Meet Erick Wessel

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Erick Wessel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Erick , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I get my resilience from my sense of purpose. I’ve endured so many canon events externally with everything happening in the world and internally in my life bubble. I know at the end of the day, I am doing the things I’m meant to be doing. My art and my passion have always been my motivation and I’ve been really fortunate to have something to work towards and make it all worth it.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m Erick, and I’m the owner of the Mystic Museum. The Mystic Museum is a horror themed selfie museum and immersive experience. We have a rotating exhibit with different themes that I curate and build with my team of talented artists. We have a new exhibit called Horror High Reunion and it’s a unique departure from our previous era-themed exhibits like Y2Kills (2000s) and 90’s SLASHERS (90s). We’ve decided to change it up and base our new theme off a location. We’ve build our very own campus called Horror High where we’ll be pulling from the 70’s all the way to current films, to reunite our favorite cult classics that reside in the haunted halls echoing through lockers, classrooms, and school auditoriums. One of the things I love about this exhibit is that it really showcases some of the awesome women in the horror genre. We didn’t even realize it until it all came together. Some of the most badass villains in the horror genre were women. They always brought depth to the characters and I always found myself rooting for them versus the protagonist. We will also be embarking on a couple expansion projects that will be announced later in the year. Be sure to follow @themysticmuseum on Instagram to get the latest updates. We will also be at Midsummer Scream, the largest horror and Halloween convention in the world on July 26-28. We will be sponsoring the Bettejuice themed afterparty so make sure to get your tickets before they sell out.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

My previous work experience, interest in horror films, and realization that I wanted to work for myself really laid out the path for me to create Mystic Museum. Remodeling apartments taught me construction and gave me the tools to learn how to build my own sets, I learned work ethic and endurance from long nights working as a chef, and my love for horror films shaped my way into utilizing all my skills. Everyone works odd jobs on their way to their goal. What I’ve learned is that each of those experiences taught me how to be a better owner and designer. My advise is to see everything as an opportunity and building block to help you reach your goal. You are never done learning and you can get great experience from the most unlikely places – even if it’s what not to do. Every good job and not so good job can teach you how to do what you want to do.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

Myself, and a lot of my fellow horror community small businesses have been effected by the economy lately. We’ve all had a rough year. The mainstream acceptance of horror and Halloween as something that should be featured all year instead of just one month was bitter sweet. We’ve lost a lot of business to big box stores and just bigger companies in general. I can’t speak for my fellow small businesses but I know that one of Mystic Museum’s biggest obstacles was changing and adapting to the demand of our consumers and not considering the trends. We had a tendency of doing more of something that worked before instead of finding fresh ways to stay relevant. I’m learning that what we did in year 5 to grow to year 6 is not something that can work when we’re in year 10 to 11. We just celebrated 10 years of being in business and I am constantly learning how to reinvent our brand to keep our status. We’re redoing our website to make it more user friendly, we’re trying to be more present on social media, and we’re trying to do more events. These were all things I’ve wanted to do but our team could never agree on. Now, that I am able to move forward with these initiatives I’m seeing an instant improvement. I’m learning that even though we are horror fans just like our consumers doesn’t mean we can make self indulgent decisions because we like something and we expect our consumers to like it as well. As a company is in the business of entertainment, we should always keep the community in mind when it comes to our creations. We wouldn’t be here without them and they are as much a part of the creative team as we are.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.themysticmuseum.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themysticmuseum/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themysticmuseum/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-mystic-museum-burbank
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@themysticmuseum