He never wanted a traditional office job.
Evan Samet started TicketINsider almost by accident. During his sophomore year at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, his college buddies bailed on a concert, leaving Samet out a bit of cash. He decided to get his money back by selling their tickets online. When he discovered he could make an extra $10 per ticket, it was a lightbulb moment. He started looking into the ticket resale business.
At the time, Samet was making about $9 an hour giving tennis lessons and working as an umpire and intramural referee. He did some research about popular concerts and ticket sales, then used his entire savings—about $7,000—to purchase tickets for Beyoncé’s 2013 Super Bowl show and the 2013 farewell tour of the Swedish electronic dance trio Swedish House Mafia.
Realizing a 50 percent return on those investments, he decided to start his own ticket resale business while he finished college. “I always wanted to be involved in a business but I didn’t want to do the 9-to-5 job,” says the 24-year-old.
Today, Samet’s schedule is most certainly not 9-to-5. Rather, it’s dictated by when tickets are released for sale, and it’s not unusual for him to spend six hours a day buying tickets for multiple events in different time zones. When he’s not watching the clock with his finger hovering over the “buy” button, he’s researching upcoming shows, taking inventory of the tickets he has to sell, or posting his wares with online retailers like StubHub or Vivid Seats from a shared workspace at Metro Offices in Ballston.
Samet moved to Ballston two years ago, where he rents a house with some high school friends, but he stresses that life as a young entrepreneur isn’t just one big party. There’s a common misconception, he says, that people who are self-employed can just do whatever they want.
“I’ve missed out on parties and social events—even going to the gym—because I need to be around to buy tickets for a West Coast show,” he says. “Saturday and Sunday don’t mean I can turn off my phone. If someone calls me, I have to pick up. I can’t leave [a customer] hanging. That ruins a business’s reputation.”
But he does love the freedom. “I’d gladly work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else.”