We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jason Fajkus a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jason, appreciate you joining us today. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?

Starting out it was just me full time, I was lucky enough to have a family – wife and kids who supported me every step of the way as I worked day in and night out. As I look back at my needs… one of the best things I did was look at my weaknesses and hire people for those elements. I was so lucky that my wife part owner could manage paperwork with people like the IRS and bankers etc… they all need lots of docs. Lol. Without her this company would already be shut down. Then once we started getting more events I needed help in the warehouse, but I needed someone who could do all the things I couldn’t and I found Marcus Hart our first non-family team member, who is basically family now! I would say building a team requires a level of honesty about yourself that not everyone is willing to admit. You can’t have an ego and think you can do a company by yourself or otherwise that’s all you will ever be… a one-person company. Building requires you to look deep at yourself and say hey… I’m not good at this, this or that and find people that help complete the circle of work that needs to be done around you.

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

Jason Fajkus is Principal Owner and Production Designer for 360 AV Design. With almost 15 years of event industry experience, Jason is known for his innovative eye for design, larger than life personality, dedication to superior customer service, and most importantly, “yes” attitude with his clients. He has received over 37 Industry Awards and 5 National Awards voted on by Hospitality industry peers for work on a variety of events ranging from social to corporate. Jason’s work has been featured on TLC’s The Little Couple, “Doggy Fashion Show”, in several magazine publications including BRIDES, and virtually with Perfete and The Social Book. He has participated in several interviews on talk radio as well as live news broadcasts regarding private events during the 2017 Super Bowl LI in Houston. Jason has also designed private events with artists such as Drake, Snoop Dogg, One Republic, Flo Rida (several times), Alanis Morrissette, and many others. He prides himself on being a straight-talk production partner, helping planners and couples set realistic expectations regarding production budgets, as well as lighting, staging, audio, and visual design elements.

360 AV Design is your personal AV guide for all your production needs. We focus on Audio, Video, Lighting and Staging for all events including galas, concerts, festivals, as well as corporate and social events. No project is too big or too small and we love a new design challenge. From clear pool covers, to unique concert stage sets, cutting edge light shows, mic-ing your minister or dramatic entrances, we are here for it all. Most importantly, your event will be backed by a team of industry professionals with over 50 years of combined experience, who will thoughtfully review each production event from every angle, ensuring your designs are innovative, safe, clean, and creative.

Volunteering is also deeply rooted in Jason personally and professionally. Jason and his wife, Kara, are long standing doners to several charities focusing on underprivileged youth, animal welfare and fighting childhood cancer. Jason is a founding member of Recovery Houston, established to assist with relief efforts after the Hurricane Harvey flooding in Houston. Giving back is a priority for 360 AV Design as well. They strive to be a major contributor to nonprofit organizations across the greater Houston area through time volunteered, donations made as well as providing specialized pricing structures for organizations that help raise money for the city’s most important charitable needs.

Jason LOVES the production world. However, when not at work, Jason can be found napping. No, that’s not a typo. It’s seriously a hobby and when he’s lucky, he can fit in a round or two of video games. He has two sons, the eldest, Jorden is a student at A&M and the youngest, James is in middle school. Jason married Kara in 2020 after meeting during an event in 2017 and are expecting their first child together in early 2023. They also have two German Shepherds and three cats. The family loves to travel including their annual trip to New Braunfels for Spring Break, skiing in Colorado or a quick flight to enjoy the sun and sand in Mexico. Jason also loves to host family and friends for any kind of get together, especially the holidays. His strong Texas roots equates to a diehard passion for Whataburger, Blue Belle Ice Cream, and true southern hospitality.

Any advice for managing a team?

Everyone has a seat on the bus and finding the right person for each seat is key. We hire for attitude and teach the necessary skills to be successful in their position. Empower your team to make decisions. You hired them for a reason, give them the confidence and resources to be successful in their role. We are customer service focused and every single team member must be able to communicate with a client, build rapport, problem solve and lead stagehands in their given role. From a business perspective, we conduct weekly recap meetings to celebrate the victories from the week prior and learn from the opportunities that were overcome (and sometimes not), as a team. Daily check-ins (usually super quick) happen with every member of the core team regardless if they are working or not (vacation excluded). Life happens and we understand that too; we want to also ensure they have the support they need to move through life’s challenges. From a personal perspective, we believe in investing in our team. Outside of keeping a strong relationship with our team (daily check-ins work for us), we also have very candid conversations about goals, dreams, aspirations within their career and personal lives. Each team member has expressed interest in owning a home one day or handling their finances better. Sharing the lessons we’ve learned and providing resources for them to take the necessary steps and do the work to achieve their goals, is part of our investing in our team. Additionally, finding what they are passionate about in their role and helping them master their craft is another way we invest in our team. We strive to give them the support that we did not receive in our career paths and to provide teachable moments that we wish were impressed upon us 10 or more years ago. Lastly and probably most importantly, laugh often. The job is hard, the hours are long, but laughter can make the climb up the mountain just a little less painful.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I started out sweeping floors in an industry I knew nothing about. I eventually learned to DJ, then moved into production sales when I realized I had a knack building relationships and a creative eye for production design. Early on, pre-social media, I learned to network whenever the opportunity presented itself; meaning, I collected business cards, went to industry happy hours and lunch n’ learns as often as I could. I stayed in touch with people, reaching out to say happy birthday, or happy anniversary, or happy holidays originally via text but now via social media. Social media is the new business card and a very easy touch point to use for marketing. My social media audience is a culmination of those that I collected business cards from and those that follow my work.

For those starting to build their social media presence, my suggestions would be three-fold: 1) keep your content relatable and light hearted 2) Post three times a day. Once in the morning, once at lunch and the last round right after work 3) Never comment, post or talk about politics or religion (again, keep it light hearted)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://360avdesign.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/360avdesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/360avdesign/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/65373561

Image Credits
Headshot, Nancy Aide Photography All other photos were taken by Jason Fajkus