We recently connected with Kim Robin Tully and have shared our conversation below.
Kim Robin , 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?
My wife (Marissa) and I started off building a rehearsal room for me and videoke room to hold Fiesta parties and events in for family and friends. A man I work with suggested to me that we rent the room for local music artists to rehearse in. Marissa then suggested that we also rent the room for Videoke and small events. At this time there were not any band rehearsal rooms in Calbayog City Samar. Our plan was to put a stage and lights in the room so bands could have a live stage rehearsal to prepare for up coming shows. When it came time to buy the musical equipment, we bought professional equipment for the room. Tube guitar amplifiers, 1200 watt bass guitar amplifier, top of the line Roland drum set, Roland keyboard, Bose P.A. system, etc… We insulated and soundproofed the room and installed 2 Aircons. We made this room our mission to provide the best quality available for people to enjoy. We wanted the bands to sound incredibly good so they would be motivated to practice more and when they performed live, they would be confident and know that the show would be a success. We knew there was a market for this and if we built it they would come. Being a Musician myself I was excited to offer a rehearsal room of this caliber to the local music community for a very affordable price of 200 pesos an hour. We finished and opened our business during the Covid-19 Pandemic which presented a lot of problems to overcome, but we love a challenge and in Filipino tradition my wife would adapt and overcome. We actually flourished during these times. We branched out into doing Zoom meetings and business meetings in which we utilized our internet and TV monitors, at the same time people needed a place that they could gather with friends and family because they did not trust family restaurants and the bars were all closed. This is where we filled the hole for people to gather and socialize by providing as a place that is exclusive for your group to come have fun that was safe and sterile in accordance with all the government guidelines.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I (Robin Tully) am an Aircraft Maintenance Inspector and I my Wife (Marissa Tully) has a teaching degree. We are the owners of Jam Session Studio Calbayog. We are the best Band Rehearsal Room / Vidioke Rooms in the Philippines. We provide our clients with some of the best equipment available any where in the world. The equipment not available for sale in the Philippines was purchased abroad and hand carried into the Philippines. The things we are most proud of is the quality of the equipment and sound that we provide our customers and the attention to detail that Marissa put into designing a room that is soundproof and beautiful and comfortable so people are relaxed and feel at home, Jam Session is the complete package.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Social Media has helped us tremendously by showing and letting people see and hear for themselves the Jam Session experience. It is also a valuable way to show people updates to the room and upgrades to the equipment. We also encourage our clients to stream their sessions live which helps us to reach new clientele. We performed a survey with our customers to find out where they heard about us and 95% responded from social media, of that percentage almost all were Facebook.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
We opened our business during the Covid-19 Pandemic and in Filipino tradition my wife would adapt and overcome to all the obstacles that were thrown in here way . There were no bands rehearsing at this time because all live music shows were stopped due to Government regulations forbidding public gatherings of people. When time came and we could open. We hosted Videoke parties along with Birthday Parties and Anniversary Parties. Because we have Highspeed WiFi, were able to host Zoom meetings and business meetings which we hooked Laptop computers to the TV monitors and with the stage area it provided a perfect platform to conduct these meetings from. Now people are able to travel and attend these meetings in person so Zoom meetings have fell to the wayside and the local musicians are playing all the time since the bars and restaurants are back in full swing again. The bands have filled the void left by the Zoom meetings and we just keep going strong.
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Image Credits
Micoh Calagos Millamis