My events business is better than ever...

I haven’t played a gig in months, but business is better than ever.

At the end of 2017 Tennyson Events launched. I thought it was going to be a pretty minor thing - I had been working in the industry for about 16 years and this would just be a way to put a label on my work. From the word go everything changed; bookings picked up, I started external marketing for the first time, I picked up booking entertainment for one venue which turned into many more. 

By the end of 2019 I had scheduled close to 500 events for the year; these ranged from a vinyl dj on a Friday night at The Maid Hotel, to full day events at Mollydooker and Longview vineyards. Those full day events consisted of staging, equipment, djs, and so much more. To say I was busy was an absolute understatement.

Towards the end of 2019 a dichotomy was occurring; I was growing to love my work more and more but it was becoming increasingly clear that I couldn’t sustain it at the level I was doing. The previous two years were dominated by trying to grow this business, and it left me thinking - “why”? The whole year was a period of drastic personal growth, and as a sole trader it’s natural that personal growth bleeds into the company.

The change started by bringing an ethos I’ve had for my personal life into my business; I’m not going to compete. There’s two ways to win at anything, by being the best and by being different. Remember Apple’s early 2000’s marketing campaign “Think Different” - they weren’t going to beat IBM by going head on, they had to take the underserved creative corner of the market and say “it’s us or them”. When I competed at the Red Bull Thre3style Dj competition in the early 2010’s, I won (twice!) by using the same tactic. I could not scratch a record to save my life, still can’t, but what I could do is use different equipment in such a different way that I was forcing the judges to judge the other djs against each other THEN judge me against them. The ethos of ‘not competing’ was always vaguely there for the business, but in late 2019 it was a hard line decision - I will NEVER compete with anyone else in my industry. 

“The race is long, and in the end it’s only with yourself” - Mary Schmich (the full article is amazing)

The second idea which I pulled into the business comes from the book Small Giants by Bo Burlingham. It’s about companies that choose to be great, not big. About companies who choose to set aside the continual chasing of profit, in exchange for being phenomenal at what they do (their ‘why’). I was thinking about growing my business, but how big did I want it to be? A multinational dj bookings agency? Do you want fries with your guitarist? Will U2 float on the stock exchange? I choose, just for the short term, to focus on giving my all to a small number of select clients - I don’t need this to be anything more than it is.

Since making these decisions I’ve been happier in business, more present with my clients. And I feel that it’s helped me look at this turbulent year with much more positivity. This time definitely hasn’t turned out the way that anyone thought it would be - but I’m thankful for the downtime to be able to clarify my thoughts by writing them, and honored to share my perspective with you.

Ryley Smithson