In the spirit of the young entrepreneurs who came before him, 17-year-old Nick Stokes has ventured into the party promotions game whilst still in high-school.
He’s seen some success, too. According to the Herald Sun, Stokes says he rakes in $1,200 a night throwing wild underage house parties across the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
Stokes, who is still completing his VCE, even ditched a trade apprenticeship because he can make more money organising the controversial parties, which have found their way onto the radar of local cops.
Breaking down the numbers, Stokes claims that each party usually attracts about 300 revellers, who each pay a $15 entry fee, resulting in a total gross of $4,500, not including expenses.
Stokes employs mates as makeshift bouncers and also provides a DJ, drinks, and even an event photographer, leaving him with a handsome $1,200 profit for one night’s work.
“People have compared me to Corey Worthington but I don’t want to be associated with him — he’s not on my level. I’m much bigger than him. I’m the best at what I do,” he boasts.
Stokes’ business plan is pretty simple – supply the demand. Stokes says he’s simply filling a hole in the market by giving underage revellers somewhere to go and party.
Stokes begins by finding empty houses, from Cranbourne to Clayton, and inviting school kids, some as young as 14 and coming from as far as Lakes Entrance, via Facebook.
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However, like Worthington, Stokes’ parties have raised the concerns of Victoria Police, who have been called out to disperse unruly teens leaving Stokes’ parties in the past.
Neighbours at several locations hosting the young promoter’s events have complained of music booming late into the night and young partygoers spilling out onto local roads.
Police were reportedly called to properties in Cranbourne and Hampton Park in the past two weeks alone. The officers shut down the parties and dispersed the large teenaged crowd.
Stokes began hosting parties in 2013. As he recounts, “I didn’t have a job at the time and I found out pretty quick it was easy money, so I just kept doing it.”
“I’ve got in a lot of trouble over the years… so my parents are pretty angry,” he admitted. “It’s a lot of trouble but it’s been a lot of fun.”
And he has no plans to stop, either. “I think if I put my mind to it, I could be making much more money out of it,” he says. “Like right now, I make about $1200 in a night and I’m not even trying.”
“I could imagine that adults would be pretty mad about that, seeing as they work so hard all week for what I can make in one night,” he adds.
For now, it appears the future Robert Sillerman’s events haven’t yielded any serious issues outside of disturbing local residents.
According to Victoria Police, who attended an event on 21st March, “A number of units attended and safely dispersed about 100 people. There were no offences detected.”
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Stokes isn’t even the first teen to operate such a “business”, either. As News Corp reported back in 2012, teens in the eastern suburbs of Queensland were found to be making up to thousands a night hosting similar underage parties.
While Stokes’ initiative should arguably be admired, since there’s no proper security or seemingly any parental supervision in place at the teens events, the possibility of disaster is looming.
More importantly, Stokes’ success raises the question of whether experienced promoters and indeed the government should be doing more to cater towards underage punters and providing them with safe places to party – clearly there’s a market for it.
