We were lucky to catch up with Raymond Jarrell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Raymond , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Talk to us about building your team? What was it like? What were some of the key challenges and what was your process like?

I arrived in NYC with $600 in my pocket and I grew that $600 into a multi-million dollar event entertainment company. My company has never been in the red and always been profitable. This started out as a passion for music and entertainment clients. I realized early on that I was really good at being able to build an event through entertainment curation. With a growing client base it came down to needing more help, and a team, This is where being an entrepreneur is more than just being a visionary; it’s about being a leader.

Building a team is one of the most important/difficult parts of running a business. Entrepreneurs are not taught how to hire a team, develop a business plan, or given guidelines on how to train a team, etc. There was a lot of trial by error, but I feel very fortunate as I have had some very talented and caring individuals work with me. When I first started out I was just trying to get people to help me in certain areas. I discovered I needed dedicated employees to help the vision of this company come to life.

This was not easy at first as I needed to create positions that served in our functional process but also had the ability to grow within the company boundaries. Figuring out who does what?! That’s a chore in itself. Finding the right team that was passionate about supporting the company vision and felt the freedom to be able to express their own talents within the framework of the company is like finding a diamond in the rough. One of the things that is important in this process is being able to shop before you buy. Work together with a new employee and figuring out together if this is a good fit. Being up front about the process, standards, and money. Money should be talked about early on, so both parties know if this works for them. Once this happens we can create together for a certain amount of time before full time is offered. One of the main rules at Jarrell Entertainment is “Don’t assume anything”. I use that same rule in hiring someone. I want to understand why they make decisions and assess if that process works within the companies vision. Of course, if you ever get stuck get some advice. Hire a business coach to talk these things through is extremely helpful. Lean on other entrepreneurs for advice. Read about how others have handled similar situations. Just like it takes a whole community to raise a child, it takes a community of entrepreneurs to raise good business people.

There are a few things I would have done differently. Hindsight is 20/20, right? The one message I heard from a Tony Robbins podcast is “fire fast”. It was a blunt message that goes against our soceitial message of “give people a chance”. This one was difficult for me. Most of the time we know if someone is going to be a good or bad fit or if we are a good or bad fit for them. I didn’t believe this ides until I wasted a lot of time and resources on what I knew would not work. Fire fast – I wish I would have understood that sooner.

I would have taken a course in book keeping, budgeting and forcasting. These tools are invaluable to a creative business person. You don’t have to be good at them, but it is a big plus to understand them.

Being a leader – your energy and passion must outlast everyone. You are the catalyst everyday of the week, Knowing that early on might change some peoples minds. Not mine.

Raymond , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I got into the luxury private entertainment industry through acting and producing independent films. I started out as a DJ artist. and essentially I was DJing to fund my movies. Then it changed. My passion became producing events and I was off to find myself in Tuscany, Mexico, the Hamptons, and really just about anywhere.

Through acting, I learned to be entertaining behind the decks and also how to be in a room filled with an audience.

Through producing, I learned some about budgeting, how to run a project, and more importantly how to find talent to fill roles.

My love of music was/is the glue that holds it all together and inspires me to create an electric atmosphere of entertainment.

My business now can go anywhere. We send bands across countries and across the world growing from a DJ-based company to a full-line of entertainment company. We have clients in almost every state and numerous countries. This idea of celebrating life is our mission statement just keeps expanding into even more amazing talent, bands, and shows that I only dreamed about when I came to NYC with $600 in my pocket 20 years ago.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Starting out DJing was my side hustle. I loved entertaining through music, but my love was acting. Being in front of the camera filled me with passion. For a while, I was blessed to do both. 5% of actors make 95% of the money in show business. As DJing became more profitable it began to shine brighter than acting and producing which was another way I was creating.

One fabulous day I got a call. Ray, would you like to DJ for a client of ours on a private island in the Caribbean? This was exciting, but it was also a movement for me. Movement into a career that was just a side hustle as a means to do something else. Opportunity inspiration opened up for me and I was a different kind of entrepreneur that flew me right into this beautiful, exciting kinda cray industry!

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

Resilience. That must be what shows up when someone searches for the definition of 2020. Picture a $57 billion industry that almost completely shuts down. What do you do? Quit? Cry? Yell? Laugh? A person has to be resilient to make it through this time. I decided early on not to give up. To not fire my office. Instead, I called my clients who had no business to give me to check in on them. I did this every day during the work week. I became interested in how to run my business more efficiently. How to create entertainment offerings that at that moment had no place to go. Then, I started to find clients that were having parties way before I thought I would. This only happened because of my persistence and my resilience to keep calling.

There were plenty of days I wanted to give up, but I didn’t let myself. My daily routine kept me in check. I pivoted in a way, and my company created new bands during this time that were innovative and could be hired for events in the second half of 2020. It evolved into a brilliant time that was supposed to be dreadful and uninspiring.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jarrellentertainment.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/jarrellentertainment
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/jarrellentertainment
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jarrell-entertainment/
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/jarrellentertainment
• Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user26651425

Image Credits
Ira Lipke