LIT - Tales of an art manager and music festival director - introduction

This is my very first contribution to the steemit community, so I wanted to make sure my first post was worth everyone paying attention :-)

My name is Ben, I'm a father and entrepreneur. I manage art around the country for a living, along with organizing small music festivals and the live art aspect that accompanies them. Over the last 4 years, I've worked around 35 music festivals, and well over 400 shows, traveling from Colorado, to Arkansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and of course Minnesota (my home state).

My business life was not always so interesting mind you, as not even 4 years ago, I was a computer tech 12+ years deep in a career! I had gotten married while I was still working at my last place of work, and had a family over the 4 years I worked there. My wife and I had 2 kids while I was employed there, and at no point did I ever get a raise despite education advancement nor quality of work.

Soooo, in October 2014, I gave a 2+ month notice of my intentions to quit and go back to school while starting my own company. Jan, 2015, I cashed out my 401k and spent the whole 2-3 grand on e-cig devices direct from manufacturers, and proceeded to go back to college and get my business management degree.

April 2015, the first music festival of the year approached (for me, it was Revival out at Harmony Park), and I packed up the 2 large tubs of my entire inventory, my standard festival equipment, and my 100+ year old saxophone. Setting out for the very first time trying to sell directly to people, I had no idea what to expect or how it was going to work out... But I figured, since I was able to quit smoking 4 packs of cigs/day with vapes, I could help others get access to better mods for better prices you know? Never the less, I was confident enough in the products I had and the need for them, I just needed to figure out how to sell them...

Made it out to the festival grounds safe, got checked in and got my site together while saying "Hi" to a bunch of familiar faces. I pulled a bunch of mods and kits out of the tubs to pack into my backpack, then opened up my instrument case, and prepped the reed. Next thing anyone knows, I'm trotin, hopping, skipping and dancing down the paths of the festival, free-styling random smooth jazzy grooves!!! Every time I'd get stopped by someone or a group of people, I'd give them a quick "Hey I see your smoking, I can help you quit, save you big $$ and guarantee your vape rig, interested?".

I did this at 5 festivals throughout 2015, and then proceeded to officially vend music shows at venues 2-4 nights a week through the next festival season. By the end of 2016, I was investing in the art my friends made, and re-selling it for both of our profits. by the end of 2017, I was running a 15 artist collective, under a 50x30 ft tent, consisting of up to 4 glass blowers on the torch live, metal workers (jewelry), painters, sculptors, massage theripists, fire spinners and more! As of 2018, we strictly only sell art directly linked with the artist that makes it, direct music festivals, as well as assist in art installations and demonstrations for large scale music festivals that contract us out.

We also have a program called "Art for Kids" thats so far had 1 school that we brought 7 artists out along with a band, and had music/art stations for the kids in the gym.

I will be starting to document my life traveling and meeting all of my amazing friends through here as hopes of possibly finding funding to continue these projects and expanding them even further! I'd love to hear any thoughts or answer any questions anyone might have :-) Thanks for reading!

-Ben