We recently connected with Bob Waun and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Bob thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

We are music fans! Musicians bring good vibes and joy to people and the communities they live in. Irvine, Kentucky is a special historic downtown and symbolic of America. We wanted to create a space that supported and respected artists. In a listening room music can be heard in a new experiential way because it is respectful to the artist. No one talks during the songs, no drinks or food are being served, the acoustics of the room are superior to any other environment. It’s live music that gives you goosebumps!

Bob, 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?

I grew up in a small northern michigan resort town, and have a deep love for rich neighborhood community. As a banker I funded luxury resort real estate projects and housing around America. When I got into real estate development in 2012, I focused on rebuilding urban downtowns hit hard by the 2008 economic woes, and General Motors bankruptcy. Traveling to town builder conferences, new urbanist projects and cities around the world, I have become concerned that we are homogenizing communities – big corporate chain stores and franchises have stolen the soul of America, and created a cookie cutter landscape which leaves us with convenience without heart. I’d like to use the final years of my working life to develop projects with a double bottomline, profitable and sustainable but that add to a community’s character, history and soulfulness.

We start by asking what artists see, hear and feel. The Holla Holler project allows us to hear their voices.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Change is scary, especially when it is being proposed by someone you don’t know. When you aren’t born, raised and haven’t lived in a community, people greet you with a lot of skepticism. Some of it healthy, most of it just skepticism. Your ideas appear dangerous and the word ‘no’ is used too often to new ideas.

Innovation and progress can’t happen without new ideas from ‘outside.’ The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting better results… Now, we always try to understand traditions, the best history of a place before suggesting new ideas. Moving quickly toward progress is typically met with negative backlash, unlearning the idea that doing something is better than doing nothing has been a hard lesson for me. I try to make progress every day, and this has caused push back and unneeded resistance and expense.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

For 25+ years Fridays terrified me, because payroll was daunting to make sure everyone got the correct check, on-time. Early in my career we think payroll in an accounting ledger book, with hand written checks, and I’m dyslexic!

The responsibility that someone’s weekend, their fun time with family and friends would be impacted by a mistake in accounting or a banking error was a great responsibility for me. From time to time we had over 100 team members at my companies and I appreciated their daily efforts to help us win and grow our reputation, that’s a lot of checks to clear every week. Anyone who has handled the responsibility of a payroll for 2+ people know what I’m talking about. I respect business owners who have taken on this responsibility, and it bothers me to hear people who have never had those sleepless nights before pay day wondering if the checks are right and won’t clear criticize those of us who were ‘job makers’.

President Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” speech was taped to my desk, under the ink blotter for years, I would reference it when I would hear people criticizing me or my business partners.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.HollaHoller.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hollahollermusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089768320728
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vacationfinance/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HollaHoller
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/holla-holler-studio-irvine
• Other: https://www.Airbnb.com/h/hollaholler

Image Credits

Karen McCarthy and Melissa “PhotoBoss” Abney