BONUS: Strategizing Your Goals, Businesses, and Events with Kyrsten Thronhill
Kyrsten is a former agency go-getter turned entrepreneur, dynamic production professional and the mastermind behind making your event run like clockwork! Kyrsten spent 15 years in the event industry and has executed over 200 events in 100 cities/towns across Canada Her company, Kulture Productions, focuses on outdoor and virtual events crafting best practices to make event management and operations efficient and effective...
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[1:05] VL: Hi Krysten Welcome to the women's empowerment podcast thank you so much for joining us today as our special guest.
KT: Thanks for having me super happy to be here.
VL:I would love it if you could start by introducing us share us your story in your own words take us through your journey and how you came to launch your productions company culture productions, where did it all start.
KT: Yeah so many many years ago it's, it's funny so back in, in, in college, I was going to school for acting for film and television and a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to get into experiential marketing, so you know everyone likes the guy that's giving away free swag right so I was one of those folks, and I love the teamwork I loved the logistics of it. I loved being able to go to all these events – for free – that I would want to go to anyway. Be it a festival or a concert or something. And a lot of it was outdoors and I loved that part of it. And so I started doing that. Go forward a few years I fell in love with acting because I was going more into the I liked, like the behind the camera stuff. And even more than that I started to realize that I really liked the operations and logistics and the responsibility that came with managing a team from the experiential marketing side of things. And so I started freelancing more in that and and just fell in love with it and I felt like, people were happy when they were working with me, little things from like, you know, 15 minute breaks or not a thing like 20 minute breaks minimum, that kind of stuff because you just incorporate real life. And, and I just kept moving forward that way so I was freelancing for four years. And then, over, over 10 years. And then last February 2020. Well I've been thinking about it for a bit, but I'm working towards a launch in February 2020 for culture productions. And, which is kind of funny because an event management company launched in February, 2020 is just a big old lap right. So we plan God laughs or whomever it is the last and, and, and that's just where it came to be. I wanted to scale the company and grow. I knew that people liked working with me, and I wanted to be able to create that culture in that, in that company for people and that's just where it came from taking what I love to do and finding folks that wanted to do more of it with me.
[3:58] VL: That's amazing I love how your story kind of evolves in this way where you're following a bit of a dream and that molds into this new version of your dream, and that evolution takes you to where you are today. It's really cool. And it's really empowering to start your own company, I know exactly what that is like. So I was wondering if you could share with us what were your biggest obstacles. During that time, whether it was even from the beginning that pre production period or the pre launch period, how did you overcome all of the things that were happening.
KT: Yeah, good question. And often I find with with many businesses and business coaches that I talked to a lot of folks start a business. And then they work on the numbers. And I need it and that's the route I was going. And it's funny because even my dad who's a business coach is like, Why do people do that. Why do they start the business and then figure out the numbers right like you know your numbers you have a better sense of where you're going.
I don't care what industry you're in right so it was for me at first it was switching that mindset of building out my numbers first getting a vision for the company. I knew what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to do outdoor events and focus on virtual events, but what did that look like from an offer perspective what value was I providing, and what I can do. But what value was I really providing what what problem was I solving for people.
So the numbers the first the next biggest thing for me was that market research. Of all the things, honestly that I've had to do in my life, and I know everyone can be great at everything but holy hell that market research part, I don't know what it was for me, that was the hardest part. And, and, and how I overcame that was just just talking through it just keep talking. Until I understood or had a good sense of how gathering that information, worked best for me, and how that did work best for me was talking to people. I work through things well when I'm when I'm talking to people. And then, so that's going well. That went well. And then the next thing was the website website.
And God love you Thrive Themes but, oh my, trying to do that on my own was really was really difficult. And that's okay because, although it probably took a year off my life, I'll get that back through self care i'm pretty sure. But, but all, although as hard as that was I knew that I needed to go through it, because it was going to make me learn about my business more get deeper ingrained with what we were I was doing for the people that I wanted to provide value for my clients.
[7:39] VL: Very cool. I love the I love those three kind of chunk steps that you talked about. And I wanted to ask about with that second step with your market research, actually, let's go back to the first step with your first step with the the numbers. What were you looking for exactly? So if someone basically, if someone was starting their own business today, what would you tell them in terms of that first step that numbers game?
KT: First thing I would say is, you're going to need to make more than you're think you need to make, you're going to need to make more than you think you need to make. It's it doesn't all balance out, you don't spend X amount of dollars and want to make 10,000 more than that. And that's the number that you need to make. The I mean, getting acquainted with terms like profit margin, gross profit margin, you know, profit and loss statements, balance sheets, you need to get acquainted with that sort of stuff. If you don't know it all off the hop, that's all good, but you just need to know the questions to ask in order to get the help that you need. And that's and that's what I leaned into with that.
[9:02] VL: Yeah, I think that's true, too. Because if you're not prepared to learn those things in the beginning, you're gonna learn them really quickly. And I like how you said switching that mindset of Yeah, you always business idea, but what are the logistics with it? How are you going to? How are you going to make the business run? How are you going to put food on your table and all that? The the second step that you talked about were the the different things that you did for market research. You said you like talking to people. So what I want to know is what were you asking them? Like? How are you finding your people? Let's talk a little bit more about that piece. And also, how are you collecting all that data? And then how did you use that data? Take us through the process a little bit.
KT: Sure. So right off the hop. I felt like I needed to get it right. What I was going to offer what those pain points were, what I learned is that it's okay to not get it right off the hop, have a hypothesis. You know, the challenges are I know the challenges that I went through. And that probably resonates with people. So that's where the conversation starts. These are the challenges.
I have, this is the value I'm looking to provide based on that. Do you feel the same thing? Or no. And as people give you feedback, just write that stuff down. And those start to become your questions that you then want to move into a survey that you can provide people right, you could do that. by whatever means you have I mean, there's lots of free options there: Google Forms, spreadsheet, whatever it is to just get people filling out those those answers, Survey Monkey right and go through the motions and No, and be okay with the fact that those are going to evolve, they're gonna change the feedback you're gonna get is going to be different. You're going to wonder what the hell it is why you asked that question in the first place based on some of the feedback you get. And you're going to need to consistently remind yourself of what that original hypothesis was, and what if you're moving away from it or not? And if you are, that's cool. Just know that and go with the flow. And don't take too long to take action on something. It's okay to not feel like you have it right. Or you're like, yeah, this is good.
If you feel like you have enough to start moving forward with something, be it an offer, or even now changing the conversation that you're having with your market research. That's cool. Because what I've learned is Everything is every single business owner has done it that way. A lot of folks look real polished 10 years in, because they're 10 years in, and there's no substitute for being 10 years in, you know, and you just got to make peace with that. And then now so that, you know, that's kind of how it's been.
And now it's just continuing that continuing to evolve and ask those questions based on all the climate around you. Be it whatever those those challenges or new things are that come up with our lives or industries. Just keep asking questions.
[12:33] VL: I think that's amazing advice. And I love that you have this scientific approach to, to the whole the whole process because it really is a numbers game most of the time. And it's also about building relationships, especially when you're working with people. We actually did a survey for the studio because we were having trouble Making decisions and I learned this a while ago. It was whenever you're creating a survey, make sure that every single question is very intentional so you have a reason for why you asked the question, and this was very helpful because it makes your survey shorter, it makes it more clear and then it helps you kind of wade out where what direction you're going in and really say yes we're clearly in the right direction with our hypothesis, or an overbearing away.
And then that way you can rebuild into that, a new survey if you need to, or a new direction in conversation like you were saying so I find I find that really helpful and I find what you said, really helpful as well. But what's great is that we had a lot of questions about our clients before the survey should we offer this should we offer this for this and we're like, why don't we just ask them why don't we just ask them instead of trying to guess everything.
That's where I think a lot of new business owners struggle is because they want to put out this really beautiful imperfect, really, like, highly produced offer, and they get it wrong because they didn't do the beta test or they didn't do the survey or they didn't have a single conversation with potential clients, customers, or whomever. So yeah, I think that's really valuable and I feel like it's, it's not really the glamorous part of business, most of the time, so I'm really glad that you said it.
And then the third piece he talked about was your website, and what I'm taking away from what you said was really, you know, we all have our strengths. So, there are going to be pieces of your business that are not your strengths and maybe putting a year into a website isn't worth it for you and it's not part of the numbers, but you can definitely delegate certain things out to people. I know we've talked about this before. Same thing with like social media management, you find what's working for you, what's not working for you and what can you pass over to somebody else so that's really important. And maybe we can chat a little bit about team building because you talk about teamwork a lot, and I want to know how you how you bring your team together like how do you find who you are working with and how do you make those relationships work loaded question.
[15:16] KT: Yeah. So I called my company Kulture Productions – with a “K” – I got to, you know, throw myself in there a little bit right but, you know, a bit of a differentiation but also because for me it all stems from that team in that culture that you create from working at exponential marketing companies, and just teams and family.
In general, the biggest thing that I found is that managing expectations and communication are the two biggest things aren't sure what industry you're in you're managing and by managing expectations I mostly mean emotions. Right. And in that communication, I find a lot of problems can be solved. Just through clear communication.
And what that that process is so, so the, the first part, I like to always talk about is, is mindset. I love how this is becoming more mainstream and it's not just from a company perspective, but also being in such a high paced and high stress industry, it's really important that people know that culture has got their back, I don't care if you're a client or or working in our team or we've contracted you out of your supplier, life happens, things happen, and mindset is just a big thing we just need to communicate that sort of stuff. So that's a big big piece.
And then the second part after that is taking people through like the systems and procedures that we have. They're there for a reason, there's sometimes a big learning curve with folks as to why we work sometimes the way we do, why we use the software we do, as opposed to some other some other options, and the truth is, is there's, there's a lot of great options right but you just kind of got to pick something and go with it and if you decide to move on to something else later that's okay.
But getting people into a system and into habits that actually help them be more productive, they'll eventually see it, it's okay I'm confident that they'll get on board and it'll be a benefit to them later. But being open to them, kind of, like, I don't know, like a six year old that's going through growing pains and they're like, I don't know why my joints hurt right like but all I know is a cranky, they'll be like, I know why you're cranky. I don't need to explain to you why. Okay, but let's, I'm going to deal with the symptoms versus trying to tell you what's up. Right. Unless of course they want to have that conversation let's have that conversation, but I think it's important to, to help them navigate through that. And if you if you bring those two together, helping them work through those processes, and also making sure that they understand that they're supported.
Then, like the skills or the happenings just come, like the relationship is formed you guys can trust each other, you're more productive. And of course there's kind of a third part where you're looking for that skill set.
But a lot of that skill set can be taught. I don't care who you are. Right. And, and so those are the two main things that I look for when I'm working with anyone. And then the skill set comes along with that so that's kind of like what I like to found everything on, and like to keep it simple to you give people too many things to think about them or just their last. So I like to give them two or three things like this is what we're about. And let's move forward and the restful will work itself out and then I feel that they feel well empowered really to to do their best and be their best because they know they're not being micromanage, and they know that I trust them to just do their stuff.
And if our relationship needs to part ways, they will be surprised, nor will I be surprised and I believe that should never be a surprise if employees or contractors or whatever that relationship is decided to go different ways. And then it's, and then it's an okay conversation to have like high five, this isn't really working. Cool. Moving on. Do you want to have a tea later.
[19:48] VL: So amazing! Like you said, you're outlining clear expectations and you're offering that support. So at the end of the day, like if you're not getting it done or, this isn't working out, then we've got to go. And I think that's, I think that's really great of you that's a hue I feel like you're just an incredible leader I can't wait to learn more about and share more about your, your business and your practices.
Very interesting. I have a lot to learn from you!
Actually something you both have in common is our love for personal development, we chat about our favorite authors all the time, and many of our favorite authors and our favorite speakers they share a lot of different tools and practices that help us elevate ourselves or help us empower ourselves. So I wanted to know what are some of your own best practices or rituals that you like to follow that help you keep you aligned with your most empowered self or your best self.
KT: First and foremost, it's being open to trying new ways of managing all that, or processing information, or organizing your day. You know, being kind to yourself about it and not taking on too much. But I think about when I think about that sort of development. So as a, as a yoga instructor yourself with the analogy and like is, say you're doing yoga for three months in that first time like an inversion, or something difficult becomes easy, and you just blow your own mind. But you had to go through all the things and figure out the right positioning and like what worked for you because even though that is the right position. This is the proper positioning How does it fit in my body to work the best. And, and you don't know that until you, you go through the motions and tweak it here and there.
So being able to lean into those crunchy bits, is the first thing get comfortable being uncomfortable, is when you hit it home man does it feel good and you find that like little thing for me, one of those little things was like 90 minute jam sessions, I work in 90 minute jam sessions I break my day up.
And I know because I've worked really learned a lot about kind of the science behind why we work we know generally it takes us 15 minutes to get into a task. So, but only a lot myself an hour. I'm doing the task, but I know that I'm only effectively working for 45 minutes, where I could be effectively working for an hour and 15 minutes. Right. And I'm not fatigued right I can take my brain break and even though I'm in the zone I say no no no if you were getting longer than that, then you're going to get fatigued. And I've tried to even just all those timelines 45 minute sessions, an hour, an hour and 15 and for me, 90 minutes is that sweet spot.
And then I get up, I will make a tea or like have a chat with a friend, or I play with my rabbit, and you know kind of get back at it. So that's one of the big things for me, and I think that process works well in all areas of of self development you just you got to lean into it, in, in whatever that area of your life is.
Another example is being able to have conversations with folks, leaning into difficult conversations. From a personal development perspective. That helps me say that, look no judgment, I can we can I you know be real awkward here for a sec, and address this situation that I probably normally wouldn't that's another little tactic I've learned myself, is to like call out the awkwardness before it's actually awkward because then it's not awkward anymore. It's actually kind of funny, right, so now you've broken the ice and everyone's all relaxed, yeah you got a little bit of laughing around because I like I'm a big human person, if I get a little stressed, I like I just need to crack a job, and most the time it works to my favourite.
Don't get me wrong, there's been some times there's like yeah tape learn that not the time nor the place. Okay, or like that person doesn't work like that but I have to go there. In order to know that I can't go there anymore. Right. And I mean that with all due respect for not talking any anything extreme.
And being open. The biggest thing for me is just being open to learning I'm always asking why to do anything, right, whether I have I'm talking to a police officer on set that are on site that has nothing to do with the event. You know, I'm like, how did you guys handle that situation then we heard about a little while ago cuz other industries will always inform what you're doing, and you have no idea when that beauty little nugget is gonna come. So as much as that can come from ours, you know, girls self development gurus are the people that we go to for personal development.
Personal Development extends way beyond those folks, so you'll grab a tool or practice that'll help you and speaks to you better than anyone you know could ever say. So, being open to that sort of stuff and that's what I've found has gotten me to my to my best self for me to be like, Okay, this is, this is finally easier. You know this difficult conversation is easier doesn't make it really any less difficult to have, but to lean into it is a lot easier.
[25:41] VL: Wonderful, yeah. I agree with what you are saying. You have to try it on for yourself, and you can find a teacher that you really like and that you read all their books, and what I was noticing was, I was so obsessed with personal development for a while that I read all the books and then they all started sounding a little bit the same. And what I realized was okay well why isn't this working for me. And it's because I was busy reading the book and not taking the action of the book was telling me to do. And you will learn for yourself, like you said your 90 minutes works really well for you For me it's a two hour block, so I don't know if I have ADHD or if I'm just someone who is a little bit easily distracted.
But the two hour block really, really is helpful for for myself, but it took me a little while to learn that too because I would do, I tried all these different methods to get me there into those that sweet spot so I think that's really helpful is leaning in to the awkwardness the crunchiness. The, the, always, always, always leaning into that discomfort because you're going to learn, you're going to grow, we're going to move forward but you, but it's you taking action, I feel like that discomfort is a sign that you are on the right track because you're taking action and you're moving forward.
And like you said earlier in the interview that you know 10 years experience. There's nothing else that really talks that you could you could have all your numbers all laid out, but until you're actually going into that experience.
It's Yeah, it's huge. Absolutely love it so many golden nuggets in this in this chat I'm really excited. My next question was, what is something we can do to help ourselves navigate current situations, and prepare us for the future I know you talked a little bit about this, about asking questions.
I was wondering if we can dissect this a little bit more, asking question always getting curious, and how do we do this in a way that we can then navigate using these questions like what kind of questions are we asking, and how are those preparing us.
[27:50] KT: From a business perspective, I always go back to strategy first: What are you trying to accomplish? What's, what's the why? I find a lot of struggles come from. If you don't have that that macro. That's clear the micro is going to be so damn hard to figure out. Because you can't relate it back to the why, to the strategy. So you just got to get real clear on that. And again, it's okay if it changes. But as long as you when you reevaluate it if you get real clear on it each time. So the main three questions from a business perspective that I always ask myself and we can relate this over to personal is what is that strategy? What is that why?
And the second thing is, is there a budget to do it so fine and dandy and it fits in perfectly, but do we have the budget to do it. Right. And that makes it easy, it's, it's this beautiful question that makes it easy. Do we have the budget? No, gone. Yes. Okay. Next up, what are the logistics of it. Can we do we have the resources to support this beautiful idea, we have that supports our strategy that we have the budget for. And if you can't support it. No amount of money that you're going to throw at it is going to help it serve your strategy.
And then if you think of that from like a personal perspective, whatever your goal is, or whatever that strategy focuses for you. Do you have the means? Maybe it is budget, maybe it is resources, you know, do you have the means to do it? And then if no then gone. Right. And If yes, then move on to okay well how am I gonna make it happen. Do I need to get someone to babysit you know your child, do I need to send the dog to my parents for a week. Do I need to go for a run, whatever that is, but it needs to relate back to that to that strategy. And if you get if you just go through that process, every time. It'll help you stay clear on that macro so when you go to make those little decisions.
They can happen quick and they're not they're way less overwhelming and sit far less heavy on your shoulders, and it's okay to move through dishes decisions quickly sometimes. I think that's important to remember too.
[30:28] VL: Yeah, made me think of when you said, “Okay, this is the goal“. And then if we don't have the resources that goal goes out, but what it made me think of is, “Okay, well if we don't have the resources, what has to come first for that goal to then have the resources?” What do we need to do now for that to work and it could still be like that could, because it could be tied to your why and the goal is your why and that the strategy is your why and that's how are you going to get there and it's just a matter of again asking questions.
The question now is, so it was Do we have the resources, the answer was no. And the question now goes to. What do we need to do first to get there or do we really need to be doing this goal, maybe we change the goal. Yeah, so I like that just keep kind of dissecting it. And the second thing it made me think of was not holding on to the outcome or the goal that you thought you wanted in allow it like being flexible for that to change because especially when you're working with people, things are changing all the time, and I think that's really important to remember.
Let's go a little bit deeper into the event and productions industry. The world is changing. We all know this, and virtual events are a little bit more popular a little bit more common. So I want to talk a little towards the pivot. Let's talk about the pivot for listeners who have been, maybe hosting live events or attending live events, how do we now pivot, our event, into the virtual world?
[31:58] KT: Again, what I like to come back to is that that strategy, what are you looking to do? What kind of value Are you looking to provide for your specifically for attendees, in the event industry. There's a lot of talk now what's great about the pivot is the pivot has been coming and happening for years. They didn't, all of a sudden, get thrown in our face it scaled real quick because of circumstances. And not even just circumstances also what people were looking for in this like bespoke experience right. And so, not all is lost if you haven't got there yet know that that's super important.
So to go back from that strategy first perspective. The main thing between virtual events, and in person events. There's this 8020 split love that rule, it's ridiculous how much it applies to a lot of things. 20% of in person events. only 20% sort of in a game. Sensory have in the in person events is what will change on virtual events, and those two main things are your tech and your touch points with your attendees. Everything else can work itself in in a different way.
Right. So if we go back to strategy, And so you have an in person event, Does a virtual event accomplish what you want it to the person event was looking to do, and vice versa, if you have a virtual event that you're looking to bring in person, because in person events, they're coming back, people want them, we can we can see even from our current climate, just people going to restaurants and that sort of stuff. But we, we know that not all is lost one way or the other, there's still people that love one or the other. So again if you're going from a virtual event to an in person event you're gonna have that 20% again that's going to be different, you're attacking your touch, right.
So, it's nice to be able to what I like to do is when my clients is be able to have that conversation with them was 80%, that we know we're going to have to tweak a bit, but what's that 20% that's going to have the biggest impact. And if you just ask yourself that question what's the 80/20 for me? And how does that relate to my strategy? If you can clearly answer that question. If it serves your strategy and serves your attendees. You're good.
Now there's a lot of conversations around to around hybrid, specifically in the event world, and the easy. The easy answer is, don't do it. Because the purpose of virtual events is different. Well, yeah, the purpose, and the people that it's serving is different than the purpose, and the people that in person events are serving. So there's there's that two factor in as well. Now, I put a little * beside that because I'm sure you know we'll get better at it as people get used to it a bit more. But you're serving people differently, that way so my reko is, If you're pivoting one way or the other, ask why. And if the conversation pops up around a hybrid, ask why again and see, again it just it relates back to that strategy.
[35:45] VL: I'm really glad you mentioned that because I host events, and I was wondering who should, should I go forward hosting live and virtual events, and what would that look like why would I. Why would I do that. How could I, how can I make this live and virtual. And when I was just brainstorming by myself off the top of my head and thought, I think this would be more beneficial to the audience and to the, the people attending to the attendees. If it were two separate events. One was live one was virtual is kind of like you couldn't come to the live so for Corona virtual type of thing right. It can't be. I don't know it wasn't it wasn't really working on this mix I'm glad I'm glad you said that but again Asterix because we're open to new things.
And what I wanted to know actually from what you said was, do you have any examples of those touch points I feel like the tech will just depend on what kind of event you're hosting but in terms of the touch points. What do some live event touch-points look like, and then what were, what would be some virtual touch points?
KT: Yeah, so a fun one. That, that are finding people are really liking is. So for, but let's step away from like festivals and events and go into another bit of a live in person. type of event, like a run, or something. So you got a marathon going on. And so there's this cool camaraderie community building experience that happens when you go to pick up your badge right you get your little and choose packs right maybe a little thing all this foam three stuff right all those little goodies all the swag that we all love right you're big you know you got a yes you get all that sort of stuff. We have this interesting opportunity now what about if we're doing a virtual event. To give folks a swag bags.
And swag bas right there like the renew it they've got all the things that they could have before. And maybe the run is still happening but now they've got different start times, but they still get that and maybe they couldn't go into the building to get all their stuff but they still have that pre run experience where they get to open their box as they would open their swag bag, see all the things, try them on, take a photo with their family, post it on social media so it's like it's mimicking what the experience that they would have had in person, but now they're doing it at home, and posting it more virtually that way. So that's that's a fun. That's a fun thing that we're seeing a lot happening in the in the events world.
Yeah. So another example of a neat touch point would be sticking with that same example for a run right so you can't go in to to do the, the actual champion in person right. but they do still have a time. You know people are still running but you have a slotted start time versus isn't. What if we did a virtual checking. So people still have to check go to them, or whatever platform you're using and, and go in and talk to an actual human, that says hey what's up. Congratulations. Pretty uh pretty awesome that you're doing this right like Do you have any questions, did you get your swag box. Did you get all the things right so it'll be a consideration there as to when you want to do the check in time so depending on what questions, as if they didn't get their swag box, do you actually have time to solve that. Right. So those are all logistical things and then that's why you hire them people right. Don't think of that stuff where he knows we pay him for. But, but it's a fun consideration that way for the touchpoints and to keep people engaged and make them feel just as valued and support it, as they ever would if they were in person, something interesting that I'm that I'm hearing from a lot of virtual events is not only. Well firstly I'm seeing not only are they outperforming. I mean if we're talking from clearly financial thing outperforming their their their in person counterparts. But people actually feel more engaged and, and the attention is on the more supported. So it's interesting because they have a bit more of a voice that way as opposed to being lost in a sea of people. So it's kind of neat that that transition that's happening so virtual events actually bringing us closer together.
VL: Yeah, that is really interesting to hear, because I know that I get a lot out of those in person connections and community building. I know that you mentioned that and I didn't mention this before but you and I met through a virtual community. And I feel like a lot of the people that we've connected with on this virtual community. I've known them for either a long time or because we have a similarity because we've been part of this virtual community for a little while now. I don't know I never thought that I could have a deeper connection with someone and learn so much about someone. This way, but it's working, and I feel like I've made genuine friends, and I mentioned this a little bit of the pivot back because back from virtual to live, or avoiding the hybrid right. But is there anything else that we need to to remember, we go back to two live events or in person events I should say no live.
KT: Always for me from, from a management perspective it's always health and safety I don't care what's going on in the world, it's always the thing and it always needs to be. The next thing is, is analyzing your numbers and your data, what do you have to go off of that your people are telling you right because as we talked about before, like, ask them. Did you enjoy this more, did you not.
So, being open to having that conversation with them and being open to seeing how your live event evolves. And if it changes that's okay, if it gets longer that's okay because shorter, maybe it was a three day thing maybe it goes down to a one day thing like that's okay. Again, what is what is your strategy What are you looking to do for yourself as a business, be it nonprofit for profit, what have you, but also what kind of value are you giving to your attendees. And can you now do that in a day. Did you. Is there anything that you learned that, that helps you evolve your in person event and asking re asking yourself that 8020 question really is, is the biggest thing so health and safety. At 20, and what did the data tell you.
[42:50] VL: I'm glad you said that because if, when we were looking at our data from our own survey. It was specific to our play studio and we asked people, you know, are you going to be coming joining us in person or in the studio Are you gonna be joining us virtually or we're using. Are you thinking of something like a mix of both. And we were blown away by how many people actually wanted that makes it both virtual, and in person classes. And I know that even from a teacher and a student perspective as somebody who's taking fitness classes online, and hooking them in person. I liked the option to just turn on my computer, sitting in my living room, do the workout, and then I was done I turn my computer off and then I could go have dinner if you go have a shower right away or I was already at home and I didn't have all these, like I wasn't driving to a new space that I've never been before so I really think that there is room for both types. And that's what I want to ask you is, can we still have the best of both worlds. Can we sell a virtual can we still Why does it have to be one or the other, can be both?
KT: YES. hahah! Answer Yes, they can. And like you said, I think it all comes down to what your, your people want. Right. And if that, making sure that it doesn't come at the cost of the value that you're providing people right if it's not serving them properly. Maybe that's what they want. It's kind of like when you know you're looking are talking to your clients and, and, and you're telling them what they need to hear. Right, knowing that this is what they're asking you kind of have to search for that question behind the question, to see if like do they actually want a hybrid something or is there something else going on, that they miss that I could incorporate into either of those, but I certainly think you can have the best of both worlds. And it looks so different for different industries in different demographics depending on what they want and how well versed are they in in software and just engaging that way, right from it from a simple logistics perspective. To what do they need to feel to feel fulfilled, are they like an in person. They need to like feel the energy in the room or they comfortable and can still feel connected in in a virtual way no matter what the what the event is but I love that your folks are telling you that they do want both what that says to me, is that. My question is, now I would put back to them. It's like it sounds to me like you really like consistency and you want to be. You want to be involved on a consistent basis, but you can't make it in all the time that for whatever reason, it just doesn't fit into your life, but you understand, like me, I'm an in person gal. I just love it. I love the energy, I want to feel the music waves coming out of the speaker into my body, you know, you know, as an example, and so yeah you can and that's just going to look like. different things for different people and different companies and clients.
[46:14] VL: Yeah, that's a great point and it again comes back to the strategy the survey all the data so really good point. And I want you to brag a little bit right now I want you to tell us everything about what you do, what kind of clients you serve. Basically if anyone's out there listening to this interview and wants to know how they can work with you and what and what you do. Exactly.
KT: Oh, we talk about obstacles when it comes to your business pat yourself on the back and doing those elevator pitches and and being comfortable talking about yourself, knowing that you're actually not bragging because he knows who you're going to talk to you to be like, should you do not. Well let's talk. Let's talk. Right. Um, so yeah. I just love what I do, so I'm not talking about it, by me right away. Um, so I love our culture productions focuses on outdoor and virtual experiences. It's funny people like what can you do your stuff. Yes, I can do indoor stuff. I don't want it though.
So, I can do it, I like it. Some people, I still love it so this is what I like to focus on. And that's plenty. I think that's important for people to know there's plenty of work and what you want to do. If you love it enough and you do and you provide enough value. So, that's why I've moved forward. In this way, some of the big projects that we've done is, I worked on a traveling hockey festival called Rogers hometown hockey, for, for four years so we were. I was a senior Event Manager on that. And what that means is that, I would help set up.
I would go and visit all the communities. Let me back up a bit. The festival is a hockey was a hockey based festival that went to 24 cities in 26 weeks over the hockey season. So we went across the country with that. So we did that festival in 97 cities across the country, which was on real oh man if you have not traveled this country. And you're like, now's the time Jesus it Now's not the time I don't know what it is right so like, check it out. We've got some good stuff.
But, so I would work with my team to, to go to all the different cities and have those conversations with the cities and towns Hamlet's to see if they wanted to host this thing. And so we would have that conversation with them, and then work with their team to get a local Organizing Committee set up and take them through beginning to end. So we were working with 24 teams concurrently across the country to get them all set up.
And if that doesn't mean systems and processes, I don't know what does and I was like, Oh man, I don't know what the word is I've heard geeking out or nerdgasm or whatever you want to do but I was all about eighth grade so I just loved all that stuff because I love making sure that people feel good, and feel supported because form, and you know, she goes south. It's all good. You know all get done because it has to one way or the other. And we're going to do it sanely. That's the big thing for me is, is, yeah. Team sanity and that. And then most recently, I've had this new contract come out or a new client.
I wouldn't use a new client like I got a new opportunity I'm just so blessed to have the opportunity presented so so it's a company called curbside concerts and little plug per se concerts.ca, check it all out. And so, because of COVID, what happened was a gentleman named Matt masters out of Calgary, very well known in Calgary across the country as a Western musician and artist. And so when music stops.
You can probably think of three musicians you know that are playing that were playing in live venues anymore right or supporting an initiative somehow with with live music. And so he and his friend build a stage on top of his car and he literally started playing concerts and people's herd size. Right. It was so awesome, and the need was there people wanted it they I mean it, there's been like 300 shows of that already coming out of Calgary. And so, for him he's if there's something here, people want this, and you love like music as much as I do. I don't care what the circumstance is. And I mean that goes with anything that someone who loves and is passionate about you're gonna find a way to do it, you know.
And one thing I'm a big believer on is. I don't particularly like the same thinking outside the box, I actually think it's a lot easier, more productive, to have a little box. I mean, the boxes have to be tiny and restrictive. It just has to have parameters, that's all right and you can work within them. So we have these interesting parameters that were set on us, right in March, and he rolled with it. Right. And so he wanted to now to take this national, and I was at, I had to stop myself or be like don't don't seem too excited too fast right but you're like it's contracted so find the contract you want to send you wonder, do you want to send me one right. And so that's what I'm working on the main project that I'm working on right now is getting this up and going in a managing and culture is managing the operations for that. So, we have to be very aware of the health and safety around that we need to know, you know we're developing onboarding processes for artists that we want to work with as we want to expand this out across the country and producers across the country that have their rosters right and it's just so it's so good and it's so nice to see it flourish. There's an interesting learning here I think for everyone is that the initiative is was doing so so welling in Calgary from the gecko, and then you start to scale. And sometimes, in our case the amount of concerts that we were having dipped a bit because we needed to hit this infrastructure in place. And I think it's important for to share that, because that can be a little bit scary when you're talking about a startup or you got money on the line you got lives on the line you got these humans that depend on you. Right. There's like a ripple effect that this is his family's kids right we want to make sure that they're taking care of and and you know the conversation on the early on with that was again mindset, which was really great that is something that this initiative aligns with a culture.
Thanks, in a leash make sure that everyone's in the right mindset and moving towards the goal. And so now we're just we're going to blow that out and it's going to be awesome because we've got a lot of the feedback coming in and people are loving it and. And I think we decided yesterday so I'm going to say it out loud for the first time in the world and we're launching August 17 nationally across yet across the country so we're building, building up to that getting all the from an operational perspective for me getting all the systems and processes in place to onboard artists and together, or producers in each of the regions set up and supported in our marketing strategies set up from a marketing director and just all all those things and I'm just keeps a stupidly stoked because I feel a little punch drunk on it honestly it's and to be given this opportunity and it's easy to talk about because I see how excited people get when I talk about it, which is just as excited as I got so I digress you shouldn't let me go I could talk about that for days it gets a little fired up.
[54:13] VL: Oh my gosh, well congratulations! Oh, congratulations that's so exciting and at the time of this recording that's less than two weeks away so that is huge. How long does the event run for?
KT: So the initial, we're pushing for November. And we're going hard for six months we want to really see what we can do in six months and I think that's smart we have some realistic goals set in place we're going to reevaluate in six months, and long term, the goal is, is a year, two years, five years 10 years we really want to support musicians across the country and and change the way that the community involves artists and interacts with them.
[55:10] VL: Wow, amazing, and so cool.
KT: WEBSITE: KultureProductions.ca
INSTAGRAM | @kyrstenthornhill
We've got a company, Instagram, you know, it's on its way. We're working we don't want to throw it up there until it's ready, you know again from that value perspective of not putting it out there that. If it's not good enough to go yet. However, the, the Asterix on that is, I love a quote from the co founder of LinkedIn and he said if you're not embarrassed by your first version of something you took way too long, put it out right and so and then that's fine and I apply that every day in my life to a lot of stuff like so this is.
[56:27] VL: I've never heard that quote before I love that. That's so great and it's so true, what I always say in my classes when, when people are getting frustrated that they can't do a pose or whatever they're going through in the class they just say you know I'm an expert at anything was once a beginner so give yourself permission to just, just try to show up for yourself and whatever that looks like, and your business yourself whatever it is that's awesome i love that quote, definitely put that into the show notes as well. All right, we're ready for the rapid fire round!
RAPID FIRE ROUND:
[57:05] Question number one, what are you currently reading or what's your favourite book?
KT: So, full disclosure I'm not the biggest reader of long novels, I'm a big audio book person I like articles, and that sort of stuff. Okay, being a little bit vulnerable here so something new that I've taken on is. Maybe this is coming because of the lockdown stuff. But, but exploring the world of some steamy novels, and just kind of listening to those and what they mean to me and and exploring that genre a little bit more, you know, and then playing with those fantasies a little bit so um a couple of the series that I'm listening to right now is, is called: Beautiful stranger. There's another one called a beautiful bastard. So, yeah, that's kind of that's kind of fun enough that I'm listening to you right now maybe not my favorite book. But, but, it's what I'm exploring right now.
[58:36] Question number two, what are you currently working toward?
KT: There's two main things. One is creating a successful business through culture productions that can really support people that want to do the same. And, yeah, do their thing I feel like culture is a place where they can do that. The end game on that is being able to have an exit strategy for that, so I'm building towards an exit strategy, what that looks like, I don't know exactly yet but I know that it's there.
The other thing that I'm working towards or looking for, for me, is like is my person. You know, I'm very open to engaging in that now and having those conversations to build a life with someone so that's something I would say that I'm working towards but I don't want that to come off the wrong way. I know it's worked let's be honest relationships are all work, but I'm sorting towards that right now.
[59:46] Question number three, what do you love most about being a woman?
KT: The fear of most though being a woman is the essential reality that comes along with us. And how we're able to express ourselves. I love that. The words that anyone can get to use them but. But some of the words that that women have to express our feelings I love I love that side of stuff.
If we're talking about the nature versus nurture side of things going you know straight up science. I love that we're the nurturing side of things, I love that I can bring that to anything that I'm doing, and still be just as powerful in that position in all the right ways possible. But I love that there's that sort of filter for me about being a woman and I think it's, it's very helpful and is a source of empowerment revenue any woman that wants to tap into it. To use this like innate ability that we have that can feed whatever we, whatever we want to do.
[1:01:06] Question number four: What does empowerment mean to you?
KT: So for me empowerment is process. I don't. For me it doesn't, it's not a thing it's not an action or single action. And it's not it's not a word for me it's more of a feeling. So, even some of the things that we've talked about here when we talk about being like being comfortable with being uncomfortable. That's empowerment, whatever moves you forward and makes you feel like you can do it.
And you've got this, you're gonna fuck it up I promise you, but you've got this faith and that's it's that mindset and being okay with that. And knowing that there's just lots of energy that you can that you can pull off of to feed it knowing that it doesn't always have to come from you that you're okay to lean on stuff to get into that empowerment position.
But in totality it's moving through that that process. And when you feel empowered. You'll know you'll know when that that switch. Just changes. And from for me and a lot of people that I've talked to you it doesn't typically go away after that. There's walls but it never goes away after that so once, once you kind of get there, then, then you're, then you're good.
[1:02:50] I think that's incredible. The way you describe and define empowerment I feel like that's something you really embody you embody that definition of empowerment, so I just, I want to acknowledge that and I want to acknowledge you and thank you again for coming on the show. I have learned so much more about you today that I that I didn't know before and that's one of the things I love about doing these interviews is getting to know people more but also giving you the space to brag, and like not even brag because you said it's on a break. This is what I do this is what I'm proud of. So I want. I feel like this is a space where you can explain. Maybe that's the word for it and you can really just speak your your truth and your voice and your, your lessons in your learning I learned so much from you today this is incredible. So thank you, you are appreciated and I know that you are going to be so successful in this new project and the production company because you already have everything you need and then the right mindset, and the empowerment and the drive to and the courage, for sure. You are one of the most courageous and brave people I've ever met. to to be successful. So I wish you fun, because I know you're going to be successful. I don't even need to wish you the success I just wish you have a really great time and you laugh a lot and you love every frickin moment of it. Yeah, I just. This was so amazing. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.
KT: Oh, likewise, I learned so much about you and honestly even about myself and just just talking about stuff it's so much different way to say it out loud, and I'm looking forward to getting more ingrained in and following you in what you're doing and connecting with these wonderful women that you're, you're bringing to the table and giving them voice and we're just learning, learning from them so thank thank you.
Podcast Host
Valerie LaVigne
Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!
