We were lucky to catch up with ALONSO GADEA recently and have shared our conversation below.
ALONSO, appreciate you joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
When we I decided to go sign my own clients it was in the midst of COVID there was people looking for marketing talent digitally i knew it was the moment to strike so I liquidated my life savings to finance getting my first clients and hiring freelancers & not cut corners
In 2022 after having numerous advertising clients with big budgets R&B ONLY was in need of a facebook ads speciality and having limited experience in live events it was an interested challenge because this was in industry severely impacted by COVID. They were looking to relaunch & get their operation up and running again but the first 6 monnths were absolutely brutal It seems that no matter what we tried the demand was slow moving as people were hesitant about coming back into live experiences. I honestly didn’t think we had a shot retaining this client long-term but kept pushing through.
It wasn’t until the tail end of 2022 when we saw demand coming back strong and people were eager to get back into live events again and get back to normal. All the data indicators said it was time to double down with marketing budgets specifically advertising.
This paid off in a HUGE way as the WINTER SPRING 2023 TOUR sold out every single show with over 40 cities and 95,000 tickets sold. Breaking all company records and signaling to the market that R&B MUSIC IS NOT ONLY BACK BUT STRONGER THAN EVER.
This type of client success felt like a dream but it was time to make another decision again. Do we double down in servicing clients in a ruthless environment that was just completely shutdown or do we stick with an approach in having multiple clients in different sectors.
I decided the TOUR/EVENTS industry was undeserved and in desperate need of solutions especially around marketing. Fast forward to now in June 2025 we’ve completed 8X tours together, supported over 360 live shows and have played in integral role in helping R&B ONLY 3X their ticket sales from 250K -> 750K.
We are seeing inqurieis increase from touring clientele asking what we do, how we do it, and if we can work together. The hard work is slowly paying off but there’s a ton of work left to do.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My entire life and career has been about taking risks. Studied finance in university but had no real passion for it outside of I was good with numbers. I took jobs as financial clerk and bookeper but did a hard pivot into sales and marketing working with a startup as one of my 1st professional jobs and never looked back.
Eventually I ended up working under agencies where I got most of my skills, training, understanding of marketing systems and I have been doing this type of work for over 10 years now.
The problems we help solve typically are in 3 areas
1. Fast ad creative production
2. Tour Marketing Systems and Infrastructure with custom built interface
3. Clear data on ticketing, budgets, and ROI
A few things that sets us apart from others
– We tell clients there’s NO shortcuts & not something we sell
– When you spend money into ads it’s important to TEST DAILY and EVERYTHING
– Advertising is only one piece of the marketing puzzle. Alone it won’t work.
Proud the ranks of entrepreneurs who took the leap of faith to build something bigger than themselves and continue fighitng the good fight. We get messages from people that say they are inspired by the stories of the risks we’ve taken and the mountain of failures we’ve pushed through. It’s all very surreal but telling that we are more powerful than we even understand!
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
RESULTS RESULTS RESULTS. Client delivery systems!
It took us 2-3 years of consistently posting on Instagram and LinkedIn results that our clients were achieving and a lot of time networking IRL before clients even started reaching out to us.
Trust in marketing agencies and people is at an all time low. Which is why showcasing consistent results is key in melting any doubts clients have about you.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
We’ve had several so when you are bootstrapping your business every dollar matters.
We’ve paid agency consultants over $50,000 expecting they could help us structure our operations, improve our sales, and accelerate our growth as business operators and both times we’ve been extremely disappointed. Some of our most expensive mistakes to date NO QUESTION.
Another time we were on the hunt for clients at an industry conference in NEW ORLEANS and during my travels I was notified that our business credit line limit was reduced by tens of thousands of dollars. We had to speak to the customer support many times to increase our limit back so we could get back home but this was very very risky and these are the moments where you question if this is worth the stress, anxiety, and self-doubt you remember most vividly and builds the resilience you need to continue building.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alonsogadea.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/main_event_alonso?igsh=YWFmY2IwMnB5Ymh1&utm_source=qr
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alonsogadea?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
