We were lucky to catch up with Blake Harris recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Blake, thanks for 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.

Wanting to build a multi-million dollar event venue in the middle of a global pandemic was a huge risk. 8 banks turned their noses up at me and said it would never work, “the world would never be the same”. I KNEW that we would go back to gathering, throwing parties, and hosting weddings with families and friends. I finally found a bank that was willing to take a chance on me, a 29 year old, with a big dream and wanting to make a big impact in the Kansas City wedding and events industry. Our goal was to complete 30 weddings our first year in business, but due to the level of detail we put into the space, the pent up demand of brides delaying from the pandemic, and the incredible determination and sales techniques I used, we did over 120 events our first year open and did over of 7 figures of revenue and nearly 500K in PROFIT. This allowed my wife to leave her six figure nursing job to be a stay at home mom with our first born son and me to leave my six figure tech job to run the venue full time alongside my team. It was the true american dream coming into fruition right before my eyes.

Blake, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Prior to opening my first venue, I worked in corporate america in HR as a recruiter for a little known tech company called “Zoom”. I was a DJ on the side to make extra money. Back in 2017 when I started at Zoom no one knew who they were or what they did.  One day, I responded to a random inquiry on LinkedIn where they were looking to start and grow a midwest office in Kansas City.  They needed a recruiter to help build it out. I took a chance on the company, but little did I know that it was going to become as big as it did as fast as it did and change the course of my entire life.

I had a passion for creating environments, throwing parties, hosting people, and really going above and beyond to “wow” people at an event I was hosting. I loved playing with people’s emotions with lighting, sound, theatrics, and even scents to leave them remembering the event far into the future. I knew that long term I wanted to build a venue. There were a lot of incredible spaces in Kansas City but none that checked ALL of the boxes for me. Great getting ready suites, large vendor areas, indoor and outdoor party areas, waterfront, large private property, and DETAILS in every area down to the littlest things. I knew I would be successful if I just did it.  So once I started making enough money in my day job for the dream started to become a reality financially, I dove all in. Through design and construction, I sought counsel from other venue owners, all different types of vendors, architects, designers, and used my own personal experiences to curate a space that, in my opinion, was like no other in the KC area. It utilized high end technology, full service amenities, and checked ALL the boxes of my dream board.

The success of The Haven in my first 12-18 months in business left me sleepless at night…because I knew I HAD to do it again. I wanted to open a second space, using everything I had learned in my first space, to elevate and provide an additional option for clients who were struggling to find dates on our Haven calendar; due to our popularity and limited availability. After months of looking at several different buildings, the original post office in Ottawa, KS, built in 1913, came up for sale. The beauty, history, and character of this space was like nothing I had ever seen before. A chance to own a piece of historic relevance such as this was something I never could have dreamed up. It provided such a different aesthetic to what The Haven had to offer, but had the canvas to allow me to bring over ALL the same amenities, details, and function that made our first space so successful. After 5 months and over 6-figures of renovations, The Lincoln Event Space opened on Friday, March 15, 2024.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Getting into the wedding and events industry, I never realized how large and robust the vendor community was in Kansas City. I just wanted to build a venue to cater to clients, I never imagined how impactful it was going to be for other small business owners in the events industry. Today some of my best friends I have met through this market and they have pushed me, encouraged me, and lead by example with their strength, determination, and courage in building their own businesses.

Always pushing myself to think outside the box, “create a wow factor”, and go above and beyond at every single event we host is what has made us successful. We choose to put people first and know that by truly caring, loving others, and trying to make dreams come true that we will be rewarded by default.

Other vendors in Kansas City can see our heart. They see the time, energy, and passion we put into everything we do and that makes them want to perform along side us. This creates a synergy of harmony for clients that host events in our space because everyone works together so well and truly enjoys what they are doing.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Most venues that we have studied don’t spend as much time on the front end of a booking as we do with a client. My team will tell you, “we have to be *show ready* at ALL times”. We allow tours from 10am to 7pm seven days a week. Every tour of either space is no less than 90 minutes. This is a BIG investment into someone who has not even booked you yet…and might not! We want to get to know them, their story, share our story, and walk through all of the incredible details and amenities that our spaces have to offer. This can’t be done in a 20-30 minute tour. We also sit down at a table together in our office at the end of the tour and put together a FULL proposal showing exactly how our pricing breaks down based on their estimated guest counts, bar package selections, and date requests. This lets them leaving having EVERYTHING they need to make an educated decision without any guess work or risk of getting into something they might later regret.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thehaveneventspace.com www.thelincolneventspace.com
• Instagram: @thehavenkc @thelincolnkc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheHavenKC https://www.facebook.com/thelincolnkc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-harris-9bb38219/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClT7tf5gPqvwX86N7fOx35Q

Image Credits
We own the rights to all of these photos and images.