Denver NACE Podcast
The Denver NACE Podcast is a show dedicated to the events industry in Denver, Colorado. Hosted by members of the Denver chapter of the National Association for Catering and Events (NACE), the podcast features interviews with a wide range of professionals in the industry, including bakery owners, wedding planners, venue owners, DJs, musicians, and photographers.
The aim of the show is to share the stories and lessons of these industry experts and help grow the Denver events industry by bringing the community together.
Whether you're in the wedding industry, corporate events industry, nonprofit events, or other social events, the Denver NACE Podcast is a valuable resource for anyone looking to learn more about the industry and the people behind it.
Denver NACE Podcast
3. Striking a Chord in the Events Industry: Marketing Strategies and Personal Growth
In this episode, we interviewed Jared Judge, Music Director of Extreme Strings Electric Violins. Let's hear from him:
"Ever reminisce about a major life change that felt like jumping off a cliff? That's how my move from Milwaukee to Denver felt - leaving everything familiar behind for an unknown city. But it turned out to be a life-changing decision, thanks to the warm welcome I received from the Denver chapter of the National Association for Catering and Events (NACE). As the tables turn, I find myself on the other side of the interview table with Bryan Rossmanith from Ignite Experiences, sharing my journey in the events industry, from my humble beginnings in Milwaukee to my current work here in Denver.
Electric violin, once a novelty, has now become a mainstream sensation, bringing an electrifying twist to the event scene. But like any other discipline, it's not enough to just be good at it - marketing and strategy are key in establishing yourself in the field. By driving traffic to a well-crafted marketing funnel and measuring your return on investment, you can take your skills to a broader audience. As part of NACE, I've found that digital marketing not only increases my visibility but also helps attract new members - a strategy that I'm currently implementing for the NACE Denver chapter.
Working in the events industry, I've realized that no one succeeds alone. Building a stronger industry means creating opportunities for everyone involved, and increasing our membership is one way to lift us all up. By working together, Denver can become an appealing destination for events, propelling us onto the international stage. But it's not just about business growth, personal development plays a pivotal role too - learning to solve problems, adapting to change, and embracing new challenges is all part of the journey. So, get ready for an enlightening discussion, packed with insights from my personal experiences, the importance of mentoring, and the power of a unified event industry."
What's up? Event Pros, it's Jared Judge. Welcome back to another episode of the Denver NACE podcast. I have something very exciting for you today, in fact, we are bringing back our last guest from our Denver NACE podcast to flip the script on me and interview me about my experience in the events industry and NACE. So, without further ado, once again we've got Brian Ross-Maneth from Ignite Experiences.
Speaker 2:Hello, yes, so we did my interview on the last episode. So we're, like he said, we're flipping the script and interviewing Jared, asking him all the questions on growing your business involvement with NACE, kind of how that helps you as an events professional. So we are interviewing Jared, really excited for this. So, jared, tell us a little bit about yourself. What brings you to the Denver area?
Speaker 1:Good question. So I'm really excited to be interviewed. I don't get interviewed that much, so it's fun to be on the other side of the mic. As you may or may not know, i am an electric violinist. I run Extreme Strings, electric Violins, and I moved to Denver back in September from Milwaukee, wisconsin, and a couple of things prompted the move. One was we just really wanted mountains. If you've ever been in the Midwest and Wisconsin in general, you don't have a lot of mountains. It's pretty flat, and we just wanted to be in nature and be closer to some family. We got some family down here too. So those are a couple of the things that made it appealing, and my wife and I I run my own business, she is a freelance web designer, and we both can basically do our jobs from our laptops, so it made it very easy to move. Neither of us had to actually change jobs, although I did start a new business when I moved down here. So hopefully that answers the question.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's great. And how long were you contemplating the move?
Speaker 1:That's a really good question. I feel like we were talking about moving probably two years before we did, But of course, it doesn't really become real until you decide on a date to move and then you have to find a place to stay. So I think we took a trip down to Denver maybe a month or two before we actually moved there. So in a July-ish of 2022 was when the decision was made that hey, it's real, We're going to be down in Denver by September 1.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great. Did you have any connections in the Denver metro area before moving here? Because owning your own business that's something that is a challenge for so many people is moving from one city to another. because you become so well-known in the town that you're performing at and running your business That going to a whole new place in the country is such a challenge, and because you have to almost start all over again. Did you know anybody in that? How did you make that transition from?
Speaker 1:the Washington.
Speaker 2:River.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i had nobody. I was moving with no connections, no support system. I did have my brother-in-law and his girlfriend live here, but they're not in our industry so I couldn't use him as an entry point into the Denver events scene. However, as I say in NACE, when you're in NACE you're part of a big family. That was actually the first thing I looked at when we decided on Denver as the place to move to. was do they have a NACE chapter? And I was delighted that they did. And right, that was the first thing I did when I moved was I sent an email to Pres Des and I said hey, desiree, i just was in Milwaukee's NACE chapter moving down to Denver. Is there any way I could get plugged into the Denver NACE scene? And she was gracious enough to say yes, we would love to meet you. We did a Zoom meeting and then I went to the first meeting that was available to me and kind of, the rest is history, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:How was that transition from one chapter to the other? Are there similarities and differences? Kind of talk a little bit about the Milwaukee chapter versus the Denver chapter and maybe a couple things that you like versus dislike on each chapter.
Speaker 1:Well, i like everything. No, it's really fun. The events industry across the country. There are so many similarities. You'll find that you have very similar experiences from yourself in Denver to people even in Anchorage, alaska. I got to meet some people from Alaska at our NACE Evolve thing And I don't know.
Speaker 1:The events industry is one giant family. That was one thing. Like Scotty O'Brien, he's a DJ here in Denver and he's big about like, this is one giant family And it's so true. We support each other. We're there to celebrate when you have a new baby. We're there to support you if you lose your job. It is one big family And that's what I noticed from Milwaukee to Denver is that it's the same family. It's just maybe these are your Milwaukee cousins or your Denver brothers and sisters. So a lot of similarities. Of course, a couple differences. The representation of the different categories of businesses is different between the two. Milwaukee's chapter there was a very heavy presence by like large DJ companies And so there was always like a ton of like big production type things at all of our events And that was awesome. But I find the Denver chapter to be a little more diverse in its category of businesses represented, which is great But regardless, it's a great experience between both chapters and both have been incredibly supportive of me and my live music business.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, And I think that's that's one of the biggest factors and myself working in events is the family atmosphere, Because we all work together. There might be 30 or 40 different companies involved on the same conference or same event And we're all doing our own unique specialty. So that's what I love about it so much is you can just be so creative and very different in your own way and you get to bring your entire personality into your brand, into your company, And they Denver, I think, represents that very well And everybody is so supportive of each other. I always turn turn everybody on when you do something or, like you said, have a new baby, or you know family dynamics, or or you move to a new city, like you're part of that nice family And really that then industry as a whole. Because you've been in it for a while, you get to have that camaraderie with it. So when did you start playing violin?
Speaker 1:Hmm, good question. I started when I was seven years old and I'm a 32, now 33 actually, so yeah, long time ago professionally. Professionally. Well, depends on what you mean by professionally. My definition of professionally is when you get paid to do something, and my first paid gig was actually in high school. It was actually a wedding. So I've been in the events industry since high school.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely that's so exciting. Oh, what in what inspires you kind of to keep up your violin playing and and training and everything that goes on in your, in your business, because when you're performing It's it's so personal and it's so you kind of up there, what, what do you use around, like your environment and and when you're training, to kind of inspire your performances?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a really good question. So for those of you on the podcast who don't know, i am an electric violinist, which means I play a really cool looking violin. It looks like a violin but it's like missing the body. It just has like the outline of a violin and the strings and I'm plugged into a PA system and Typically I'm playing along with like the backing tracks for Bruno Mars or Taylor Swift or even Zed I'm a big EDM fan so I play to some Zed too and The things that like inspire me. One is like I've got a great network of Musicians who I'm thrilled to call like my colleagues, even though I look up to them. They're just incredible.
Speaker 1:And I'm gonna do a shout out to my friend. His name is Tracy Silverman. He is a violinist down in Nashville. He actually teaches violin at Belmont University and He created a method for playing violin That it's different than the classical style that you typically hear.
Speaker 1:You know, when you picture violin, you probably think of like beautiful romantic melodies and big old symphony orchestras, which I've done that and I love it and I'm inspired by the, the musicians and the composers in that arena. But Tracy Silverman created this method for playing your violin. That's more like playing a guitar, so we can play the guitar parts to like guns and roses and Led Zeppelin and even Katy Perry, all that kind of stuff and I don't know. He's been my biggest inspiration the last couple years just because, like I want to be like him, i want to play like him and I think I Do an okay job of bringing that to the stage. But when I, when I fall short, he's the guy that I go to for advice of how do I, how do I make this better? Because I don't know. I just always love to try to be better. I think in this industry in general, i'm like to be a business owner. You always have to have that drive to be better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and kind of setting yourself apart in the market is also so important. And going back to that specialized piece of equipment that you have When, when was that actually made like? how old is that technology?
Speaker 1:Oh, the electric violin.
Speaker 2:Yeah, electric violin. How long has that been popular with performances?
Speaker 1:I don't know the exact history of it, but I think it's been around since the 70s or 80s, so it's not the newest technology, but it is starting to become more mainstream. You know, there's always those innovations that come around that Aren't very popular for a while until they are you know, chat GPT being one of them But electric violin is, i think, definitely becoming more in the mainstream. You'll see it on more concert stages. Even so, i mentioned before I'm an EDM fan and I checked out the Denver EDM scene. There is an act that is electric violin with EDM. I haven't seen it yet. I'd love to, but I think Electric violin is becoming way out of these days.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Is that something that you would want to perform? EDM concert with electric violin. I think that would be incredible.
Speaker 1:I'm I'm interested. If anyone wants to help me make that happen, let's chat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I can see some DJs and DJs and you partnering on it performance. I'll definitely, I'll definitely support that Awesome.
Speaker 1:I'll give you free ticket.
Speaker 2:And then, yes, absolutely, i will promote that and sell all the other tickets. Let's make that happen. As far as establishing yourself on being an electric violinist, what are some strategies that you would want to share with Nace Denver and kind of the event industry as a whole? As far as getting your name out there and actually establishing that credibility of your brand and your company, how would you establish that?
Speaker 1:Yes, that's a really good question because that's a more broad marketing question which you and, i think, a lot of the Nace people know. I'm very passionate about marketing, to the point where I became a certified funnel builder for ClickFunnels, which we can talk about that later. But if you are looking to establish yourself and you're new to the industry or new to the city, it is a marketing problem. Of course you have to be good at what you do. But if you're just good at what you do but don't get the word out there that you do it, nobody's going to find you, nobody's going to hire you and you're not really going to last in the industry because you'll be spending more money than you're making on it. Then the question becomes how do you market yourself?
Speaker 1:My favorite way is through a marketing funnel, which is a systematic process. It's online that looks like your website and it's usually part of your website, but it's designed to convert visitors into leads. We want a website that the text on it, also known as the marketing copy, the images, the video, the fonts, the branding all are designed to facilitate the generation of a lead. How can we get them to give you your email address as fast as possible so that you can then follow up with them and then sell them on your services, ask them to sign your contract or whatever the next step in your sales process is. That was one of the first things I did was I created a new company, created the marketing funnel on our website for it and then, once you create that funnel, you got to drive traffic to it. I always say to it I have students that I teach this to and I even do marketing for some companies as well. Let me know if anyone here is interested.
Speaker 1:Once you build your marketing funnel, it's kind of like in the movie Field of Dreams where Kevin Costner says if you build it, they will come. That's not true in the world of marketing and business. You have got to make them come to it. You've got to drive traffic through organic social media. You've got to drive traffic through paid ads on Facebook, instagram, tiktok not TicTac and Google Ad. Then my favorite way is by building partnerships and connections with fellow events, industry professionals, which circles us back to. That's why I joined NACE in the first place. I got to tell you, joining the Denver NACE that community literally gave me a return on my investment within the first couple months of being a part of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's incredible. How do you measure that return on investment? It's always a buzzword in the business industry because everybody wants their ROI, whether you're throwing in a big event. Say, a large corporation is coming in for a conference and they're spending a million dollars on this one or two day conference. They're flying in all their employees and they're buying all the food and drink and they're having entertainment and violinists like Jeri Camountain and Play and all the stuff that comes in it. What's their ROI of that event? When you're talking about ROI of joining NACE as an event professional, how did you actually establish that ROI and what kind of return on that initial membership did you get?
Speaker 1:Yeah, good question. In the marketing world you're always trying to make more money than you spend on your advertising. The metrics that you use is money, like how much money did this specific traffic source bring in for you? You have to be able to measure that. If you're putting out all these different profiles of yourself, all these different ad channels, you have to know how much business, how many dollars, did you get from people who found you through those channels. You got to measure those numbers. You also have to have good tracking to know that so-and-so's wedding came from WeddingWire. This corporate event came from a referral from NACE.
Speaker 1:I use a lot of spreadsheets in my business and I attribute here's where these leads came from. Then you know what the dollar amount is that you've earned from each of those channels within a given year. Then you can compare that to here's the dollar amount I spent on each channel. If you spent more than you brought in from that channel, you're not getting a positive return on your investment. However, a NACE membership is only $400-something per year for an individual. I know that if I book at least one gig from a referral from NACE which I did within like two months of being a part of NACE, then I I've already paid for my entire membership and the rest is just profit. It's gravy, so that's how I know. It's literally dollars spent versus dollars brought in.
Speaker 1:But I will say it's a long game. There are some channels that you can be profitable instantly on. There are some that might take a little while to get that positive ROI. When I first joined NACE in Milwaukee, i didn't see a positive ROI right away because, truth be told, i didn't know how to use my NACE membership. I stuck with it. I saw that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, started to get out of my introvert shell, talk to people, started to play and volunteer and sponsor different events with my performances, and then all of a sudden I started to get people asking hey, i've got a wedding coming up that your violin would be great for. Are you interested? Heck, yeah. So you do have to understand how to use your membership, but once you do, it's so much fun and it does bring in a lot of business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's great, and I think sponsorships is one of the biggest keys, at least for me and my company, that you touched on, because when you sponsor something, you're already going to be at the event or the thing anyways.
Speaker 2:You might as well put a little bit more effort into the event and sponsor it, and I think that's one of the best ways to get your name out there. If you just moved here or you're looking to get started or you're growing and expanding to another city, another state, i think that's the absolute best way that you can get your name out there, because you're going there and you're marketing to event professionals. They're not just anybody that's in the event space. They're people that have clients that spend a lot of money on different events and they need all kinds of different services. So if you're a photographer, you're a videographer, you're an entertainment company or decor or lighting all of the factors that go into an event I think sponsoring is one of the best takeaways that you can do and actively get involved and participate in the event. What are some other ways that you have utilized your NACE membership in the Milwaukee chapter or the Denver chapter that you've seen a positive ROI on?
Speaker 1:Yeah, i mean, i think just having conversations with every person in the chapter have been beneficial, because you can't sponsor every single event. That's like the fastest way to burn yourself out and exhaust your money if you're spending money on consumables or staff for these events, but the conversations and connections that you could make with all of the different members for example, if you talk to somebody who owns a venue and then that leads to another conversation where they then ask you to play for this next event that they're having, or if they're a wedding venue or they're doing a wedding expo, maybe they want to feature you that wouldn't have happened if you didn't have that conversation, or talking to one person might lead to a connection to a DMC and then all of a sudden, you now have access to all these other opportunities that you wouldn't have otherwise. Also because I had no connections in the Denver area. Joining NACE was the fastest way to make some friends in a new city, which that's something that you can't measure in dollars, but it's just incredibly valuable.
Speaker 1:I value our friendship. You, brian, it's great. We're going to go to a Rockies game soon. If you don't have this group of people, it's very lonely in this industry. This is a great way to I don't know not be so lonely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, and that's a big one for myself too, because you get other business owners that are managing teams and employees and people that are going through the same stages that you are or they've already been through that stage.
Speaker 2:Say, they've already hired 10, 20 staff members that they're actively managing and they've already gone through that growth stage where they're buying new equipment and investing and not seeing that ROI right away.
Speaker 2:But if you stay the course and play the long game, you eventually see all that work pay off And sometimes all it takes is that, hey, bro, you're doing great, like, keep working hard and going after your goals and your dreams, and then eventually it'll pay off.
Speaker 2:And I've seen that so many times where, like, i'm not sure if this is the right direction that we should go, and then we do it, and not kind of you get down for a month or two And then all of a sudden you start getting a lot of bookings from it And you see that immediate ROI. So it's always about that long term game and just kind of staying the course, working hard, kind of seeing through the trials that come your way And then always just bouncing back. So those friendships like like you and and everybody on the NACE board and just all the members that come in, that those friendships are invaluable. I mean you can't put a number amount on that Because you may not get a booking from it, but you get that encouragement or new ideas, new things that you can integrate that is worth so much more to the client that you might have totally overlooked.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, and that's why it's one of my missions to add value to all of our Denver NACE members memberships by showing them the world of digital marketing, showing them how to run Facebook Instagram ads, how to build a marketing funnel that squeezes leads from your visitors, and how to build out a sales process for consistency.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and that's something that you're actually doing for the NACE Denver chapter, isn't it? Talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right. So I am the director of marketing communications. Yes, within three months of joining Denver NACE, i became the director of marketing communications, which is a new role for me, so I'm learning a lot of things that were outside of what I'm traditionally comfortable as a marketing funnel specialist. So I am now doing a lot of organic social media in addition to some of our sponsors, which we are sponsored by SocialSpeak, which is a they're a social media management company, but I'm helping them out with that. But then, as far as like the things that I'm doing for Denver Nace, if you've ever gotten an email in the last couple of months that sounded kind of fun and peppy, that was my voice. I was typing out all those words trying to get you to come to our tequila tasting event in April. What I'm also doing, which I'm really excited about, is I am building out a marketing funnel for Getting new nace members, because you could do that. I'm here on one second, i'm gonna pause this, yeah. So that's something I'm really excited about and It's a new role. I just became the Nace Denver's director of marketing communications within a couple months of me joining, which I'm really excited about. It is stretching me because there are some things that Part of the role that I haven't done before as part of marketing, such as organic social media, which you don't need a huge organic social media presence to have success in this business. I know a lot of people in the events industry think that you do, but I've been learning it anyway, just because that's the way things have been done in our chapter, which I'm really excited about.
Speaker 1:Also, the thing that I'm super excited about, which is my area of expertise, is I am building out a marketing funnel for Denver Nace To get us more members.
Speaker 1:I want more people to know about the amazing things that our chapter is doing, and I'm doing this digitally.
Speaker 1:So I'm building out a lead squeeze funnel, which there are multiple types of funnels. You don't need to know about all of them, but you need to know that they are designed to get people to give me their email address so that I can then Mark it to them in the future via email or even retargeting with more Facebook ads. So I will be running Facebook and Instagram ads to the entire Denver Metro area, letting people know if you are an events industry professional and you want to Increase your business, get more leads on social events and corporate events, then Denver Nace is the place for you, so you can look forward to that. Within the next couple of weeks here, you should start seeing those ads running, and my hope is that we double our membership by the end of the year. I believe that we can like. Nace is such a cool thing that more people deserve to know about it, and I'm gonna do my job to let people know that it exists.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I love that you're so focused on increasing the membership, because The value of increasing the membership is so much. We'll kind of get into a little bit more of that. But when you have a thriving chapter with 80 members, 100 members plus, there's just such a huge value in that because when you're getting 50 people at each meeting, those are 50 people that you could potentially do business with Because we're all in the event space, like we're all very tight-knit and full-time in the event space that We everybody does quite a lot of business in Nace.
Speaker 2:So you get to communicate with all of them and then potentially just learn learn from them first and foremost, but potentially land more business through. That is that kind of what your goal is to see. You know 50 to 60 people at every single meeting and I think it'd be so cool to have like awards. You know 150 200 people at that event and then our big fundraisers. You know, having a hundred plus people there would be incredible to be able to talk to all those people, network and just build your personal brand with that. Is that one of your goals?
Speaker 1:Oh, Absolutely like I. I believe in the power of our events industry coming together, working as a whole, like that is. One of my big philosophies is There are abundant opportunities for everybody, like I know some people feel there's like competition between different event vendors, but I believe there's more than enough for everybody and the way to make that happen is by working together. And so I feel like I'm, if we increase our membership, we have a stronger network, stronger community that actually lifts up the entire events industry as a whole. So, yes, that is my big goal and my big vision for our chapter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, i love. I love that because you shouldn't be focused on competition. If you're focusing on that, that's kind of a scarcity mindset and you're thinking that these people are gonna take away from my company Instead of how can all of these vendors and these people that we work together, how can we increase the event industry as a whole? so more businesses, more people are seeing the value of throwing a live event and in booking, a lot of a lot of us are entertainment Companies, either lighting or DJ, or entertainment such as yourself, or kind of experience based items.
Speaker 2:You know we have bakeries and all kinds of different Companies and a lot of them are kind of event enhancement Companies, and so why would those companies hire, you know, our services to be at those events? And so if we are, if we're all working together to elevate the industry, all of a sudden Denver becomes the place to be to host your event, so that our services can be showcased and that they get To have a great event experience, because you know all of us are coming together to elevate the industry and make sure that they have a memorable event. Yeah, that's absolutely right. Love that out. There's competition that you have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and there's. There's the saying which I think everybody has heard, but maybe you haven't thought about how it applies to our industry a Rising tide lifts all ships. You know, if, if we individually get better, we start working together, then the environment becomes better for all of us. And, like you said, that means more, more business internally, like more Denver event, like personal occasions and Corporations and nonprofits are gonna host their events in Denver, but then we will attract business from across the country and even internationally to host their events in Denver, which I think that would be a great thing for everybody What we have in the Denver event scene.
Speaker 2:I think it's really special because you have such an international focus. You know You have Denver International Airport, you have a lot of major convention centers and it's a very large travel hub for people. And so if you're continually Evolutionizing the event space, what you're doing, creating new products and services and always Developing more, you just and get more value out of going to a meeting in Denver And so they'll choose Denver over some of the other larger spaces, because there's way more events in Florida. You know Las Vegas, los Angeles, new York, some of the bigger travel hubs. But if we all come together as a chapter of NACE and the Denver event seen as a whole, i think we create so much more value for our conference centers, for the hotels, for everybody That is in Denver to realize that Denver is a huge event scene And so we're gonna get more of the two, three thousand person Conferences that come into Denver because of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. And you you kind of hit the nail on the head here is, like When we come together as an events industry and provide so much value, what we're doing is we're creating Denver's unique selling proposition. The things that set Denver apart from Orlando or, you know, los Angeles, like what makes Denver unique is the people that are in its industry. Like it all starts with the people. So if we could bring those people together, align them on this vision, that is what is going to set Denver apart and make us more appealing on an international scale.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and that's where, that's where your, your money comes from, you know, at the bigger events and and how you're growing your business or you're Growing your employee base and and just creating more opportunities for everybody in the event space. I think that's that's really great, and I'm so lucky to be a part of the Denver event scene and be able to Try out new things and and just always develop new products and services and kind of going over your development. You seem you're very interested in self-development, you're always coming up with new Things in your company and you know new marketing services. What's that? What's that driving force that you have, because I think a lot of times we get so stuck and so comfortable in Our ways of thinking that we're not developing ourselves. What's some of the things that you do personally to develop not only your business but your, your music career And maybe just networking in the Denver event scene?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a good question. Um, i Don't exactly know how to answer this, so I'm gonna go on a little ramble and we'll see if good stuff comes out. But I believe like, first off, i have a growth mindset. I am always looking to grow, i always want to be better which recognizes like I have got room to grow in everything and I think everyone has room to grow and And just recognizing where you have those opportunities. That is like where the work is.
Speaker 1:I'm a big believer in personal development. I Have listened to a lot of personal development podcasts. I've seen Tony Robbins live. I Have Brendan Burchard's growth day app, which is a nice app with bite-sized chunks of personal development built into it, and then I listened to a lot of business books and podcasts. I'm just always learning. I think that's one of my big core values is learning. I am Happiest when I'm learning something new. I also don't believe that learning Happens until you have applied it to something Like. It's one thing to read about a concept and absorb it in your brain. It's a totally different thing to apply it to the real world. So that's. I'm always in pursuit of those kinds of experiences, which is why I, you know, learned how to market myself, how to build a marketing funnel, became certified in it. Same with the electric violin thing. Like I, it's a Problem-solving is like the big driving force behind all of this is like The problem for me was I wanted to find a way to play music that was relevant to the people who wanted to listen to it, that was fun to play and, you know, challenged me in a new way that, like, maybe I wasn't getting with my classical music playing.
Speaker 1:So electric violin provided that opportunity and Then it introduced a new set of problems. Like I got to learn how to play in this style. Let me take Tracy Silverman's Strumbling technique to learn how to play my violin like a guitar. Let me learn how to run sound for myself. Let me learn how to market this specific type of performance, which is different than marketing classical music. So it's just Fun problem-solving and I got. It's fun to me. I have so much fun every single day doing this like My. My wife doesn't understand how could work be fun, but like I don't know, someone once said a long time ago if you find something that you love to do, you'll never work a day in your life. So I don't feel like working. I just feel like I'm playing around all day and It's not an opportunities happen. It's so cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's that's incredible. And that that's when you know, i think, that you're doing What, what your purpose is in life. When you're, when you're just kind of in that moment and you're just solving problems Instead of complaining about things that come up, you just you're one of those problem solvers that, instead of complaining about it, you asked how can you overcome this, this problem, an issue? Have you felt that you can apply those same things in your business to Personal life and and everything that you encounter in?
Speaker 1:life. Yeah, it's a mindset that applies to everything. I Don't know exactly. You ask. I'm gonna edit this out. I just stumbled quite a bit. But do you mind asking that question again and maybe just be a little more specific about how I should answer it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah for sure. Do you? do you feel that That that mindset has helped you out in a lot of different Areas of life, and is there anything specific that it's helped you out the most, whether that be in business or personal life or nace related?
Speaker 1:Hmm, yes, very good question, and you're right, it is a mindset. It is a problem-solving mindset and, truth be told, i feel like it applies to everything in life. The biggest thing like all, humans will have problems in their life, you know. People will experience deaths in the family, people will experience financial loss, and I feel like this mindset helps cope with those problems and helps you Get back from pain faster, which enables you to be happier in life overall. And if you're able to do that faster and be happier all the time, like to me, i feel like that's a pretty good place to be in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely. I feel like you should write a book on overcoming problems in your business and how that relates to personal life. It's just such a valuable lesson in that If we all actually understood that in a way that we could apply, i think we would be so much further along in our businesses and personal life and just very successful. A lot of times it's easy to get in that negative mindset of just all these things happening to you and you're not actually fighting back against those problems.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's true. I don't want to lie and say that I'm happy 100% of the time. I just went through a very difficult period where the house we were renting was sold from underneath us and we had to move twice in under six months. That was very difficult on both my wife and I, but you got to solve that problem. It's going to happen either way. I was actually listening to a podcast yesterday that directly addressed this. You and I were chatting about this One of my favorite authors and marketing mentors.
Speaker 1:His name is Russell Brunson. He was a wrestler in high school and college. As part of wrestling, one of the worst things that they have to do is they have to cut weight before their tournaments because they have to fit within a certain weight class like lightweight, heavyweight, whatever. I'm not a wrestler so I don't know that much about it, but people, especially the kids practicing they hate that part of this. His coach once said to him this is a part of wrestling, this is a part of life. It's going to happen either way.
Speaker 1:The difference is attitude. You could approach this like most people do and complain and think about how much of a problem this is, how painful it is, and you wish you could be doing something else. Or you could flip the script and say I get to do this. How cool is this that I get this opportunity And then have a smile on your face, even if you have to grit your teeth and pretend for a little bit, fake it till you make it. But that attitude will change everything. All of a sudden, you'll be more open to solving problems, things will feel easier and you'll attract people who have a more positive energy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and I think that goes so in line with. there's a quote, i'm not sure who said it, but what you do behind closed doors when nobody is looking, that's who you are. So when nobody is cheering for you, when nobody has got your back, that's really who you are. So if you can go through those hard times and have a positive attitude with that, it seems like you have that down way more than 99% of people. It's just having a positive attitude about that, so that you can get through to the other side and see through the negativity with a positive attitude and overcome that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. Well, thank you, i appreciate it. You seem like you've got that covered as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome. Was there anything more that you wanted to share?
Speaker 1:Yeah, i think the last thing that I want to share, just if I haven't hammered it home already, is how much I believe in NACE, how much I believe that it is the way for event industry, business owners and employees alike to surround themselves with a community and network of people supporting them, helping them solve problems that aren't so easy to solve, find their peers, find their friends, find new family members and really learn from each other, in addition to having a great time at least once a month. Yeah, I guess that's it. I would love to invite our listeners to come to our next NACE meeting. We have our listing of events on our nasedenvercom website. Check us out, Reach out to me personally. You can find my email address at communications at nasedenvercom or you can email me at my website via linestheticstreamstringscom. I would love to welcome you to our nasedenver family.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Everyone should definitely join NACE. There's so many benefits we talked about are a Y of your membership that you get to be a part of an event family. You actually get to have a good time at the events. The meetings are actually a lot of fun. We do some really cool activities and food and drink and hang out with friends.
Speaker 1:For sure, If you ever need a violinist electric violinist for your events, go to extremestringscom and I would love to help you out.
Speaker 2:Jared is the violinist for Denver.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Well, thank you so much, brian. Do you want to wrap up this episode, or would you like me to take back over and step into the host role again?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess you could wrap up the episode. That would be awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much, Brian, for running this interview. This was fantastic. Your questions were awesome. It's been a privilege to be sitting across the mic from you. For those of you listening to this podcast, thank you again for listening to our third episode of the Denver NACE podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. Let us know what you thought about this episode. Send me an email. communications at nasedenvercom. Remember, just tune into our next episode and I'll see you at the next NACE meeting. Have a good one, everybody. Bye-bye.