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I’m incredibly excited to be given the opportunity to write for the readers of Social Lifestyle Magazine. Today, I want to share with you my experience designing and installing a concrete logo for the Instagram star, and entrepreneur – Dan Bilzerian.
To give you a brief intro, I’m a concrete resurfacing contractor based out of LA. In March of 2019, I was contacted by a gentleman looking to put their business logo on their concrete driveway. This is a usual request for us, and it’s definitely our favorite thing to do.
A week later, I showed up to the address I was given by the gentleman. It led to a steep driveway, in a prime street of Bel-Air. That all seemed very unusual. After all, what kind of business is located in the hills of Bel-Air?!
Anyway, at the beginning of the driveway, there was a security booth. I pulled up to the booth and introduced myself to the guard. He proceeded to inform me that this is Dan Bilzerian’s residence.
The Meeting
Before you get too excited, you should know that the person I spoke with was not Dan Bilzerian. It was the property manager (yes – a house with a property manager), who was now waiting for me on the other side of the gate.
The property manager was extremely polite and had done his homework on my company and me as a person. A total pro.
Why did they choose us?
At the time of our meeting, we told the property manager that we can’t accept the job, until we make them a personalized sample, so that they can approve of our work before we even begin. We were simply trying to cover our behinds (as we definitely didn’t want to leave Dan Bilzerian unhappy), but they saw that as an outstanding customer service. No one else had offered to make them a free, personalized sample.
A week later, I brought them the sample, which contained two versions of the logo. We wanted to impress them by giving them more than one option, but at the same time, we didn’t want to overwhelm them with lots of choices.
They ended up liking the sample so much that they wanted to keep it. That’s something we usually don’t allow, but in this case, we were honored to leave it with them.
Pricing out a project for such a client
We debated extensively (between each other) on what kind of a price we should quote them. And although we were tempted to boost our prices, we decided to give them a price we would give to any other client.
When we spoke to the property manager about it, he seemed to appreciate that enormously. He said that most contractors quote them double what they normally charge, just because they know Dan can afford it.
The Job
Getting into the car on the morning of the project date, we were extremely nervous. We knew there were going to be a ton of people there evaluating our work, and we figured we’d be judged constantly.
That couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Sure, there were a ton of people there: staff, friends, family – a full house. However, all of the people there couldn’t have been nicer to us. We were constantly asked if we needed water, snacks, or any help on their end.
Once we finished the job, almost every single person from the staff complimented us. The biggest compliment of all, of course, was Dan’s Instagram post of us working on that same logo.
Almost six months later
It’s been almost six months since we finished, and we are ecstatic to see that Dan is still posting pictures of the logo. The driveway gets a ton of traffic, and to see the logo still standing strong is a blessing.
The takeaway is that celebrities and high-profile clients are just like every other client. They don’t want to be suckered into overpaying, and they want to make sure their project goes smoothly.
The truth is, we didn’t do anything for Dan we don’t do for other customers. Making free samples is something we do for almost all of our clients. Striving not to overcharge people, and to clearly and honestly communicate with clients, is something all of our clients can say about us. There’s no secret ingredient to success, as they say!
