Neil Mirchandani, the Founder and CEO of LLL Event Furnishings & Rental (LLL), runs Atlanta’s largest and most prestigious rental company. Over the years, it has dressed the sets for Hollywood movies and TV shows, rented settings for concerts, music videos, elite sporting events, and more.
You may have recently seen their work on the Netflix hit show Love is Blind. The company provided most of the sets. Mirchandani will be the first to tell you that his industry can be high-pressure and high-stress, with quick turnaround times and often meeting what feels like impossible client briefs.
Despite the crazy industry, he has a reputation for his cool head and being the best at business operations.He works hard at it, and it certainly didn’t happen by accident.
“If you want to be successful in business, you have to do something better than anybody else is doing it,” advised Mirchandani. “In my industry, clients ask for a lot, and I’m always crazy — and dedicated — enough to say yes. I never let the stress get to me, and I always get the job done. That’s my strength, and renting the highest quality items, of course.”
He’s noticed that not every entrepreneur or CEO can manage operations as he does. They blow up, let the stress get to them, and cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel.
In his eyes, it’s his ability to master his operations that have kept him on top of a very competitive and fast-paced industry for many years. Today, his luxury event rental company has 35 full-time event specialists working in a dedicated 70,000-square-foot warehouse full to the brim with the incredible items you see in the sets of movies, the backdrops of society weddings, and in your favorite band’s music videos.
“Basically, everything has to be done overnight in this business,” he said. “It can drive a poorly managed operation into bankruptcy, but I know that my team and I thrive on the activity and energy needed for these projects.”
Below are the inspiring founder’s best advice for becoming a master of your operations.
Lift the Curtain on Your Business
Atlanta has built a reputation as the ‘Hollywood of the South’ since so many movies are shot there. And, of course, LLL is the movie industry’s go-to luxury rental company, driving the company to make $11 million in revenue this year.
One of the ways that Mirchandani keeps clients thinking about his business — and admiring each new item they acquire — is by giving his audience an inside look at what he does and how he runs the LLL show.
“When we create a post or story on social media, we approach it like a movie, with an unfolding plot,” he said. “It’s all going to be based on the operations of the business, and these updates get the most attention from viewers.”
So, does it work? Mirchandani says yes and backs up this statement with the fact that they get at least one call about their operations each time they posts a story about what’s happening at their warehouse.
Sometimes these calls come from agencies or planners viewing the story and inquiring about how the business is run instead of just the end product.
“People really appreciate being able to peek behind the scenes of the business and seeing the operations. This works well for us. It’s brought in additional business dollars and revenue,” he shared.
Stay Flexible, Informed, and Relevant
Another thing Mirchandani recommends is never to get too comfortable. “Keep your eye on the future and your finger on the pulse of culture. Things can — and do — change in seconds, and you need to be flexible enough to adapt to them,” he said.
He’s able to keep a handle on all operations of his business while also scaling. One of the qualities that’s served him especially well is the ability to intuit what’s going to happen in six months or a year that might affect his company. This lets him make educated and smart guesses based on his industry knowledge.
“It could be an inventory purchase for a new trend, a new hire, or whatever the climate change will be in the business. I can see from the comments and desires of the clientele what’s going to happen next, from economic changes to new trends and more,” he said.
Mirchandani’s advice is as helpful as it is refreshing, offering us a true glimpse of what it’s like to be a CEO at the top of their game and operations.
