“Buzzworthy Businesses” is a unique and cool talk show that showcases individuals and companies in the community that are making a buzz and giving back. Our goal is to interview guests that are doing great things in their business and in their community. Today our host, Steve Strum spoke with Nunzio Smith.
Nunzio Smith
Owner of Escape Me Mobile
Website Address: escapememobile.com
Short company description:
Escape Me Mobile is a family‑owned mobile escape room company based in Jacksonville, Florida. It specializes in bringing fully immersive, story‑driven escape room adventures directly to your event location—whether that’s a birthday party, school function, corporate gathering, or festival—using a climate‑controlled mobile unit outfitted with puzzles and interactive challenges. Their experiences are designed to foster teamwork, problem‑solving, and unforgettable memories without requiring guests to travel to a physical escape room location.
How has your business changed in the past 12 months?
Over the past 12 months, Escape Me Mobile has seen significant growth and evolution. We’ve deepened our understanding of marketing strategies and honed our approach to reaching our core customer base more effectively. This focus has helped us connect with families, schools, and community groups in a more targeted way. In addition to improving our outreach, we’ve expanded our offerings, introducing new storylines and experiences to keep our adventures fresh, engaging, and accessible to a wider audience. We’ve also started to receive corporate bookings, allowing us to bring team-building, problem-solving, and interactive fun to workplace events. Overall, our business is stronger, more versatile, and better positioned to deliver immersive escape experiences to both individual and group audiences, whether for fun, education, or corporate engagement.
Tell me a time you failed forward and what you learned from the experience
One of our biggest ‘fail forward’ moments happened during an event when our generator suddenly shut down in the middle of a game. We discovered the oil had run out, which caused half of the game’s electronics to go dead. Players were outside waiting to play, while the team inside the escape room had to wait as we scrambled to reset and get things back up and running. It was a tough moment with customers watching, but we stayed calm and handled it as professionally as possible. From this experience, we learned a crucial lesson: always perform a full pre-event equipment inspection, including checking oil levels in the generator. Now, oil checks, fuel levels, and backup power solutions are part of our pre-event checklist. What could have been a disaster became a turning point that made us more meticulous in our preparation. It taught us the importance of redundancy and how to handle unexpected problems under pressure.
What are your biggest obstacles and barriers to success?
Our biggest obstacle is awareness and visibility. Being Jacksonville’s only mobile escape room is a unique selling point, but many people simply don’t know we exist yet. Since we aren’t a stationary venue, we rely heavily on community outreach, word-of-mouth, and digital marketing to get the word out. Competing against large, well-established entertainment businesses with bigger marketing budgets can be challenging. Another barrier is educating potential clients on the mobile concept itself. Many are familiar with traditional escape rooms but have never considered the convenience of bringing the experience to their own location—be it for corporate team building, schools, or private parties. Bridging that gap in understanding and showing the value of our mobile service is a continuous effort.
What is the proudest moment of your leadership career?
Our proudest moment was when we successfully coordinated and executed an engagement party event for a wonderful couple and their guests. It was a special occasion where everything had to be perfect, and we knew how important it was to create a memorable experience for them. As a team, we worked together seamlessly to ensure every detail was handled — from setup to game flow to guest interactions. Everyone was in sync, anticipating needs and solving issues before they could even arise. The couple and their guests had a phenomenal time, and seeing how much joy we were able to bring them made it one of the most rewarding experiences we’ve had. It reminded us why we do what we do: to create unique, unforgettable memories for our clients.
Transcript:
Steve:
Welcome back to another episode of Buzzworthy Businesses. I’m Steve Strum, together today with a friend of mine, Nunzio Smith from Escape Me Mobile. It’s been a minute. We were talking off set, it’s been a couple years, man. So for the audience, what the heck is Escape Me Mobile? You guys are an escape room business.
Nunzio:
Yes.
Steve:
That you and your wife created, correct?
Nunzio:
That she’s in charge.
Steve:
Absolutely.
Nunzio:
Yes, absolutely. For the video recording, my wife is in charge.
Steve:
Me too. So Tiffany, love you, you’re in charge too. So it’s Escape Me Mobile, a mobile escape room. And you started this thing two years ago, crazy idea of bringing this to people. How’s it going, man?
Nunzio:
You know, it’s going well. We’re growing. We’ve seen an increase in bookings over the last year or so. It’s been really decent since October, where I booked out actually until May. We’ve been growing and getting corporate gigs as well. So we’re getting out there. People know us now.
Steve:
So I know the idea of an escape room, right? Traditional style, you go to a location, you solve puzzles, and get out. It’s become very popular. How do you do that mobility?
Nunzio:
Think of it like a food truck, but instead of food, we bring entertainment. We bring an actual escape room and come to you. Logistically, it’s easier because you don’t have to get your people together or coordinate travel. If you’re having a party or corporate event, we show up, set up, and you guys come play and have a good time.
Steve:
You know what, I didn’t think about that. So for team building exercises, what you’re saying is I can take my team, you come to me, and I can lock them up for two hours.
Nunzio:
You can, you know, I got to be careful saying locking them up.
Steve:
Right, false imprisonment.
Nunzio:
Right.
Steve:
So for corporate team building, you bring people together, do training, and then do an escape room activity so they’re not falling asleep. You can do it during or after the event, and people can rotate in and out.
Nunzio:
Absolutely. That’s a really cool idea. The logistics of getting people to a location can be like herding cats. We eliminate that by coming to you. It improves communication, morale, and you start to see leadership emerge organically. It builds a cohesive team because they have to work together under time constraints.
Steve:
And this is something you’ve done coming from a background in major businesses. You understand leadership and team building. This isn’t just fun, it helps develop skills and lets managers identify leaders in real time.
Nunzio:
Exactly. You get to see people under pressure, working together, communicating. They only have a limited time, so they have to collaborate effectively.
Steve:
You’re going to get me in trouble because my team is going to want this. If anyone needs to be locked up, it’s probably me.
So what’s on the horizon for your business?
Nunzio:
We’re working on bringing a game show-style environment to businesses, where teams compete. Think Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune. We’re in talks now to bring that in as another form of entertainment for businesses and parties.
Steve:
That’s fantastic. I appreciate you coming. Two years go by in a blink. It’s great to see your success. You had a great idea, and now it’s growing and evolving. You’re helping corporations and people create fun environments while building important team skills.
Nunzio:
Absolutely. Thank you so much.
Steve:
Guys, come check these guys out. Whether it’s team building, corporate events, or personal events, you might see them at a venue. We’ll put Escape Me Mobile on our website, DailyNewsNetwork.com.
If you like this episode, share this episode, and remember to always live with gratitude.
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