Act like they don’t want to stop…” (c) Fabolous “The Fabolous Life”
Sparklers are responsible for over 60% of the bottles sold at my parties. FACT. The sparklers command attention in any environment and no matter how many times you have seen them, you cannot help but to glimpse at the trail of lights and see who is on the receiving end. This is, afterall, why we purchase the bottles of Ace, Dom, Moet, Clicquot, and Cristal. Sure we happen to like the taste but we fall in love with the experience, attention, and prestige of it all. These $0.40 sparklers should be a promoter’s best friend.
It has been 364 days since I walked into a building with an ID, performed work for a set number of hours, had an established lunch time as well as length, and looked forward to Friday on a Monday. 364 days since I came home and told my girlfriend that I would no longer be heading back to the office. And while the exit did not go as I had planned on paper (I was fired) I do remember feeling relieved and anxious. I knew I would be OK. I was fired based upon the same traits that made me an entrepreneur: ambitious, headstrong, knowledge of self worth, and an inability to follow authority figures with whom I felt should not be in a position of power. In short, I could not be managed — not bragging, just the truth.
Hollywood South had just occurred September 13, 2008 and was a huge event. A platform was finally shaping that would allow me to display my talents. What was there to worry about?
“We’re going to be alright. I’m going to make the party game work.”
I remember thinking “We’re going to be alright, right?” and some sort of an internal nod occurred confirming that I would make this happen. From that day on I would not regret anything and I would only spend my energy on moving forward. I had one more paycheck coming my way and from there I would have to simply make it work — and I did.
It was a time where no one really understood what I was doing, or that this business was viable but everyone believed in me and pushed forward into the smoke-filled tunnel that only seemed to be clear to me. So as I approach the day that everything changed, I’m grateful because it is hard to walk away from stability, from tradition, from a steady paycheck and to be honest I do not know when I would have done it myself. Everything does happen for a reason, which is why I repeat the line so much.
The song that really got me through some isolated times:
This past Monday I withdrew the payment that went along with the exit agreement. Exit agreement? Let me bring you up to speed, in July I began to work on a buyout agreement that would purchase my partner’s share in Culture19 and make me the sole owner once again. Many people have asked me about the details or causes of the buyout but it is something I simply will not divulge because it is just unnecessary.
What I have learned from this all is that there will be casualties of war. Those casualties will cost and depending on the value of your company, those costs could be pretty high. With that said, mistakes cost money while due diligence costs time, which in some cases equates to money as well. You have to pick your poison…
There comes a time when you look around and you put your contributions, core values, and future plans versus all others and you have to be objective, relationship aside. Upon doing so, I simply did not see a great fit and I chose to make the necessary moves to acquire full ownership.
To say that a lot of time has lapsed since the last posting would be an understatement. I won’t say that I do not have the time, because I do, but it has been allocated to other activities that I can definitely stand to take a break from. A lot has happened during the course of two months with the most notable being a weekly Friday promotion at Dolce Club. To attempt to discuss over two months of activities would be nearly impossible, inaccurate, and absolutely non-resourceful as a result. Instead I’ll do what I try to do in any situation that I can; bullets! bullets!
My dinner parties have been going strong. Growing pains are impossible to avoid, but I adjust quickly. They’ll be just fine
Dolce Club has been a great opportunity. I am certain that there will be a long term relationship
We’ve had hits & We’ve had losses @ Gianni’s
I am very much aware of the Gianni’s reaction since introducing the Friday promotion, however no amount of research in the world can give definite results, so the show had to continue in order to receive viable data even if it meant loss.
So, it is ridiculous to think that an element can be added to an equation and not impact the output. You do not have to be great at nightlife to anticipate such change, but this is now the point where a business: changes nothing and hopes for the best, changes everything and oversteers into disaster, or like Obama has said on many occasions, grab a scalpel and meticulously adjust your elements in order to remain viable.
A couple of months ago I received a late night text that awoke me from my sleep from my business partner, Ant, saying that we should “have a hooka party”. In my moment of cluelessness I wonder “what the hell has gotten into Ant?” and “has he been drinking?” I immediately awoke Morgan to ask her about it and she let me know about hookah’s, not hookers as I had previously interpreted. So, alright I still know nothing about hookah’s but this social smoking started making its rounds amongst my peers and seemed like something I could build into a promotion. It’s current to our generation and has roots that could be explored further to create a presentation that could be more than an excuse to create a hookah lounge.
Over the next few weeks I lightly researched hookah’s including its origins, which included middle eastern Arabia. It is then a matter of whiteboarding and building out this promotion in a way that introduced the patrons to additional cultural customs while still connecting, which is what has made Culture19 special: The ability to go very far to the left, while still keeping the promotion relevant to the public.
I don’t know who initially made this statement or why people have become so accepting of it, but mockery is definitely not the highest form of flattery - it is both corny and unoriginal. The guy that duplicates what has been done is the same guy on the basketball court that justified cherry-picking as a legitimate way to score points.
It has always been important to me to be ahead of the curve. Being a tech junkie has helped this effort tremendously and explains why I was the first in the market to see the promotional value in Myspace thus setting it up as a marketing page for RaleighParties. I joined Twitter shortly after it was open for public registration, and began vlogging to build a personal connection with people.
Since entering the nightlife space as a provider in September 2008, I have seen blatant concept dupes and marketing that I have influenced. To the promoters that read my blog and watch my moves but would never admit to it, let innovation inspire you to innovate as well. Innovation begets more innovation, now that is a quote I would be willing to stand by.
No bragging, but I have gotten the promotional video creation process down to a science and can produce them rather easily, however not today! My secret application crashed on me 3-4 times giving me the infamous BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH. Although Culture19 may be at the point where a video trailer is no longer as valuable as it was when we had zero brand recognition, I still refuse to let up on anything as it is a clear sign of comfort. So after 4 hours of frustration and bad posturing, here is the video for Rain. Enjoy.
Last thursday I kicked off my first invitational dinner party with many more to come. About 25 guests were in attendance including old friends, business partners, new friends, family, and friends of friends. The idea here is that I would start with 15 invitees that I personally cosign and ask them to forward the invitation to their closest friends. For now, the party will be held in private dining rooms of restaurants but will eventually grow to take over the main room of practically any restaurant.
Business Model: The first thing most people asked me was how would I monetize, or make money from this. In other words, what’s the point of doing this if you aren’t making money. Few things:
I’m a “connector”. I bring people together and enjoy every aspect of it, no personal gain necessary. If I know two great people then they should know eachother.
Intimacy Factor: I genuinely invest in people with no effort. What they are up to, how they are feeling, what they want out of life, how they are going to get it. Typically most will recipricate, thus investing in me. As a result we both want to see eachother succeed and will play whatever part in assisting.
There is a business model developed, but I’m not investing a lot of time into it because as I’ve seen with Culture19, you cannot account for the opportunities that will come your way. I can comfortably say that the way I plan to monetize will probably NOT be the way I actually end up profiting.
Of course I care about the business end of every move, but the monetization will come when it is time. The sole purpose is to provide something new, great, engaging, and inviting. Thanks to everyone for coming out and supporting the latest venture. View Photos
