How Running Paved the Way for Business Growth with Tim and Leslie Grotenhuis

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it.

0:35hey there welcome to this week's episode of epic entrepreneurs i am with tim and leslie and of kick it events and they're gonna uh we're we're looking forward to learning what we can about their business and about what they've been up to so welcome hi thanks for having us and i'm gonna pronounce our last name for you because it's it's happy it's grote house so oh what do I would have gotten it right. Groten House. Tim and Leslie Groten House. See, I would have gotten it right. But I didn't want to. I made the mistake of not asking ahead of time since we're doing this. That's on me, y 'all. So tell us a little bit about your business and how it came to be and sort of the origin story.

1:22Yeah. Sure. I mean, it's definitely a pretty organic origin story to the business. So we are both runners. And we moved to Asheville in 2005. And when we moved right away, I had two small children and was pregnant with twins. But Tim connected with the Asheville Track Club and wanted to be a part of the running community from the get go via the track club. um and that was really at that time that was there weren't a lot of running groups like there are now um and so that was like the running group um and they had a race that they wanted help with um the thomas wolf 8k which was asheville's oldest running event and he basically signed up and said you know i want to be the race director and came home and said we're going to be race directors surprise yeah no i love that like i might as well get involved if you want to get to know some people will be will be race directors okay yeah that's right we we are we are jumping at full throttle so um yeah and so by the time the race came around uh i was no longer pregnant with twins we had twin newborns and two small children so it was a family endeavor and we learned a lot.

2:56You know, as a runner, being on the other side of a race is very eye-opening, and you don't think about all the details that go into it. So, we kind of volunteered, race-directed that race. We were asked to create a race for our school, which was Isaac Dixon, And that became the eventually the hot chocolate Asheville, hot chocolate races. And I mean, my background is. Before becoming a stay at home mom was in production coordination, which is the same thing as race directing. So I was working in the music industry, coordinating pieces of, you know, pulling something together. And really, that's just a skill set that if you have an interest in something, you can morph those skills into producing other things.

4:01and so that's what this basically came how this came about as a business as people began asking me to help them with races or you know we came up with some race ideas and then and Tim is actually his background is in computers he's a web designer so this wasn't his full-time gig but it became my full-time gig. And I love it because I, you know, like the example of us moving here and jumping full throttle into helping a local nonprofit, we get to work with so many local nonprofits and businesses and organizations and are really interwoven into the community with our events. So, yeah, so that's how it came about is we kind of volunteered and then it became a viable business.

5:07Just to add a little bit to that, back in 2007, when we created the Asheville Hot Chocolate 10K and then that became the races, you know, we did that as a volunteer parents, as part of the parent organization. organization. And so, you know, we were volunteering for the Asheville Track Club and then we were volunteering for the school and the PTO. And then six years of that, you know, we got to the point where it was, it was a lot of work and we said, Hey, we need to transition this to other parents at the school. And they go, Hmm, well, what if we paid you to put on the race? And we went, Oh, that's an interesting idea.

5:41And that really was the genesis, you know, in 2014 of the start of kick it events. And we can get paid for this. Oh, that's cool. We can get paid. Yeah, we're doing it anyway. We might as well get paid for it. It sounds like to me, Tim just said, let's do this thing. And then he knew you had a skill set, Leslie. And so he volunteered. Essentially, he just said, you know, we can do this because Leslie's got the skill set. Let's put her to work. Yeah, let's get the skill set. No, that's cool. And then, hey, and now it's a morph to the fact that somebody will actually pay us to do it. So, yeah, so that's cool.

6:17So then what? like then, all right, we can get paid for this. Now what? Now what? Yeah. I mean, then it's the realizing that you have to work really hard to get enough clients to have it be a viable business. And now, I mean, we have clients. So we have nonprofits that hire us like from that origins of working with nonprofits, volunteers. We also have our own events. So we are able to create event ideas and then partner with nonprofits to be a benefactor of our own events. So we basically had to build from their ideas and relationships and clients like any other business, you know, building a client base.

7:18And then with the pandemic, you know, that was a year of no racing. So we had a race in January and then we had races in December. So we had a year for me of soul searching and really thinking, is this viable? Can we continue? Well, Tim was deciding he were going to not only are we going to continue, but he wanted to build another side of the business. So we really have to continue to be dynamic with the business. but he expanded the business from COVID by adding timing. So that just broadened our client base so that we can have timing services. And that also increases our revenue because we're not paying somebody else to do timing.

8:13We are doing our own timing for events. So, I mean, yeah, that's where it goes from there. We just are now continue to kind of roll with the punches of the event world and grow from, yeah, any challenge, you got to dig deep and figure out how you can grow from it and expand the business. Yeah, so we've had a few challenges in the last four years or so. We've had, you know, we've had stuff. So let's talk about challenges. Like, what are some of the challenges that you have faced and what are some of the learnings that you've had from the challenges?

8:56Yeah. So challenges like let's talk about the most recent challenge. So we just had, you know, a good bit of many of our event area flooded and destroyed. So, you know, there's this beautiful greenway along with the river. And we've been running along the river since our first hot chocolate 10K. So like 2008, we were running along the river. I think we were the first race to run along the river when it was industrial and not so pretty. And now it's gorgeous. And now we have to wait for it to be revitalized again. um so it's basically pivoting where where else can we go how can we support those non-profits that are going to revitalize um with our events um and then you know we're talking about expanding into more than just the area so can we use this knowledge that we've been doing this for over a decade um can we consult with other non-profits that want to do races but have no idea where to start and don't have that skill set um but might you know have the passion to want to put on a fundraiser race yeah so is so is so is the model 100 non-profit like there's always a nonprofit partner with our clients it's typically a non-profit so it's typically somebody who's hiring us to put on a race it's i'm trying to think oh actually once we did put on a whole running series for a for the radio um station so we had like a four race series um but typically it's a non-profit.

10:59Yeah. I mean, this is the idea that people want to produce a well-done fundraiser, 5K or 10K or whatever. When we are producing the raise, we always have a non-profit that we are partnering with for volunteers and for just like to benefit. So we'll donate a portion of the proceeds, but we kind of flip that relationship where we have control over the raise totally, And then they can do less work and still benefit. But, yeah, there's usually a nonprofit component. Got it. Got it. Yeah, it's a good model. I mean, it's – I was going to just jump back into the challenges piece of it that you asked about.

11:46Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. You know, when we were first starting out, after every event that we would have, we would get back together and we would say, all right we would kind of retrospect on it and we'd say what went well you know and what didn't go so well and how can we approve improve it for the next time and so every time we retrospected we had you know things that we needed to fix and we would work on trying to do that uh iteratively you know through the next race and the race after that um and uh you know covid leslie mentioned COVID, that was a huge challenge, right? There were, right when it hit, we were like, that's it, there's nothing we can do.

12:27You know, we're, we're, we're done until, you know, it, it, uh, you know, until this is done. And, uh, we were thinking about giving up because, you know, who knows how long this is going to go on. Um, but we didn't, we got over that. It took us a little while. Uh, and, uh, you know, and we bounced back from it and, and came back stronger, I think, because we did use an opportunity to expand the business and build some you know timing systems and and uh really think more about the business it was kind of a good downtime actually for us yeah i want to ask you about the timing so what's that about how does that how does how does that work and why is that a big deal sure uh well every race uh that's out there has you know when when people are crossing the finish line or the starting line and then the finish line you know they get their time from the race uh and that's typically a third party vendor will supply the timing race directors generally don't have their own timing equipment it's expensive to build you have to have someone that that knows what they're doing to maintain it because leslie and i uh you know have this you know partnership that's built in uh and i've got the tech side i was able to bring in the the technology piece of it and man the timing system while leslie and uh rihanna were able to take over and and do um you know all the course planning and and all the other things that race directors do.

13:50And I could focus on that timing aspect of it. Um, and it, and it's expensive, but I, instead of buying a prepackaged system, as Leslie mentioned, you know, the technology side that I have, I went through and said, all right, well, how am I going to build this? And it was kind of like, you know, it was kind of like, Oh, Legos for adults are, uh, you know, the erector sets of, of, of old. And, uh, there was a lot of fun. So ordered a, a big timing, truss, big, you know, structure that we put together for every event. And it's, you know, has these large banners now that we can promote our races and promote, you know, for our clients that are hiring us, we can, you know, order these banners that really make it look like a championship sort of race, you know?

14:33Yeah. So essentially you were paying somebody outside and so you just bring it inside. So So there's an investment up front, but now you can save that money or just make more money, I guess, on a race because you don't have to pay. That's not an expense you have anymore. Right. And it allowed us to come back from COVID quicker because that race expense, hiring somebody, it became a big hurdle. So when we were coming back from COVID, it was basically like the city only allowed 50 people at a time, say, like in Carrier Park or in any park. So we weren't allowed to like say, all right, well, we were just going to have our timing and do it as much as we need to do the timing and then roll it into like our registration.

15:31And it doesn't cost us this like big hurdle of having to hire somebody some big flat fee to come in time. when there's only going to be, you know, 100 people. Yeah, yeah. Right. So we were able to actually, yeah, and then come up with, like, more creative events. And, yeah, so actually, I think the challenge of COVID and then Tim using his expertise to kind of give us this tool allowed us to be more creative with the events we did come up with coming out of COVID so that, you know, we could have events where maybe there's less people, but people were dying to do something and have events and go to races again.

16:14So, yeah, that's the thing. Yeah, so, and y 'all, just because you like, it seems like you could go into other kinds of events, but y 'all specialize in running because you like running. Yeah. We have done other events. So we actually, we've helped with the Mountain Sports Festival. I don't know if you're, yeah. So Tim was the executive director of the sports festival for, I don't know how many years, Tim, two, three years? Three years I was the executive director. And then I was on the board for another, I was total of eight years, I think, on the board. So that was the big festival we had down at Carrier Park.

16:58Yeah. to highlight the outdoor opportunities in and around Asheville to bring people to Asheville, which we did successfully, I think. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Right. I think anything, anything you do. So I think that's good. And then as part of, as part of that, I then at one point I was hired on as a, the festival, um, to produce running events for the festival and help manage the festival Village. So like the vendors and the sponsors within the Festival Village, and then all of the sporting events and then creating sporting events for them. So we've, yeah, we've done some other things as well.

17:38Yeah. So you've dabbled in some other things along the way, but it's sort of, it's sort of been opportunistic. It seems like people come to you or you've have an interest anyway. And so you get involved and there's a good theme there, get involved in something, I mean, you never know it might be a business. Yeah, it's pretty good. I have this theory. I've had a number of clients that are runners, that are good runners. I mean, some, you know, I have one guy who ran in college, and he had a fast enough time to run in the Olympic trials and some things like that. But, you know, so it was – so I have a theory that runners make good business people.

18:16So what have you learned from running that you've been able to take over into business? Gosh.

18:31Well, I mean, let's go to the challenges again, where, you know, when you're running, long distance running, you have to dig deep when it's getting hard. and you know like if you think about running a marathon I mean like I have run the New York marathon and the um external um energy that you're getting from the crowd cheering you on is so helpful so I feel like that's something that maybe not all runners need or enjoy that. I know there's lots of people that like to run in the quiet of the woods, but for me, and I know for my business and events, I'm also praise motivated. So I will work, work, work for my client and to have them say, that was amazing.

19:31This was so great. or our runners just to have a great like oh that was so great you know we love this t-shirt we love this prize whatever similar similar mindset I feel like like I need that external energy definitely we've talked Tim and I have talked about how we're praise motivated because I mean we started this by just getting like accolades no money volunteers people just being like great job and we'd be like yeah we did a great job so i don't know maybe that tim i don't know if you have other thoughts about yeah no i'd love to hear what tim has to say about this running experience

20:15um i mean i think maybe you touched on it all i mean in in all of our events you know we do like you mentioned the new york city marathon we try to we try to bring that enthusiasm and that positive attitude to all the events that we do to try to make those runners uh you know want to come back for more so yeah no i like it and i think there's something about always knowing there's more and what the runners keep proving that that you there's there's always the next distance or the next right the next let's run up to the top of the hill to see what's on the other side. Yeah. The next personal best, the next something.

20:55Yeah. So I think there's, you know, and then look, there's going to be painful times in business and they're not nearly as painful as some of the things you feel running. So, uh, yeah, it's, it's good. Let me, um, all right. So you've had some challenges. So what are some of the biggest lessons that you've gotten along the way. Can I jump in here, Les? Yes, for sure. For sure. I think pay attention to the opportunities that present themselves. You know, back when I was the director of the Mountain Sports Festival, I had an opportunity to do a radio show for the local radio station called the Mountain Sports Show, where I interviewed local sporting personalities.

21:41And one of the dudes I interviewed one of the people i interviewed was um jim brendall from the smoky mountain relay and uh we had a great you know hour of chatting back and forth and got along really well and soon after that he called me and goes hey i've got the he's the director of the smoke mountain relay um i've been director of this relay for years you know and uh i want it's too much because he lives out in oregon i want to i got to find someone to transition it to and he goes what about you and Leslie? And Leslie and I went, that's an interesting idea. And, uh, and so we thought we'd give it a try and, you know, it's, we took it over and that was back in 2000.

22:18Was it 19 was our first year less? I can't remember. Yeah. Yeah. 2019. And we did it. We did it well. We've made it better. I think Jim did a great job, but you know, we, we've been working on trying to improve it and, And, you know, it just presented itself. So look and see what is out there and take advantage of it. Yeah, no, I love that. Listen, keep your eyes open, look around, see what's out there. Yeah, and I think a little bit, I mean, there's, you know, caution is good, but you also have to be a little bit, do things that are scary. you know, like take on an event that's 200 miles or, you know, things that you think, I don't know if we could do this, but let's try.

23:15And, you know, I guess with a skill set, that becomes less scary, but I think, you know, taking risks is always, it's a good thing to try to push yourself um with you know events and ideas yeah it makes sense i mean always i mean how are you i'm a like better like how do we make it better person and sounds like y 'all are too because i mean what you're doing is when you when you look at an event and then say well hang on let's review the event so we can be better next time and it's the same thing with running right You're always looking to how do I be a little bit better? How can I become something different or better than I am?

24:00So I think, yeah, pushing yourself to take a little risk and then do some stuff that's scary. I love that. Let me ask y 'all, we'll wrap up with this one question that I almost always ask everybody, and that is, what do you wish you had known? In other words, what do you wish somebody had told you that you know now that you didn't know at some point in the past? I'll start with you, Leslie. What do you, what?

24:27Um, I, I mean, I think that I wish I had known that marketing is everything. Every business is also marketing. so um you know wish I had learned I did go back that was like a COVID thing where I went back and I did like an extra kind of class on more marketing skills but that's that if you're a small business owner you're also marketing unless you're unless you're you know are hiring somebody But that's part of the gig as a small business owner. Yeah, every business is marketing. You're just marketing something, whatever it is that you provide, whatever service you provide. So every business is marketing.

25:27Right. It's a good learning. It's a good learning. Right. This is one of the great things I get. I get all these learnings from business owners that I can use. So it's good. It's what part of the stick here. What do you have, Tim? What do you have for us? that's a great question um i mean i'm still learning uh you know um of course what do i wish i well maybe you should rephrase or say this restate the question one more time what is just something that you know now that you wish you had known a long time ago or before you started the business. Yeah.

26:14Yeah, I think it's kind of a subset of what Leslie said. Google Ads, SEO, all those things that I've – key marketing metrics, being able to read the output for Google Ads and do something with it. You know, and that's I've been learning that over the years. And if I, you know, if I had been able to start with that 10 years ago, we we maybe would be I mean, I went further, definitely. But, you know, then then there's all kinds of other things about how do you grow with employees and stuff that I still don't know anything about. So, you know, it's a it's a learning process, whatever you do. Yeah, of course.

26:56Yeah. Well, I think that's one of the things is always have to be learning. always have to be if you want to be better you got to become something different which means you always got to be learning so somebody wants to have an event they're a non-profit or they're not a non-profit and they just want to have an event what um how do they get in touch with you i mean our website is kick it events.com or they can email uh info at kick it events um you know if they want to see what we're up to we're on all the socials right so events on instagram and and then we've got you know any of those events everybody everyone has a social media instagram facebook so many places to see what we're doing but yeah to reach out and um we'll send you you know we will help you figure out whatever you want to do Yeah, yeah, yeah.

27:55And yeah, that's awesome. Great name, by the way, Kick It Events. I think that's, I mean, there are some, you know, some companies have it and some don't. And, you know, Kick It Events has it. So well done. Thank you. I'm picking that out. I don't know what the process was for that. Maybe that's another story for another podcast. So anyway, thanks for taking the time to be with us today. I really appreciate it. Thanks, Bill. Thanks for having us. And until next time, all the best.

28:31Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast. Here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part. It's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs. Plus, you guys know how it works. The more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly.

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