Every kid dreams of owning their own business. Most set up a lemonade stand in the front yard and are thrilled with earning small change. Riley Leautaud’s dreams weren’t much different… except his dreams were on steroids. His local, grassroots business, Riley’s Mobile Entertainment, has grown from 1 employee to 7 and has tripled in size over two years.
The story is exciting at first look. It’s becomes amazing to find out that the company owner juggles running his business and high school. Leautaud’s entrepreneurial spirit has driven him to become one of the youngest business owners in the area.
Two years ago, Leautaud opened a snowy shack. His family helped him get started, and he loved being a businessman. At fourteen years old, he ran a busy stand in the Market Express parking lot.
After a year, he started to think about ways to expand.
“We don’t have too many entertainment businesses around here, and I thought it would be fun to do,” he explained. Leautaud reinvested his snowy shack profits into starting Riley’s Mobile Entertainment, a company that rents out bounce houses, party supplies, inflatable games, karaoke and DJs events.
His offerings include an inflatable movie screen with projection equipment, popcorn, cotton candy and of course snow cone machines.
Leautaud literally brings the party with him. He has worked at the county fair, local schools and private events. His favorite job so far has been running the lights and music at a wave pool party.
“DJing is a blast because the music creates the feeling for the event- it gets the everything going and helps everyone have fun,” he said.
Running a business is not easy, but Leautaud enjoys every minute of it, “I’ve learned that there is a lot of responsibilities being an employer. There are a lot of tasks, you have to make sure that you are on top of everything,” he said.
Riley “brings the party”
Riley Leautaud mixes a dream with hard work as a business owner in Price.