So my roommate, who is also my business partner, came home one day super excited to tell me about his new business opportunity. He had gotten a hold of an event space. Music mogul Dame Dash, had previously been responsible for the space. He was now giving my roommate and his other business partner an opportunity to take over the space.
My roommate had a couple of ideas to get people in the building, but wanted to brainstorm more ideas. " A pop up shop" my roommate says aloud. " A pop up shop with a few performances " I thought it was coo, I told him, but we had to create a brand, a very solid one.
My roommate and I sit in the kitchen saying different names and phrases aloud, hoping one of them would stick. I could see the slight frustration and eagerness on my roommates face. He wanted to think of a name and get it over with. " The Market Place", he said aloud. I frowned my face a little bit and shook my head no. The Market Place just sounded too generic. We needed something a little different to stand out.
I sat quiet for another minute or two, thinking silently. It's almost like I seen The Market Palace letters rearrange in my head, and then it hit me." What about The Market Palace" I said. " I have a lot of ideas to market that". My roommate shook his head in agreeance. Sounded good to him
A couple of days later, I run into my roommate in the kitchen, and decide to pitch a few ideas for our new brand. " Why don't you take control of the brand" he tells me." as I start to bring up . "Do your thang". Oh great, I'm thinking. I didn't necessarily want to take this project on, on my own. However, I didn't want the idea to fade away either.
The thought of putting together an event made me nervous, but I was still ready to get right to work. I had did it before, put a pop up show together, showcasing artists and vendors, but everything felt new again. I faced moments of anxiety, thinking of the event I was going to plan. The idea felt overwhelming, but it felt good to be physically connecting with society again. With more confidence and clarity, I felt ready to reveal myself to the world again.
My assistant at the time, had decided to resign from her position as executive assistant, right around the time I began to plan for The Market Palace. My assistant was very experienced, and I just did not want to let her go. I felt like as things were finally beginning to move forward, I was losing a major support system to my business. Although I was a bit frustrated, maybe even saddened by the news, I made sure to keep it to myself. My assistant promised one of her last tasks working for me, would be finding me a new assistant, and that meant a lot to me.
So my new assistant comes in and things are a little different, but we work it out. She helps me create flyer variations. We make a flyer to scout artists, and one to scout vendors. Me and my assistant then use the list we created, and start sending out slot invites to hundreds of brands, hoping many reply back, ready to secure a slot. After all the invites we send to artist and vendors, only like three brands confirm. My nerves were getting a little bad at this point.
I see my roommate in the kitchen, and decide to fill him in on my progress, which has been slight as far as solidifying a lineup. After a short conversation, we make a mutual decision to waive the vendor/artist fee, hoping this will lure more people in, and give us a show. I have my assistant send out a new flyer and message to the hundreds of brands we previously reached out to, letting them now their slot has now been waived. Well of course, we gained more interest, and I was able to solid my line up.