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

Tangela, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

You’ve simply got to have purpose, and of course a plan. Purposes driven lives have meaning and power. You’ll need fuel for the journey to success. When you’re on the roller coaster that is life, you’ll find yourself needing a push back towards the wonderful, algorithmic plan you made towards the beginning of your journey. That fuel is purpose. Your journey must have purpose. ‘It’ must be bigger than you’. Success is found in purpose and meaning.

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 background and context?

I am the owner and operator of the Dallas Trackhouse studios, media and entertainment company. A true ‘Jill of all Trades’.

We are your One-Stop shop for all your media and entertainment needs!

Thanks to the Urban Specialists and Rising Tide’s BOSOE School of entrepreneurs, we will be moving from mobile back into a physical space 100 times better than the last!

We engage the community on many levels… we have a steam program promoting entrepreneurship encouraging youth to monetize their creative abilities We throw them into the industry mix!

We allow entry-level college students, and people with no experience hands-on experience, through our paid internships.

We mix, we Master , we shoot photos, we throw events, we are Culture , we are media We Are Family!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

2020 was a particularly challenging year. The studio went through a tremendous transformation, from initially being unable to connect with customers aside from online transactions, to not having a physical space at all. I really had to put my thinking cap on. I rebranded the studio into a mobile media and entertainment company. Not only where we able to manipulate audio and give you beats, but we are now a full-blown media /production company. We put on events and staff them, we’re active on the cultural scene, and not just in the studio behind the scenes now.

It was not easy rebranding, nor was it easy pulling money from a dead economy, but through resiliency.. I was able to still make an impact and make money simultaneously.

We even ended up with really cool opportunities and Partnerships like finding young talent and developing them to push Billiards games in schools, through Billiards of Congress… Cool

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

The year was 2019 and I was behind on rent. My landlord had physically locked me out and all of my equipment was inside..how was I to make money. I also had the equipment of several engineers locked inside.. so the Clock Was ticking to get back open.. but I couldn’t make money for the payment. The studio was my only means of income.

STRUGGLING TO MAKE ENDS MEET: This was a new scenario being that we had just moved into a huge new location, and was trying to Market it up. Things were coming along, but an unexpected life expense threw me backwards financially, and a month behind on rent. I missed January’s rent, paid February and March, but I didn’t have double rent for April. The land lord locked the doors one night. The clients, engineers and I were locked out the next morning.

I had to put my thinking cap on LOL

This trial and tribulation, ( haha) brought out the best in the studio. I came up with the subscription service …you’d get unlimited services during the day hours, with scheduling with our interns who needed experience, at a monthly subscription rate… kind of like a barber college. I charged $100 a month and had tens of sign ups.. after I saw how successful it was I only added an additional 150 for a whole $250 a month 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.. Unlimited service with scheduling.

This was a big hit, in less than a week I was able to pay both rents, move back in, and also upgrade. The whole staff got a tablet and a laptop! The brand was pushed into the community in a tremendous way. Artists saved lots of money and really enjoyed the facility!
This blew up the studio, and I was never behind on rent again!

Contact Info:

• Website: Dallastrackhouse.com

Image Credits
J.D.G II Tangela Turner DallasTrackhouse