EP131: "Risk, Hustle & Success: How Dodge Woodall Nearly Lost Everything In His Pursuit To Build The World's Biggest Sport & Music Festival!"

Speaker A: Hello and um, welcome to another episode of the Dan Assor show. Inspiring and insightful conversations with event professionals. Be notified first about new episodes by hitting the follow button. And please Visit the show's YouTube channel where you can watch episodes of the show and enjoy bonus content. Good morning to Dodge Woodle. How are you doing today, Dodge?

Speaker B: I'm very good, Dan. Nice to be here.

Speaker A: Uh, well, it's a pinch me moment for me my friend, because uh, it's like the, the Apprentice interviewing the, the Master, the Master podcast. So I feel like I'm, I'm, my homework's going to be marks.

Speaker B: So.

Speaker A: Thank you, thank you for, for coming on today. I really appreciate it. Um, Dodge, you run a podcast, amongst other things, about the eventful lives of people and you have some great guests and it's safe to say that you've had and are having an eventful life. And I want to sort of channel my inner Dodge Woodle. For those that listen to your podcast and, and say to you, let's roll all the way back and um, ask you how you ended up running the world's largest music and sports festival and becoming a podcast. Podcast, podcast host for millions of uh, viewers.

Speaker B: It's quite a uh, it's been, it's been some journey, Dan. It really has. And um, I've been involved in the events world now as an adult for 20 plus years, 27 years. Throwing parties, uh, putting on festivals. And it all started really from a kid. I grew up in London living above pubs in London. Uh, we had a nightclub next door to our pub and uh, I was just around that environment the whole time, you know, and you get to learn things very quickly. You get to learn the entrepreneurial spirit, um, and you get to learn how to, how to sell, how to promote, um, and create win win situations. And sort of as a kid I was around that environment the whole time and uh, you learn very quickly through street wise and um, that's led me into the events, events world for the, for the last 27 years.

Speaker A: Yeah. So you, you really grew up, I mean I guess you know, people, you grew up in a pub, people going to a pub. It's almost an event in itself. Right? So I guess you got to see, you know, people turning up, having conversations, all sorts. Give us some of this sort of fondest memories of those experiences as growing up as a child.

Speaker B: Well, I guess, I guess growing up in a, in a, in a pub. It's a real popular pub as well. It was on the River Thames. We had a nightclub next Door. It was a feeder pub. It was on two floors. Dad and a. Dad and mum. The first people, they bought DJs in there. They bought, uh, everything was fancy dress and they, they threw a lot of parties in there and it was like back in the day, people, if you remember, people to go to the boozer at 6, 7 o' clock at night, drinking that booze until 10:30, 11, then ship off to the nightclub next door. That was the way it was in the 80s and 90s and ah, and naughties really. Um, and yeah, just, just being in, learning, that environment, you, you get to see things. You're around dorman, uh, you're around entrepreneurs, you're around business people, you're around toxicity, you're around violence, you're.

Speaker A: You.

Speaker B: You see everything. As a kid, you know, and I um, absolutely loved it, absolutely loved everything about it. And uh, you learn to become a, an entrepreneur and a, and a businessman at a very young age. And you know, my mum and dad were. Dad's from East London, mum's from Manchester. Two entrepreneurs, um, weren't educated, left school very young, but they had this wonderful gift of giving me self belief as a kid. Um, and as an adult now and a dad, the best gift you can give your children is self belief, you know, and you can do this or go for it. Fancy, do it. You go for it, go and check it out, even work it out. And um. Yeah, yeah, I feel very privileged. Very privileged. Uh, very different upbringing though. Dan.

Speaker A: I was gonna say it might, it might put some people, you might have seen a few things and thought, you know what, this isn't for me, you know, I don't know, you know, when you went to school, whether you were kicking around with people with us, you know, they're in a similar situation, or you once went to school where, you know, kids were living in, I guess, quote unquote, a more normal environment, not above a pub. And you might have thought, well actually I want some of that rather than what I've got. But what you're saying, it actually helped you and you're drawing on that experience today when you're running your businesses, is that fair to say?

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker A: You started your career diving into the live events industry and organizing parties and nightclubs. I, I think. Were you at university? Was that right?

Speaker B: Yeah, in my second year at uni, I started throwing parties, uh, at the local nightclub in town and um, worked out a business model that was, uh, I kept that business model for the next 10 years when I left. Unique.

Speaker A: Right Tell us about that. But how did you. Again, I'm always interested from an educational perspective. People listening to this podcast, you know, they might be in a similar position. Um, when you say you worked out a business model, how did you do that? Is that drawing from your experiences of, you know, being in the pub environment, having nightclubs next door or did you just.

Speaker B: I guess so, yeah. Well you think about it. When I was 10 years old, I was selling tickets to the nightclub next door. So people would come to the night, go to the nightclub next door, but they'd come into dad's feeder pub before. I'd go to the, the manager of the nightclub next door and buy tickets for a pound and I'll sell them for £2. All the people in dad's pub. But it was a win win situation against, they're buying for two pound but they'd get Q jump. So instead of them queuing up with a thousand people down, down the road, they'd get queue jump and get straight into the nightclub. So you know, at the age of 10, I was selling 20 tickets on a Saturday night and coming out of £20. And in the 80s, £20, a lot of money for a 10 year old for, for like half an hour's work just before everyone's leaving in the pub. And it's funny because you think about your upbringing and your upbringing has uh, a huge impact on who you become today where, however you're taught from your parents or whatever you see or your environment. You know, when I look back I think, wow, okay. I was selling tickets to nightclubs at the age of 10 every Saturday. And then in my 20s I was taking, selling tickets to 10, 000 students every single week across the UK for 10 years. Uh, across, you know, I had 12 nightclubs every week, uh, in different cities. I'll take the door money, they take the bar money. And it was just an amazing business model because at three quid a pop, um, and 2, 000 capacity clubs, um, the sums really works out nicely.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's like, sorry, I was going to say it's the same as what you're doing now and just generally in business ultimately you're, you're buying something or selling something at a price and trying to get a margin on it.

Speaker B: I mean that's absolutely the thing that I got taught from my mum at a very early age. She was like pound a man, pound a man. The first deal I ever did as a 10 year old was a pound a man. I would earn that extra pound. The first ever deal I did at the age of 22 or 21 at university was go to the local nightclub. They had a thousand people in there, and they were charging two pounds. And I went in there and I said, listen, I'm, um, one of the main faces on sports campus, one of the main rugby boys. How's about we, we charge three pound, I keep the extra pound and I'll get more students into your club every Wednesday. And they signed the contract.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: So in my second year at university, I was coming out of, you know, that nightclub. I was coming out with 2,000pounds cash every single week in Loughborough. And I had another nightclub in London, in Wandsworth, and that was gonna be a thousand pounds a week. So as a student, I was getting three grand a week in the. In the mid-90s. Wow.

Speaker A: What were you doing with all the money?

Speaker B: Uh, saving it.

Speaker A: Were you seriously?

Speaker B: Ah, yeah, mate, yeah, saving it. I was stashing, I was keeping it. I was like, building my pot because I was like, this business model is unbelievable. So when I got into my final year, when I finished uni, I was like, I'm not gonna get a job because I don't think I'm employable. I'm gonna, I'm gonna identify all those big nightclubs that are in the UK at the moment sitting empty. The mega nightclubs are sitting empty. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I would approach the nightclub and say, you're sitting there empty. I'll take the door money, I'll pack all the students there every single week. You take the bar money. Win, win. And it was a, uh, it was a wonderful business model because that nightclub was closed in the midweek. You know, we were the pioneers of student parties in the 90s and naughties. So it was a wonderful business model that we scaled in, in, uh, when, in our second year, to three nightclubs a week. Then it went to six nightclubs a week the following year, then nine nightclubs and the following. We had 12 nightclubs every week across the UK. So from Birmingham, Manchester, Oxford, London, Brighton, Bournemouth, all over, you know, and it was, um, no social media. It was all flyers.

Speaker A: Uh, right. We were like, literally on the street flyering.

Speaker B: I guess I must have spoken. I've spoken to hundreds of thousands of people to face. Face to face. Yeah, flyering for 10 years because you're thinking about, they're going out, they've got two options of maybe two nightclubs. You're, uh, you're trying to get them into your nightclub and not that nightclub. And once you've got them into your nightclub for four weeks. The other nightclub ends up getting closed down. Then you'll have everyone for that 32 weeks of the student calendar year.

Speaker A: And uh, you said something there that I just want to go back to. You said, um, you got into it because you thought you, you weren't employable.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Why did you think that? Is that because you were looking around seeing, you know, know people that you were with getting certain types of jobs that you thought, you know, in an office or whatever that weren't for me. And like what, why, why do you think you weren't employable?

Speaker B: I couldn't think of anything worse. Being told what to do. Simple as that. What to do, what to wear, when to, when to arrive for work, when do we got to leave? You know, I look at environments now. I think people are, they're adults, they've been told what to wear. Like, got to be there at nine o' clock and you finish at five. If you leave at five, everyone's sort of creeping out the door thinking, oh, am I leaving early? They're feeling guilty, people are staring at them going, they're leaving at 5 o'. Clock, why they're not staying later. Sod that. The environment is awful in the corporate world, in my opinion, you know, and I spotted that from a young age. And when you're a kid, you, you, uh, you, you become streetwise very quickly in London. And um, I just knew that I've always created my own businesses from the age of 10 to different businesses all the way up to the age of 20 earning money, the money just got greater and you're working out, you know, you're working what works in business. And I've always thought to uh, create win, win situations. And it's a very simple one liner, but it's true.

Speaker A: Yeah. Um, what sort of motivated you then? Was it the money or was it, did you get off from doing the deals or did you not have. Some people I speak to, they just were doing stuff, they didn't know where it's going to lead to, but they were quite enjoying it, you know.

Speaker B: I loved it. Yeah, I loved, right. I loved going to a nightclub that was closed and then finding out the manager or the owner's number and going and have a meeting in that club to have a look at their club. That feeling when you walk into a nightclub and there's no one in there and you're visualizing a main stage of visualizing where the DJs are visualizing everything, the movement of people and you know, I've got a massive buzz. I've been in so many nightclubs in my life. That, that buzz, that feeling of knowing uh, that you could get 2, 000 people in this club or 1500 people in this club, that's a lovely feeling. Then you cut the deal with the club and get the contract side only a one pager, dead simple. Get the contract signed and then it's up to us ready for those students when they come back in September to promote the backside out of it with hundreds of thousands of flyers and posters and looking after all the captains and sports team so they can all queue jump. And the model was just lovely. And that lasted from 98 to 2008.

Speaker A: And you mentioned sports there because if I'm not mistaken, you're you. I was going to say you were, but you still are a sportsman. I guess you're, you're a good nick. I think you pride yourself in, in your, in your fitness. Um, how's that been important to you? Like I guess during that time as well? Do you think I gave you the focus? Obviously it gave you the connects to get people into clubs, etc. Um, how was like, you know, keeping fit and doing sports throughout your uh, journey been important to you?

Speaker B: So important, so important. The most important thing, my health. Feeling good, feeling in great nick. You know, just everything about feel, uh, training is not just for your body and, and people just think you've got to go to the gym and all that. It's not, it's what you put in your mouth. You know, if you're putting crap in your mouth, which majority of the uh, the foods that are on the shelves these days is loaded with sugar. It's just um, it's not a good, it's not a good place. Having lots of sugar in your body and because it affects your mind so much. But for me, sports, everything, you know, having a healthy body, healthy mind, you can cut better deals, you can last longer, you're not slumping, you get respect from people. I respect people who are in good nick, you know, because you have that mutual respect saying, mate, you've had a lot of discipline, can see that, you've worked hard for it. You can't get in good shape and feel good without grafting and having discipline to say no to, uh, certain things in life.

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And I just want to go back to the nightclub bit for a minute. Like were there any major uh, um, challenges, pitfalls, any times that you can think about where you thought, well, this isn't going to work but you managed to overcome them again, just like people listening because it's not a straight line to success. Right. I'm sure during that many years it was, was it like 10 years you running the clubs?

Speaker B: 10 years running. Uh, we created three brands.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Back then, student brands. One was called Popular Cherry, of course. Uh, the next one was. Yeah, next one was fill your boots. And the other brand was Love.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Yeah. So we created three brands that we could go. The reason why I did that is one of the reasons. Because if you go into a cities, for example, went into Oxford, there's two nightclubs. You go into one nightclub and take the Wednesday night and then you, you end up closing the other nightclub down because they're all coming to you. The other nightclub says to you, uh, can you take our Monday night? So all of a sudden you've got, you got the, you got the market. So you've got a Monday and a Wednesday and two clubs. That's why we created different brands. And um, it was, look at, looking back, it was a lot. It wasn't a complicated business. You know, we, it was, it was um, a quick hit business. You know, the more people we got in your club times three pound that goes straight in your pocket. The outlays, one loads. We didn't have offices. We were traveling around the country, staying in hotels Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Um, we setting up teams of people in every city where we were. There's A team of 12 people in Manchester or Birmingham and whatever, they're your promoters. You're sending the flyers and posters up. You got family and friends taking the door money on the doors. You're in, you're making sure that I was in with every head doorman because they had the clicker. So if I'm phoning up, I can't be in, in all these places at once. So you're building really good relationships up with the club managers, the head doorman. I'm making sure that your night's protected because there's lots of people out there when they see someone successful come in and want to take your business away from you.

Speaker A: So yeah, I was gonna say that. Ever did that ever have try and. Or that nearly happened to you? How did you deal with that to give us.

Speaker B: Loved it.

Speaker A: Oh, you loved it?

Speaker B: Loved it, yeah. Uh, loved it. Absolutely loved it, yeah.

Speaker A: What do you love about it? What the buzz like, you know, just the address.

Speaker B: Everything about. Everything about someone trying to take your business off you. When we're in our 20s was a buzz because it makes you work harder it makes you graft harder, it makes you promote harder, it makes you build more relationships up with the key, key people of influence at those universities. Make sure you're looking after people, make sure you're getting Q jump. Makes you looking after all the sports teams. Make sure you're just looking after people. I'm not saying give them freebies, but you're looking after them, building relationships. And you know, I was never taught this. It was just something you learn. You learn as a kid and you learn as getting into your adulthood. And again, it's creating women situations and it's being nice to people, you know, and when you're speaking to, uh, thousands of people, and I was doing it for 10 years, every night you've got 10 seconds with people to turn their mind to get into your nightclub rather than the other nightclub. You know, there might be 10 people there. All of a sudden you're thinking, okay, well, yeah, I loved it. I loved, I loved competition.

Speaker A: Yeah. I mean the nightclub world, I don't know if today, but back then could, I guess, definitely be a bit murky. Right. You get some characters, lots of characters, especially on the doors. Did you get any sort of physical threats to you, whether verbally or like person or whatever? Like, you know, my patch sort of thing?

Speaker B: It was uh, yeah. Okay.

Speaker A: What happened?

Speaker B: Of course, um, of course you got to think we, we were me and my best mate when we set it up. My best mate from the age of four, um, he's, he's ah, a, he's a tough, he's a tough cookie. And um, we were, we were going into other people's cities. We're going into Manchester and fly post in the whole of Manchester or fly post the whole of Birmingham or Leicester or whatever it was. And obviously local promoters won't like that. Um, but you did what you did because we didn't know any different. We were just hungry to pack out our nightclubs and then leave at 2 o' clock and go to the hotel and then drive back down to London after doing our four days across the country.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I guess also taught you about managing teams. You said there, you know, you had teams all over the country.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: In the different places where you had these 12 nightclubs. Um, have you drawn on those experience today? You know, when you set up Bournemouth Sevens and elsewhere. And now, you know, I, ah, see a lot of your stuff and it seems like, you know, you give people a chance, you're not too fussed about their background. It's really how they show up and Attitude. And I can imagine you've drawn on how you used to run the teams like back then.

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: Tell us about, tell us about how you've, I guess, evolved your leadership style during those experiences.

Speaker B: But if you think about it like when you're in your 20s and you're setting up teams of people in every city you're at, you know, we were on the end of the phone, you know, it's like making sure you're looking after them, making sure you're giving them the cut of the door, making sure they're incentivized, making sure they're happy, making sure that they're flirting the halls of residence, flyering people's cars, putting posters up in the right areas. And you know, you've got to build relationships on the end of a phone. You might be 200 miles away, 150 miles away. But that leading into coming into my 30s, it went that. When, when I left the nightclub world, it was like, right, sport and music festival now then it was offices, then it was telephones, uh, in the offices. Then it was better setup. I didn't need that setup in the world I was in, in the nightclub world. So it then changed to a different environment. But I, I brought my skill set into this environment and that's where we are today 20 years on. And I'm not worried about CVs, never read a CV. I'm about people. I'm about giving people an opportunity, giving people a chance, giving self belief to people who don't have self belief, building people up, opening doors for people, um, giving them my contacts. I'm not precious, you know, and that's, I'm very lucky that I've had such wonderful, um, people working for me for many, many years because they're loyal, because I'm loyal to them. I look after people, I like to look after them very, very well. And, and, and it pays, it pays dividends. You know, it comes back to you. Um, and I'm very proud that my directors over the years have been me M. 11 years, 10 years, 10 years, 10. They've gone off and set up their own businesses and I've helped them and, and I've encouraged them because I wanted them to be entrepreneurs within the business and the, the teams of people we have now. I'll encourage everyone to be an entrepreneur within our business and that intrapreneur is the same as an entrepreneur, but they haven't got the financial risk. So if they want to try something and take a risk, go for it. But they're not going to lose out any money, you know, and I say give it a go. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. They bring ideas to the table. You know, I want people to feel very comfortable with decision making.

Speaker A: Yeah. Not be fearful if it doesn't work out. Right. And you're not gonna like go mad at them if it hasn't worked.

Speaker B: I'm not in the office. I've always run my business from my kitchen.

Speaker A: Yeah, well, I have, yeah.

Speaker B: You know, I've got beautiful offices, I've got great teams. I run from, uh, from 30 years and I'm still on the mobile phone. I do run all my business off WhatsApp.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: You know, I've got teams of people everywhere off WhatsApp. It's just a bigger version of what I was doing.

Speaker A: Just a better kitchen. A better kitchen, yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker B: The kitchens over the years.

Speaker A: Now you got a melee kitchen where before it was, it was, uh, Wicks or whatever it is. Let's talk about Sevens Festival. Um, yeah, because I do get a lot of event professionals listening. I want to talk about the journey because it's, you know, you, won't you say it quite flippantly, you know, went from nightclubs and, you know, be running a festival for 18 years. But let's sort of take you all the way back. What, what inspired you to, to do that and what gave you the confidence, do you think, to launch it?

Speaker B: Um, what inspired me is I saw a gap in the market, like I did see a gap in the market with the university, with the universe, with the student nights. Um, and I was the pioneer of that and I was like, wow, I've seen an opportunity and I executed it really well for those that ten year period. Um, and then I saw nightclubs fizzling away and I've got a really good gut instinct on when things are not looking good. I always feel I'm always like five moves ahead on things. It's just a, it's just something that I know. Yeah. Sixth sense. Um, and I just noticed that the nightclub world was changing because of the smoking ban. They weren't allowed to smoke in nightclubs and the 24 hour license, all the, all the bars were opening later, um, and people weren't leaving the bars at 11 o' clock and the bars were having little dance floors in there. So I just saw these things changing and I was thinking, right, I think it's time to get out now. You know, I've had a good stint in my 20s of, um, traveling up and down the country everywhere. Um, now, why don't I be. I don't want to be going to nightclubs. In fact, that was the answer. I don't want to be going to nightclubs anymore. The last couple of years I didn't be there, you know, a beautiful, uh, fiance. Uh, we moved down from London, uh, from Chelsea, we moved down to Bournemouth. And I just wanted to be at home in the evening rather than getting changed at 8pm in the evening and driving to a club or whatever. So I just saw a gap in the market. I saw that there was, uh, only, only about 10 festivals back in 2008 in the UK. Music festivals, the big ones, as you know, your Glastonbury's, your Isle of Whites, your festivals, your V Festival, your reading and your leads, etc, etc. And there wasn't. My background is sport and I used to go to the Dubai Sevens and I was thinking, hold on a minute. And I love Ibiza. Um, and I've been going to Ibiza for 30 years and, and, and I was thinking, how can I amalgamate creating an Ibiza feel, a sports feel, a music festival feel and amalgamate all into one. Um, and then come up the idea sitting on Bournemouth Beach One in 2008. And then, right, I'm going for it. But it's very, very different. Dan and I didn't know this. Naivety is a, is a gift in business. It's a superpower. I truly believe naivety is a superpower. I had no mentors anywhere, um, and I just thought, right, let's give it a go. But I was, um, quietly shocked early on, on, uh, what I was taking on.

Speaker A: Well, let's tell us about the early days. Um, and it's interesting you say about, you know, naivety is a gift because I, I agree with you. You know, as you get older, you think, well, am I going to take that risk? And actually I've learned from someone else, so that's going to be hard. And actually blocks your. Sometimes your creative process, doesn't it? Because you think someone else has tried that hasn't worked. Um, those first two to three years and I've listened obviously to your podcast and some of the stories that you've told about it. Tell us about those early, early challenges. Uh, you know, I guess financially, mentally, you know, you had a young family, I think, at the time, talk about that and, you know, the moments where you thought, I can't do this, or was there any sort of moment did you always thought it's gonna, you know, you just pushed on through.

Speaker B: I was all in, mate. Yeah, I was all in. I did what I did what. I didn't realize, Dan, what I'd let myself in for.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: You know, it's very different being a promoter of, uh, having your own brands and being a promoter of clubs than it is to, uh, owning a festival and hiring 67 acres of land and then realizing you haven't got a clue about. I knew what I was good at promoting. Well connected in the sports world. My pals at the time, all of them were playing for England rugby and just had loads of connections everywhere. It was really nice, but. And I knew how to add 100 DJs on my books. I knew how to create a great party. Uh, what I didn't know was infrastructure. About infrastructure. I didn't know about licensing. I didn't know about marquees and, and showers and toilets and police and all the different contracts, contractors, the venue hire agreements. All I obviously know about venue hire. That's probably the only one I knew about at the time if I wanted you, mate. But I, I was all in. I had no staff, I was working out, out of the, out of the house. Um, and there was a serious amount of pressure. When I look back now, I'm coming into year 18 of Bournemouth Sevens Festival now and we're still independently owned and very proud that we've had no investment from anyone and, and we've built it from scratch to where it is today. And it was really tough. That first year was really tough, mate, because I was thinking I could pay all the contractors and everyone post festival and then got to the January, the festival was in the May, got to the January, and, uh, everyone, uh, wanted their money. And I was like, oh, my God. I thought that my, in my naivety, uh, little mind at the time, it was like, I thought it was going to cost 100 grand to put on, um, and it ended up costing 300 grand to put on. Um, and in the January, uh, my wife was working at J.P. morgan. I was trying to juggle all this by myself, which was way too much. There was pressure everywhere. And, um, yeah, she, she left J.P. morgan. She's not a risk taker. She's a, She's a wonderful human being. Lovely. She's from Wales. She's all about animals, um, and plants and greenery. And she's just beautiful, you know, beautiful soul. And she's. She's about to marry a, A, uh, promoter from London. And, you know, so there was a lot of, there was a lot of things going on There and then, basically we had 100 grand in and I just said to her, look, we got to pay everyone, um, and we are run out of money, uh, to put this event on. Um, so that was a really tough, tough conversation, uh, to have your future wife that you've run out of money. Do you walk away from that 100 grand you've already spent on deposits for all the. The marquee showers, toilets and venue hire, etc. Or do you gamble your family house on putting a party on the field?

Speaker A: Basically, that's what it comes down to. And that's what he did. Right? That's what.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, we had a. I had a conversation. Obviously my wife was really nervous about it. There's a few tears, but we had that honest conversation and she, she backed me down. Um, and I promised, I promised her then, like, we'll make this work, we'll make this work. But I didn't have a clue, mate, because when you're. When you don't know how many people are going to buy tickets because no one bought online. Everyone back then in 2008, no one would put their credit card details into a computer back then. Um, there was no social media at the time. Um, everything that could go against you at the time, you know, the most difficult parts were there. Um, so we ended up, um, remortgaging the family house and it was five months of proper, proper graft. Uh, so much pressure. Um, and bless my wife, you know, she was. Didn't deal with it, as you know. She was. She was crying in bed five nights a week, thinking, if people don't turn up to this event, you're telling me that they're going to turn up to, we're losing our house. So that was the reality of it. And I mentor other entrepreneurs now, Dan. I always talk about calculated risks and, uh, that certainly wasn't calculated. M. Mate, that one.

Speaker A: Um, I was gonna say, like, would you do it again?

Speaker B: 100.

Speaker A: You would.

Speaker B: 100. But, um, it's very different. Very different now, Dan, because I'm in a different financial position.

Speaker A: No, but I mean, looking back, if, like, you sort of. You were speaking to younger Dodge.

Speaker B: No, if I was a really good question, mate. If I was advising a younger Dodge and he came to me now and was like, I'm thinking about doing this festival. It's, ah, going to cost 300 grand. And he kind of knew the sums that are, ah. I would say, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop. What are you doing? This is too dangerous. And you want to remortgage. Your house. Stop. Don't hold fire. Because this was in a recession as well, Dan. I forgot to mention that. Yeah. No one was lending money. No, no one was. You know, the world went tits up at the time. But I did see that as an opportunity like I did in 2001 when I created the uh, the brands with. Everything went tits up. You know when it's tough in 2001 with things going on and, and then 2008, um, and now in the pandemic, creating two, two new businesses in the pandemic and another recession as we're sitting now. So I do see these, these areas as great opportunities because a lot of people can curl up and, and, and think, oh, it's not, it's not the right time. But you know, you can never, never, never, never waste a, a, uh, good crisis.

Speaker A: No. And that's an amazing story. Thank you for sharing it. How many people did turn up at that first one?

Speaker B: Um, about 4,000 people.

Speaker A: Right was that.

Speaker B: And I was uh, basically it cost 300 grand to put um, on. But the weird thing is when you're putting that on you, the security are coming to you and saying, how many security do you need? And I was like, I don't know. They're like, why don't you know? I said, well no one's buying pre sold tickets, people. I'm waiting on the door. I've built this, I've uh, built this festival with the marquees and the bars and uh, everything was up there. All the sports teams were coming in, rugby, netball with the sports teams coming in. But I didn't know how many people were going to come and party. So you don't know how many toilets to get, you don't have any security to get. The police are saying how many people are going to be there. I was like, I don't know. Everything was the unknown. Everything. It's only when. How much people, uh, how much spend per head is it going to be? I don't know. It was all the, it was all the. Don't know. So you know, in that first year when we, we tallied all the money up, we, we um, we made a thousand pounds profit.

Speaker A: Right. Which was. Look, to be honest, a few weeks before that you would have taken that if some, if someone had said six months earlier, you would have bitten the hand.

Speaker B: 100%. Melvin Ben is one of the big festival promoters in the uk, um, part of Live Nation and festival rep. He owns Festival Republic. He said to me, it takes seven years for a Music festival to break even. I told him the sums and when he came down he was like, God, you made a thousand pound profit. You are onto a winner here, mate. Don't change a thing. So we've just, I've just lived and breathed this now for 17 years, every day. Um, and built to where we are today.

Speaker A: Yeah, sorry, tell us where you are today. How many people are you expecting this year?

Speaker B: Well, we, we've been sold out for the last seven, eight years. Um, 30, 000 people partying, 400 plus competing teams coming from all parts of the UK. Um, live acts, 100 live acts, DJs, many celebrities, TV crews. And we've created a, an amazing festival, uh, with a, with a unbelievable vibe there of that ethos of fun. Um, people dancing, fancy dress dancing on tables, great customer service, um, making sure that, you know, that we have a thousand staff who work on the festival over the weekend every day, making sure every one of them is representing myself and our company in the right way and greeting people and smiling and being happy and it just rubs off, you know, it's all about the customer experience. Because if you create a wonderful experience, they're going to go and tell 10 people for the following year. And now social media, they'll be telling tens of thousands of people once they post on social media. So it's a, you know, social media has been a game changer for me personally, Dan. Um, it's made things a lot easier. I don't have to go and fly her and poster now since, since essentially

Speaker A: it's like digital flyering. But yourself and sort of online. I just want to just. You mentioned like, you know, you've been sold out for seven years, you've got thousands of people. I'm sure you're, you know, turnovers running into the millions. You just stop and pause and think for a minute where the story you just told us from 2008 to 18 years later, I mean, can you quite believe what you've achieved? Like, given the story you just told me about those moments with your wife mortgaging the house, do you sort of pinch yourself and think or do you not stop, you just carry on, you know, you just keep.

Speaker B: No, I think, I think as I'm getting older then I'm, I'm starting to reflect a bit more. I think the pandemic slowed me down, uh, 20, 20. It made me stop and reflect and see where you've come and what you've achieved and how many smiles you've put on people's faces over the Years, you know, we've sold over a million plus tickets to buy our own personal events. Our own. Our own events. And, you know, for. For me, it's all about bringing people together, um, and putting smiles on people's faces. And I'm. I'm very, uh, lucky and privileged to have a job, if you can call it a job. I've been able to do that. And, yeah, reflection has been a wonderful thing. Um, and I love risk, Dan. I've risked all my life. I love risk. You know, I'm not an addictive personality on booze and sweets and sugar, whatever it may be, or gambling or whatever, but I gave a talk the other night and this woman put a hand up on a Q A and went, um, because I was talking about. We're talking about addiction and stuff. And she was like, I think you are an addict. I was like, okay, what you thought? She went, I think you're a risk addict. I was like, yeah, yeah, you're actually right. You're actually right. So, yeah, it's my addiction. Yes.

Speaker A: Adrenaline. And obviously it hasn't been a straight line from that, you know, from 2008 to where it is now. If you're going to pinpoint, again, few people listening that are in the events industry, they're thinking of launching their own event or they're in year three and they're, you know, they. They want to see a path of success. Give us a sense of some of the sort of key things that you think have contributed to the success of the festival. Some. Some of the strategies, tactics over the years that you thought, actually, yeah, I did this and that was a game changer.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Um, I'm always tweaking. Yeah, I'm always tweaking and always testing and trialing stuff. So if you go over the years, like, the core values of the festival is the sport, right? And then the music festival was the second Corvo, and amalgamating those two has been fantastic. But the two audiences, um, you know, year one, it was all about rugby sevens. How many teams can get there? We had 96 teams compete in year one. I was only thinking 24. Then we added netball in which generated more money. Then you've got more girls there and more girls there, creates more boys there. And then one year we added a sport called dodgeball, because I watched the movie and obviously my name's Dodge. I was like, why don't we try this dodgeball thing? It'd be a right laugh, see what happens. That generated another hundred thousand pounds. I was like, oh my God, amazing. Then, um, we added a VIP that generated 60 grand in the first year. Then the following year we had a VVIP for all the celebrities and people who wanted, uh, posh toilets and their own, um, beautiful. It's like an event within an event. Like.

Speaker A: Sure.

Speaker B: Um, for flooring, lovely bars, uh, nice house, music, table service bottles, just everything. It was lovely. Um, and that put another, I don't know, 200 grand on the bottom line. So all of a sudden I'm like trialing all this different stuff to see what works. And it was, it was. And then you start tweaking the prices and then you start doing early birds and then you start working it all out. And we, we were one of the first to really be transparent with our ticket prices.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Back then a lot of festivals didn't ever showed you what the next step, the next stage was. Phase one, phase two, phase three. And I hated it. So we just said, right, let's just be transparent, you know, phase one. Back then, I don't know, Jesse, in the ticket, 50 pound, if you buy it by the end of the month, that then changes into £70 and the next month turns to £90. But all the other festivals weren't showing you what it would be the next month.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: So I thought that was really, I didn't like that. So we were just really transparent from the start that if you, the earlier you buy, this is the money you're going to save. And you know, it was constantly making the service better. It was, we're constantly, every year making sure that people get a quick pint because it's a high volume drinking festival. You know, you're talking sports people, you know, who like to, like to play hard and party hard and, and you know, um, but I'm constantly tweaking. I think that's the first thing, the most important thing is how you can keep improving and, and the most, the other most important thing. Well, one of the most important for me is brand. You know, a lot of businesses come and go, but brands can really stay. People buy into your brand. This is what people talk about when you're not in the room. This is how people will describe your festival, your brand when you're not there. Um, and we're known to be a brand to look after people, um, and create a great atmosphere. Um, that's the other one. And brand's so important. So important. Um, and then again, knowing your numbers, you have to know your numbers. I speak to many festival owners who, um, and some festival owners I'm chatting to them, who are really well known festival owners, and I dig a bit deeper about the numbers. They don't know them and I'm quite shocked sometimes, um, they've made it work not knowing them. Good luck to them. But you need to know your numbers, you need to know what's going out, you need to know what's coming in. And I've always worked off the mindset of, from a young age, even from the clubs, make sure you break even and everything else is a bonus.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's good advice.

Speaker B: And that advice, you haven't got expectations of wanting to earn. I need to earn 50 grand net, 100 grand net, a million pound net. Everything else is a bonus. And as you're building over the years, you can lower your overhead, you can tweak things, you can tweak prices. You might have to have more staff, you might have to have more staff on the day, you might have to have more security. Those bills goes up, those bill goes up. So what do you do? You have a look at your bar prices, you have a look at your ticket prices. You left. Look at your upgrades, you have a look at your camping prices. Say if people want to go from camping to glamping. Yeah, you know, we. Massive glamping, uh, campsite. You know, people want luxury and that's changed over the last four or five years. People wouldn't even think about glamping.

Speaker A: You know, ask you how the sort of, the attitudes of some of the visitors have changed. And you also mentioned the brand because obviously you said you're still independent and I guess, you know, it's never going to be exactly the same to when you first set up. So how do you make sure that you don't lose? You know, because some. There's accusations of Glastonbury becoming too corporate, you know, it's not what it was like, uh, back in the day and so on.

Speaker B: And so everyone's gonna say that then. Yeah, that's. That's what happens. That's what happens when you're a commercial business.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: You know, people look at Ibiza now and if you went there in the 90s and, oh, they were good times, you know, that we all did 90s and naughties and, you know, I've people on the podcast now from Ibiza Club. People are always talking about, I was better in my day. Oh, it's gone too corporate. Just the way the world is. It's just the way. Look at East London, look how it's changed. East London's Change. Look how, um, Glastonbury, I still think, has a wonderful ethos of originality, uh, and where it's come from. But you are going to have brands who are going to pay a lot of money to be there because they're getting eyeballs on their brand. So things evolve, businesses evolve, you know, and, and, you know, we don't want to. I'm certainly don't want to be the one of those people go, it's better in my day because I used to hear that when my dad was around and my granddad was around and things evolved, music evolved. And I do have to say though, on that, uh, the music in the 90s was a lot better than it is today.

Speaker A: 100 maybe, because you, your dance moves were easier to do.

Speaker B: I've got two left feet there, mate.

Speaker A: Well, you got some great acts. Haven't you got. Is it Ella Henderson this year as

Speaker B: well, that you announced this year? Over the years, we've done all sorts, sorts of chasing status and rudimental example. And we, we.

Speaker A: The.

Speaker B: The most important thing, Dan, is It took me 10 years to put an act on. I never wanted to put an act on because I wanted to beat the business model of the music festivals. I've seen so many music festivals come and go because they've gone in for a 2 million pound lineup. In your production cost of a million quid, you break even 3 million quid, you're putting serious pressure on yourself. We've created a festival that people are coming for the fun, for the experience, for the color, to meet new people. You know, our festivals, 70 women. Most festivals be 10, 15 women, you know, so it's important that we've kept to our core values and all we've done is added acts on. But I've never want to go down that. We are now a, uh, music festival with 10 big acts. And that's not what we're about. What we've done is over the years is we've sold the tickets out and then in May, a month before the festival, we go boom. We've got headline act for you where everyone's bought the ticks. Like, wow, what a nice touch. So we've beaten the business model of a music festival, what they're doing. Because I think it's very, very dangerous, Dan, um, paying so much money for acts to sell tickets. And if those acts, that DJ might cost you 100 grand, for example, and he didn't sell the tickets, you're expecting, you're under pressure as a promoter, you're under Serious pressure, you know, it shouldn't be. It should be where we are at the moment, where lots of pubs are closing, which breaks my heart of our British culture. It breaks my heart. That's a whole new subject, mate. But seeing nightclubs closing down, pubs not around. People need people. We need to be environments where we can have chat to people and have a laugh with people, meet new people and tell jokes and have a fun and have a couple of pints. We've lost that in the UK and we're losing it very, very fast. And the only area that people can go and do that now is festivals. And it's important that people back their local festival. It really is. Whether you're a BH postcode in Bournemouth or whether you're a Manchester postcode, people have got to support the local festivals because that's what's keeping everyone sane at the moment. Having fun in the field. You can forget all your everything going on, pressure in your life where it's mortgages, whether whatever's going on, a job you don't like. You can go in that field and party for three days, meet new people for life. You might meet a partner. You know, we've had so many people get married from our festival, kids and whatever, so we've got to keep these things alive. And we're in, you know, festival world and every sector at the moment. Uh, it's tough. And we're very lucky that we're in the events industry, which is for me, the most exciting industry in the world, if anyone works in this industry, because we're meeting new people all the time. You can travel, every day is different, you know, so.

Speaker A: Yeah, thank you.

Speaker B: I love that.

Speaker A: Well, I was listening to you. Like your passion sort of pours off the screen and you can sort of hear that also and see it with your social media posts. And I want to talk about, you know, sort of more present day, obviously, your podcasting, you set it up, it's tremendously successful. And I guess I would say you're sort of like a commentator now, social commentator, you know, on all the channels talking about, um, the fact that maybe things are not going so well in this country. I think you've been, my words, fair to say, quite critical of the government of the day. And you're worried, I think, genuinely, because you're worried about entrepreneurs also. But what you said about, you know, nightclubs and places shutting down, that people used to gather and you have more social interaction. Um, talk about that. Just give us a sense of where you think we're at as a, as a country and you know, our leaders that we've got.

Speaker B: We don't have any leaders.

Speaker A: The end. What do you mean by that? Not the right.

Speaker B: We don't have any leaders in our country who are running our country. I'm not, I'm not into politics by the way and I don't watch the news. I like to stay in my lane and if there's anything that is big happening in the world a mate, a friend of mine or my m. Wife would tell me. But I've always just stayed in my lane because I don't want to hear any noise to keep my mind free of any negativity and yeah, uh, but since, since these, these new people have come in I've really sort of. It's really shocked me that uh, it's really shocked me. It really has that we don't have a leader of our great nation. You know there's, it's so pessimistic. The first words that come in when you come into power that oh, it's going to be, it's going to be a tough for you. It's going to be horrible forever. It's like I don't want to hear that. And listen, I understand it's tough but bring some optimism please. Yeah, you know you can change your words. What I find hard is that we haven't got a leader, uh, that I'm noticing as the days are going on less and lesser people have respect and we just want a leader uh, to represent our country in the right way. And what's happening is a huge knock on effect um, in our country at the moment with um, ridiculously high turnover taxes. Everyone has, you know and taxes is a very funny thing because 99 of people don't understand tax, VAT, income tax, corporation tax, national insurance tax, which actually is employers, all these confusing taxes, they're all taxes, they're different names. Vat. And I just find it really odd how we've got to this place where everything is confusing so people just pay it and accept it. We're not getting value for money, uh, which is probably the most infuriating thing. Um, and I think it's very, very difficult for entrepreneurs and startups right now um, to make a pound note. And I just did a talk the other day on, on my podcast, uh, just a 45 minute one about business and it was basically a, a no talk on where, where I think we are at the moment how tough it is for people to um, to earn money. And I find it, I Find it upsetting that we don't have leaders of business in our uh, government, you know, really wanting people to succeed in business because anyone listening out there who's in the events industry, everyone is a grafter. Whatever sector you're in is very, very difficult. But the events industry is a beautiful industry of wonderful people who are uh, who are problem solvers. And you know when you're at the end of the year, if you're set up a startup business and you've turned over more than 90 grand and now you got to realize you got to pay VAT an extra 20, you're thinking, what is going on? My turnover is not big enough to make my sums work at the end of the year. I've worked so hard and, and I've got much to show for it. That creates on a knock on effect of people going, is this for me this entrepreneur world and we need more entrepreneurs in this country. And it's, it, it annoys me. It doesn't annoy me. I see why people are doing it. But lots of my mates have left the country and gone to warmer climates.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Because um, they're getting better value for money. They're getting sun, they can play sport in the day. They're in, they're in sunshine, they can do their business and not getting stung with all these taxes.

Speaker A: Um, so let me ask you a question. If, if this was this environment when you were thinking about starting Bournemouth Sevens, would you have done it? You could do it in this environment?

Speaker B: I think it's really, really tough.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: I've seen, I've seen a number of festivals. There were 70 festivals that got canceled last summer, put it that way. Yeah. In the uk I've seen new festivals pop up at the moment and I've seen their lineups they put on for year one. I'm like, oh my God, that's so dangerous. It's so, so dangerous.

Speaker A: Like headline acts and stuff like.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. But you know, you can put all these acts on. You know there's, there's, there's a fine line of putting Axon and there's a fine line of a promoter put an ax on for, for their ego. Um, and it's a weird, it's a weird, it's a weird place because I never put ax on for ego whatsoever. I don't like that. I don't put a lot of big acts on. I don't want to, I don't want uh, to be all about the ax. It's all about the experience for us and I'M seeing promoters come in and the more DJs they book, they get more credibility from people. So it. So the ego gets bigger and then they want to book more acts, but they don't realize you're not just booking the act for 50 grand, then you're getting another act. It adds up. Then you got the rider, then you've got everything adds up on top of it. Then you're trying to make ends meet by getting more people in because you got more acts. So your break even might be 10,000 people. Then you've put in more ax on, the break even might be 12,000 people, and the ticket sales aren't as good as they're meant to be. Then you're realizing at the end of it, you might be half a million pound down. And then that's year one and then year two. Your ego gets in the way. Go. We've got to give it a go again because I don't want to walk away from this festival because people think that I failed.

Speaker A: You're chasing your losses, aren't you, as well?

Speaker B: It's really difficult. And then year three comes in, you've lost another 250 grand, so you're 750 down. Then you're like, I need to sell shares in this business. So someone come and buys 50 shares or 51 shares, and. And then all of a sudden your shares over the years get filtered. Uh, down, down, down. You're thinking, I created that festival, now I own nothing. Someone else owns it. And it's a very, very risky game. It's a very risky game. If you're just going down the music route, um, if you've got deep pockets like Live Nation, you know, you can't afford to maybe on some of their festivals, lose a mil here of 2mil here or 500 grand here, because you'll go again. Because they're huge for independence. It's a very dangerous game right now because there's a lot less people out there who are spending like they used to spend. Because the way the UK is at the moment, um, mortgages rising, cost of living going up. The last thing people decide to do is, you know, first thing they do is cancel the gym memberships. Then they don't eat out as much in the restaurants. And that's why independent restaurants are closing down very, very fast at the moment. That's why local boozers are closing down fast, because the footfall's not there. There's all these horrible things that I'm seeing and. And it's, um.

Speaker A: Yeah, I see that. Yeah. I sort of hear the, the pain in your voice because you, you know, you're seeing it and you're thinking, it doesn't need to be that way. And you've also commented on, and we've all seen what's going on in the US Right? Whatever you think of Trump, he's come in and he's not back when. And coming forward and making decisions and he's brought in Musk again, whatever you think of what he's doing. But, you know, it's of kind coming in. They're trying to cut the fat of, like, all this bureaucracy and, and, and try and get business moving. Do you think that's something, you know,

Speaker B: we can learn from, like, over here, 1,000 percent1. I've got no, I don't know Trump. I don't know Musk. I know he's minted. I know Trump is a got a business mind, so as a businessman, I don't. If you take their, their names out the equation, I'm not okay. They've brought a lot of optimism in so America at the moment, my friends in America, like I said, what's it like over there? Like, everyone's really optimistic. You know, they're bringing all the money back into our country. There's optimism there. And who wants to be around pessimistic, a pessimistic vibe? You know, we want to be around optimism. You know, we just need, we need people who are just going to make us go, yeah, there is light at the end of the tunnel, you know, and, um. Oh, yeah. If we had someone, if we had business people at the helm of our country, would make a lot of entrepreneurs and startups and business owners, Even if you're 10 years in, 20 years in with these new employment tax coming in, if you've got a lot of stuff that's going to sting you, that might be your profit gone, you know, your normal profit, because you've got so much more overhead and so much more tax to pay. I. And it doesn't matter what sector you're in. I speak to many sectors across my friends. Um, everyone's finding it really, really difficult at the moment and I think it's going to get harder. I don't want to say that because I want to say, yeah, it's all going to be fine in six months, we'll be fine. But the reality is it's tough out there. It really is. Um, and I love business. That's my sport. My sport is business, Dan. And, and you know, I help A lot of people, you know, with, with saving their money, giving my number and I'm there for them on the phone and helping them make decisions and, you know, they might not be the right ones, but at least they can bounce off me and, and know what to do in these tough times.

Speaker A: Yeah, I feel your frustration. I want to move on to talk about, um, the learning and educational platform that you set up. The Event Crowd.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Um, and you know, I see, I think I saw a post the other day someone put they've just been accepted on level five of, of the event crowd. And I know it's something you're pretty proud of when you're passionate about getting people into the event industry that don't necessarily go, need to go down the degree route. Right. This is just another, another opportunity for them to do that. Talk about the event crowd, what it is, who it's for, like why, why you're passionate about it. Give us a flavor of the platform.

Speaker B: Well, I come up the idea. I lost my festival in 2020 due to the pandemic. It got cancelled. So, you know, that made me think, right, I need to think of a new business. So I thought of two new businesses and we set up a, uh, eventful, uh, lives podcast and we set up a brand called Event Crowd. The Event Crowd. And the Event Crowd was an idea of mine that was like, how can we create an online events course for people? Well, they don't have to go to university. So I bought 40 of the leading industry experts in, we filmed them and we created a course. Um, and that's been a real journey. We're coming into our fifth year now and I just saw a gap in the market where people were going to university, going to do an events management degree, leaving £50,000 worth of debt and then struggling to get an advanced job, you know, because there was no, you know, as an events person and people employ a lot of people, um, employ a lot of people. You don't go and do GCSE events, you don't go and do A level events. But we all go to events, but no one ever talks about it. It's like you go to a sporting match, you go to a wedding, you go to a, a festival, you go to a concert, you go to whatever. These are all events. But events weren't, uh, described in the right way. So I, I, I, I've kind of wanted people to realize that there is an opportunity if you are organized, if you are a people's person, if you love, um, going to events, if you Are that person who organized your holiday for your six mates. If you are that person who has notes you to do list and you were organized. It's like actually there's an opportunity here. If you get into the most exciting industry in the world, the events industry, there wasn't a pathway anywhere, you know, there was a pathway of getting into events industry. It was like people sort of just stumbled into the events industry. They went and volunteered or they got a foot in the door somewhere. They ended up working their way up the ladder. But there wasn't a high with the events industry like in the pandemic. Events industry was hidden, I believe, behind the hospitality name.

Speaker A: Yeah, you're right. The government didn't understand it. You know, there was, there was so much frustration from the events industry, all parts, uh, about, you know, what, what, what it was and, and what the help it needed. And so how proud are you of like some of the, I guess students or people that have um, interacted with the platform and gained employment?

Speaker B: So proud. Yeah, so proud, like, so proud. You know, I invested, I invested in, ah, real tough times in 2020 when we lost the festival. No one knew what was going to happen. I loved it. I loved everything that was happening. I was like, this is the opportunity to start creating. This is the opportunity to start building things. And now we're in, coming into year five. I'm so glad we created that because we've got so many people into the events industry, you know, getting jobs because we fast track you. You can do our course in three months.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: You know, a level four or level five and you can learn everything you need to know about events industry. From all my experience and all the people I've brought in, knowing that you can learn on a screen with an amazing user experience and feel like you're really achieving something and progressing every day by doing an hour a day or an hour and a half a day on there, knowing at the end you're going to get diploma, knowing that we've got a dedicated team at RHQ to get you a job, you know, in the events industry, to open the doors of all the contacts I've got or we've got, you know, so I saw an opportunity, um, again I saw a gap in the market.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: When you finish your university degree. No disrespect to unis, but do they really care about you? No, they don't. They've got your money, your 9,000 pound a year. It's a business. Universities respect universities, it's a business. They've Got your money. Once you finish your degree and you wear your hat and you get your photos done, you're off. Yeah, but you're off with 50 grands worth of debt around your neck which you're going to be paying until you're 65. £200amonth, £300amonth trying to pay this thing off, which at the moment is, is your fun money. So I just wanted to fast track people, Dan. So instead of doing a three or four year degree with a, with a year out, you can be fast tracked through this course and we've got a dedicated team. Once you finished it, we will go and get you a job in the events industry. So it's getting more people in the event industry. The amount of people that left the events industry in 2020. Uh, yeah, was unprecedented. It was like what, everyone's leaving because there was no events going on. People still had mortgages and mouths to feed for their kids or whatever. They went and worked in a bank or they won't become estate agent, although they did whatever they possibly could to guarantee money coming in. So lots of people left, which was really upsetting. But I also thought now's the time to bring a new breed coming through to protect our industry, you know, so.

Speaker A: Well, congratulations on it. I will put a link in, uh, the podcast description as well for anyone that's.

Speaker B: I appreciate that, I appreciate it. I'm super proud of that, Dan.

Speaker A: Like, yeah, uh, no, I can tell. Yeah.

Speaker B: And when you invest, you know, we invent and again, I was working all out at the time, wasn't like, oh, um, I'm really well educated, I'm going to create an online event school. I was working it all out. How does this work? What is the. We've tried everything. You know, we had two years of building this before we launched. We're in a really, really nice spot now. So if anyone goes and checks it out, you'll see um, the user experience and, and the quality that we're giving.

Speaker A: Interesting, because what comes across is that you, you care passionately about people and an investor in people. And I was, I think only yesterday you posted a picture of um, a young girl who you met, I think at a restaurant and then like she had an interview with you and then you said you haven't got a job and you went back to the restaurant sort of undercover and um, gave her a job. And I think only the other day at the conference that uh, you're at this week, uh, Confex, uh, and event production, um, she received accolade of being 30, under 30. And she's, she's still with. Right, she's one of your.

Speaker B: Well, it's a beautiful story, that. Beautiful story. Like in the, in the pandemic. Met her working as a, as a waitress and she was just bang on the ball and sharp and fun and she loved her job. I just gave her my number at the end, said if you wanna. She knew I was the owner of former seven. I said, drop me a WhatsApp you fancy. It's, um, got me a WhatsApp. Come in for an interview. She was brilliant. Ah, I left it. When she left, I said, oh, there's nothing here at the moment for you, but I'll keep your number and thank you so much. Good luck. That afternoon I knew she was back at the. Working at the Turtle Bay Chicken restaurant in Bournemouth. I went in there, booked a 10 table under a different name, put the, put the menu up over my face for five minutes. She couldn't see me. She come over to serve me and I dropped the menu down. I was like. She was like, what are you doing here? I was like, just to give you some good news that, um, you've got a full time job. Created a job for you at Warmer Sevens as an event manager.

Speaker A: Wow.

Speaker B: She was literally hysterical. Crying, happy. It was just the most amazing feeling in the world. I've got goosebumps even think of it now. It's just. And you're just doing. You've just, you've changed someone's life or helped, you know.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Give them an opportunity and she's now senior events manager. She's been me five years. She's, she's our future. Should be a director one day. Um, and she won an award at the event show the other day for one of the best events people under the age of 30. So, yeah, amazing.

Speaker A: What's her name? Just give her the name. Check.

Speaker B: Big shout out to Kira.

Speaker A: Kira. Excellent. Thank you. Listen, we're, we're getting towards the end, but it'll be remiss of me not to talk briefly about the podcast and your journey, um, as the host of Eventful Lives. I mean, I listen to it. It's my go to podcast. I'm not just saying that. That's you before. I used to listen to others before they became a little bit woke for me. But, and you do, you know, you interview proper characters and I'm really enjoying the sort of Ibiza season at the moment. Takes me back to things I can no longer do. Um, what, what do you enjoy most about, like, you just seem like, so natural and you just like having chats with people like, what have you. What do you get out of it? You know, I know it's now business and you're making money.

Speaker B: Yeah, I get a buzz. People. I love people, Dan. I love people. I love meeting new people. I love people. Like, I was brought up for respect. Everyone where it's, the dinner lady was a cleaner, whether it's a CEO, whether it's a celebrity, me, everyone's the same, you know, you have respect for every single person. And I just love people, man. And. And we've created this podcast. We've ended up now we're four years in, we haven't missed an episode. Once a week, 280 people I've had on the podcast. All real characters from club world, club land, to entrepreneurs, to billionaires, to event people, to, uh, the criminal underworld to comedians, to sports stars. And I could go down the route of going down loads of celebrities. I haven't gone down that route. I've gone down the route of real characters, real people, real stories. And, um, we've grown, really. We've grown. Um, we're blown away how much the, uh, podcast has grown. And it's a lovely feeling because it's real, you know, whether I'm talking business with people, it's real. There's no, there's no fluffiness in there. And, um. Yeah, I love it. Absolutely.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's amazing. I'm just thinking about what you've said to me. Sorry. About all the other businesses that you've started. I guess it's been similar with the podcast that you didn't really know what you were doing. Right. Similar to the festival, um, possibly the nightclubs that you had or not. But you had an idea because you lived above a pub next to a nightclub, but you actually haven't run them yourself. I just think about this whole conversation and sort of advice, you know, for other people, that sometimes you've got to jump in, you have an idea, you work it out. Right. You figure it out. Not everything's going to be perfect. Like, you know, you've got all the tech set up and all the staff and all this sort of stuff. Would you agree with that?

Speaker B: 100. Yeah, I've just. I've just. I've winged it all my life. But you can wing it. You wing it, you wing it. As long as you're learning and tweaking and tweaking and tweaking every day. Tweaking, working it out, working out. What do we need. I didn't know what a podcast was when I first started, Dan. I could literally never listen to. I didn't know what a podcast was, but I know I'm well connected and got, uh, you know, I'm one phone call away from anyone in the uk and if I can't get over that one person, I'm two phone calls away from anyone. And it's just you, you, you, just anyone listening out there. Stop procrastinating. Stop overthinking things. Just start and work it out. Yes, it's. I can't. I've got no more advice than that. Yeah, like, and I don't, you know, it can eat away at you. Imagine. Imagine the thought of being old and looking back, going, oh, uh, I wish I'd done that. I wish I gave that a go. Imagine being stuck in a job that you don't enjoy and you have to go to work, you have to drive to work, put your clothes on, drive to work, get to work. Uh, look around and say, I don't really like most of these people in here. What am I doing? And leaving and going home, watching Netflix, thinking, I've, uh, got to get up next day, stop. Get out of that environment. Get out of that environment and do something that sparks. Gives a spark in you. We got one life, Dan. We got one life and the average person might get to 80 if we're lucky. We've got one life. Like, you've got to do something that excites you and do something you're good at. What you're good at. Find out what you're good at and try to do something in that, like. I know it sounds quite.

Speaker A: No, it makes sense, but it makes sense.

Speaker B: Just get up and do it.

Speaker A: I was going to ask you what your, um, the final question about your. Your what advice you'd give to somebody. But you've already done it. You've sort of encapsulated it. It's, you know, try something. Don't. Don't think, you know, because you haven't done it, you won't be able to do it. Or just because I guess someone else has already done it or doing it, you, you can't always also do it as well, but that's a good plan.

Speaker B: If someone else is already doing it, do that, but make it better.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Like go and, you know, don't reinvent the wheel. If someone's got a business that you like, do your homework, pick up the phone under different voices and phone that business office to find out more information Go on all over their website, see if their customer service is good, find out if it's poor. Find out what are they quick at getting back to people? If you send them an email, they get back to you in a week. Or will it slip through the net if you call them, Are they efficient? Like, whatever you're doing out there, you know, don't reinvent it. Go and see who's successful out there, but just make it better. Sure, you've got a business dodge.

Speaker A: It's been an absolute pleasure. You've ticked a, a box on a bucket list of mine, so I really appreciate it. I really enjoyed listening to your podcast. People aren't aware of it. Again, I'll pop a link. It's, it's. You do have some proper characters. Proper characters on there. Um, and listen, we wish you the best of luck with all your endeavors and I'm sure you know, in five, ten years time we'll be. You'll have, uh, a. You'll have a bunch more.

Speaker B: Yeah, mate. I really, uh, I've really enjoyed this, Dan. Thank you for the invite. And anyone listening out there in the events industry, stick with it. There is light at the end of the tunnel. You know, we are in tough times at the moment, but we were in tough times in 2008, 9 and 10. We will get through this because the events industry is the most exciting, fun industry on the planet. Stick with it. And make sure the Avengers stay strong.

Speaker A: Be notified first about new episodes by following me on Apple Podcasts and Spotify platforms and by subscribing to my YouTube channel. Search Dan Assor.