22 Mar #02: A Favorite Uncle and 100 Year Flood | Robyn Bass of Maple Ridge Events
Building a team and being resilient
For today’s episode, I sat down Robyn Bass at her Nashville office to talk shop over coffee (too early for bourbon!). Robyn is the CEO and owner of destination event management company, Maple Ridge Events. Robyn’s path into the event industry began after a short live dream to be a country music singer. When a career as a country music superstar wasn’t in the cards, Robyn began working for local restaurants and event companies, cultivating the knowledge and passion that serves her now. It was a natural disaster that became the catalyst for her transition to business ownership. We talk through how a not so great job connected her to the key players of her current success, how failures are where you learn the best (and hardest) lessons and how building a team around the company culture she envisioned has helped her take her company to the next level. Plus some notes on luck and her extensive home bourbon collection. Pretty sure our next conversation will be at her place!
Listen on iTunes | Listen on Stitcher
Key Topics:
- Serving the market and why it should help dictate your business plan
- Finding the right people and building a team based on personalities
- Being a leader and a CEO
- Creating a positive company culture
Listen if:
- You want inspiration for being an effective leader
- You are struggling with your business and the idea of an “ideal client”
- You’re about to make your first hire in your business
Key Takeaways:
You have to analyze your weaknesses, and find somebody to fill that.
A business has to exist outside of you.
Sometimes you have to take business because you need the money. It doesn’t mean you have to market that business or include that in your messaging.
Connect with Robyn on LinkedIn and learn more about Maple Ridge Events by visiting their website.
Vernacular:
- DMC: Destination Management Company (See this video for more details: http://mapleridgeevents.com/event-management-services/services-what-is-a-dmc/)
- CMP: Certified Meeting Planner
- DMCP: Destination Management Certified Professional
- CPA: Certified Public Accountant
Other Points of Note:
- David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell (developing your strengths vs. playing catch-up on your weaknesses)
- Tony Robbins, I am Not Your Guru
What did you think? Review the podcast and subscribe to Bosses & Bourbon. Have a question? Email Krista at krista@bossesandbourbon.com.
Krista Chapman of Path & Compass, marketing & strategist to the wedding & event industry works with a lot of smart, hard-working bosses in her consulting work. Entrepreneurs that you’ve never heard of that are rocking out their independent wedding & event businesses. Owner-operators that have created solutions and strategies that WORK. Listen to these candid conversations where Krista and her guest boss, talk shop (maybe over bourbon) and get real about running a successful business in today’s wedding & event industry.