Jeanan Yasiri: I want to
welcome everybody to a course called Entrepreneurship in Society.
It's a course that is offered through the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
And as we begin today I'd like I'm Jeanan Yasiri.
to extend thanks to some very special partners who make this course possible: the UW Office
of Corporate Relations, the UW College of Engineering for their technical support,
Foundation which provides financial support for this and the Ewing Marion Kauffman
out the Kansas City, Missouri, course. The Kauffman Foundation, based
and they are committed to advancing academic education in entrepreneurship.
Additionally, we'd like to thank
today's lecture. our media partners, Wisconsin Public Television and their University Place crew for taping
I'm really pleased to introduce our first guest lecturer of the semester.
She is Cathy Dethmers.
have had an opportunity to go to the High Noon Saloon. Madison-based High Noon Saloon. And I'll bet a number of you
It's a very fun place. Just as a point of background,
Cathy graduated from the UW Madison of May of 1994, and then
in November of that year she opened up a live music venue
called O'Cayz Corral. O'Cayz featured mostly rock and punk and metal shows, as well as
and Irish rock nights. weekly blues jams
And on New Year's day, seven years after she opened O'Cayz,
started, actually, in the bar next door. it was destroyed in a fire that
devastation, Cathy worked hard For the following three and a half years after that
at identifying a new location for her business and in 2004 opened High Noon Saloon, a venue
that hosts live music in all
genres seven nights a week. That experience, among others, is what I've asked Cathy to
share with us today.
She's a real hands-on business owner and entrepreneur. She manages all aspects of her
business including marketing and
In fact, when I was calling Cathy to try and set her up for this, everybody that answered the phone wanted to know when I
was trying to book my band, and I said, well, I'm sorry I can't bring one.
excellent way for us to start our discussion of entrepreneurship and it is one I think that Cathy's story is an
should be titled starting from that I thought appropriately
Cathy Dethmers. scratch an[APPLAUSE]rting all over again. I know you join me in welcoming
remarkable story to tell, and I know that we'll get into some of >> Cathy Dethmers: Thank you. >> Yasiri: Cathy, you've got a
the challenges that your business has had over the time,
but let's kind of go back a little bit and let's
Did you always know that you understand really who Cathy Dethmers is first.
When I moved to Madison to go to the UW, I started out in psychology and then switched always.
anthropology as my major and fairly quickly to cultural
didn't really have a very solid career plan in place at that point.
Just was kind of taking classes I was interested in.
I grew up in a musical family, But I've always been interested in live music.
and I've played instruments my whole life. Since I was 14 started going to
see live music shows and it just
kind of always been a passion of mine. So I started bartending at
O'Cayz while I was in college here, and actually, oddly enough, on a different
work and found out that the bar was going to be closing the very next day. New Year's Eve showed up for
my last semester of school. So I was kind of casting about And this was at the beginning of
found that I really missed the trying to figure out what I was gong to do once I graduated and
place. I missed the music scene there
that and part of just kind of making it all happen. And so once I graduated I astarted looking into what itf
would take to reopen the place. And I didn't have any business
experience and I didn't have any business classes under my belt
but found that the previous owner was willing to rent the space and willing to have me
So that summer I spent a lot of time in the library, a lot of time talking to other business start a business there.
trying to figure out what it owners that I knew, just kind of
would take for me to get things rolling. And I was able to open by
November of that year.
>> Kind of a gutsy move if you think about it. You were just graduating from
college in an area that really
had nothing whatsoever to do with this kind of business. Can you tell us what you were
thinking at that time in your life that really enabled you to take that kind of a risk? >> Yeah, I think part of it was
just panic. Graduating and not sure what I
was going to do. Having some family pressure like
figure it out.
And I thought it would be an exciting career choice. I felt like I had a little bit
of experience just from having
worked there for a couple of years and being there and just
I certainly didn't have a role seeing what happened day-to-day.
in making that happen at the time, but I felt like if I did a
drive to the test that I could lot of research and just put my
Owning your own place, and probably, I don't know, sort of reinvent that in my own way and make it work.
again I don't mean to be ageist about it, you were a young person, you were kind of
developing your business acumen and your knowledge of the business as you went, did it
opening your own place or kind seem like a burden to you to be
of a thrill? >> Definitely more of a thrill. It was a ton of work but I was
kind of ready for that and
I kind of wanted to see what I could do. It was a challenge that I was
giving to myself, and I think the fact that I chose a business
made it that much easier and that already surrounded something I was passionate about
We'll be hearing a lot of modifferent lessons over thek every day and try and make it happen.
hearing from and even considering going into business with family members or friends Some of the students will be
other folks who might be related as partners or all kinds of
in some way. Were you completely on your own or were you working with other
people in this venture? >> I guess I'd say for the most part I was on my own. I did rehire a couple of staff
members that I had worked with
had booked the music for a short there previously. At the time, the guy that had been booking the music, well he
period of time, I got him to come back.
that part of the field which I So he had had some experience in
had not dealt with before. And other than that I had a lot of supportive friends that had
gone to the place when I was
just working there and they just really helped me feel confident that I could pull it off and
were supportive by coming there as some of my first customers.
Sounds excellent. I know at one point we had I guess I just kind of went for it.
talked about your earliest stages in the business, and I'll
want you to extrapolate on it too in the work you're doing
a young woman to get involved in today years later, but was it more difficult as a woman and as
this business? Were there barriers to it?
I didn't really necessarily anticipate that going in because >> I would say it was.
I had no expectations for what would happen at all, but yeah, I
would say, well, I mean so this is what, almost 20 years ago. >> Amazing. >> At that time the music
industry in general was really
male-dominated. I would say it's not so much that way today.
But I did get a lot of flack
from booking agents and other people just on the music side of the business who didn't
necessarily trust that I was
going to be able to, I don't know, come through with my
take good care of them and do a good job of marketing and all that kind of thing. Beyond that, even just getting
city approvals like liquor
license and all of that kind of thing, it was definitely a lot trickier process, a lot more
obstacles were put in my way. It was sort of like I had to
was young as much as because I prove myself more than anyone else had to I think because I
was female. >> Before we go into the story of what happened with O'Cayz and
eventually what brought you where you are today, I want to
talk a little bit about the work that you were doing early on.
So often when people are
starting their own business or enterprise they think that they literally have to do it all.
And you are doing so many aspects of the business.
technical work? You're talking about going and Did you hire people, though, to help do specific professional
Obviously all the accounting having to manage liquor license issues, that sounds like legal.
might require a CPA. Did you do it or hire folks?
helped me deal with, well, I >> I did have a lawyer that
guess actually I did most of the business set up on my own.
to do. That was stuff I could learn how
It took a lot of digging and research but all of the Wisconsin State Code is all
there.
So that stuff I did on my own. I did have a lawyer that helped me make sure my lease was solid
when I first started the
And then I started out doing business and help point me in the right direction on a couple of things.
things like payroll taxes and that kind of business set up where you have to make sure that
you have your ducks in a row
financially every month. I started doing that on my own
accountant to help me with year-end taxes because I have a corporation and some of but did end up finding an
I wanted to really take on that was just more than
certain aspects of the business, as far as learning. So I've certainly had to hire professionals to help me with
but as far as within the brick walls of my space for the most
on. >> A big part of your story is part I'm in charge of what goes
this remarkable and several year transition from O'Cayz
to High Noon Saloon.
Tell us about what happened with O'Cayz. >> Well, it was New Year's Eve
and we had a great night and I
got out of there about 6:00 in the morning and headed home and within five minutes got a call
that there was smoke coming in. The rest of my staff was still
closing up the place, and it turned out that a fire had
started in the bar next door
after they closed and it wiped us both out.
calls trying to find out can I The very next day I was making
buy the land, what can I do to rebuild right where I was.
feasible for me. And that was not financially
business with. I had a little bit of insurance but not much and not a lot else to speak of to start a new
So I started a search for another spot where I could rent, and it turned out to be a really
huge long process because there's a ton of rules that you have to be conscious of as far
for parking and for neighborhood as what the city will require
acceptance of your business, particularly for one like mine. And then of course location,
location, location is important.
for my business. And financially, too, finding a space that I could afford and that I thought would be viable
So I had a number of false starts, places that I thought were going to work out and then
something fell apart. Often not really anything to do with my specific business but something to do with whoever I
was going to be renting from or city approvals for some other piece of the puzzle.
lots of different types of plans So it took me quite a while and
and lots of different meetings with neighborhoods and with the city.
And I actually got approved a couple of times for different locations and then whatever else
apart. happened to make that fall
Finally ended up where I am. >> And your location right now
Avenue. >> That's right. is just off East Washington
>> Whereas, O'Cayz used to be on Wilson Street.
Not too far away but
nevertheless a distance. >> Yeah, I'm really just about
started. four blocks from where I
>> You went on this journey to rebuild your business and it
am I right? >> That's right. took three and a half years,
>> Talk a little bit about how you were managing that as Cathy,
not just as the businessperson
that was trying to rebuild her business, but psychologically,
How could you sustain it for how were you managing that?
three and a half years? >> I don't know. If I had to do it over again I
would definitely take a vacation
somewhere in there because I was really just so driven to reopen that I worked on it that whole
time. And meanwhile I had to work other jobs just for income. So it was actually kind of a
crazier time than ever while
owning a business because I was working full time, trying to find a place, and trying to get
my ducks in a row as far as approvals and anything else, and
then also working jobs to kind of survive and try to build up
some cash flow to have for when I was able to start a business. So it was hard. There were a couple of times I
wanted to give up, especially after I had been working hard towards one location and then it
But part of what kept me going would fall apart.
was I had a lot of community support from people that really missed O'Cayz and really wanted
to see me reopen. In some ways that helped keep we
going when I wanted to give up because I didn't want to give up
and disappoint so many people,
and also it was really nice to know that they believed in me that I could make it happen.
The location that you're at right now you mentioned is about
traffic area, is it where you wanted to be ultimately? four blocks away from where you were and I know it to be a high
bit of a gamble when we first moved in there because it was kind of a dead zone and in the >> Yeah, I think it was a little
but kind of thinking long-range it seems like it was a good spot. In some ways it would be nice to
be closer to campus, be a little
bit easier for students to reach us. But I think as far as being part
of the general downtown and kind
area in general, I think we're of looking out at what the city plans to do with that whole strip on East Washington and the
the time you put High Noon where in a good spot. >> And had you any knowledge of those kinds of discussions at
it is right now. Because that's really transformed that discussion of
that area has transpired in just
the last few years. >> Yeah, it ended up being something I really learned a lot
about through all of my multiple
meetings with the city. I had learned a lot more about how the city functions than I
ever thought I would just kind
of by being there and being kind of part of those discussions. So I did know a little bit about
what their plans were and of
But I think long-range it's still going to be a big part of ecwhat the city's trying toto rdevelop..
Some of what we are going to
entrepreneurs. explore over the course of this semester are some overarching themes in regard to
And some of those themes involve how passionate people are about the work that they do, how much
risk they take on, how
products, new services, new ways innovative they have to be, and innovation can come in a number of forms as we can imagine, new
them with us and the lessons of doing things, if you were to step back and think about risks that you took, share some of
that you may have learned from them. >> Okay.
Well, I guess probably the
biggest risk was financial. When I started O'Cayz I was just fresh out of college so I didn't
really have anything. So that maybe wasn't as big a financial risk then.
friends that had some money to I was able to get a couple of
a big bank loan and I put every ipenny that I had ever savedg into it and that was a really, But with High Noon I had to get
Opening day was exciting and one really scary moment.
of the best days of my life, and I showed up for work the next morning and it just all hit me
like oh, my gosh, I've put
everything I have into this, what if it doesn't work?
So it was kind of a roller coaster those first Which is always possible.
couple months especially because we did open in a huge
construction zone and it was
hard for people to find us and there was some worry
and all of that. if people would make the effort
So I would say that's probably, even on an emotional level, that was the biggest risk.
Just knowing that I could really
devastate my life and have to dig out of a hole for years to come if it didn't pan out for
me. Beyond that, I guess the fact that I work so much and that I
business. It's put my social life at risk and relationships at risk and amthat kind of thing.he
It's been a really tough
balancing act trying to make that all kind of work out.
to learn some tough lessons to And it's something that I've had
get to a place where I feel that now I'm kind of balancing it in a way that's a little bit more
healthy.
>> At one point when we were talking prior to your coming to the class, I asked you if you
had a mentor who helped you through this process, and it's
also one of the lessons that we'll talk about over the course
of the semester how important it
just kick you in the butt and get you going, tell us about can inspire you and sometimes teach you and sometimes it's
whether or not you had a mentor, who it was, and what he or she
did for you.
>> When I first was trying to put together my plans for O'Cayz I was actually working at
Triangle Market on State Street,
and the owner there had just recently purchased the store and
similar things that I had to do with the city as far as getting licensing. so he had been through some
bank loan, which at the time I And he had also had to get a
me with some of the bankers that thought I would have to do as well. So he set up some meetings for
he had talked to and kind of walked me through that process a
And I think that just beyond the little bit.
information that he imparted to me, he just helped build up my confidence that it was something
I could actually do.
way. Because I was a little insecure being young and just graduating and he didn't look at it that
He said sure put your mind to it, and just make it happen. So I think that was really
important at the time.
I'd occasionally stop by the >> How long did you stay in touch with that person? >> A couple years at least.
store, and he had a staff party at O'Cayz that first year just to kind of support me.
I don't think he has the store
anymore so I don't see him. >> Sometimes those relationships can last for years and that was
part of the reason I was asking.
Talk with us about some of the innovative ideas you've had.
now what can be innovative about The students might be thinking
different forms with virtually a night club, about a music venue, but we know that innovation can come in a lot of
any enterprise. And I was delighted when I asked you this earlier and you came up
with a very interesting answer. >> Well, I had sort of started
out at O'Cayz doing a lot of rock shows, punk shows, and just
kind of having a club where we
had shows that started at 10 o'clock at night and that was kind of all we did.
And I guess in all of my
planning for High Noon through those three and a half years, I just sorted pictured I would
just rebuild and do the same
kind of thing again but just have a bigger space.
open and realized that wasn't going to be enough to pay the bills just doing that same sort of formula, I had to do a lot of
thinking about what else might
work, and I felt that the space that we had because it was bigger and it was newer and it
was nicer looking than my previous spot kind of opened the
door for us to attract different types of crowds and maybe just
utilize the space in ways that
went beyond the rock show formula. So one of the things that I came
up with was doing what we call a
happy hour show which is we do a rock show or some other kind of music or entertainment early.
So it's not like 10 o'clock time
where a lot of people work the day or have school or have kids and just can't stay out that
late can't make it to.
So now we do music at 5:30, and we can still have a show later and this sort of doubles our
opportunity to have an audience if we do two different things in
the day. And we get a different type of
crowd for each. And that's been something that
we just tried as an experiment with one regular band, and they
would do it twice a month but it
hour show, that's better for us. got so popular that other bands started coming to me and saying we really want to play the happy
see live music if it weren't for And I get tons of feedback from people that come to the shows and say I would never be able to
these shows. So it's something that has
them, I don't know, two to four times a week probably. really worked out and now we do
>> Pretty interesting and I am of the generation that is much
more likely to be at a happy
hour show than up past 9 o'clock, as sad as that probably sounds, but
nevertheless I'm imagining
that you were probably hearing your customer.
wasn't walking through the door already. Even if it was a customer that
How did you come up with that? You saw that it was popular but
was it customers who shared that
partially just sort of seeing it with you? >> Yeah, it was partially customers sharing it and
because I was used to a regular crowd at O'Cayz. So I was there seven years, fast
forward three and a half more years while I was looking for a new space.
that were my regulars there are 10 years older. Their lives have changed. They can't necessarily come out
every night at 10 o'clock and stay till bar time. And I just started realizing
still really supportive of me and really loved live music, that all these people that were
And that was kind of what started the whole thing. I wasn't seeing them come out anymore, why is that?
>> I'm going to open the stage up for questions from the
students here very shortly, but before I do that I'm going to ask you to reflect on a failure that you had that may have
taught you a lesson that you're comfortable sharing and might also be something that students could learn from.
Okay. That one's a little tougher.
Or mistakes. Not that I haven't failed...
A mistake? >> Okay, mistakes may be a
So in being excited and feeling all the pressure to get High Noon open after all of those false starts, at this new
location I think maybe I was a
process than I probably should little bit, I don't know, I moved maybe a little more quickly through the lease
came back to bite me. haI was the first one in thet into my new landlord than I probably should have, and that
me that they would sort of build building so I was, I guess, the anchor tenant and they promised
the rest of the tenants in there kind of around what I was doing.
problem, my noise wouldn't be a problem, the hours that the venue would be open wouldn't be a problem, and ultimately that
turned out not to be the case and they put in a tenant that I was a problem for and suddenly
because I was there first, I had instead of me having precedence
to close and I had to tear out my floor, tear out my stage,
do all this sound proofing. Things that took me out of pour six inches of concrete,
thousands of dollars worth of expense on my part and also legal fees and everything else that involved many, many, many
process. to just kind of go through the
And it was an extremely stressful year of my life trying to deal with all of that.
And I guess, long story short,
your business is going to have the main thing I learned is you can't trust that every person you're going to deal with in
the same value system as you and is going to be someone that's going to be looking out for your
best interest.
You have to really protect yourself and make sure that you're reading between the lines
and getting good legal help when
you need it and just making sure that your kind of paying
downfalls could be that would affect you business-wise and attention to what all possible
financially. >> Thanks for sharing that,
Cathy.
It's always more difficult to talk about our mistakes than our successes, and we'll ask you
about that too in just a second.
I have a student who has a question, and I just want to
of you who have a question just kind of put your hand up and remind the class that for those
I'll bring the mic over to you and let you share your name.
My name is Sarah, and I am
in the textile and fashion program, and my question is in
palpable product that you can hold on to, in your industry how design industry there is a
do you create an atmosphere that makes the consumer want to come
back? Like what kind of memorable things do you try to create so that they have this idea that
they loved the place and it's somewhere where they feel comfortable and want to come
Additionally, do you choose the shows based on your preferences, back to?
do you get feedback from customers, and, I don't know,
does someone book the shows for you?
I'll start with the second part. How does that work exactly? >> Sure.
I book the shows, for the most part, myself. I do work with some outside
promoters who will approach me
with a show idea or a band that they want to book, and then I'll kind of filter it onto my
calendar if it seems like something we'd want to have there.
preferences usually. I don't book according to my own
Ultimately, we're a place that makes money off of selling
So I need to have bands in there drinks.
that I know are going to draw people that are going to buy drinks.
So aside from knowing that I
need to get X number of people through the door on a regular basis, I also am kind of paying
attention to what bands have
played here in the past that have brought in a big crowd,
that have a lot of buzz right now that are likely to bring a what bands are kind of up-coming
lot of people into the room, and in addition to that, are these
bands that are going to bring people that will just drink water or will they be more into a party atmosphere and having a
good time and spending some money.
And I guess for the first part of your question, I think a lot
of it, well, in some ways because we're a live music venue
that is just going to be a we're all about making people have a good time, and so part of
natural part of the process because if someone's coming to see a band that they really
like, unless something goes horribly wrong, they're probably
going to enjoy themselves. But the things that I try to do
on our end to sort of ensure
that that will happen is I try to make sure that I have a
friendly staff that makes people really knowledgeable and
feel comfortable. We try and make the space itself be a comfortable atmosphere.
A place where people can feel more at home rather than maybe
everything feels very regimented like some concert venues that maybe you've been to where
and just kind of like you're a cog in the machine. I guess we try and make it have
a little bit more of a
neighborhood bar feel rather than a major concert venue feel just so that it is kind of more
homey, if that makes any sense. >> We have a question back here.
>> I'm Hannah, by the way. My original question for you was
how involved you were at High Noon Saloon because I know from personal experience, my dad owns
he's rarely ever there, but you kind of answered saying you have small stores like you and I know
is what's a typical work day a lot of hands-on work. So a typical question, I guess,
like for you? >> Okay, well, usually I'm there for about, I guess I don't have
a typical one.
So my week varies a little bit. I have office hours. I go in, usually, in the morning
and I'm there typically between six and eight hours working on
payroll, dealing with staff issues like scheduling or having booking bands, doing book work, paying taxes, working on
staff meetings or anything that's involved kind of with PR
with the staff, prepping for
shifts. A lot of the bartenders deal A lot of that happens when my employees come in for their
with kind of welcoming the bands and getting them set up and
making sure that things are starting to flow smoothly for customers and such. But because I do the band
booking I have to give them kind
of a lot of information in advance so that they're prepared
for any given show. So there's a lot of that stuff and know what the specifics are
that I do. I also deal with marketing so
every week I'm proofing ads or
I'm sending out information to my graphic artist for fliers. Kind of fielding calls from
people that want to get me to advertise with them.
We do a lot of work with our website and with social media so
I'm kind of keeping on top of that. I'm sure there are other things that come up, but those are sort
of my regular office hours types
of things. And then I also bartend a couple
really like to, besides the fact of nights a week because I
I enjoy it, I really like to be connected with not only my staff but customers that come in and
the bands that I've booked, and a really good way for me to do
So I guess that's kind of my that is to just be there and be right in the thick of it.
typical week. >> We have a question over here. >> My name's Andrew Larson.
I was wondering, going off of that and referencing your article from April where you
environment obviously and you can't continue to do it till said it's a very stressful
you're 65, have you ever considered delegating
responsibilities and possibly opening new venues taking more
of a hands-off approach? >> Yes, and I have actually, it
probably doesn't sound like it, but I have delegated quite a lot
from what I did when I first opened.
I have an office assistant that works full time, deals with a lot of the book work and takes
deals with concert ticket sales and helps me out with a lot of phone calls from customers and
been with me, many of them, since we opened. the marketing stuff, and I do have a really great staff that's
So they have a really strong knowledge and understanding of
what needs to happen day-to-day just to make things run smoothly. And I have been working on
delegating more and more
as I go. And certainly my work weeks now are about half what they used to
be. When I first opened I was working 70-plus hours every single week, and now I'm down to
more like between 40 and 50.
And it's a lot more manageable. I think part of it is my personality.
I really like to be hands-on. The business is kind of like my baby and I just like to sort of nurture it and find ways to keep
growing it and trying to always think of new ideas for things that might be successful there. So I think I'm on kind of a
process of maybe phasing myself out a little bit more, but for
I think as far as trying to open now I'm pretty satisfied with where I am.
another business and be more hands-off, right now that feels like that would be too much to
take on, but I can see that maybe being something I would do
in the future. >> Hi, my name is Mitch and my
question is related more to your
advertising as far as what would you say your split is between print advertising and social
media?
Okay, as far as print goes, I've definitely scaled that back that doesn't work for advertising for your business?
over the last few years. It's become less and less viable
it seems. I'm in The Isthmus and in The Onion every week, but that's the
Social media certainly has only regular print that I do.
because it's free, but in other beways it's a lot more timeof consuming than paying a Anewspaper or paying a radiot
station to take care of your
advertising for you. So as far as what works and what
media is just going to continue to grow and be sort of the way doesn't work, I think social
Over the last seven years, I've tried tons of different types of that you need to be aiming your efforts.
advertising. I was on cable for a while.
I was on network TV for a while with commercials. I think those had sort of limited success.
Definitely I got feedback that
people saw them, but whether or not that was drawing any new customers it was a little bit
hard to tell. I think in general that's one of
really a very good way to track how well it's doing. the issues that comes up with advertising is there's not
With social media you actually can, a little bit, figure that
out.
Because I think it's quicker and easier for people to give you some response about what you're
putting out there.
So you can get a feel for how many people are seeing a certain thing or are interested in what
you're saying.
I think some radio that I've done as well has been probably a
I mean, for me it's a little bit waste of money.
tough because my demographic is so wide. I'm not aiming towards a
specific age group or anything
like that. I'm really, because we do so
and we have so many different types of events going on at different times of the day, I'm mreally, I'm trying to reachic
everybody.
So it's a tall order but I'm hoping that with what we're doing, kind of the spread of
what we're doing with advertising that we're reaching most people.
was basically just wondering if you were hesitant to go and ask friends for funding when you >> Hi, my name is Spencer and I
oftentimes people have said they needed the money because
like to avoid using close ones because it can put a strain on
wrong. things if something does go
And then had the O'Cayz burned down, how did they react? >> Sure.
I was definitely hesitant but at
the time I wasn't able to get a bank loan. I think ultimately I was just
viewed as too young and inexperienced so everybody shot me down.
option at that time, and I think So I really didn't have another
that that gave me the guts to ask. I wasn't asking for a lot of
money.
And I worked out a really favorable deal with them as far as payback and dividends as shares of my corporation.
So I think both of them felt
comfortable giving up what they had to make that happen. They had already received a
decent amount of return, like definitely more than their
investments, by the time the fire happened so I think that
that kind of negated any
just bummed out that the place negative emotion towards me about it. I think in general they were
burned down, just like I was. >> Hi, I'm Rachel. I was just wondering if you ever
in your business adventure
experienced life interferences. I'm doing event planning right now and I'm dealing with a lot
of, I have school, I have work, I have a bunch of different things going on.
deal with that and how did you I was wondering if you had to
go about dealing with that? >> So you mean just how I've managed to balance kind of real
life with work? >> Yeah.
>> Yeah, okay. I like to think I'm getting
better at doing that and finding
business, and I think it just got to a point where the people in my life started to understand I always prioritized the
things would be, and I that that was just the way
definitely lost some relationships over it but also
life. People have understood that that's important to me and to the success of the business and,
I guess, who understood that I
would try to repay them or get back to them when I could.
he really made a point of making When I met who's now my husband,
me see that having a life and having relationships with people that were rewarding was just as
important as making sure that the business would be run successfully and that there was a balance that I could find, I
just needed to make more of an
effort to get there. And I think that I have kind of found that.
It's been hard for me to back away from the business
as much as I have, but I've also found that it's,
I don't know, I guess as I'm growing older, I'm realizing I don't want to miss out on everything fun
in life just because I'm focused
on this one thing. So I guess I've just found a way
a magic formula for it, that's for it to work, but I don't have
for sure. >> Hi, how's it going? My name is Bruno Rodriguez.
I guess my question is about how
you mentioned your location was in somewhat a dead zone. I guess I'm curious about what
efforts you made to reach the campus population?
bands with student performers, Like have you thought about doing maybe a battle of the
or what efforts have you made just to reach that student population that's just on the
other side of the Capitol?
>> Well, some of it's been based around marketing. I don't know.
It's been a little bit tricky.
I guess one thing is when the licenses became available to have 18-plus shows, we got one
right away. I think just being able to offer
and that isn't necessarily entertainment to a population that would be more student-aged
available as much near campus or on campus is one thing that we've done.
And so we've certainly tried to market those shows towards
groups that have done special events there. And a lot that have done like Webenefits for groups that aret
related to student activities.
scheduling open to doing things that are going to be attractive. ones right this second. So I'm really trying to keep my
Beyond that, I don't know. It's been kind of a tricky thing
for us, and it's honestly something that a lot of venue owners have talked about over the last few years is that it
seems to be increasingly hard to
get students to come out to shows. And all of us are a little bit
at a loss as to why that is.
Certainly for me I know location doesn't help because we're just a little bit further away than a
lot of people want to trek. But beyond that, I don't know.
right now and see how we can It's kind of a conundrum that we're all trying to work on
access students more. >> We have a question over here. >> Hi Cathy, my name is Natalie.
My question for you is I was
credible in their kentrepreneurial adventures,e ythings like that, how do theyh kind of gain creditability ing
that? >> Well, I think a lot of it, for me at least, really came
driven to do it. down to the fact that I was very
I think that I certainly put a lot of effort towards all the research I was doing to learn
everything that I could so that when I did have conversations with people at the city or with loan officers at the bank that I
came across as really knowledgeable and just really serious that I wanted to move forward with my plans.
I think the more that you can talk to people that are involved
little bit of that insider in the business that you're wanting to go into, gain a
knowledge, it's going to give you maybe a little bit of an edge up.
I guess also internships, if you
have an opportunity to work in a place, mine was a bartending job
viable as it would have been if I could have been interning, so it maybe wasn't quite as
business management when I helping with the booking or helping with some of the
worked there before, but I think that that's something that would
We have a question way back here, Cathy. be really helpful as well.
particular music groups that >> Hi, I'm Mia. Have you had any genres or
have come in and have just been completely disastrous that you have to avoid now and what went
wrong?
more selective than that, certain bands maybe that just don't work. I can't think of anything that's
just been a complete disaster.
We've certainly had some shows that have been not good, but for
lessons with minimal pain. the most part we can learn those
>> Well, I think I'm going to go ahead and ask the final question, Cathy, because you had
mentioned it was 20 years ago when you were graduating and you
anthropology and you're going to were kind of venturing out as this UW grad in cultural
open up a night club, 20 years ago did you envision being where
How similar or different does it you are today?
successful than I thought I look would be at the time.u had It would have been probably impossible at that point for me
to picture having to go through the transition after the fire.
success would be running O'Cayz really well and having it just So I think what I saw as my success or as my possible life
there that seemed like a huge enough business venture for me continue on and on. I think when I first started
to take on that it just wouldn't have occurred to me that I would
then go on to have like a venue three times as big that did so
probably a blessing in disguise because it pushed me to make many more different things. So in some ways the fire was
that effort. Yeah.
That's a marvelous way to end, and we just never know what's ahead of us and how we're
something that is as successful as you've demonstrated you are going to really turn it into
today. I know the students join me in
thanking you so much for
spending time with us today. Cathy Dethmers
Thanks for having me. [APPLAUSE]