We recently connected with Abbey Brown and have shared our conversation below.

Abbey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in – but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?

As a wedding venue owner, I truly believe I have the best job ever but I also have a challenging business model. There is an ever looming revenue ceiling because we can only rent out the venue 365 times in a year and can’t create more weekends (no matter how much we want too). About 3 years into my business, we ran into this revenue ceiling dilemma. In order to create new revenue streams we decided to open a wedding retail space that would include the accompanying items of a wedding including paper goods, cake toppers, honeymoon bags and other event accessories. We had an incredibly successful grand opening and then 5 days later, the world was put on lockdown due to COVID-19. To say that events and retail took a hit would be an understatement.
I found myself with a huge event hall with no events and a retail shop with no shoppers. I knew that this was when real entrepreneurs were born and opportunities were available to those who looked for them.
I quickly purchased a tent and automatically doubled my event space allowing us to still hold events and honor the social distancing rules. We also quickly switched the retail space into a micro event space allowing families to gather in a safe, clean space with some extra room and without the fear of having large groups in their home.
Navigating COVID-19 and implementing a new revenue stream was by far the most innovative time in my entrepreneurial journey.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Abbey Brown and I own The Brownstone, a wedding and event venue in Topeka, KS. The venue itself has a very rich history. It is an old 1920s dairy barn that was built by Kansas State University architects. It has lived a lot of lives including being transformed into an antique shop and most recently a bed and breakfast.
I grew up in an entrepreneurial home and after graduating college with my MBA, worked in healthcare IT. After 5 years in corporate America, I knew it was time to venture out on my own and become an entrepreneur. At this time, I was engaged and my home town of Topeka, KS had a small selection of wedding venues and very few that offered indoor and outdoor space as well as the amenities of the larger cities.
My family has always loved real estate and fell in love with this barn when it went up for sale in 2016. We did extensive renovations and opened as a wedding and event venue in 2018. We have since hosted almost 1,000 weddings and events and employ about 25 associates.
Our venue has 2 bridal suites, a grooms suite with shower, limestone patio with fireplace, catering kitchen, silo bar and a beautiful main event hall with 5ft chandeliers.
I am most proud of the customer service and commitment we have to our customers. We are honored to be a small part of many people’s big day and understand that it is a privilege to serve.
I truly believe that if serving is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you and I believe we have the best leaders in the service industry working at The Brownstone.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

It takes a village to run a business and I believe there is enough business to go around. One of the things that has helped me is creating community with other venue owners in the area and wedding professionals. We created a wedding professional community where we get together quarterly to share stories, industry tips and create community. We also help market each other and support each other through social media and sharing each other’s content.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

One of my favorite marketing stories has to do with a very special couple. They booked The Brownstone over a year before their big day. After booking, they set out on a mission to get the singer, Andy Grammar, to sing at their wedding. They noticed that he was playing a show in a city near by on their wedding day and were determined to have him play.
For 365 days they created a Tik Tok video campaign asking Andy Grammar to play at their wedding. So every single day, they would create a new video together and tag Andy. About a year into their adventure they attended his concert and sat in the first few rows holding a sign asking him to play at their wedding.
He stopped his concert when he saw that sign and said that he knew them because he woke up every morning to them on his news feed for the past year. He then graciously agreed to play at their wedding.
The couple informed us of this campaign and we quickly went from small town wedding venue to prepping for a musical artist to play a set. This was the biggest whirlwind and greatest experience as a venue owner getting to work with a manager and band to coordinate the timings.
Andy Grammar showed up and played his heart out. The entire room was blown away. It will forever be one of my favorite memories.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thebrownstonetopeka.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebrownstonetopeka/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBrownstoneTopeka/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbey-brown-17560730/

Image Credits
Molly Harmon Photography Bri JoRae’ Productions