Meet Rick Mcguire | Founder of SubwayCreatures

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rick Mcguire and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rick, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Complete accident. Even though I always had aspirations to run my own business, I was running SubwayCreatures as a hobby while I worked as a TV producer. It eventually got to the point where I couldn’t dedicate enough time to both and when my freelance TV gig expired in 2018, I decided to dive head first into turning my hobby into a full time job.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Since I was a kid I’ve always been a ‘People Watcher’. I’ve always wondered ‘what makes people tick?’ ‘Why do they make the decisions they do?’ NYC is a hotbed for People Watching and there’s never a dull moment. Once I realized I could scale what I made into a full time business, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy but I had to do it and it was terrifying. How do I make enough to pay rent? Eat 3 meals a day? The first couple months were rough but I managed to start figuring out how partnerships with brands work and monetize using original content. I was not a business major in college but legit had a crash course in the beginning and I’m still learning to this day. The tough part about working in social media is that it’s evolving rapidly every day and if you don’t keep up, you get let in the dust.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
In NYC the options are endless. I’m a pretty simple guy who prefers local dive bars and authentic Chinese food. There’s something special about walking into a bar and the bartenders knowing your name as well as some of the other patrons. Ideally, we’re finding a spot outdoors (assuming it’s a nice day) so we can enjoy the weather, have a drink, and do what I love–People Watching.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My Dad. He actually showed me at a young age what I DIDN’T want. He worked in media sales at a prominent television network in a NYC office and would bring me into work sometimes as a kid. I hated the format. Wearing a suit everyday and doing the 9-5 commute didn’t appeal to me at all. Don’t get me wrong, he was amazing at what he did and is still one of the best people I know to this day, but I needed to be able to use my creativity and not answer to someone on a daily basis. Sometimes knowing what you DON’T want helps you narrow down what you DO.

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