We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashleigh & Andrew Mutty. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashleigh & Andrew below.

Ashleigh & Andrew, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

In the early stages of building our business, we were mostly gearing our brand around our 1968 Volkswagen bus that we converted into a mobile bar. We wanted the name to evoke feelings of wanderlust and adventure. After weeks of brainstorming, all of a sudden “Free Spirits” popped into Ashleigh’s head late one evening. Full-body chills confirmed to her that there was something special in this name selection. It was so perfect to us because, not only was it a play on the words, but the term also fully represented how we live our lives. We are both very non-conformist and non-traditional people; going against the grain of societal norms to live a life that feels authentic to us. From the very start, we aimed to build our business around opportunities and situations that make sense for us and can happily say this is indeed the free-spirited path we have successfully taken so far.

We have a passion for our work and naming the business and its individual entities is always such a fun experience. We named our 1968 VW bus “Gypsea”, because not only is the vessel a “gypsy” with a willingness to travel from place to place, but she is also a Gyp”sea”, in terms of her beachy/ocean-type vibe. If you have ever seen Gypsea in person you would understand the nature of the name and character.

We named our headquarters and homegrown event space at the Fox Run Mall in Newington, NH, The Free Spirits “Design Lab.” We focused on the design aspect of the business, allowing couples to engage with our products and offerings on a personal level. We encourage clients to come into the space and participate in a hands-on design experience. Clients are allowed to mix and match our decor & furniture pieces and envision their lounge before it arrives at their event. This collaboration allows for a much more personal and intimate touch.

Lastly, we chose the name JRNY (Journey) to title our new Volkswagen concept. This name relates to the history of the bus as well as the nature of the project in general. The 1972 vintage VW bus was rescued off a hillside in Holderness, NH, and relocated to our shop 100 miles away, where it is slowly being transformed into our new vision. We knew that it would be a journey to complete, and have put no pressure on ourselves with a deadline to meet, however, we are getting close! This bus is currently being fabricated into a pizza ‘n beer offering that will include a wood-fired oven and a selection of cold draft beverages. Follow the journey as we get closer to completion on Instagram @jrny_bus

Ashleigh & Andrew, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We are Free Spirits Event Co, a boutique event production company, and our business model was built upon our cumulative skill sets and passions. Ashleigh’s background is rooted in hospitality and event management with a rising passion for interior & event design. Andrew’s foundation at Massachusetts College of Art, set him up for a life in action sports marketing, while later working closely in the event production field. Free Spirits is truly a unique mix of these two passions and career paths.

We are constantly refining our abilities to add special touches and vibes to each event. We find our clients are called to work with us because they see how these organic elements create such awe-inspiring moments. Our services range from event planning and management to custom-built specialty rentals, all of which curate a cohesive design experience. These experiences represent our client’s personalities and styles, ranging from their specialty cocktails to their seating areas giving each event a one-of-a-kind look and feel. Aside from the design aspect, we pride ourselves in offering a hugely functional component of exceptional bar service that makes the whole experience completely seamless. We never forget where we started, and making a true craft cocktail is where we feel our foundation begins.

Our business name and our business model are similarly bound together in the essence of being “free” to create and navigate our own path. We find ourselves in a state of constant evolution. As our business evolves, so does our client base. Our niche offerings have expanded from a very personal experience, such as a wedding or baby shower, into a more public/corporate setting, such as a festival or expo. Our corporate clients are looking for ways to get in front of people and create these special moments, and we thrive on providing these fresh and inspiring ideas. We are not afraid to think outside the box and bring in ideas that push the boundaries of “normal” expectations.

When we are approached to work with a new client, a lot of our decision-making is based on a common balance between their trust in us, and allowing us to navigate their expectations with our creativity. In some cases, these worlds are very much streamlined, and in others, it becomes a relationship-building exercise to gain their trust. We pride ourselves on operating at an elevated level of service and producing an overall cohesive experience that a client can rely on.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Our story begins 14 years ago when we were both single and living in Southern California. Living just one town apart from each other, our paths seemed destined to cross. Both raised in the northeast, we later realized we had mutual friends and stomping grounds, but ironically never crossed paths until both living across the country from where we were born.

In the early years of building our journey, we worked individually for various different companies and struggled with juggling finances, schedules, and raising the kids. The entrepreneurial spirit was strong within us both, and we began to see that our own side hustles not only complimented each other but were bound to work together. The dream of Free Spirits began with a mobile bar, which Ashleigh envisioned herself easily driving to an event and popping open for a seamless setup. Of course in real life, the logistics of executing a successful mobile bar service were way more complex and required endless hours of planning & strategizing, as well as on-site support. Andrew’s unique creative skills were exactly what Free Spirits needed. We soon found ourselves talking endlessly about how to evolve the quickly-growing business and expand our offerings to increase business viability. Our early relationship has grown from two single people to a stable family unit with an insatiable desire to follow our passions and create new exciting experiences.

We are now going into our fourth event season and we will be offering event planning & design, custom builds, lounge rentals, and we are now poised to offer special events at our two event venues; Wolfsburg Farm in Holderness NH, and the DesignLab, in Newington NH. In addition to our original mobile bar concept, we have invested in our Volkswagen-themed mobile vessels with a new customized vintage VW bus. This new bus will be dubbed JRNY, and offer a wood-fired oven featuring a selection of mini bites along with a variety of customized draft beverages.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The journey in life is always about learning. We believe that if you are not trying, then you are not taking the chances you need to be successful. Learning a lesson is ultimately a part of the journey that you must experience to gain knowledge. If we were to “unlearn” something it would be how we chose to get started.

One of our missteps was not spending more time setting up fundamental business documents, such as a business plan and operating agreement. Being very particular in who does what, when they do it, and defining value for that is very important. We went online and quickly chose an existing template for an operating agreement, but there was nothing defined in the agreement that was specific to our business. We also never set up a full business plan, where we would have been forced to think through the trajectory of what a new business might face- both the good and the bad. Taking the time to go this step, which can feel like a chore, can really help you suss out the viability of each component of your business- from products you want to sell, to partnerships you want to enter into, etc.

Sometimes the business plan may be correct and sometimes, the plan needs to be reexamined in order to maintain a necessary balance in all areas. In our case, this was one of the first lessons we learned.

Contact Info:

• Website: FreeSpiritsEvents.Com
• Instagram: @freespiritsmobilebar @wolfsburgfarm @jrny_bus
• Facebook: @freespiritsmobilebar

Image Credits
Robin Easler Photography Random Acts of Candid Jacquelyn Potter Alex Lucci Alexsandra Wiciel Jess Borislow