How to Start and Run an Event Space and Private Membership Business

[Music] [Music] [Applause] welcome to the business men and women of color podcast I am your host and Austin and it is once again my pleasure to bring quality programs to all of you I am so excited yes again to be here with another amazing professional that's gonna be on a platform today we're going to be talking to her about her event space business because we need to know that we have professionals out there in the minority community that own event space so I'm really happy to talk to her today and we will be having her very shortly in 2018 this has been utterly amazing with all of these people who have stepped up to be part of the movement and I want to thank each and every one of them to be here if you happen to miss being on this platform this year make sure you sign up for the 2019 BMW LC season just in case you didn't know the purpose of the BMW LC is to not only share our industry information but we are encouraging you the career seekers to enter their line of work and understand the different career trends that's happening today so with that we want you to visit all of the pages and listen to all of the podcasts that we're going to have posted on this season there is a lot of information we don't want you to miss any of it so take advantage of it because you can't get this anywhere else other than the BMW LC one of the things we want to do before we get started is to thank our corporate sponsors and partners which are cats arena LLC Cheryl wood empowers concern and learning evangelism radio Genesis preferred solutions J coach international Nels tax help my financial home power STC I and the student teacher along with our other business partners and sponsors and else who is supporting this event so today we have all the way in Manhattan on Broadway we have Nash a job Yoon here who is the CEO and founder of Manhattan on Broadway event space located in Louisville Kentucky she recently left her career in corporate America after 20 years of dedicated service to step out on faith and through a trigon campaign at her church bates memorial baptist church she learned the importance of mulashi 3 and with that effort she and her husband renovated event space making it one of Louisville's unique event venues located in downtown Louisville Kentucky she recently also launched a new business venture called the exchange Homes that provide furnishing housing for business travelers military families vacations corporate housing units you name it and she is going to be here to talk about that and more so continue reading her bio while we talk to mâche hey how you doing hello hello everyone and hello listeners thank you so much and for having me no problem at all so I always like to begin let's talk about you know your background were you from what did you do before you got this event space and how did you even manage to get this awesome opportunity oh wow that is a very good question that I'm still trying to answer myself so let me start back then I was in corporate America for 20-plus years I worked at our utility company here in Louisville Kentucky and I had worked in several different departments and get myself too I went back to school got degrees that the corporate American job had paid for and at that point I realized hey let me store trying to apply for jobs that I know I'm qualified for and jobs that I could be a esta to to help bring the company up to the other great spenders so I apply for jobs that I know I will be qualified for and then once I you know get the rejection letters it was okay then I said to myself basically okay I met the glass ceiling effect so I know when I work I know what I could do and let me figure out how I'm going to be able to go ahead and exercise and get this done because I know what I'm capable of doing so I happen to be one day just how much great drag and down the street going to give me some a hot sandwich and some food and happy to be going past a building that I was kind of familiar with as growing up but you know just one of these old historical buildings right on Broadway in Louisville Kentucky and I just happen to her something said pour in I'm like what am i pulling in there's no science there's no business calling you in so I turned and I said okay God you got me you have me right here in this park about what am I supposed to be doing what am I supposed to be meeting what is this Oh building about what is going on at this point I had no idea what I was going to be doing so I got out of building being the person that I am I like to see what am I supposed to be doing so I got out walked around on Broadway and try to look inside the buildings I boarded up and then I went around the side and went on the back and I'm like okay God you don't have to reveal something soon because I'm posed to be here I felt the move but why am I here and happening beginning I don't I was headed back to my heart a guy walked up and said hey would you like to see the building I'm like uh yeah he's like well I'm trying to sell it I'm like wow there it went from there all the way until we went through a 360 renovation we got it out the place we brought back a beauty and architect it was historically a historical building it was originally built as a veterinarian hospital to specialize in horse care that's all significant for the city of Louisville since we are the home of the Kentucky Derby so the horses from the Kentucky Derby and Churchill down over his years ago used to go there to get service when they were sick so it's such a beautiful event space and now that we're up and operating we opened the doors chamber the third we do all type of space so even we do wedding birthdays corporate events bourbon tastings family union class reunions you name it people come in at the space type of their special event we are a one-stop event company meaning we could do everything you need from catering photobooth salmon AV chocolate fountains clop furniture decorations Kent you name it we house it Wow exactly so can you believe like the Derby's coming up in May it's always the first week in May so we got tons and tons of events going on for Derby and it's just every day we're doing something different every day and we love the fact that each event is help changing lives across the world so we're super excited that we're hitting the Broadway okay you know what I got a deep dive into this event space thing because usually I kind of deep dive even before that but what I really want to kind of get out of this podcast is okay so you drove up and had the opportunity to buy this space so for those people I know that there are tons of folks that may be interested in buying buildings we don't really talk about that much we always talk about buying a house buying a car all that kind of stuff let's talk about the process in which you had to buy this space and how you were able to get the funding to even renovate it because yeah I know me I'm an old HGTV look you know I'm looking at how can I get the money innovate my house I'm looking around my house like okay do I have enough equity to do what they're trying to do so I kind of want to get out of this podcast it turns up because you have such a unique thing that is really rarely talked about and I want to use this time for that so let's talk show and be glad to so what it was this is the old bit like I've told you so 100 years old plus those so there was no operating business and at the time that I happen to drive up and be able to see this amazing building and I was working in corporate America already and normally things should be you should already be working on you know you know you're going to open up a business are you looking for marchia property the normal steps will be to have a realtor involved the normal steps would be to have financing and everything already approved and ready I haven't sort of firms I have on capital Max didn't go that way so I don't know how helpful I would be everything will suit me try and guide stepping out on faith and believe in okay God if you want me to open up this business then you're gonna have to make a way the I did do that so I use all of my own resources that God has blessed me with in instead of me you know using money for everything else what I did was just basically use the money that I had and a few different other places and just brought it into a major investment of my own in a nutshell now is that the right way to always student it just depends on the situation I would have loved to been able walk into the bank and say hey I need a million dollars I would love to have been able to do that but it doesn't always work in our favor for that way so I had to do what I knew that knew that I could do and I already had some other real estate things working for me so I kind of just use every penny that I hear when I say P now I mean every penny ever since everyone read am and I just poured everything into it and guess what I am super excited that I have am I able to pay myself right now no no not at all but guess what it's so rewarding to be able to have something that you could call your own so when I'm ready to close the doors I close the doors and when I'm ready to enjoy something different I can store something different it's just a beautiful thing when you can't be able to say I have work for this I put everything into this this is nothing nobody came in and design I get this are remodeled I construction you know you could say this is all of my love and my vision in my passion right here so I'm super excited now it's a little bit harder you know for me to get to I need to be far as the revenue but guess what is coming so I'm so you just got to believe and I guess a lot of that stuff of me it's my relationship that I had with the board knowing that everything is going to you know add up to what it's supposed to and we went on four years now being open and he hasn't failed us yet so I don't foresee him doing it actually we're looking in other cities I'm looking in Huntsville Cincinnati in Nashville to place Manhattan on Broadway in a whole nother city too and have this one here in Louisville Kentucky to remain nice well thank you for sharing that experience because it's hard you know just trying to buy a house and you kind of pour it into this building just as if you were buckle and things like that and so I want people to understand that it is truly an investment that you are putting into it and you know and it will numb but at the same time you there's going to be trials or tribulations there's paperwork of course you've got any work to get it done but you got it nonetheless and like you say you have so many different events so after you had opened up your your business how did you go about marketing so that people will know that you have this nice event space and maybe talk about maybe some of the that you know people maybe organizations or maybe special groups that may have visited your place you know talk about stuff like that because I'm really interested to know like who showed other question I mean I know yes so we've been having such amazing some the day from from the time we had our grand opening up until now we have had nothing but amazing events every event has been nothing but just amazed I mean mind-blowing and what I think is happening is that when people come in to a very nice upscale well-kept very clean being you this own especially you know bad woman and a minority woman it did you know you got a lot of people at home let me see what this is about so when I come in and get that great customer service and they come in and get hospitality and they come and get the best service that I possibly get guess what they do they turn around and tell other people about it which keeps our doors open constantly when people come in for other people special even they coming in from Chicago Detroit DC they come in from all over cities because you're inviting their friends and families they live all over the world so we're able to be into right there you're almost like a melting pot because you got all types of people to come together from all walks of life all different our colors our ages and it's this amazing thing to be able to have a Event Center and see all these great events that go on we do have a lot of companies and corporate events that from all over the world who come in whether they're coming in for business or leisure they're able to come in whether to come with other clients they're coming to have business meetings we conduct trainings we have all type of neat private perceptions celebrity private reception parties because we know logos up and growing so the fact that we have our big Kentucky Derby that its major the draws people from all over the world and then the on location is we're so hot because we're right on Broadway any city you go to when you hear Broadway you hit one of the plant streets and we're right on Broadway well I think it has yes yeah I was going to say when you mentioned about the businesses you also are opening up an exchange on Broadway which is private and the share of co-working space so that's extremely high so we just did our we just unveiled that February 22nd and actually a company that we're partnering with club Court came down to help us to unveil it so whether it is a private membership club where the first of this kind in Louisville Kentucky so members will be able to have a beautiful location a corporate image they can work from through Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. they'll be able to come in and do co-working space or if they need to rent out a conference room or if they need to rent out a maybe a private meeting room or they need to have a private event center whatever they need they're able to have it right there if they're a member they will also be able to if they need a travel they'll be able to go we have over 300 plus Club networks of country clubs and golf clubs in business clubs throughout our network that wherever they travel to they'll be able to throw the other like-minded nice clubs that are private membership clubs where normally people not able to get into unless you are a member so to speak on that terms I partner with club court they provide those benefits for my exchange in Ireland the first African American affiliate owner so I'm super excited about that because that's breaking barriers it's like a barrier yes you're morally right I'm in Maryland I'm in Maryland I'm so impressed of it when I come tomorrow and I'll be able to come and work out of the Capital Grille I'll be coming work out the Eagles Nest Country Club and the golf club is South River in Red Door Spa and almost nice amazing places that are enrolling my baby just to show up and say hey I'm a member of exchange in Kentucky and I'm come to play a game of golf I'm coming to bring we're gonna have a conference here and they're not amazing like I just try wouldn't have that corporate image all over the world no I can't even imagine but you know I'm glad that you mention that because now people who are business owners they can join this private membership yeah and they can actually travel around and be able that is so very good to know and I'm gonna make sure I have that information that you just said at your on your page so that people can click on it so here we can we now you have another thing go you have you the founder inspire network for women international which is a member of professional women Network okay so talk a little bit about that cuz here's another entrepreneur opportunity that you got going on yeah and this is kind of more women coming to a lot of women to come together and for us to empower and spar and to sew into each other a lot of times people see women especially black women where we are competing I'm not about 2 p.m. about collaborating so wait for me to get this word out and to get this great energy going throughout the whole entire world but say hey let's come up with amazing group of women go out and recruit other great women less brainless meet other women let's have it once for other women and when they don't even have to be here locally because we are women who are part of this organization well around the world so we laugh stream and have meetings and the last dream and have all types of great trainings that are able to take and I'm also a personal coach a business coach so the business coaching and speaking in our speaking engagements as well I offer classes I have a mentoring program and a coaching program to itself so just be able to create a great platform and to help other women to be successful it's not just about me then success was about other one I did successful too absolutely and so you you mentioned that you do a lot of stuff online too that we talked about and I see that you have one that's called how to develop a six-figure business plan to make a profitable income and how to trust my service and to rent revenue generating profit Center that sounds really interesting and is that how did you come up with the concept of these two webinars well I I went through a lot of changing up my business plans probably a thousand times because even when I started out with Manhattan on Broadway back in 2015 it was strictly just always going to be Manhattan on Broadway welding in mid of 2016 I said okay something needs to go on Monday through Friday so then that's how exchange commerce club which is the business center that's how that came about because I had to go to plan B I said something needs to go on every day the weekends are packed but what are their money through Friday so that's how we came about with the private membership club Monday through Friday so I said well you know what I wanted other people business owners are they stuck on this one business plan and let me show them how to be able to develop a business plan that's going to work you know in favor of them because if one idea don't work or one plan don't work you need to be able to fall back and have plan B and C unless make those work and that's what we show you through the web not and the other class on customer service I was a customer service manager and their customer service leaders and working customer service and several different jobs I have helped throughout my career and my biggest thing is what keeps the people throughout my doors and it's customer service and we hear all the time if you get a chance you go to our reviews and they have them all on Facebook event boys on Facebook underneath Manhattan on Broadway check out the reviews you've got paying clients these are my family's not playing some paying clients and see what they're saying about that experience everyone teaches everyone who comes through our doors get this the grand experience we create experience it's not just coming to Manhattan on Broadway but you're going to have experience that you're going to remember you know from your time from being there and it's from the janitor all the way up to the CEO everybody's going to treat you with the utmost whether you're paying $2,000 or whether you can $20,000 you're gonna get the same treatment and we're excited about that because we love people and they had no wrong way wow this is fabulous I don't even know you I'm looking at your bio I just keep going so I mean cuz you're doing so much and what I like alone everything that you said thus far is that you're always looking for the next opportunity to do something bigger you know you started with just driving up and saying you know what I think I'm gonna put all my money in and have an event space and then you say you know what these people keep saying they need other stuff for their business and then you open up another venture so you got that going then you turn around and you're doing like these webinars and then your business and now I see that you have written some books so you also have them too and I'm trying to figure out when we do have time through all of that to pull out a couple of books and let me be as fun to be honest with you those books are still in the making they are connected that I don't even have the time but I gotta get them out because I don't mean people that I already ordered a rating on them and I got the content I just got it my publishers gonna kill me and I we gotta get them out but not only they have the time but I'm so big I guess you know what am I I love people and I want to see people grow I want to see people go to the next level I want to see people happy then my whole my whole life I have carried early about people so I'm always trying to find ways what can help somebody else it's not even about me it's bigger than me so my whole goal is always what can I do to help somebody else and that's the support of my life you know it's a lifestyle to me now so I'm always creating something different because I see a need and that's what I shoot for all right well with that said why don't you share three major big points that you would like to share with people who want to do what you do as far as event space and we know customer service is one but if someone wants to really go out there and do the business space thing or events space or any of that give them three really good pieces back all right that sounds great so I would say my first tip will be develop you a business plan for your event space and inside of your event space if it's out of the business plan make sure that you put a powerful marketing plan because your don't go into this is ever thinking that family things is going to be the ones to st. you let's stop that right now have a powerful marketing plan because we have events entered this centers for everybody so recognize your customer base your client so you need a powerful marketing plan that will be my first tip my second tip would be if you're going to do a event center location is key so it may not be the building that's close to you it may not be the building this close to your grandmother the it may not be the building where you grew up did it may be something completely different so how you going to be able to determine that as you're going to have to study your target market so whatever your target market is and what you're going to need to do is try to get with a commercial real estate real estate agent and say hey this is what I'm looking to do whether you analyse it I purchase it and this is you know the locations to the sides and let me walk you through those types of things that may work better for your events space but and then my last key point I would say to anyone who's wanting to open up babe in space is have a plan B have a plan B don't solely just focus on okay I wanna open up event space and that's it so when you think about easy and think about what all it takes to run Events Center don't just be a hall be a full-service event being you or people come through the doors and they had on Broadway they can get catering we have a bar service we have event rentals we have decorators we have floors we have event rentals we have tents all of these things but that's what these people need these things are especially being anyway so if you don't have it and you can get revenue off of against what they're going to go rent it from some other company why not have a one-stop shop people love one-stop shop beanies so be a one-stop shop being you where people come and get everything for cyberspace and I promise you if you do it that way and you follow the business plan your business it's really effective in if you need help with the business plan we offer those classes and courses to you will go leaps and bounds and you know if you're doing intercepts you're supposed to do it it yep and there will be my three tips I will pass on to you and I like those three tips those are awesome those are really awesome tips and I'm pretty sure people have their ears like glued to this thing right one la me she is giving some hot stuff okay she already has two venue stuff going on she knows what she's talking about and I want people to you know start really engaging with you so yeah you know so are you having any current like online webinars I know you mentioned one but are you involved in any other activity where people can come out and see you speak or maybe you're having an event in Louisville that you want people to get you in person I just want to be around summer months when this podcast comes out oh yes yes so we have networking events all the time and a way to find out what we're having the hosting is to go to our website which is you got Manhattan own Broadway that's all together Manhattan on Broadway calm we're on social media we're on Twitter on LinkedIn we're on Facebook we're on Instagram and we keep all our marketing director put all of our events on there we have bourbon and business networking mixers we have all type of neat events for business owners to come to we have got a big Derby Day party you come to Louisville for Derby then we have a nicest Derby Day party for the grown but for grown people this won't be no kids involved but we have a nice classy Day party that is super amazing gives you the whole experience at Derby and you can follow all of our what we do through Manhattan on Broadway I do have my own personal page for my personal brand on Facebook too as well it's called nation trip you speak nation trade you speaks inspiration I think that's what it is yeah they shan't trade you speaks inspiration that is my full name and I'm also Instagram underneath nation theme in ACH a and D and then speak as well my website for my personal brand or classes and all that most web designers working on right now but that's going to be up and going this nation sww nation tribe um all right fantastic so okay so I really want to appreciate you coming out here and really stepping up to let people know about your business and their new ventures and your book coming out and if you people that are listening I'm talking to you guys that if you're interested in trying to open up an event space or share work work space lightning shelters did I think you really should just rewind this whole podcast and really pay attention to what she actually said on how she kind of got into it and it may not apply to everybody but the core is that you have to invest in yourself and you have to do what you need to do to make it happen if this is what you really want to do and also to her earlier I want to add that when she said that you have to accept all that comes with it we're talking about taxes we're talking about electricity we're talking about anything that has anything to do with a building inspection fire coals all that kind all yet you still get who keep it it's not just having a building where you can walk in anytime it is all the stuff that comes with it but it result is is that you are doing something that you're really happy about and having an event space that people can come and have a one-stop shop is I think is the best because there's so many shared coal workspaces out here but they only give you one of this and one of that but it seems like you know you're doing your thing over there you doing your thing so I really appreciate that and thank you for being in the podcast I have no comment I thank you so much to have those or not to see flashes over everyone on the planet Earth today [Music] [Applause]

Channel: ALSTNTEC Small Business

Views: 5,117

Rating: 4.9333334 out of 5

Keywords: business, career, podcast, professional development, speakers, authors, small business, bmwoc, alstntec

Id: rN_xxdNXwQ0

Length: 30min 47sec (1847 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 14 2019