We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mike Geeter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Mike, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I had been in Engineering for 30 years and comedy around 10 at the time. When COVID hit in January 2020, I realized that if I didn’t have my Engineering career, what would I love to do? Naturally, it was comedy. And, since I had booked most of my comedy shows on my own, I didn’t see the purpose of working for an agency. I could do it myself…or, at least learn to. So, I started my company then and there. The name comes from my Pops and Mumma, Sam and Rose.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a proud son of Pontiac, MI, and was raised with 16 siblings. I was a shy kid and somehow discovered I had a knack for making people laugh. From there, I used comedy to get acclimated to people…kinda ease myself into situations where shyness was taking over. I still use this tactic but I’m much more comfortable in crowds, obviously, and this has helped me grow as a comedian and again as a business owner.
The wonderful part of doing what I do is that I offer a 360 solution for clients looking to add great entertainment I not only book comedians from all cost points, but I also produce events, market and promote, and offer ticketing through my company. I’m proud of this because I am also a comedian, I truly understand the needs of the artist and the client.
What SamRose Entertainment is focused on is providing outstanding, dependable, and reliable comedy events as large as the Traverse City Comedy Festival and as small as our 60-seat theatre events. We truly can handle it all!
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
What helped SRE’s reputation is that we’ve produced above and beyond many times for our clients, have been highly attentive to our client’s needs, and have provided great pay and event venues for comedians. We make a concentrated effort to ensure every part of the event is maintained at a high level.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
My advice for managing a team comes from my experience playing football and growing up in a large family: allow everyone to have a voice but not a say. It’s important to let your team speak their piece. However, as a leader, you have to be able to glean what is good for the greater good and table the rest.
Also, it’s important to teach your team that failure isn’t an anchor, it’s a rudder. There’s a good chance that everything is NOT going to work. It’s OK to be disappointed. But, it’s never a good thing to wallow in it. Learn from the failure and allow it to strengthen your fortitude to find a better way. Use it to steer your efforts not sink them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://samroseent.com
- Instagram: samroseentertainment
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samroseentertainment/
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@SamRoseEntertainment-mt9uh
Image Credits
Megan McIsaac