 Hi there, my name is Co-im. I'm the Community Editor at AdWeek. Welcome to another edition of AdWeek Together. Today, we're going to talk about the future of entrepreneurship. But before we begin, I want to remind you about signing up for a corporate subscription. You can go to adweek.com slash offer to learn about how to unlock unlimited access to our essential content and resources. It is August 10th, and we have Kim Kaup, founder of the superfan company joining us today. Hi, Kim. I'm good. How are you? I know that you started off 2020 on a very positive big note. Yeah, I saw, as it was happening live on the tour, which was like the hottest ticket almost. And I was like, oh, wow. She's making products for the fans, for the fan experience, and going to all these cities. And that was right about when the coronavirus concern started to trickle in and then really impact us. What was going on behind the scenes there? And thank goodness that it kind of wrapped up in time. I call it the Oprah magic, right? Everyone talks about the Oprah magic, but it really was so prevalent as we narrowly got in the last date. It was a nine-city tour. It kicked off in early January in Florida, and it ended in Denver, Colorado. And the last date of the tour was March 7th, which all of New York basically shut down, I think, on March 12th or something like that. So I mean, narrowly made it by the skin of our teeth. It's like the Oprah fairy dust magic that we made it happen. Yeah, Oprah fairy dust magic. I want to make sure because I'm tuning in to our LinkedIn audience so we can hear Kim just giving a note to our live producer. But also, so you wrap up this tour in time, and then what, right? As an entrepreneur, we're used to pivoting and to trying to go with things on the fly. How did you have to immediately adjust to things being canceled, especially as summer rolled along? I think what was both comforting and scary all at once was it wasn't just me. I think as an entrepreneur you sometimes think that you're very unique and you're a snowflake and the truth of the matter is you're not. And the good news is the entire entertainment industry was pivoting. The entire entertainment industry was figuring out, what do we do with these festivals? What do we do with these big concerts? What do we do with Broadway? All of these facets of entertainment that we're trying to figure out what's gonna happen and where are we gonna go? And I think what's really strong that came out of this is that the entertainment industry and specifically where I work and music band together and we're saying, how are we gonna solve this? And so what we've done, my team and I is a lot of pivot towards digital and a lot of pivot towards at home. So how do we relook at the concert experience or the entertainment experience from home and what does that look like and how do we feel together while apart? Which sounds so hokey and hallmarky but it is actually true. Yeah, I mean, we had Steve Aoki on last week and he talked about how he still was able to have fan engagement even though he was doing these virtual sets. So is fan engagement more important than ever? And how do you look at that in the lens of entrepreneurship and with brand partnerships? I think what's really interesting about this is we always knew that fan engagement was tactile. People love holding things, buying things. This is from my favorite artists, representing their favorite artists whether that's in clothing or their vinyl record collection. And I think what we've seen through COVID-19 is that's true now more than ever. Now more than ever getting that special delivery at home that box on your front doorstep, that's like a highlight. I mean, I know I've gotten so many Amazon packages in the last six months, you don't even wanna know but getting something to your door and saying like, yes, this is here, great. That is an experience that is only gonna continue in entertainment and especially in music. Yeah, I definitely cherish going to my mailbox every day. I love it. It's like contact with the outside world. You're like, amazing. Yeah, I mean, I still spray the box but that being said, like what's the delivery? What's something that you've gotten that's helped you as you've transitioned into work from home life? I think as we've transitioned from to the work from home lifestyle what's really helped me personally is feeling connected. So whether that is cards that I have here that have been sent to me from friends and family and coworkers that I can keep, just feeling that connection. So you're not feeling like, wow, I'm at home alone and I haven't seen anybody in five days at this point. And just how do you feel that connection even though you might not be seeing people in person as much as you were a couple of months ago? Yeah, and as an entrepreneur you also have a strong personal brand in addition to an entrepreneur LinkedIn course. We've been kind of pivoting with your personal brand too. How important is it for entrepreneurs not only to stay connected but to hold space and what have you been doing to do that and keep yourself out there? I sound like a broken record but it really is I think about community and about coming together, two things that I've been doing lately. One, I created an entire course for free. It's on LinkedIn, it's part of the Microsoft LinkedIn package. I think they released like a hundred courses or a thousand courses, something crazy for free to help people who are struggling to go through COVID-19. It is a course specifically for small business owners and how to navigate this crisis that we find ourselves in. So that was something that was so important because what I realized in a lot of the small groups and founder community that I was a part of, we were all trying to help each other on the phone and that's great, but that's not scalable. And the people that are connected, you're excluding people who maybe aren't in that network or aren't locked into that specific group. So how do you scale that? So that's one way. And the second way I've tried to scale that is bringing my Coffee with Kim talks live. So every Wednesday at 1 p.m. Eastern, I go live with a CEO, an investor, an industry exact and say, let's have a conversation around productivity, career, business. How the heck are we supposed to manage right now? And I think keeping those conversations flowing and live and in person and getting questions back and forth, that is so, so important right now. And so those are two things that I've really just dove headfirst into during this. Yeah, which is one of the reasons why we hold Advocate Together too. So we definitely get to look forward to something every week as creators, but also get so much back from the community as you're saying. What is your everyday like as an entrepreneur? How has it changed? What's the advice that you give to others as you kind of try to stay connected but also look for new ideas and ways to be creative? I think what's really helped me during this time is routine. I'm such a stickler, I'm getting up, I'm moving my body every morning, whether that's a walk, whether that's a run, whether that's a workout, just getting in the zone of here we go, we're gonna conquer the day. And then I think really for me, when I was in the pre COVID times in New York City, you might run into somebody on the street or all of a sudden run into somebody at a restaurant or go to a meetup or go to a networking event, you had room for these serendipities, these sort of life magic moments that might happen where you connect with someone or meet someone. And what I've found especially true right now at home is that we have to create these moments for ourselves. So it's joining Advocate Together on Mondays. It's joining Coffee with Kim on Wednesdays. It's making that time for an hour long networking session virtually via Zoom. You have to now create time blocks for those moments to occur. So before where it was a little more serendipity, you're not getting that extra obviously at home in the same room all day. So you have to actively work to say, how am I gonna create this learning these serendipities in my schedule? And so that is something that I've really taken time for. And I encourage everyone to take time for it because if you don't make time for it, it won't happen. So it's really something that's essential right now. Yeah, yeah, whether you're an introvert or an extrovert or an ambervert, creating that space for connection is super important. And also personally look out hours for just creativity and free thinking. So I think that's really important too and having that routine. One thing that you've done or working through right now is from what you did before with creating packages for live events is now doing them for the virtual events. So what are those conversations like that you're having with different brands and partners? What we're really looking at is saying, okay, the magic of a live event is you're on site, you're excited, what are things that we're creating that you're gonna use at that moment? And so the ethos is really the same. Only now it's transferred to home. So it's okay, great. We know you love this product, we know you love this brand, we know you love this artist, we know you love this festival, whatever it is. How do we then say, how do we create that excitement and do those things from home? How do we create stuff that's useful? How do we create stuff that's gonna make you smile, that's gonna give you a wink and is going to brighten up your day. And I think something right now that all brands and talent and people are thinking about is really, how do you now more than ever bring that brightness, that smile, that happiness to people's lives? Because I think while we always need entertainment and there's always places to turn, I think right now more than ever, it's about how do we bring that into the home? Because we know that people aren't necessarily leaving the home as much as they used to. So how are we bringing that happiness and packaging it up and bringing it to your doorstep? Yeah, and as you look forward to 2021, are some events being delayed, postponed? Will we see a little bit of that thinking from before come back, what are your thoughts on the future? I think what's exciting about the future is a lot of people that I've talked to in the industry, again, are constantly innovating. So I think what we're gonna see moving into 2021 is a mix and a hybrid of things we've never seen before. So I think it might be things that are partially at home, partially live for smaller groups, for smaller venues. I think we're gonna see this mix of live stream plus there are people in person. I think we're gonna see a hybrid that before there was no need to see because everyone would just go to the show. But now, I think it's really forced the industry to say, how do we innovate even further than we had a couple of years ago? Yeah, and on that note, what about entrepreneurship? I remember reading about how more women are starting businesses. What are you kind of hearing in those communities about what it might look like in the future? Personally, I think entrepreneurship is going to explode as we move into 2021. I think what this sort of great pause and this grand awakening of COVID-19 has done for a lot of people is really have them look internally and say, am I happy? Do I like where I live? Do I like what I'm doing? Am I happy doing this all day every day? Am I happy working alongside these people? And I think there've been a lot of aha moments where people might say, I'm actually not happy. I actually don't wanna live here. I actually do wanna be closer to my family. And what we're going to see is people going, I always had that one idea or I always thought I could sell that thing on Etsy or what about those green market things that I've always been talking about doing but that I never had time for? There's a lot of people who found themselves a whole lot of time for all the projects that they never had time for before. So I think we're going to see entrepreneurship explode. I have a course on LinkedIn called Entrepreneurship 101 like Entrepreneurship Foundations and I've seen the viewership spike. It's been crazy because I think people are at least getting curious. I was always kind of curious about entrepreneurship and let me just watch this for 45 minutes, give it a little dabble. So I think we're gonna see a lot of people dabbling in entrepreneurship. Now, maybe that's full blown businesses but maybe that's just side hustles. Maybe that is stores on Etsy or freelancing on Fiverr or Upwork. I think entrepreneurship is going to see a huge explosion in the next year. Yeah, definitely. What are you excited for next year? I'm excited for so much. I think what I'm most excited about is I'm really ready to see a movement and a surge of female entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs that who were on the cusp. I'm always like, you know, whether it's the devil or the angel up for you to decide but I'm the one whispering like, try it, do it. Give it a go. Cause I do, I think I'm so excited to see people getting into their passions and following their passions and maybe leaving jobs that people think, wow, that makes no sense. They were this high powered exact but you weren't happy. So I'm really excited to see the shifts and the changes that are going to come in the career space in the next year. Yeah, it reminds me, you know, a little bit of the recession time when a lot of people started interesting businesses and really dove into their passions. And, you know, if we have the, if we can find the energy and the motivation to do that from within, then I think we will see a lot of interesting new ideas and new types of entrepreneurs come in. Kim Kalp of the Superfan Company, thank you so much for your insights and for spending some time with us this Monday. Thank you for having me. Happy Monday. Okay. And make sure to tune in next week for another edition of Ad Week Together and of course sign up for a subscription at adweek.com slash offer to unlock essential content and resources. My name is Kel Im. Have a great week.