We were lucky to catch up with James Trawick recently and have shared our conversation below.

James , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The idea for The Hondo Rodeo fest began with a phone call from Blake Cody who had just experienced one of the most iconic concerts of all time, George Strait at rodeo Houston. He was reeling with excitement and curiosity as he hammered me with questions about why there isn’t another combination of high level rodeo and country music offered out there in the world. Which of course I explained of a couple of other events that package concerts with their rodeos and explained how each of them approach it differently and then we spent weeks and months going back and forth talking through how we could put our own spin on this concept and create something unique. Nearly two years later The Hondo Rodeo Fest took place under the stadium lights of Chase Field in Phoenix Arizona!

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.

For me work in the western sports industries began as a contestant in highschool and I just followed the path until I crossed over into the media production side of things and slowly, year after year I built a network of people all across western culture.

We started filming and producing hunting shows and live concerts and that lead to all kinds of work opportunities that opened new doors. Some of those jobs along the way were in association with brands like Bass Pro, Under Armor, Toyota, Hoyt, Havalon, Vanguard, Cavender’s, American Hat Co, Coors, Cmmg, Gamegaurd, guns.com and many more.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In 2019 we were actively pursuing funding for a feature length drama about the sport of bull riding and were well on our way with nearly a million raised. You always hold funds like this in escrow until you reach the point of which you are capable of producing a finished film and unfortunately Covid hit in 2020. We had no idea what the future held so we prayerfully decided to just return those funds and chalk it up as a loss.

We kept our heads down and worked hard to continue moving forward as a business that year. Not long after the dust started to settle during Covid we were fortunate enough to be approached by the Frost family about our film and not long after we were in the fundraising cycle again but this time we were in pursuit of a feature length documentary about the late world champion Lane Frost.

The lesson learned through all of this for me is just keep moving forward. Don’t ever quit and keep fighting for what you believe in, one step at a time you will overcome the obstacles and accomplish the goal.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

One of the best things I have found in managing a team to keep morale high is creating clear and healthy boundaries from the start and then do your best to have fun along the way. Our work tends to take us out of town and away from our families for long days and if you aren’t having fun with the team and building content or events that you believe in it’s easy to take a nose dive. So we ultimately have to say no to quite a few opportunities along the way to protect the path and the relations of our team.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thehondorodeofest.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehondorodeo/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-trawick-b6605848?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Image Credits
Tough Draw Sports and Entertainment