We were lucky to catch up with Tara Bhrushundi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tara, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you have any advice regarding quality control and maintaining quality as your brand grows?

As small business owners, we are tempted to feel that it’s better for the company if we do it ourselves. This customer or this colleague is more likely to listen if it comes from the owner. The office task will get done quicker and with more detail if the owner does it. But this isn’t true! Delegation is a vital task and it helps to maintain standards of quality. Hire good, smart, positive, hardworking people to each do a specific job, and then trust them to do it. Trying to control everything yourself will lead to slip-ups, since you are leading something bigger than yourself.

But you need to clearly communicate the company’s standards of quality to all who have the responsibility to maintain it, and inspire them to hold high standards. They are representing your company and your values. I have weekly meetings with everyone in their capacity, where we stay in touch and develop the strategies, and I can offer guidance or correction if needed.

At Sweet Harmony, we want our customers to feel that they can get to know us. We have a message to spread, which is that live music is vital to humanity. When I used to do all of the social media posting, I would make sure the posts were “on message” and that my voice would come through. (That’s also why we limit our use of ChatGPT to create posts — so we don’t sound just like everyone else!) Then when I realized I didn’t have time to do social media, because it didn’t fit with my position as owner, I had to hire good like-minded people and trust them to create posts that reflect the company. I gave them specific guidelines, such as not to use our platform to make political statements. Always double-check spelling and grammar and get people’s names right. Write the text to be about our customers, not just showing off what we do. :) And use compelling professional images and videos that show a diversity of musicians and situations.

What I do then is to have weekly meetings with my social media manager, see what he has come up with as the strategy for the week, and talk about future posts. We look at previous posts and see what has garnered energy and attention in the community. So it takes me an hour per week of time and I don’t have to stress about doing it. But for him it’s his job, so he has more energy and thought to devote to it. That kind of time and energy is necessary to maintain the quality!

That’s what I’m endeavoring to do for all areas of the company’s day-to-day tasks. The job of the leader is to make overall decisions and steer the direction of the company. If I focus on my job and let everyone else do theirs, the company runs smoothly.

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?

Two new friends getting together to play music and bring our performance to local New Jersey weddings — that’s how Sweet Harmony started. And now, 17 years later, we’re a national network of musicians playing 500+ weddings each year, providing excellent work opportunities for local musicians across the country, and working hard to serve the needs of our customers in each community.

Sweet Harmony celebrates the individual strengths and researches the individual needs of each community where we hire local musicians. Live music and the arts are a vital support of our health and happiness, which means that live musicians play an important role in their communities. Sweet Harmony musicians are accomplished professionals, teachers, and members of orchestras, ensembles, and bands. We are a community of people who look outward, connecting to our local areas — that’s you! — through live music.

We offer soloists, duos, trios, and quartets playing classical, pop, and jazz music. We mainly play for wedding ceremonies, although our customers also often hire us to play for receptions, birthday parties, corporate functions, community events, funerals, and more!

Our ensembles include:

violin ~ viola ~ cello ~ piano ~ guitar ~ harp ~ flute ~ saxophone ~ bass ~ drums ~ bagpipes ~ and singers!

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

Covid-19 was hard on everyone. We made it through Covid by working every day to balance the needs of the company, the needs of the musicians, and the needs of the customers. When March 2020 hit, a flood of requests for refunds started to pour in as people decided to cancel their weddings. At first, like many small businesses, we were scared about what was happening, and we wanted to be compassionate, so we gave the refunds. It quickly became apparent that the company could not sustain that. We had to come up with a policy that was fair to everyone, and we had to communicate that policy in a way that was kind, yet firm.

Usually we have a non-refundable deposit policy, and the deposit holds one date only. I decided that we would carry deposits over to a new date if the event was postponed, and we could do this multiple times, but we could not give the deposits back. I received three threats of lawsuits in one weekend over this. Every customer thought their situation was unique. People did truly have difficult situations where I would ordinarily refund a deposit. But when everyone was going through difficult situations, it was not possible. Many times, I felt bad.

Customers needed to understand the situation of companies (especially small businesses) and how it would affect the world around them. I remember hearing one groom having a conversation where he seemed to think he could get away with anything: “Just tell them it’s due to covid.” As in, “due to covid” we are cancelling our reservation with you. “Due to covid” we are changing our date or location or type of musical ensemble or all of the above. “Due to covid” we do not expect to pay anything.

A small business might say in return, “Due to covid” we cannot refund your deposit. “Due to covid” your musical options will be limited if you change them. “Due to covid” we will all have to forfeit some money so that the entire country doesn’t go down the drain. “Due to covid” we cannot pay our bills for X, Y, and Z — and we are hoping that large companies will give us a break with these bills (which thankfully they did).

Musicians were some of the hardest hit by Covid. Suddenly their entire income was wiped out. A musician’s income consists of payment from teaching (lessons and classes were cancelled), payments from concerts and performances (all suddenly cancelled), and payments from private events (most were cancelled or postponed). I tried to help musicians as much as I could with small work opportunities, such as making recordings for the company to use in marketing. If we had a deposit from an event that was cancelled, part of the deposit would go to the musicians.

Sweet Harmony made it through Covid, partly because customers were creative and resourceful and determined to get married. Some scaled down their weddings and went ahead with them. Some postponed one, two, or three times. Some moved their wedding from the city to out in the country. And we accommodated these changes. I think the fight against Covid was a team effort in this country, and we fought alongside our customers as best we could.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

You have to stand by your values and your standards even when you are misunderstood or even attacked for them. For example, these days sheet music is very easy to find online. It’s like shoplifting from a store — the candy bars are right in front of you and no one is looking. The composer, lyricist, and publisher should get paid every time their sheet music is acquired. If sheet music is downloaded without paying, it’s stealing from them.

So years ago I decided to charge customers for every piece of sheet music they wanted us to get, if we had to buy it. (Some sheet music is legally free.) We charge a small amount, but it covers the costs, and it keeps us from short-changing our colleagues in the music industry.

I remember one time a larger entertainment company wanted us to play some music we didn’t already have. I brought up this point, and he was dumbstruck. With the ease of obtaining illegal sheet music, and the great number of people who do this today, he couldn’t believe that someone actually cared about it. I could hear the condescension in his voice — he seemed to think that I couldn’t be the owner of a longtime, national, reputable company, as a person with values!

Standing up for your values sets you apart and lets people see that you are honest and brave. It makes you trustworthy in their eyes. Difficult customers can grow to respect you even if they don’t like it. I’ve observed difficult customers back off because they felt that at least they knew what they were getting. Of course, these values have to be communicated kindly, politely, clearly, and firmly.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sweetharmonymusic.com
• Instagram: @sweetharmonylivemusic
• Facebook: @SweetHarmonyLiveMusic
• Youtube: @SweetHarmonyLiveMusic