We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cal Iseminger. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cal below.

Cal, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

I started hosting game nights for friends because I was always a games person. My game nights grew in size and popularity and eventually I had to adjust the format so I could host larger groups. I ended up doing a game night for a friend of mine who was a director on Desperate Housewives at Marc Cherry’s house. Naturally there were some celebrities there. I wasn’t being paid for this first game night I was just doing it for a friend of mine. Normally I would have been scared out of my mind as a small farm boy from the middle of nowhere at the age of 24 but I was also a regular extra on Desperate Housewives so I knew some of the celebrities. I was still very nervous but that definitely helped. Felicity Huffman was at this game night and by the end of the evening she was raving about the experience and asking how much I charged because she wanted it for her birthday as well! This is where it all began.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started this game night business because I always had the most fun playing games with my friends. I wanted to share this with more and more people and continued to develop how my game nights could work for larger groups. Having celebrity clients in the beginning definitely helped but I believe it’s the product and team we have that really makes the product special.

I often ask myself what makes us special from other event companies like us? First of all 15 years of experience with some of the most high profile clients and corporations all over the world definitely helps. I think we have curated an experience that is unlike anything you can do by yourself at home. This isn’t setting up a board game and inviting a few friends over to play Candy Land. This is a live game show in your home hosted by trained professional game night hosts. When Barbara Streisand unexpectedly walks into your game night and your team doesn’t skip a beat? You know you’re working with the best in the business.

Sometimes there is just something special that can’t be explained. There is the “je ne sais quoi” about it and that’s what Cal’s Game Night is. Time and time again I’ve tried to explain what it is to people that haven’t experienced it and it’s like explaining Disney World to someone who hasn’t been. You can explain it until you’re blue in the face but after you experience it for the first time you get it.

In 15 years, with thousands of clients all over the world, every single client raved about the experience and said things like, “that was the most fun I’ve ever had at a party”. People come up to us all the time after game night and rave about their evening and they talk about it for months after!

We are very careful with who we hire and our team is a curated group of talented professionals. We have seen it all, there is literally nothing we can think of that we couldn’t handle. The stories we could tell… We’ve signed a lot of NDA’s. Let’s just say the biggest celebrities we have done we can’t talk about, but let your imagination run wild, we’ve done them all.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I think the biggest misconception about starting a successful business is that you just need a good idea or product and success will come quickly. While some win the “small business lottery” and become sensations overnight, it’s not the norm and most of those overnight successes don’t last. People see the success and have no idea how much work it took to get there.

When I first started it was just me, for literally the first 5 years, just me. I was hosting game nights for A-List Celebrities and large groups and I was figuring things out as I went along. I didn’t go to business school, the only thing I knew was the highest level of customer service from working in the service industry for years. I had no life. I was working at The Walt Disney Company in corporate 40-60 hour work weeks and then working on my business nights and weekends. I lost friends, stopped getting invited to parties and had no social life because I was working all the time.

I believe that you must be 100% all in and dedicated to your product and it’s success for it to last long term. Even half way in at about 7 years people believed in the product more than I did. I always asked myself how long this would last and if this was just a phase. I kept providing the highest level of customer service and definitely went with the “if it’s not broke don’t fix it” mentality. Listen to your customers, if they are loving the experience and the product, keep doing that!

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

In the beginning a lot of my clients were celebrities, “Hollywood elite” and successful business people. All of our clients would be considered “high profile”. We have had to sign many NDA’s because of the nature of how high profile these people are. Trust is the #1 most important thing when you have clients of this nature. Once you earn their trust you are inside their inner circle and you cannot under any circumstances break that trust or you will fail quickly.

We have consistently provided a service that is guaranteed to be fun, professional and your privacy will be respected at the highest level. We’ve done game nights for record breaking Grammy, Oscar and Emmy winning celebrities. We’ve gone into their homes, met their closest friends and seen them let their hair down. This is a trust that has been earned over time and we have never abused that or crossed the line.

Reputation is everything and it takes time. You want your clients singing your praises to all of their friends. We have never spent a dime on advertising and we are the biggest game night party company in the world. This was achieved by having a good product that people talk about, word of mouth.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.calsgamenight.com
• Instagram: calsgamenight
• Twitter: calsgamenight