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Meet Travis Frink of Reflex Event Services

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Frink.

Can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today?
Since I can remember, my father, Russell, was always a tradeshow guy. This meant long hours on the tradeshow floors of the San Diego or LA Convention centers installing custom exhibits and booths. (Think of the large exhibits like Chevrolet at the International Auto Show and/or the Warner Bros booth at the Comic-Con Convention)

He got me into the industry when I was about 18 yrs old, and I had followed suit. Around the same time I got into the industry, Pops started his own company, Reflex Event Services. While I did help out here and there, I began exploring other options with a tradeshow client from a convention called the Action Sports Retailers show. The popular surf company, Quiksilver, was looking for someone to manage their traveling tradeshow booth, and I accepted the position. Now instead of setting up the booths, I was on the other side pointing the finger and tracking labor hours and budget.

I moved to Surf City, USA up in Orange County and gained a ton more experience, new friends and colleagues traveled and was able to network within a somewhat similar market. When I wasn’t doing tradeshows, I was coordinating and setting up events for all the different brands Quiksilver owns like Roxy and DC Shoes. I’d be driving cross country from coast to coast in large branded RV’s setting up and promoting our brands and respective athletes for movie premiers, surf and snow competitions, Supercross races, and more. I also was fortunate enough with my work travels to meet my now-wife, Tara, who is also a San Diego native.

Fast forward about 15 years, and I am STILL with the Quiksilver (now under Boardriders Inc) family part-time as an Event Coordinator for DC Shoes, and working full time as Director of Operations for Reflex. I am proud to say Dad has grown the company into a great small business and has found a perfect niche market here in San Diego and surrounding counties. Reflex focuses on the smaller tradeshows within San Diego, specializing in Resort Hotels, Colleges, and Universities for anything from trade shows, events, conferences, meetings, and posterboard sessions.

Since joining Reflex full time, I’ve been able to tap into my last 15 years of my action sports industry Rolodex and gain new clients and build up our Event Production side of the business. The last year has been quite a bit of change for me. Besides getting married and having a baby boy, another major step was to move my wife and kids back down to San Diego from Orange County to be closer to our own families, and of course be closer to Reflex’s warehouse and home office. It’s only been a few months since this has all happened, but I am as excited as ever to see where else we can take our family business.

Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It definitely has not been a smooth road, but (forgive my analogy) rather more like a motocross track with slow riders crossing into your line, gnarly triples, deep ruts, whoops, and sand sections. 😁 Before when I was helping out with Reflex, part-time, I was just helping manage the day-of the-show-set-up and our own labor crew. These guys made my job easy and am proud to still have them working for us.

For me nowadays, it has a lot more to do with marketing our business, managing client relations, and of course, all the emails/calls/questions from exhibitors and show managers asking about freight deliveries, CWT, drayage, & labor rates, electrical, furniture, and all the industry jargon back and forth that comes with the territory. This tends to get overwhelming when managing multiple shows that happen to take place the same week. We actually just had multiple shows overlap this past month more than a few times.

While I was in Vegas at two conferences, Russ was handling San Diego for two other conventions. It’s not easy, but it’s a good feeling when at the end of the day, the shows were successful, and all four clients were happy. I still have a lot to learn, and I have been in this industry for quite some time, so every day is a new experience.

I have a whole new respect for my father Russ, who basically did all of this on his own with a little bit of help from my sister, Teana, mom Shannon, and myself here and there the last 15 years or so. I think with the business growing the way it is, I’m happy to have a solid labor crew under the Reflex name and keep them as busy as ever.

Tell us about your business/company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
Reflex Event Services handles all of your tradeshow, event, and exposition services, from posterboard rentals, on-site labor, branding, to full exhibit displays and freight logistics, we’ve got you covered.

Located in San Diego, California, Reflex provides complete trade show, convention, and exposition services to the greater Southwest Region of the United States. With over 35 years experience in the industry, we have accomplished an excellent reputation in delivering quality services. Unlike some of the larger convention and exposition service companies, we are an independent business run within the family. This enables us to provide an “old fashioned” approach to customer service, allowing the ability to negotiate our services to meet your specific needs.

We take pride in knowing every one of our clients on a personal level and gaining their repeat business and referrals that come through each of them and the respective venues we work at. Renting a poster board or “Bulletin Board” or setting up a smaller pipe and drape booth trade show isn’t something extravagant or usually found on a yelp or google search. It’s not easy to find these services. This is a small niche market, and we are happy to be at the top of it.

Within the last year, Reflex has been able to dive more into the event production side of the industry, gaining new clients such as DC Shoes, Quiksilver, Fox Racing, and Roxy Surfwear. We do everything from managing their vehicle logistics, promotional needs, and event setups to branding on site for retail pop-up shops, and motocross facilities like Fox Raceway, as well as snow resorts such as Mammoth Mountain.

Do you feel like our city is a good place for businesses like yours? If someone was just starting out, would you recommend them starting out here? If not, what can our city do to improve?
Let’s be honest. San Diego is and will always be one of the best. They don’t call it “America’s Finest City” for nothing. It truly is in a league of its own. In fact, just yesterday my kids and I picked my wife up from Lindbergh Field (formerly the name for the SD airport. We keep it OG and also refer to Qualcomm stadium as The Murph.)

We overheard an excited couple who had, no doubt, never been here before – basking in the perfect 75-degree weather and views of our marina and skyline like a little kid from middle America who had never seen the ocean. They were so excited. I think we take it for granted and have to take a step back and appreciate it. I’ve traveled the US enough to know – we are beyond lucky to be born and raised here, and nonetheless certainly be able to build a business here.

San Diego is in the top 10 for largest convention cities. It’s a destination city, so naturally, meeting planners and show managers want to bring their clients to a beautiful place with plenty to do in their downtime and enjoy our perfect climate, some of the nation’s best restaurants, craft breweries, beaches, and more. Reflex is proud to serve the tradeshow and event industry in America’s finest city for over 28 years and counting.

We are lucky to have built our foundation here as a family, and as a business. Obviously, real estate was a lot cheaper back in the 70’s and 80’s. Today’s market to rent office space in our city may seem nerve-racking, but start off small or look into surrounding areas which are more than affordable. If you have the right business model and drive, I think San Diego can be anyone’s place for business.

As cliche’ as it may sound, again start off small and work your way up just like The Amazon’s, Google’s and Apple’s did coming from their hometown garages.

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Image Credit:
Adore Portrait Photography, Epoch Visuals Photography

Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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