June 6, 2018 | Leave a comment Welcome to our website! In addition to helping you find tickets to your favorite events and creating memories with many of your favorite people, we hope to keep you informed, updated, and sometimes even entertained with an occasional blog post. So, please check back or follow us on Twitter to see what we’re up to at The Ticket Machine, and don’t hesitate to comment or suggest topics you would like us to cover. My name is Brian Posey, and I am the owner of The Ticket Machine. It doesn’t seem possible to me, but we have been in business for over 20 years now! And it all started accidentally… When I was in my 20’s and attending Michigan State University, some friends and I wanted to see Garth Brooks for the first time. He was performing at The Palace of Auburn Hills in May of 1996. There was only one problem – we had limited disposable income. We decided we should take a risk and buy more tickets than we actually needed, in hopes of turning a profit. We then used the yellow pages (remember those?) to contact ticket brokers in the area. We asked them to purchase our extra tickets so that we could, more or less, go to the show for free and even have some extra cash for ice cold beverages. We really had no idea what we were buying or if the quality of the tickets was any good, but somehow, the plan worked. After calling a few brokers, we reached one company that purchased all of our extra tickets and paid us more than we ever could have imagined. The owner of the company asked if I did this often; I wasn’t sure what he meant. He soon hired me to purchase tickets for concerts and sporting events in Michigan. I was going to MSU and working at a gas station for very little money, late hours, and zero benefits – other than meeting great people and having a lot of fun, so obviously I jumped on this opportunity. Over time, I found myself purchasing more and more tickets and doing very well. It didn’t take me long to discover that I could sell tickets to other brokers. Pretty soon, I had my friends and even my dad going to Hudson’s, Harmony House, and the local & legendary Where House Records to purchase tickets. The next phase began months later while I was visiting Chicago. Once again, I utilized the yellow pages. After “borrowing” the relevant page of the local book, I began buying tickets for Chicago concerts and sporting events. It wasn’t long until I expanded into Cleveland, Indy, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and even Toronto. After a few months, I was no longer working at the gas station – I had managed to start a little business, and I even hired my first employee (enter Courtney)! From very humble beginnings, with unbelievable support from family & friends, and an incredible staff that has grown along with me, we are going strong and hope to continue helping customers while having fun along the way. Thanks for reading and please come back soon!
