Maria Lloyd (00:01.454)
Hello and welcome to the My Local Marketer podcast which shines a light on the success stories, key learnings and insights from people and businesses based in Reading, Berkshire. I'm your host, Maria Lloyd. I've lived in Reading for 20 years and I've only recently started to appreciate what our wonderful town has to offer. Join me as I explore Reading's opportunities and lessons in more detail. Now, without further ado, let's jump in. Okay. So hello, Louise and Colette and welcome to the My Local Marketer podcast. Thank you so much for coming on how you both do it.

Thank you for having us. Yes. you're very welcome. And just to point out, I love our background, wild and free spirits. amazing. So could you please tell our listeners just a little bit about yourself and about Boogie Days? So I'm Collette. I've got several businesses actually, one is a wedding celebrant. So Boogie Days first came to us when we were really frustrated because there was nowhere we could go and boogie.

And yes, of course there's nightclubs, but they were full of teens and young people, let's say in their twenties. And we didn't particularly like the nightclub kind of music. whenever we went out, we often found ourselves in my living room, putting a bit of Michael Jackson on or whatever and having a good old fashioned boogie. And we wanted to revive that. So really like lots of business people, our business was born out of us wanting to go somewhere and not finding anywhere.

and creating the business to fill that gap. about you Louise? So I'm a business consultant and similar to Colette, you know, we wanted to go and dance and there was no way to go and dance. So any business need comes out of a need for something and that's what we've done. We've filled the need. Now you obviously both live in Reading. Could you say a little bit about why you like Reading?

I think Reading is fabulous. You know, it's got a great kind of creative vibe. There's some fantastic shopping. There's some great bars. There's a few nightclubs that are pretty good as well. And also you can just jump on a train, can't you, and get straight into London. Really brilliant connectivity. You can get anywhere. You're near all the major motorways. You've got countryside on your doorstep, if that's what you want. And, you know, that's why it's a covetable place to live, I think. That's why there's so many new businesses coming to Reading and so many apartments being developed, because it's a very

Maria Lloyd (02:25.134)
What's the word? Desirable. Desirable place to live. can tell you both think the way you said them at the same time. We've gone into a little bit about why you set up Boogie Days. How does that work? Because obviously you both, as you said, you do lots of things, you run your own businesses. So how does it work having Boogie Days alongside? Where does Boogie Days fit in? We're both quite flexible with our work in quite a lot of the time, so we can fit it in.

But it tends to be that we would get together maybe on a Friday where we tend to be not doing our other work, but certainly in the evenings because a lot of nightclub owners are working late into the evening. So we can contact people, can liaise, we can organise things in the evening. It's probably more a question of how does our other, how do the other aspects of our life fit in with Boogie Days at the moment? Because we're so passionate about it and because we enjoy it, we talk disco all the time. We talk disco, we boogie to disco, we listen to disco.

So it's really a case of us doing this, getting it off the ground, and then I think it will kind of moderate itself and fit in better with other things that we do. First, any business is really full on until you get it going. That's something else I wanted to ask you actually with how you actually set up Boogie Days. What did you need to do in order to set it up and how did you go about doing that? We're very keen not to set it up as an incorporated business. We've both got incorporated businesses.

We didn't want to do that. We wanted to keep it smaller, less formal. So we had some advice from a couple of accountants, one of them being an accountant that I use for one of my other businesses. And she's great. She's taken us on her books and she suggested doing it as an unlimited partnership. So that's what we do. Everything is 50-50. We're not incorporating it at the moment. There may be a stage where we need to do that later on. We're keeping everything under the VAT threshold. If we can, we've got

27 discos booked for next year. We would like to keep it under the VAT threshold at the moment because we want to keep it simple. That was the whole purpose of it, wasn't it? Keep it simple. It was very much a practical thing about setting up a business that was going to be enjoyable, we were passionate about, or we didn't have too many kind of bits of red tape to go through. So I think we tried to make it as practical and as easy as possible really.

Maria Lloyd (04:42.476)
That leads nicely into what I wanted to ask about, which were the challenges of setting it up. I think you've gone nicely into a bit about how you wanted it to look as a business. Since you set it up, the things that you, obviously you both have businesses that expected and then things that you didn't expect as well. The big challenge for me, probably slightly more than for you, has been around the social media stuff and understanding where to put our posts, how to put our posts into different groups, just understanding meta.

has been a little bit of a challenge as has understanding how to use Eventbrite because Eventbrite is not the most intuitive of platforms. So we've had to do a kind of a how-to guide for ourselves when we find out how to do something. So we remember how to do it on Eventbrite. So that's been a challenge. I think finding venues, initially to start with, we were walking around and literally going into different bars and checking them out. So that was a challenge to actually find the venues that we wanted to find.

But also where we first started, very intentionally sat down and decided it was going to be run as a business. wasn't going to be a hobby. It was going to be run as a business with branding, with values. we wanted to, even though there's only two of us in the business, we wanted to make sure it was very aligned with what our values are and what we want it to look like and feel like and be like for our Boogie Days customers. we knew who our Boogie Days customers were as well, didn't we? For us.

We've invented a business where it's somewhere we want to go. Yeah. And basically, even if no one else came, it would just be us dancing in a very happy to ourselves. Yeah. With a DJ. But one of the things we did when we decided to start the business was we took a leaf out of Stephen Bartlett's book and we asked ourselves the question, how could this fail? And we brainstormed and we wrote down about, I don't know, 10 reasons why it could fail. And then we mitigated each one.

just to make sure that we weren't being too kind of rose-colored specs and too positive about it. We wanted to be real. So we made a very practical list and I think that really stood us in good stead actually. I think it just gave us a real kind of practical approach. Realistic. So, you know, this is, it is a business. We're passionate about it, but we're also very clear about what possibilities were there that could mean it didn't work. That's fascinating.

Maria Lloyd (07:06.766)
Out of interest, why did you decide to say we want to use this as a business rather than a side hobby? Because we want longevity. We want it to be sustainable. We want it to be as future-proof as we can. And we want it to grow in a very consistent and aligned way. So we knew the most important thing was what we create as the foundations of the business so that we can layer on top of that. If it doesn't have strong foundations now, it's just going to be

a random decision here, a random decision there, an ad hoc action. You know, it's not going to come together in jail. So we wanted very strong foundations that we can then build on. think that's a very good idea. like said, especially when life gets in the way and if it's not set up as an actual business, then you're absolutely right. It's just going to fade away. What do you think has actually worked well for you since you started Seto? What's worked really well is that we've really tapped into what people want, you know, that the

amount of feedback we've had with people saying, my God, that's a fantastic idea is overwhelming. And I think we've tapped into the market really well. We've identified it really well. We know what it is because it's us. So we feel passionate about it. We know our market group. We're able to tap into various different Facebook groups to reach those people. And I think, again, this is not something that other people are doing. There are other day raves. We're not a day rave. We are reviving disco.

And I think what we've done well is we've stuck very clearly to our focus about disco. Because at first we went, we could have a rave or we could do an R &B or we could do an under 30s, we could do a family disco. And then we very quickly went, no, that's not us actually. We just need to stick to one thing that we know that we can do and we can do well. So what we are very good at, I think, is keeping a focus and sticking to our niche. Well done. I think that's a very good idea.

It strikes me that you're both so intentional with what you've been doing. I think you have to be in order to get something up and running to keep it going consistently. So well done on that. One of things you have to do when you build Boogie Days is build connections with nightclubs and things like that in order to have the venues. How do you go about setting up those connections and then maintaining them? We already had a DJ connection because of my wedding celebrant business and because I got married a year ago and the DJ was amazing.

Maria Lloyd (09:31.72)
So he was our go-to DJ, certainly for our first couple of discos in Reading. And from there, I think we got connected to the DJs from the venues, didn't we? We did, yeah. So the venues all have trusted DJs. When we have connected up with nightclubs and we've talked to them, we've asked for their recommendations. And the DJs, we've said, you know, need to be over 40, because that's our demographic and have a real passion for disco.

So we've been able to find those DJs through those venues. And what about the venues themselves? Because as we said before, before we started recording, some people may find it really challenging to actually reach out to businesses and then to be rejected, but that's just a natural part of it, isn't it? Some venues haven't responded or they've responded and one particular one had been quite obstructive. So that's a red flag for us. We want to do business with people that want to do business with us.

And we want to do business with people who share our values, our philosophy. Needs to be an easy relationship. easy. So we've walked away from a couple where it wasn't easy. So what we did is we just reached out by phone, by email, we'd been meeting. Went in and had meetings with them. And we've ended up with a great collection of like-minded people. And the vibe needs to be right as well. So we've gone into some clubs and we've gone, no, this is not the right.

venue for us. Lovely guy, not the right venue. Exactly. Yeah, you know, one particular one. But the vibe needs to feel good. If you're over 40, you want to go somewhere that's pretty comfortable and looks nice and is not kind of dingy with no seating. It needs to look like the Saturday night fever dance floor and the Saturday night fever disco balls. And that's the vibe that we're going for, actually. If it looks like that, then, we have got one like that actually in Windsor.

What strikes me when you speak about that there is that you've really got to reach out, step out of your comfort zone, reach out to people. And it strikes me the branding as well at the start, you mentioned branding was quite important and you clearly have that in mind. Your visitors who come, your guests, they have to have that right vibe as well. That kind of the brand values, the brand reputation, they've all got to align. So the user experience, if you want to talk about it like that, is seamless. You you go in, it's got that feeling of seventies, it feels good.

Maria Lloyd (11:56.866)
You feel comfortable. instantly all of our venues are near good transport links because we know that people want to be able to get home easily and not have to faff around trying to get back. We moved one that we were going to book because it was 15 minutes walk to the station and we felt that was too much. Where do you see boogie days going forward? What are your plans for it for Groany? Global expansion? I was just about to say.

You know, we're being sort of optimistic and going for global domination. Well, we're going to see how it goes. We've got 27 discos booked for next year. So that will give us a good indication of what the market's doing in each area, because what we don't know is the demographic. We don't know the appetite in every area that we've gone out to. We're going in cold in most cases. So it's really testing the market. And from there, we'll be able to make some tweaks and changes and see how we need to be flexible moving forward. We're very agile with the model.

know, if one area isn't working, we can move to somewhere else. Reading, we clearly, we know, we know a lot of people in Reading, we've got connections in Reading, so that has not been too difficult to get off the ground. But other places, we haven't had connections, so we are starting cold. So we said that, Basingstoke had gone really well, we knew nobody in Basingstoke. Social media has just spiralled it. So it's been fantastic. We were in the Basingstoke Gazette, which helped, certainly helped the SEO as well.

So we're just going to just try out different areas. At the moment we've got six areas and we'll see how those go for next year. You mentioned there about getting the Basing Stoke, that how do you promote these events? Social media, as you said, is good and clearly you're doing more. How do you promote them or plan to promote them going forward? We went into Basing Stoke with flyers and I was talking to the DJ last week for Windsor and he was saying that would be a great idea to do in Windsor because the High Street is just fronting with people on a Saturday.

So think that's, I mean, it's quite labor intensive. And there's a lot of tourists and the films are so. Yeah. I mean, so who knows? But that, you know, that has been one way that we've done that. Along with obviously the social media and getting on the radio and in the paper. Yeah. So we wrote a press release basically and sent it to, in fact, we sent it to BBC Radio Berkshire, but conversely, they actually found us at the same time through Instagram. So Instagram is important. Facebook is important. Writing a press release.

Maria Lloyd (14:24.078)
can't emphasize how much use AI is to a small business. Go on chat GPT, use AI but tweak it so that you can brand it to your own identity. But it's been fantastic actually for us. It helped us to write the press releases. It's just helped us to boost our posts. Definitely a boon. When you actually organize an event, clearly you've got to pick the location and it sounds like that obviously a lot goes into the motion. So how do you do an event from

start to finish? What is your process and how long does it take? So I'd like to put into context how much time you put into each event. three months lead time with Riverbound. So we started in August advertising the November one, which is first one is next week. We've just gone live on Eventbrite with Windsor and Reading, Reading again, yeah, for February. So we're going on a three month lead time and during that time we'll post three times a week. We've already got the venues and the DJs booked obviously.

and we'll then start ramping up the press interest. And the DJs themselves will have a social media presence, so they'll put it on their feeds. The nightclubs do as well. So it's a kind of a three-pronged approach. The importance of tapping into other people with their own lists and to get them to help you, I think is so important. There's no one who can do it by themselves. You need other people who have done part of work themselves already. It's collection of people and it is labor intensive, but

As Colette said, once we've established in certain areas, then it should be much easier because the vibe is out there. Yeah. And I would suggest to anybody starting out in business, your network is going to be a lot bigger than you think it is. So sit down and make a list of all of the jobs that you need to do as part of your business and then think, who do I know who is good at that? Or who do I know who might know somebody who was good at that? Louise and I have got massive networks and we're really good at tapping into and finding people.

that can do stuff. So, you know, we've got big LinkedIn presences. So we've tapped into that for various different things. A neighbor and friend of mine, her son's girlfriend is a social media manager. We paid her for an hour. She came to my house and helped us with some stuff. So I'd say use people. Outsource anything that takes up your time when it's not being used productively. We could do our own accounts, but we're useless at it. We don't want to do it. We've got an accountant.

Maria Lloyd (16:51.458)
Don't spend your time doing something that is not your talent. also, mean, LinkedIn, we wanted some specific advice. So we put out a post on LinkedIn and it was somebody that we knew, but somebody that they knew. So, you know, the power of LinkedIn is always there is very, very useful. Thank you for giving that advice for other independent businesses. Because you've grown your own businesses as well. think the experiences that you've had from those has really helped you to get Boogie Days.

up and running so quickly. think, you one of the things that we bring to setting up Boogie Days is organisational skills, is good communication skills, is knowing how to use our network, is knowing how to brand, is understanding about values and vision, marketing. So I think we've already come to Boogie Days with great experience from our own businesses. just goes to show you develop the skills, you can take them and just apply them anywhere. Absolutely. And I think

That's another thing that people need to realize actually, because you might have spent five, six years at home raising your family and think, gosh, how do I now get this business off the ground? I've got this idea. Well, you're already a brilliant organizer. You're already assertive because you have to get your child an appointment with the GP and talk to the teachers. You can already communicate. You already juggle. You've got many plates spinning at the same time. So think about the actual raw skills that you're bringing into the workplace.

maybe redundant skills at the moment. you're managing a household income probably as well. I'm still surprised how many people I deal with in day-to-day and they just don't have great communication skills. I'm not surprised at all because if you look at how much time we spend not communicating with humans but we're actually on a screen, it's not really that surprising that people are losing the talent for it, the art for it.

about getting in front of the right audiences. Clearly you've been able to do it. I know that is through your networks already. Like I said, you are your audience. So it's partly that and partly through social. Are there any ways in which you've been able to sort of niche down and target the audiences or is it really just through those extra mailing lists that we mentioned before? I think once you've decided who your target audience is, once you've profiled your ideal client, the next question to ask yourself is where do I find them? Where are these people? Well,

Maria Lloyd (19:05.848)
They're not in nightclubs, so we don't put posters up in the nightclubs because there's no point because they're all 20. Unless they go home and go, mum, nan, I've seen this disco you might want to go to. So you need to find out where your ideal clients are so that you can fish in the pond where they are. That's why we're in Basingstoke Town Centre because they were all shopping in Marks and Spencers. They were all walking along, some with kids. So we found them there. We find them in town centres, they're in bars, they're at networking events.

They're all over. So, know, lot of networking events, business networking events are going to be people who are over 40, who are interested in socializing by going to a disco. But also I think incidental networking is actually really important. I don't think people do it enough. Wherever you go, you need to have a business card with you, either an electronic one on your phone, or you need to have some in your bag, because there will be somebody that you sit next to on a bus or a train or a plane and they'll go, what do you do? And you could go, I do this. Let me talk to you about a disco.

Louise picked up a couple of clients on a flight. was flying to Edinburgh and I ended up talking to these two women. They were from Basingstoke and they were singing in rock choir. So I ended up talking to them and yeah, they're coming along to the disco. So incidental networking. What I mean by that is talk to everybody and tell them what you do because the person standing next to you in the queue might just be your next customer or they might be able to help you prepare your business to the next level.

If you keep it to yourself, nobody is going to come knocking on the door of your home while you're in your slippers on the sofa going, have you got an opportunity that I might be interested in? You you've got to get out there and be proactive. love, I'm going to have to borrow that incidental networking. Now, do you have any highlights or take away to leave our listeners with? I would just like to say that disco is clearly the answer to everything. And if you have a question, if you have a problem, if there's something that you're uncertain about.

Disco is the answer. And sparkles. So combine those two and life is pretty good. I love it. Obviously, I'll point people towards your socials if you're interested. But what are your socials for anyone who's listening doesn't go to the landing page so people can follow what you're doing and your Eventbrite page. The website boogydays.com. Facebook is Boogie Days Daytime Disco. Instagram is Boogie Days Disco. And then you've got your own

Maria Lloyd (21:27.296)
Eventbrite page as well, don't you? Which you can find through Facebook and also it's on the home page of our website. Louise, thank you so much. I thoroughly enjoyed our discussion. Despite technical difficulties, I think this has been fabulous. Thank you. Thank you.