenever I say I need this. He steps right up and is able to make it for me. I didn’t

Angie Cherubini (06:48 ):

Know that. That’s awesome.

Kim Workman (06:50 ):

Yep. Occasionally when I am not available to run a group, my mom will step in and run the group for me.

Angie Cherubini (07:00 ):

Fantastic. So they’ve supported you the whole step of the way in this from the very beginning.

Kim Workman (07:06 ):

Pretty much normally mom is the one that will tell me no. When it comes to an idea that is usually the one that tells me yes. When it comes to an idea. However, when I propose the idea of, so an escape room, they flip flopped on me. Um, mom said yes and dad said, no,

Angie Cherubini (07:25 ):

Really?

Kim Workman (07:27 ):

Yeah. Later on I found out that dad didn’t want to do all of the work involved, but he got suckered into it because mom said, yes. So here we are. Six years later, dad, I are running it. And every once in a while get a phone call from my mother saying, don’t you have something for your dad to do.

Angie Cherubini (07:49 ):

That’s funny. That’s

Pat Cherubini (07:51 ):

Awesome. A lot of dads get handed jobs like that.

Angie Cherubini (07:54 ):

Probably. Yes, probably. So you know, in all this time that in the six years that, that you’ve been open, what is one of your most memorable moments?

Kim Workman (08:07 ):

My customers lot laughs to me and I would say the most memorable couple came in one night with a group of, with two other friends and they called it Goodwill nig