Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Sanchez and Brandon Helfer.
Scott and Brandon, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My business partner, Brandon Helfer, and I met a few years ago in San Diego while attending college. We quickly became roommates and throughout the next 3 years of living together and attending school, we frequently talked and dreamed about moving to Los Angeles and starting a business together. Upon graduation, we decided to turn our dreams into reality, so we moved to Los Angeles (Brandon’s hometown) and started searching for opportunities.
Quickly and very fortunately, an amazing opportunity presented itself and we decided to take it. One of Brandon’s fathers’ business contacts knew of a property in Los Angeles that was available for lease, and being young, ambitious, and recently graduated, we decided to sign the lease (not knowing what type of business we would create). Within a very short period of time, we realized that we wanted to turn this property into a parking lot and provide parking services.
We were able to convert a vacant lot into a parking lot business by going through a long process with the city. It was right then and there when everything began for us. We started Proper Parking by doing daily parking on the lot, along with private valet gigs, production rentals and parking lot management.
Our parking lot was getting filled up daily by individuals and businesses, and one particular parking tenant happened to be a sightseeing tour operator. We became friendly with these tenants and learned a lot about the tourism industry, quickly realizing that there needed to be more competition.
After conducting market research and learning about the tourism market in Hollywood, we decided to join the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and become a part of the community. We attended many networking events, sponsored events, and became eager to start a business in this industry. We spoke to several Chamber members, and everybody we spoke to was completely supportive of us bringing more competition to the city.
Brandon and I thought about this new business model and decided it was time to begin our new venture. We drew out our business plan, raised money from investors, and focused heavily on our idea. We did not want another ordinary sightseeing business; we wanted something new, something different, something that people have never seen before or even dreamed of seeing before. We wanted PROPER SIGHTSEEING.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
While this hasn’t been a bumpy ride, it certainly hasn’t been smooth. We wanted to build busses that nobody has ever seen before, so coming up with the design was challenging. Our busses were also built from the ground up in Gainesville, Florida which caused there to be production delays that inevitably slowed down our progress and halted our plans to open when we had originally anticipated.
Finding a location to lease on the boulevard was not an easy task either. Real estate on the boulevard is not only pricey but it is limited. It took us some time and patience to make it happen but eventually we found a location in front of Disney’s historic El Capitan Theater on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and it is the perfect spot!
Lastly, the competition with other tour companies is a challenge and selling tickets on Hollywood Boulevard is quite territorial.
Please tell us about Proper Sightseeing Tours.
PROPER SIGHTSEEING’S busses are unlike any other tour company’s busses. Ours were built from the ground up in Gainesville, Florida in 2014 and our designs started as a sketch on a piece of paper. Our seats are bench-like (fitting 2-3 passengers), are fully cushioned, and are extremely comfortable!
The bottom deck has colored LED lights running throughout, and our paint on the outside of the bus is a fiery orange-red color that glistens, portraying the California sunset.
We have also hired professionals in the entertainment industry to help us establish our route and provide us with the best possible content for our tour. We love Los Angeles, and with Brandon being an Angeleno himself, he has made sure that we highlight all of the major historical landmarks in Los Angeles while on our tour.
Another sector of the business we have is private charters. We take pride in being able to provide customers with outstanding charter services! How many people can say that they took a private charter riding on the top deck of a modern, sleek, and new double-decker bus?
Pricing:
- Adult Ticket $49
- Child Ticket $29
Contact Info:
- Address: 6822 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028
- Website: www.propersightseeing.com
- Phone: (844) 237-7673
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/propersightseeing/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProperSightseeing/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/rideproper?lang=en
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/proper-sightseeing-los-angeles
- Other: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g32655-d10130869-Reviews-Proper_Sightseeing-Los_Angeles_California.html
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