The Secret Business of Nightclubs

Summary

Highlights

• Derek uses his relationships with women to fill tables and energize clubs. 💪
• Jay's expansive network and strategic system help bring in more attendees. 🔄
• Eric reimagines nightlife with his themed parties and inclusivity. 🥳
• Promoters navigate a challenging environment to ensure clients are happy and safe. 🚨
• Behind-the-scenes efforts of promoters are what make nightclubs the go-to spots in town. 🌆

Key Takeaways

• Nightclubs thrive on appearances and energy, with promoters crucial to creating this dynamic. 🎉
• Promoters like Derek, Jay, and Eric have unique strategies to attract crowds and sustain atmosphere. 💃🕺
• Building and maintaining relationships is essential for promoters to bring life to venues. 🤝
• Eric's unorthodox, inclusive parties redefine the traditional night-out experience. 🍣🎶
• The nightlife industry requires hard work and creativity, contrasting its glamorous facade. 🌟

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 06:00: The Secret Business of Nightclubs The chapter explores the intriguing world of nightclubs, highlighting their role as social venues where individuals can interact with strangers, dance with friends, and temporarily escape everyday life. It delves into how these businesses, despite being shrouded in darkness, music, and chaos, have a universal challenge: to attract patrons by marketing their venue as the ultimate destination for enjoyment on any given weekend night.
• 06:00 - 12:00: The Role of Club Promoters This chapter delves into the strategies nightclub owners use to make their venues appealing, focusing on the critical role of club promoters in drawing crowds consistently without the need for expensive headliners. The text suggests that filling a club with energy and people makes it a desirable place, and promoters are key to achieving this, especially on regular nights.
• 12:00 - 18:00: The Art of Promotion The chapter titled 'The Art of Promotion' explores the significant role of nightclub promoters in transforming clubs from slow and empty venues to lively and sought-after destinations every weekend. Highlighting Chicago's vibrant nightlife, the chapter delves into the lives and strategies of three of the city's leading nightclub promoters - Derek, Jay, and Eric. It offers insights into their day-to-day hustle, revealing the often 'invisible' yet crucial work they do to ensure the success and excitement of the clubs, ultimately emphasizing the impact these promoters have on defining the nightlife in Chicago.
• 18:00 - 24:00: The Promoter's Toolkit In 'The Promoter's Toolkit' chapter, the focus is on strategies for hosting the most exciting and popular parties in town. The chapter highlights Kajabi as a sponsor, which is an all-in-one platform designed to assist entrepreneurs in building successful online businesses. It emphasizes the challenge creators face in establishing their brand, noting that many platforms and partners often demand a share of the profits. The chapter underscores the belief that creators should fully benefit from their work, retaining all revenue and advantages.
• 24:00 - 30:00: Promoter Profiles: Derek The chapter titled 'Promoter Profiles: Derek' focuses on the challenges and strategies of building a successful team and company culture, particularly for creators. It discusses the common issue creators face when they try to do everything themselves, which can limit growth and sustainability. The chapter highlights Kajabi as a platform that aids creators in building their business efficiently by providing necessary tools and resources, allowing them to keep all their earnings without needing a large team, regardless of their niche.
• 30:00 - 42:00: Promoter Profiles: Jay Promoter Profiles: Jay explores the benefits of using Kajabi for creating online courses and business ventures. The chapter highlights how Kajabi empowers individuals to fully own and control their content and revenue, keeping 100% of what they earn. It equips users with various tools like robust analytics, easy payment integrations, email marketing, and customizable website templates, all without the requirement of a large audience to achieve sustainable income.
• 42:00 - 53:00: Promoter Profiles: Eric This chapter titled 'Promoter Profiles: Eric' discusses the role of promoters and highlights Kajabi, a platform where creators and entrepreneurs can make significant income even with a relatively small following. It offers a 30-day free trial to start a business. The chapter emphasizes the importance of promoters in bringing people together, leveraging platforms like Kajabi.
• 53:00 - 60:00: Promoters and Value Creation The chapter discusses the role of promoters in creating value in the nightclub industry by leveraging human psychology. It emphasizes that nightclubs operate on the principles of physical attraction, which dictate that aesthetically pleasing environments and people can lead to more success in social and professional settings. This mirrors broader societal norms where attractiveness influences outcomes in various sectors.

The Secret Business of Nightclubs Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 every city has nightclubs social venues where people can mingle with strangers dance with friends and escape the monotony of life in an environment of Darkness music and Chaos as businesses all nightclubs face the same challenge every week they have to convince you that their Club is the place to be where you'll have the most fun on a Thursday Friday or Saturday night people who go
• 00:30 - 01:00 out want to have a good time if a club is empty people will just turn around and go somewhere else if you're a club owner the question is how do you make your nightclub a desirable place to be how do you pack your nightclub with bodies and energy so that more people will come you can book a famous artist to perform at your Venue but that's not necessarily sustainable and doesn't take into account just how much money the biggest artists charge per show how can you make your nightclub pop on a regular run-of-the-mill Thursday Friday or Saturday night when you don't have any Headliners the answer is promoters where
• 01:00 - 01:30 there are nightclubs there are promoters promoters are a trade as old as the clubs themselves promoters are the invisible men and women who work to turn clubs from slow empty venues into packed exciting desirable destinations every weekend cities are defined by their night life and Chicago is home to some of the best clubs in the world in this modern NBA exclusive we're diving deep into the secret world of nightclubs and Club promoters we right along with three of Chicago's leading promoters in Derek Jay and Eric observe their hustle and and learn the strategies that they use
• 01:30 - 02:00 to throw the hottest parties in town this episode is sponsored by kajabi the ultimate all-in-one platform that helps entrepreneurs build successful online businesses by unlocking predictable reoccurring Revenue as a Creator it's difficult to build a brand as just about every platform tool or partner out there that promises to help you ask for a percentage of your profits as a Creator you deserve all the benefits upside and all of the revenue
• 02:00 - 02:30 that you earn at the same time it takes lots of hours effort and unavoidable trial and error to build a great team to attract talent and to establish a positive culture for your company most creators just end up doing it all or trying to do it all themselves which ultimately only limits their growth and encourages unsustainability with kajabi you can build your business the way you want and keep every dollar that you earn and kajabi gives you all the tools you need to build a profitable business so you don't have to hire a huge team or do it all alone no matter your Niche kajabi
• 02:30 - 03:00 makes it easy to turn your skills passions and experiences into enriching online courses exclusive membership sites subscription podcasts thriving communities personalized coaching and more the best part kaj jaapi doesn't take a cut of your Revenue because everything is owned and controlled by you so you keep 100% of what you earn and with kajabi you also get robust analytics easy payment options email marketing tools and customizable website templates all built in you don't need a huge audience to make sustainable income
• 03:00 - 03:30 there are thousands of creators on kajabi making six and seven figures with less than 50,000 followers Right Now kajabi is offering a free 30-day free trial to start your business if you go to kajabi.com Modern MBA that's K Aja ai.com MBA kajabi.com MBA and join the creators and entrepreneurs who have made over 6 billion in the simplest terms the job of a promoter is to bring people primarily
• 03:30 - 04:00 women into a nightclub and make the club look desirable exciting and attractive at all times nightclubs are businesses built on psychology as much as function to comprehend what they do we have to accept two realities of Life the first is the law of physical attraction there are objective measures of attractiveness and humans by extension are attractive unattractive or somewhere in between people who are good-looking get better results in the professional dating and social markets and the same law applies in night life it's a fundamental truth
• 04:00 - 04:30 of nightlife that when people go out to a club a concert a festival or a bar and they see good-looking men and women they'll stay for longer especially if they're single the second reality is the gender division of labor and pay through history men are expected to be Breadwinners and in most cases do indeed get paid more than women in the same roles while this all might sound like off-topic tangential pseudo science it's essential to understanding The Core Business of nightclubs like any animal human males will go to great lengths to
• 04:30 - 05:00 pursue their mates where there's women there will be men and where there's attractive women there will be men with money and men with money will peacock to get the attention of attractive women nightclubs give men who are looking to impress or chase clout a brief yet material platform for that attention and exclusivity for a couple thousand dollar you can Flex by buying a private table at a club men go where women are and nightclubs make money off of men who are looking to make a statement as a result women are essential to a successful nightclub in the simplest abstraction
• 05:00 - 05:30 without women there's no one to flex on which in turn means no men and no Spenders if a club is empty slow has too many dudes not enough women or not enough attractive women the Spenders won't come if the Spenders do come they won't stay for long with these bad vibes and they'll take their dollars elsewhere and as the night progresses it becomes that much harder for a club to sell those thousand private tables and $100 bottles we can see this Dynamic play out with Derek on this Saturday night the club has just opened and the venue is
• 05:30 - 06:00 understandably empty there's a few people trickling in the music is playing the lights are on but the dance floor is empty all you have at the club is Derek and his group of ladies at two tables at this venue there are eight tables these private Tables by Design are clearly segregated away from the public areas and the dance floor there's a bouncer at the entrance to make sure that only the right people are allowed into these private tables if you don't have a table your only option is to stand or lean against the bar even though the club is just open they can't afford to look
• 06:00 - 06:30 completely dead with empty floors and empty tables there has to be some energy to liven things up and it can't be coming from the staff promoters are generally assigned to fill one or more tables and on this night Derek has filled two the club has kept the other six tables vacant so it can readily sell this inventory as the night progresses in the scenario where the club takes off and sells all its tables Derek would be bumped and he would need to give up his two tables to the paying customers but this isn't a big deal because promoters like Derek work partnership with the
• 06:30 - 07:00 clubs Derek would simply bring his Entourage down the street to fill a different Club but for now none of this is a concern the only people in energy at the club in this very moment is all coming from Derrick's tables and all the people that you see right now at Derrick's tables are the women that he's brought in to help fill the room and breathe energy into this venue it's no coincidence that Derrik and his ladies are seated right in front of the entrance to the club the first thing that you see when you enter the venue and you turn the corner from from the bar are all the women dancing talking
• 07:00 - 07:30 and having fun at Derrick's table this is the exact value that promoters create for clubs to give people that strong first impression that the club is popping or in this case it's about to pop soon and that it's worth staying around for while everything is natural in reality the existence of women and the placement of them at these exact tables are all deliberate strategic and pre-planned but these ladies aren't paid actresses they're not pretending to have fun or under contract with Derek or the nightclub they're real people in Chicago local who have the freedom to do what
• 07:30 - 08:00 they want if they want to leave this club if they want to visit friends at a different venue if they want to go home they can do so at any time we know what's in it for clubs to have women but what's in it for the women themselves ladies who come in with promoters like Derek get to sit and drink at his private tables for free promoters bring in the women and the clubs Supply the complimentary drinks and tables that will make these women comfortable happy and want to stay in the venue for longer thus Derrik is not paying out of pocket for these tables or drinks by having these women present the club by
• 08:00 - 08:30 extension looks good the place looks busy the more people will come the longer they stay and the better the sales will be for the night good promoters like Derek build relationships with every lady at their table and are constantly growing their networks through Word of Mouth the same way that a good sales rep assembles a Rolodex of business contacts and just like how a sales rep is only as good as their last deal a promoter is only as good as their last night Derrick's professionalism is how he's built up his credibility and name over the years in spite of what his face tattoos and appearance might
• 08:30 - 09:00 suggest his name is his brand and his standards are what elevates him above other promoters and his power is in the results which are all things that he can't jeopardize even as he scales his tables get priority service he gets to keep his tables when a big artist performs he's the last to get bumped on a busy night and he enjoys a deeper rapport with the club staff as a familiar respected and trusted face who's rolling up his sleeves every weekend to help make the club successful Derek tonight is even elevating the experience by surprising the ladies at his table with bottle service that he's
• 09:00 - 09:30 paying for out of his own pocket It's relatively unorthodox for promoters to buy bottles for their own tables but these are all ways in which drik invests for the future that way after tonight these same ladies who were blown away by this experience will hit up Derrik first when they want to go out again and will even recommend him to their friends it's important to note that these ladies are not getting high-end bottles like class aul Dom and Ace of Spades for free what they get are standard everyday inexpensive drinks and mixers and free is better than nothing at all yet for an
• 09:30 - 10:00 expert promoter like Derek filling his tables with ladies is just the beginning of his night so there's a 100 different promotion companies in the city what do I offer that they don't I mean everybody's got bottles everybody's got this everybody's got that the end of the day who gave them the best experience is what's really going to sell them and bring them to you and keep them coming back out with your company Dereck serves as an all-in-one chaperon Club liaison and bodyguard of sorts for the women
• 10:00 - 10:30 that he's brought in his job is to make sure that they're all comfortable have a great time and get home safe once the night ends he strategically positions himself like an additional barrier between the public areas and his tables and he maintains this position through the night from this elevated position Derek can see everything happening at his tables right in front of him but also make himself available for anyone that's looking for him he monitors The Vibes of his tables entertains any ladies who seem bored and makes the effort to make a personal connection with each guest from open to close
• 10:30 - 11:00 Derrick is watching closely to make sure that no one whether it's strangers from the floor or neighboring tables is messing with the drinks stealing purses or harassing his ladies some of the women will naturally flow from the table to the dance floor even as the club is filling up as the table is getting crowded and the people around him are partying he's not joining in dancing goofing around or pounding drinks when Derrick's not watching his tables he's on his phone coordinating with the next wave of ladies coming in keeping track of the arrivals and departures posting Instagram stories to build his brand
• 11:00 - 11:30 managing his team and remotely checking in with male clients at other clubs that his company is managing around Chicago that same night Chicago nlife is an opaque connection-based world where you'll find everyone on Instagram and next to no one on LinkedIn word travels fast and reputation is everything basically promoters come and go and the main reason of that is because they get to fool themselves and they just they crash out then they disrespect women which just like you're in Hospitality
• 11:30 - 12:00 that's the main that's the last thing you should do by developing close relationships with club Owners he can create the best possible experience for the ladies that he brings in by midnight the club is popping and Derrick's tables are the life of this party the women at his tables from opening have generated this momentum and energy that is now Spilled Out onto the dance floor you have guys buying tables and Bottles all around Derek to join in on the fun in this exclusive section at opening the only area with life was Derrick's tables and now two hour hours later the whole
• 12:00 - 12:30 place is vibing on its own everywhere you look people are having fun and dancing no one would have suspected that dererk is a promoter and the women at his tables were technically planted but at the same time no one would have really cared when people go to clubs they want to go to a place where they'll have the most fun meet the most people and experience the best energy this is the power of expert promoters like Derek who can jumpstart a party breathe life into a venue and energize a club without any Headliners on a random Saturday night and even as the club is getting
• 12:30 - 13:00 more lit Derek is sitting in the exact same spot doing the same things as he was at opening watching working messaging and planning based on the number of women that he brought in and the number of tables that he sold for his male clients Derek earned between 400 to $800 from this club tonight this is only what's happening at just one of many clubs in Chicago on Saturday night a few blocks ahead of where dererk is we find j a fourth grade
• 13:00 - 13:30 math teacher who moonlights as one of Chicago's best promoters Jay is working at a different club that has significantly fewer tables but a much larger dance floor and while every Club has its own layout the principles Remain the Same by tagging along with Jay we can understand and see some of the nuances of what it takes to be a great promoter there's actually a famous artist coming to perform tonight at this club and the event has been well advertised all over social media this is not the first time that this artist has performed here and every time the lines to get in have wrapped around on the Block as a result there's no need for a
• 13:30 - 14:00 promoter like Jay to fill space for tonight as the headliner is guaranteed to energize the venue and to draw on the crowd but instead of saying they don't need promoters at all tonight the club has put out requirements the club doesn't want to just be busy they want to look like they're the best place in town to the hundreds that come through the door tonight and to the thousands tomorrow on social media so tonight's body was you know it's sumeray a lot of people wants to see suay of course um when it comes to me promoting and everything they want to sell tables of
• 14:00 - 14:30 course they want to sell big tables um kind of like the the minimum for a table tonight is like 1,500 to 2,000 usually if it was like a night where was just uh a local artist it would be kind of between 800 maybe 12200 um but when it when it comes to Big artist is it's like really between, 1500 and 2,000 and then when it comes to like girls which is my job like you know just invite girls to the table make sure the place is popping um they have kind of like expectations so they want to the Bates 10 out of 10 the 12 out of 10 the top quality the the
• 14:30 - 15:00 the top of the batch pretty much want the best looking girls for today to make the V you know look like it's popping for house clients to come out buy tables you know that that plays a big part on the club itself Jay's MMO is to keep the ladies flowing into this venue and he doesn't have to do much to sell the opportunity to his Network for these women the opportunity to watch this artist perform live to skip the line to drink and sit at a private table all for free is too good to pass up but to maximize earnings the club has made Jay and all the promoters fit all their
• 15:00 - 15:30 ladies into this one table so that they can keep the rest to sell to paying customers the table is small and there's not enough room or much value for Jay to stand there the whole night once the venue gets packed especially at his height as the night unfolds Jay gives up his spot at the table to his ladies and moves around the venue all while working on his phone he's messaging the next wave of women answering questions providing directions monitoring etas and selling tables to the men in his Network Jay's magic is in his numbers most
• 15:30 - 16:00 promoters rely on Instagram posts flyers and Facebook groups and Word of Mouth to build up their networks this organic approach to growth is effective But ultimately slow with the help of a childhood friend Jay has built a system in which his Rolodex of men and women grow every hour every day even when he's at his day job and not just on the nights that he's working in business knowing what you're good at is 80% of the battle and Jay strengths are as in person skills his friend in contrast is great with computers has a killer texting game but doesn't drink and has weaker interpersonal skills what Jay and
• 16:00 - 16:30 his friend have done is they've combined their strengths and they've built a system that Aggregates all the potential sources of where Define women and men who want to go clubbing Jay has profiles on Tinder hinge and Bumble where he writes in his bio that he's a promoter the clubs that he works at what women can expect when they match and all of these accounts are actually managed by his friend his friend swipes right on everyone handles every conversation answers questions directs every match to Jay's Instagram and Records where each woman wants to go clubbing their availability requests and musical
• 16:30 - 17:00 interests the last part is especially key since every nightclub specializes in a certain type of music by the time Friday rolls around Jay's friend has already organized for him all the contacts based on their likelihood of response and where the criteria of the club matches the preference of the individual then it's off to Jay like tonight to do the rest in person the ladies that Jay brought in tonight thought they were talking to Jay but in most cases they were actually talking to his friend behind the scenes the entire time profile right we just pretty much
• 17:00 - 17:30 um we show like who I am we explain like what what I'm doing um what I'm into my interest is like and I would say like I would never sh about clubbing I'm known for DJing of course I'm a big I'm big DJ here um and pretty much I'm go here the tender you know we just kind of explain what I'm doing what's my job um what what ladies can do when they come to the club when they come in and say my name that's to tell you on everything so pretty much with that being said um they they can come in um depending on the artist depending on
• 17:30 - 18:00 the night depending on how big the night is when they come in they will say you know they'll say my name they'll say J all access of course um and pretty much they they come in I would come and get them um we just walk them to the table and then from there they just pretty much they sit down drink have fun you know just typical things that the the you know ladies we do at the club and then from there you know it just goes on rest of the night you see on Instagram there's a lot of messages to the point where like I can't even scroll down to the point where like they have to load it's just a lot of messages usually we keep certain girls in our primary
• 18:00 - 18:30 messages and then in general right now okay so he did move so in general we we change up throughout the day so pretty much in general um we have our top quality girls and then in our private messages we have the girls that kind of want to go to similar places but like oh kind of like at the level of like okay yeah they can go to this club they can go to this club but we kind of usually separate them in our general messages we usually have the top-notch quality girls 10 out of 10 the clubs that we know that they can get into no matter how they look or what they like cuz just fact just like that quality that's how
• 18:30 - 19:00 quality that the club want and then in our primary messages we really have the girls that just want to go anywhere you just want to party and everything um but they're not like Top Notch their system and network has gotten so expansive that they get inquiries from people out of state who are coming to Chicago for a weekend and want to go clubbing and there are just so many messages every week that they have to regularly clear out the backlog on every single app just to separate the new from the old backed by this system Jay brings in roughly 150 to 250 women every weekend across
• 19:00 - 19:30 multiple clubs in Chicago as the lines start to wrap around the block it becomes harder for Jay to bring women in with the venue almost at capacity the bouncers outside are getting a lot more selective about who they led into the club they're taking measure of how each person is dressed how they look if they seem like Spenders and what they'll add to the crowd the only people that are getting to skip the line and aren't having a hard time getting in in this freezing cold are the ones buying tables not even Jay's ladies are getting a pass and Jay has to personally vouch for them to get them into the venue how Jay
• 19:30 - 20:00 handles this scenario is a great example of how important connections and etiquette are in Nightlife promoters are ultimately Outsiders in the org chart of a nightclub they simply don't exist promoters are not employees of the club they work alongside the venue staff but they're not co-workers in the Controlled Chaos of a nightclub name dropping gets you nowhere and even a longtime promoter as respected as Jay still ranks Below in priority to a paying customer good promoters understand this hierarchy and when liquidate their political Capital
• 20:00 - 20:30 to make things happen in this part of the venue what the bouncer says goes bouncers are more than just security they're how the club enforces its preferences and hold the promoters accountable it's bouncers who protect the club's interests and unilaterally decide if any individual fits the club's requirements of attractiveness and this applies even to the people that the promoters are bringing in bouncers can find any reason to deny entry to anyone and a good promoter needs to Advocate to get their ladies in Jay has to exercise patience and only once the balancer has
• 20:30 - 21:00 shown that he's ready to listen can Jay make a case for why his women should be led in despite his long-standing reputation at this venue Jay ultimately doesn't get any special treatment after a quick back and forth Jay reaches a deal with the bouncer so so kind of like What's happen right now pretty much like I said like when girls come on this I have to negotiate something pretty much so like for today there's a group right here that's behind me um pretty much um the only good negotiation was to pay $20 that was the only negoti if not then
• 21:00 - 21:30 they couldn't come in so that's pretty much what they're doing right now they're just pretty much charging them $ for most of the women that Jay is bringing in tonight this is actually their first time meeting him in person Jay takes the extra step to make these women feel at ease by waiting for them outside before they arrive introducing himself escorting them through security and walking them into the venue once the group is inside the club he points out where the table is how to get in how to reach out to him if they have a problem but for the ladies that Jay's bringing in he explains to them that they can go to the table and get their free drinks
• 21:30 - 22:00 but they can only sit and stay there once they see someone else leave the small table has complicated Logistics and that it's not easy for Jay to keep track of who's where his ladies are spread all over the venue some are at the table others are at the bar and a few more are downstairs at coach Jay makes himself tall and walks through the entire venue regularly so it's easy for his ladies to spot him if they need anything and sure enough another unforeseen issue occurs one of his ladies calls over to him and points out a man who's been harassed her friends on the Dance Floor Jay immediately tails
• 22:00 - 22:30 the culprit reports the problem to the nearest staff member points out the man in question explains the situation to security and make certain with management that the man is never allowed back into the venue this is something that only Jay can pull off given his familiarity and political Capital at this venue because the staff know him and he knows them they can take Jay's words at face value and instantly act once the situation is resolved Jay checks back in with the lady he provides an update makes sure she and her friends are okay apologizes for what happened
• 22:30 - 23:00 and thanks her for raising the issue in an environment as chaotic dark and crowded as a nightclub communication can be difficult trust is expensive and simple messages turn into long-winded games of telephone as a promoter you have to use the limited tools you have at your disposal to provide a good safe and comfortable experience for all the people you bring in and for Jay to do this as an outsider is no small feat on this Saturday night Jay brought in the most women out of any promoter at this venue and earned $150 at a flat rate of $5 per lady but since
• 23:00 - 23:30 Jay also sold tables to the men in his Network he earned an extra $350 for a total of $500 and just like Derek before these are just the numbers from one venue as a promoter you can take your entourage to other venues and get paid multiple times in the same night for having the same people Jay eventually brought his group from this club to a different club and earned a grand total of $990 for this Saturday night as we've seen with Jay and Derek
• 23:30 - 24:00 promoting is ultimately a numbers game where the more women you bring in the more you get paid but is it possible to fill a club on Wednesdays and Thursdays can a promoter create an experience that's fun for men and women and along the way generate even greater business for a club meet Eric Boss a veteran of the Chicago nightlife scene who's redefining the value that promoters can create it's 900 p.m. on a Thursday and Eric is at his apartment doing the final touches for his house and Sushi party he's coordinating with venue staff on
• 24:00 - 24:30 his phone reviewing his to-do list texting his team and posting Instagram stories to Hype up his party no detail is too small and no part of the experience can be compromised there's bubble guns cash cannons sunglasses megaphones light sticks and even custom fortune cookies branded with Eric's Instagram handle all of which will be given away for free over the course of the party there's so many props that the only way to get it all from his apartment to The Venue is with moving boxes and in luggage Eric is a one-man
• 24:30 - 25:00 Army he's the planner designer host and Maestro for each of his parties and this Thursday is no different nightclubs generally only operate Fridays to Sundays unless there's a famous artist or a major holiday there's typically not enough customers for a club to justify opening Monday to Thursday the target audience for Eric's parties are not social lights and Wealthy Elites but rather everyday men and women there's no ticket no cover at the door no strict RSVPs and no emphasis on the traditional nightlife factors of gender
• 25:00 - 25:30 attractiveness or wealth for club Owners Eric's value proposition is powerful immediate impact is one is that they wouldn't have that many people they wouldn't have that much revenue they wouldn't have that Allure on a on a weekday it this wouldn't happen and it gives them a different demographic too because automatically when I am with a a club I do my party you're getting my network you're getting my social media Network you're getting my network of friends have people that come to my parties that support eyes on the party
• 25:30 - 26:00 eyes on the venue that would not normally be there automatically now I'm doing the marketing and I'm also giving the experience so that when people come there number one it's different than any other night of placees open so it's giving them an experience there that they're not going to get any other time and it's definitely something that's you saw very very fun but something that's now they're going to remember that place forever forever you're going to remember that um
• 26:00 - 26:30 and it's just one of those parties that it just takes one time because any other time they go there it's not going to feel the same it's not going to look the same it's not going to be the same so that will be forever etched in your head why why Ben you bring me on because uh at least with two of my parties in particular is because I set the tone for the rest of the night whereas if some some parties are only late night and so if that party was just to start late night it would be dead right from the start
• 26:30 - 27:00 but that's why with my parties I set the tone create the vibe where people could come in and it's already an environment where it could Thrive at that point otherwise it would not on the way to the club Eric picks up Sushi from a fancy restaurant which he'll later hand out to every person at the party and he never stops responding to the hundreds of messages blowing up his phone based on who comes into the venue and when every party to some degree takes on its own energy life and Tempo Eric arrives at the venue he sets up the station he
• 27:00 - 27:30 reviews the game plan with his assistant and the Party begins shortly after as the first people trickle in even at opening Eric is in the thick of it he's running around thanking people for coming out reminding his team to interact with every single guest handing out fortune cookies making it rain with a cash Cannon blasting sirens on his megaphone handing out bubble guns to anyone who looks bored and giving pointers to the DJ on what to play and when Eric doesn't just plan the party and host it by name he is the party and is the conductor of this Orchestra
• 27:30 - 28:00 everything that happens has a purpose and Eric is constantly reading the room to determine when and how to elevate the energy every prop snack and Entertainer are all surprises that Eric strategically reveals to the crowd as the night progresses even though Eric throws these parties every week there's just no set formula tonight he's handing out fortune cookies and sushi but on other nights and at other parties he's given away fries from McDonald's frosties from Wendy's sliders from White Castle and chocolate strawberries before
• 28:00 - 28:30 all this Eric had worked over 10 years as a traditional promoter for various clubs around Chicago he had long felt that the conventional focus on filling tables with women to be too simplistic in his mind if a venue is busy if the space is packed and if people feel like they're part of the party that's ultimately all that matters Eric's parties like tonight Are by Design inclusive non-pretentious unorthodox environments where you don't have to be rich to be a 10 out of 10 or to flex to have a good time everywhere you look on this Thursday night something is
• 28:30 - 29:00 happening bubbles are flying in the air snacks are being handed out for free there's a body painting show on stage and bills are raining down from the ceiling and since people are seeing Eric Champion embody these Vibes all night long the energy is contagious Eric gives and people give back not everyone at this club is here for Eric's party but the energy is so Dynamic that they just end up staying sure enough as the night unfolds people start buying tables bottle service and drinks at the far and Eric makes himself present to connect
• 29:00 - 29:30 with every individual but even as the party picks up towards midnight Eric gets even busier he flies around from the floor to the kitchen to the storage setting up the lights for the next Entertainer checking in on attendees delegating to his team and coordinating the headline event with his staff the climax of this party tonight is body Sushi where attendees can eat sushi off the body of a woman that Eric Wheels around on the dance floor and this is just house and sushi at Eric's other parties you have pole dancers sword swallowers fire breathers dominatrixes
• 29:30 - 30:00 and more nothing ever repeats and every party has its own theme entertainers and snacks the only time Eric gives himself a break is to scarf down his dinner consisting of a single protein bar but even then he's still wired in he's responding to messages posting stories to get more people to come to the party replenishing props and monitoring The Vibes as soon as he's done eating Eric is right back on the Dance Floor directing coordinating and interacting Eric's part Parties By Design Peak at midnight and then conclude at 1:00 a.m.
• 30:00 - 30:30 so The Vibes energy and people carry on until the Club closes at 4:00 a.m. the bartenders can barely keep up the bottles keep flowing the tables are packed and people keep streaming in no other club in Chicago is this Lively animated and crowded on this Thursday night and for the people that are coming out this venue is the hottest place to be this in a nutshell is the valley that Eric creates by the end of his party Eric is spent but even as Eric de compresses he can't ever fully turn off
• 30:30 - 31:00 he's still on his phone catching up on messages posting highlights of tonight's party to his followers and pushing this club for anyone still looking to go out on this Thursday night in business greater value creation often translates to greater value capture and Eric is a great example of this Eric can fill a club between 150 to 200 people on a single night with one of his parties while clubs pay promotors between $5 to $7 flat for every woman that they bring in Eric earns a $500 base and takes 10% of the bar revenue for each of his
• 31:00 - 31:30 parties on this Thursday night for house and Sushi Eric earned $1,875 after paying for the snacks props DJs and entertainers his take-home was $1,100 with four parties in Chicago every week Eric Nets between $3,000 to $4,000 a week on the low end while the money is solid it's not his primary motivation Chicago is his home and these parties are like Eric's children their labor of love and that passion is what keeps him going every Wednesday to
• 31:30 - 32:00 Saturday every week all year long sometimes during the night I will things move so fast and I never really get to stop and smell the roses right and certain times I will just stop there and just look around and then I'll see a person with a bubble gun here I'll see girls screaming over here I see a person with eating the food that I gave him there and I de to myself like this is I created that you know and it's validation there cuz it's it's what I do it's what I live eat and breathe um and
• 32:00 - 32:30 it's experience that you don't get anywhere else and that's what I try to do I I'm constantly thriving to do things that you don't feel or see other places and I think I do a really good job at it I mean it's I'm now doing it four times a week so but it's constantly just thinking of different things that are number one able to do in a club um because there's certain things that you can't just do in a club uh and I feel like it's just something that's you don't get anywhere else I haven't seen anywhere else so I feel like that's a pretty good starting point um but I've
• 32:30 - 33:00 also found it too that usually anything that you play with when you're a toy you know I mean when you're a kid anything you play with when you're a kid is translatable into the club when you're when you're partying um and I feel that's another thing I do is I in I unleash the inner child in people and I see it constantly when you give a bubble gun to a girl or to anyone usually the Elation the the screaming The Joy like you don't see that anywhere else so I just feel like maybe it's not that important there at the moment but it
• 33:00 - 33:30 definitely feels good looks good and I know that person is feeling good his long-term strategy is to bring his parties Beyond Chicago to help Drive business for other club Owners on their slow nights and to give people in other cities an unorthodox inclusive non-judgmental nightlife experience that they can't get anywhere else nightclubs are a secretive business where information and numbers are rarely ever shared with Outsiders but through the grind of Eric Jay and Derek we can see that Chicago nightlife is ultimately no different than any other industry
• 33:30 - 34:00 where the Core Business principles of differentiation professionalism and value creation still apply from the outside being a club promoter looks like a fun and glamorous job where you're paid to party but in reality there's nothing easy about it to be great at any job requires hard work and while most of the world is in bed sleeping from 10: p.m. to 4:00 a.m. on a Thursday Friday or Saturday people like Jay Eric and Derek are all working making the nightclubs in their town the hottest place to
• 34:00 - 34:30 be