I’ll never forget my first flash mob. A friend read about it in Denver’s Westword in the days before, so we went over to I-25 and Colorado by my old apartment on that Friday evening on October 8, 2010.
By chance, I met the organizer a few days later at a young professional happy hour, and a short conversation later led to the creation of Denver Flash Mob. The idea wasn’t to get rich on flash mobs, and I never did. Instead, we wanted to make flash mobs fun, accessible, and affordable to anyone to join in.
Our first mob took place on Black Friday that year in Cherry Creek Mall. The police came and made sure everything stayed under control, which it did, though I’ll never forget the adrenaline rush just before I walked out into the designated clearing, headphones on with the official song playing, to start the mob.
Not long later, Denver Flash Mob was doing well. We ran a mix of just-for-fun events and some paid corporate events and personal events like marriage proposals. While planning for our giant Born This Way flash mob in front of Coors Field, the entire company went haywire.
It turns out that Rick, my partner at Denver Flash Mob, wasn’t the Rick he said he was. He was a con-artist. I shared the whole story here, but the big question in my mind, once I got past the part where someone I thought was my good friend was a lying liar, I had to decide if the show would go on or if Denver Flash Mob should end right there, days before the big mob at Coors Field.
I’m happy to share that the show did go on, as did Denver Flash Mob. I wasn’t making any profit at this point, but had the fun help from marketing assistant Andrew for a while as I built Denver Flash Mob into something more sustainable. The flash mob family grew to include choreographer Kris, then Elijah. I was running everything myself on both the website and on the ground, and Denver Flash Mob rose to its peak as flash mobs were top of mind in pop culture.
Like all good things, flash mobs became less exciting to many as they had already participated in or witnessed a flash mob take place. But still, we ran proposals, weddings, and other fun flash mobs for Denver locals. Eventually, I left Denver for work, but the show didn’t stop. Flash Mob Manager Masha took the helm for local events and I coordinated everything online. Thanks to the fill-in managers who helped us out along the way!
As time went on, my amazing wife took over more and more of the daily planning and communications, but the number of flash mobs have slowly dwindled, and we only hosted a few mobs last year. As we run fewer events, it appears that our time running Denver Flash Mob is coming to a close.
Now, in 2018, we’ve decided it’s time to say goodbye to Denver Flash Mob. We are hanging up our dance shoes, but our love of flash mobs continues on. Thank you so much to everyone who ever came out to dance, hired us for an event, helped make it happen, or supported us in any way. We couldn’t have done it without you.
While I’m leaving the title of Chief Mob Officer behind to focus my energy on other projects, I’ll always look back fondly at my time running Denver Flash Mob. The ups and downs were quite a ride, and one I wouldn’t trade in for the world. Thank you for being a part of my journey and adventure as I leap forward into the next phase on my entrepreneurial life.
If you want to follow me forward, be sure to join in at Personal Profitability, my personal finance blog and podcast, to find out what I’m working on and learn how to best improve your personal finances, start your own side hustle business, pay off debt, and take charge of your money.
Your friend,
Eric Rosenberg
Founder of Denver Flash Mob
P.S. If you want to buy DenverFlashMob.com or any related assets, please let me know through the contact form here.