Tony Rivetti ABC
Santa Claus is a busy guy. That’s why he needs a strong support system to assist with all his responsibilities — like public appearances. Thankfully, head elf Mitch Allen is here to help. Mitch is a Southlake entrepreneur who had a moment in the spotlight last year when he pitched his business, Hire Santa, on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” The digital marketing company, which secured a deal with shark Barbara Corcoran, connects clients to Santa actors and brings the joy and wonder of meeting St. Nick in person to children around the world.
I’VE ALWAYS... been hustling. Even way back in high school and college, I would buy and sell comic books and baseball cards with one of my best friends. In grad school, we would manage rental properties together. And when we graduated, I joined his law firm and took over the advertising. Most of the things that I’m associated with are related to internet marketing in some way or another, whether it’s web design or search engine optimization. I’ve been doing internet advertising for over 15 years now.
COMING UP WITH HIRE SANTA... was completely accidental. One Christmas company party, my assistant asked me to dress as Santa while the COO dressed as Rudolph, and we would hand out Christmas bonuses and gifts. That same year, a friend of mine asked me to come by and be Santa for their little 1-year-old. In retrospect, I was a terrible looking Santa, but it was a lot of fun. We did it again the next year, and some people actually offered to pay me to appear as Santa.
I BOUGHT THE DOMAIN HIRESANTA.COM... in 2012. I was already getting more business than I could do, and I started sourcing jobs out to other Santas. That was when I started Hire Santa and really started doing search engine optimization around the keywords ‘Hire Santa.’ Business took off from there, and it started expanding from local Santas to regional to across the country. We’ve now sent Santas all over the U.S., Canada, Mexico, China and the Caribbean.
THERE ARE A LOT OF SANTAS... but there are not enough Santas. From a business perspective, our limiting factor is high-quality Santa entertainers. Most of our bookings are done in January and February. Then it slows down for a couple of months, then in the summer, we’ll get lots of rebooking. Once we hit December, it just spikes through the roof. We always need more Santas.
IN 2018... I saw there was an open casting call for ‘Shark Tank’ in Dallas at a small business expo. I went, stood in line with about 500 people and waited all day to get an audition in front of six junior casting agents. My number came up, I presented, and when I was done, the agent said, ‘Don’t call us. We’ll call you maybe in a month or two.’ I got a call back in a week. From there, we started having these weekly calls with two producers working on my pitch.
‘SHARK TANK’ IS SORT OF... like the Super Bowl. What was interesting about the show is that when you watch it, it is entirely about the entertainment. But once you as the entrepreneur enter into the tank, it’s all business. There is no second take, it’s exactly what you see for 30 minutes to an hour and a half. Yes, the sharks are playing a role, but they’re all about business. I spent hundreds of hours preparing. I’ve done four or five mock ‘Shark Tank’ presentations to other business owners, watched every episode and wrote down all of the questions that they might ask. We filmed for about 45 minutes, which was edited down to eight minutes.
MY NO. 1 GOAL... was to get a deal. About 15 minutes in, everyone was out except for Mr. Wonderful himself, Kevin O’Leary. I negotiated with Kevin for about 15 to 20 minutes, then Daymond John came back in, and I negotiated with him for another five to 10 minutes. Then finally Barbara jumped in and accepted the offer I made to Kevin and Daymond. It was a special, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
SINCE ‘SHARK TANK’... Hire Santa rankings have really improved, and our web traffic is 300% more than it was last year. We’ve also increased the number of Santas in our database. We recently filmed a ‘Shark Tank’ update, which will probably air later in December.
IT’S REALLY AMAZING... to see the love, hope and joy that children have around Christmastime and show that to Santa. I still appear at several events as Santa every year. Managing all of that is actually the hardest part because when I’m at an event, I can’t fix problems, so other people have to deal with those while I’m gone. Seeing the love and joy of Christmas from the children is the reason why I keep doing it.