Jenkins and his firm are a four-time Gala Award nominee and have received prestigious Gala Awards from Special Events Magazine for Best Event Produced for a Corporation – Budget $100,000 to $249,000 and Best Event Design – Budget $20,000. Jenkins and his firm also have received four Esprit Awards and several WESTIE Awards by the International Special Events Society, a Silver Tier Award for Innovation by Corporate EVENT Magazine, as well as PRISM Awards by the Public Relations Society of America, Los Angeles Chapter.
In 2020 and 2021, Jenkins was named one of the top 500 event professionals in the United States by BizBash Magazine, North America’s #1 source of ideas, news, and resources for event and meeting professionals.
Jenkins and his firm’s clients have included Enterprise, Boeing, Google, Mercedes-Benz North America, Westin Hotels, United States Army, and Vons, to name a few.
- CEO Story: Greg graduated with an Advertising major and proceeded right away to grad school. Started as a volunteer, then worked for 4 years in PR Marketing which exposed him to a lot of fieldwork relating to his skillset. Done with working for somebody, he builds his business working on events that gave him a solid foundation in terms of credentials for the awesome things that he does in the industry.
- Business Service: Events. Making sure everything is in place, from suppliers to logistics, etc.
- Secret Sauce: Portraying the vision and the story for the event. Keep the sequel of the event more exciting for the people, in terms of presentation, food, program, etc
- CEO Hack: Health app – steps are taken, heart rate, and hydrated enough.
- CEO Nugget: Giving the best advice to your clients having vast experience in the industry.
- CEO Defined: Big responsibility. The visionary, overseers, have a code of conduct. Setting the tone on how everything is going to work. Treat people like you want to be treated.
Website: bravoevents-online.com
Twitter: brvprodevents
Facebook: BRAVO-PRODUCTIONS
LinkedIn: bravo-productions-usa
Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE
Transcription
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00:26 – Intro
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.
00:53 – Gresham Harkless
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Greg Jenkins of Bravo Production. Greg, it's great to have you on the show.
01:03 – Greg Jenkins
Well, thank you. Glad to be with you.
01:05 – Gresham Harkless
Yes, excited to have you on. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Greg so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's working on. Greg is a partner and co-founder of the award-winning Bravo Productions, holds an impressive list of credentials, and has earned a high reputation in the field of event planning and production.
A career expounding more than three decades, Greg and his firm are four-time Gala award nominees and have received prestigious gala awards by Special Events Magazine for Best Event Produced for Corporation Budget 100,000 to 240,000 and Best Event Design Budget 20,000. Greg and his firm have received four ESPIRIT awards and several Westy Awards by the International Special Event Society, a silver tier award for Innovation by Corporate Event Magazine as well as Prism Awards by the Public Relations Society of America America Los Angeles chapter.
In 2020 and 2021, Greg was named one of the top 500 event professionals in the United States by Biz Bash Magazine, North America's number one source of ideas, news, and resources for event and meeting professionals. Greg and his firm's clients have included Enterprise, Boeing, Google, Mercedes Benz, North America, Westin Hotel, United States Army, and Vons, just to name a few. Greg, excited to have you on the show. Talk about all your accomplishments. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
[restrict paid=”true”]
02:28 – Greg Jenkins
Well, I need you as our PR person now.
02:32 – Gresham Harkless
Yes, absolutely. Well, it's so much easier.
02:34 – Greg Jenkins
Thank you for the introduction. Well, I just like, I can go home now or something.
02:39 – Gresham Harkless
There you go.
02:40 – Greg Jenkins
It's pretty cool. Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
02:42 – Gresham Harkless
No, the pleasure is all mine. And we could drop the mic from there, it seems like, but.
02:47 – Greg Jenkins
Drop the mic.
02:48 – Gresham Harkless
Exactly. But it's so much easier to read all the awesome things you're doing than I imagined to do them. So I appreciate you taking time out. And I guess before we jumped into, you know, what you do and how you do it, I want to rewind the clock, hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.
03:02 – Greg Jenkins
Sure. I'm just going to give the very quick version. But I graduated from Michigan State a long time ago. I was an advertising major. And then I didn't want to work in an ad agency, so I went immediately back to grad school. So I came out of grad school at Michigan State. I must have been about 23. And you realize you're 23 and you don't know much about how the world is really how it really works.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I ended up doing a lot of volunteer work. And one of the opportunities was to work on the Super Bowl. And I was strictly Gopher. And, you know, you do. You grab the coffee, make copies, and yada, yada, yada. But also you're doing some real things such as inventory on merchandise, et cetera, et cetera. It was just such an exciting opportunity.
The executive director of the host committee said that guy is just. He's just really pretty. He's pretty impressive. And she recommended me for a job at the Convention and Visitors Bureau in Detroit, where I worked in marketing PR for four years. And then I relocated to Southern California and worked at a PR firm. It was all travel-related, short version. I ended up taking a job as PR director for this company, the manufacturer flows for the Tournament of Roses.
You know, the one with all the floats under your state, et cetera, et cetera. So I did that, and the art director and I, we were killing ourselves. But also we were getting requests to do special events. We're doing requests to do props for motion pictures or props for television commercials, et cetera, et cetera. We said, enough for working for someone else. We'll start our own company. And it just kind of took off from that and where we're doing solely events for corporations, associations, municipalities, and, you know, things of that nature.
04:52 – Gresham Harkless
Nice. I appreciate you sharing, you know, your journey. And it kind of sounds like you had maybe not exact same experience. But it kind of sounds like very similar experiences. And you were kind of building over the year and over time and experience, I imagine, on your expertise to be able to kind of deliver and support clients.
05:10 – Greg Jenkins
It's pretty. It's true. You don't really. I had a passion for being in the events industry because even at the Convention Visitors Bureau, I was working on Grand Prix and assigned to, like, Thanksgiving Day parades. And things of the nature, fireworks displays, et cetera, et cetera. So I always had that interest. But you never know where it's going to actually land you.
And so for me, it's just always doing the footwork. You put the work into it, and you just hope that it's. And you're happy with what you're doing and just hope that it leads to something where at least you can pay your bills. And so that was one of the things for me just enjoying the work, enjoying the process. And you learn a lot about the industry. You learn from your mistakes and your failures, et cetera, et cetera. And it's just. It's been quite a. Quite a process, but an enjoyable one.
06:02 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, I imagine, especially if, you know, you love and have that opportunity to always kind of sharpen your soul. And so I guess I wanted to drill down a little bit more, hear a little bit more about some of those things. How do you work with and serve your clients and how do you set and make that impact?
06:17 – Greg Jenkins
Yeah, actually, one of the things that we do is like, with each and every client, first of all, there's one of those things that you have to. You. You need to trust the client. The tr. The client needs to trust you. It has to be a client that you. You feel comfortable with it. It has to. It's one of those things that at least we're at this point where it just has to be a good fit. You're in it for the long haul. So you could be working on an event that could take place nine months later or six to nine months.
So think of it as a relationship. And if you're in a bad relationship for six to nine months, this could be the worst six to nine months of your entire life or something like that. But the other thing is just really sitting down with the clients and understanding their goals and objectives. And I know a lot of people attend events and it could be the company holiday party. I don't care what it is.
And you just feel like, I just had a great time and everything just worked. But a lot of it has to do with the logistics because One of my things is you can have the best-looking decor, you can have the best band. Beyonce could be the performer. But if the logistics aren't working or something like that is just really. It's just pretty troublesome and it can be quite a nightmare.
So one of the things I will say also, before I forget this is one of the things I can't stress enough is always due diligence. So going into the event, you're just doing your homework, you're doing your research, you're understanding that whatever suppliers you're working with, they're reliable, dependable, you can count on them. They were just ready to go and just hit the pavement, just running. And so there's a lot of different types of things that come into play there. So. But first of all, it's to understand the client's goals objectives and vision.
07:58 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, that's so true.
08:00] – Greg Jenkins
Exactly. And it's pretty much storytelling, because I know how it works I always say Disney does it best. They tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end, and events do the same, pretty much.
08:11 – Gresham Harkless
Nice. I love that. And this might even touch on your secret sauce. But I feel like I hadn't really thought about it. So I love that you explained it that way, that storytelling. And even, for lack of a better term, the kind of the strategy around the event, sometimes you just think events are just like you talked about, the bar or the lights and glamour and all those things.
But to really think strategically about the kind of, for lack of a better term, the purpose and the vision and the story that you want to be part of your greater stories is something. Do you feel like that ability to see it that way is something that you feel like makes you different and unique?
08:45 – Greg Jenkins
Yes, I think so. I won't say we're solely. I'm not saying we're the sole person on the face of the planet that thinks that way, but I will say it's a very important component. Because, for example, Gresha, if you were to attend a function, you would want to come in feeling a certain way. There may be anticipation and obviously that anticipation of how it's promoted, et cetera, et cetera, you would just want that experience to hit the thing and say, oh, God, this is like meeting my expectations.
And then as you move through the event one of the things I always say, like, you just want to always leave people wanting more. It's like going to a great movie and it goes off and saying, oh, my God, I just can't wait for the sequel to come out as opposed to sitting there and it's like God, I can't wait for this to be over or something like this. And so then you come out of the experience and think like, wow, that was just incredible because the lights come up. It's like, thank you all for coming, blah, blah, blah, be safe driving home or be safe going home.
And it's just that overall experience and what you witnessed throughout the evening. Sometimes it's just one component, could even be how food is served, or it just rotates that you're getting different appetizers during different times of the entire evening. Or it may be something in terms of how the lights are operating, or it may be the presentations or something like this where that surprise element, that is one of the things that whenever we see a crescendo for the fireworks display or something like this, it's that big blank blast of fireworks that just says wow.
And then it shuts down and it's just nothing but smoke in the air. And so you thought like, well, this is pretty incredible. And it starts off at that little smaller thing and it just builds up again, that big crescendo. And then it's over. And so I think that's one of the things about, you know, events that they tend to work like that.
10:34 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to switch gears a little bit, maybe go a little bit more behind the curtains for you. And I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?
11:49 – Greg Jenkins
For me, it's in terms of how many steps I'm taking and then also just measuring my physical health during the event and just like heart rate and things like this. It's just that kind of thing. Am I fluid? Do I have enough liquid or something like this on me or something like that? Or am I, I'm sorry, just hydrated or something? Because one of the things, and the reason I say that we have a lot of software programs and things like this to do, but to help with budgets and timelines and things of that nature.
But one of the things on a personal level for me is just maintaining your health during the event because you can tend to just run around and before you know it, yes, you're going to have maybe sore feet, even though you have flat shoes or whatever, comfortable shoes. But are you drinking enough water? Are you just taking care of yourself? Maybe you need something like this? Just snack on a granola bar for blood sugar and things of that nature. And that's one of the things I'm saying from a personal level for me, that's become very important.
12:48 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah. And I appreciate you sharing that. And so I want to ask you now for what I call CEO Nugget. So this is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. I like to say it might be something you would tell your favorite client or if you happen to be a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.
13:04 – Greg Jenkins
Something that I always say is that think of myself as a doctor or a lawyer. People look at it as like, you know, like, oh, you're a party planner or something like this. And it seems like, oh, that's just such a frivolous job or something like that. It's just such a frivolous job or something, which is, we're not solving the world's crisis, we're not solving hunger, we're not solving making peace in the world.
But one of the things I always say is just treat me. Think of me as a doctor or your lawyer. I'm going to give you my best advice from my years of experience. It's up to you to choose what to do with that advice. It's the same thing. The point is that we're a profession. It's a profession that is giving advice and trying to do the best on behalf of their clients.
13:53 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah.
13:53 – Greg Jenkins
And that can extend even though we don't do the social market. But that could be for those who do the social market, whether it's weddings, baby showers, and things of that nature, hopefully, that person is giving you their expertise and their advice and hopefully, you will look at it and say, hey, it has merit.
14:13 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. And ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So, Greg, what does being a CEO mean to you?
14:23 – Greg Jenkins
It means a big responsibility. It means that you're the visionary. It means that you're the. I know that it's a corny phrase, but the buck stops here. But you are the visionary. The buck stops here. You're the overseer. You set the tone for how you want other people to behave. We have a code of conduct. I know even though we're smart, we're not like Ford Motorcycle company, but we still have an in-house code of conduct. I think that's the biggest part. You're just setting the tone for how everything is going to work.
And it's a reflection of your company's reflection. When you mentioned, for example, some of the accolades, those accolades came, yeah, they're great and they're nice, but they also came to a great degree of responsibility and also overseeing a team and then collaborating with the team. So even though I may be the CEO, the people who work may work under me or subcontractors. I treat them just like they're just an equal partner. Because when you do that, they feel a sense of responsibility to you.
They feel as though you're not trying to micromanage. You bring up people so that you don't have to oversee every little layer of work that they're doing. They're providing you with updates and keeping you informed and you're keeping yourself informed. But you're not trying to micromanage anyone's work or something like that. And I think that's the problem of the, at least the co-process for me is just again, treating people like you want to be treated and as partners. And we are all here to work on behalf of the client.
15:55 – Gresham Harkless
Absolutely, Greg, truly appreciate that. And of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I want to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people can get ahold of you, and find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.
16:11 – Greg Jenkins
Boy, the best way to get ahold of us, we have a website. The website address is just too long. But it's Bravo Productions and we're based in Long Beach, California. If you have any questions you can just go through. We have a contact page and just message me information or message me a question. I know one of the things too is that we teach a class or serve as a guest lecturer in a marketing class. And about events, again, I would just say if you're thinking about going into the events industry, just do a lot of research. Understand there are different parts of the events industry.
16:44 – Gresham Harkless
All right, awesome. Well, to make it even easier, we'll have the links and information in the show notes as well. So there everybody can, you know, make sure they get a hold of you and the team and see the website. So thank you so much again, Greg. I appreciate your time. I appreciate the work that you do and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
17:00 – Greg Jenkins
Well, thank you. It's been a pleasure, my friend. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And good luck to all your listeners.
17:05 – Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
00:26 - Intro
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.
00:53 - Gresham Harkless
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Greg Jenkins of Bravo Production. Greg, it's great to have you on the show.
01:03 - Greg Jenkins
Well, thank you. Glad to be with you.
01:05 - Gresham Harkless
Yes, excited to have you on. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Greg so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's working on. Greg is a partner and co-founder of the award-winning Bravo Productions, holds an impressive list of credentials, and has earned a high reputation in the field of event planning and production.
A career expounding more than three decades, Greg and his firm are four-time Gala award nominees and have received prestigious gala awards by Special Events Magazine for Best Event Produced for Corporation Budget 100,000 to 240,000 and Best Event Design Budget 20,000. Greg and his firm have received four ESPIRIT awards and several Westy Awards by the International Special Event Society, a silver tier award for Innovation by Corporate Event Magazine as well as Prism Awards by the Public Relations Society of America America Los Angeles chapter.
In 2020 and 2021, Greg was named one of the top 500 event professionals in the United States by Biz Bash Magazine, North America's number one source of ideas, news, and resources for event and meeting professionals. Greg and his firm's clients have included Enterprise, Boeing, Google, Mercedes Benz, North America, Westin Hotel, United States Army, and Vons, just to name a few. Greg, excited to have you on the show. Talk about all your accomplishments. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
02:28 - Greg Jenkins
Well, I need you as our PR person now.
02:32 - Gresham Harkless
Yes, absolutely. Well, it's so much easier.
02:34 - Greg Jenkins
Thank you for the introduction. Well, I just like, I can go home now or something.
02:39 - Gresham Harkless
There you go.
02:40 - Greg Jenkins
It's pretty cool. Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
02:42 - Gresham Harkless
No, the pleasure is all mine. And we could drop the mic from there, it seems like, but.
02:47 - Greg Jenkins
Drop the mic.
02:48 - Gresham Harkless
Exactly. But it's so much easier to read all the awesome things you're doing than I imagined to do them. So I appreciate you taking time out. And I guess before we jumped into, you know, what you do and how you do it, I want to rewind the clock, hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.
03:02 - Greg Jenkins
Sure. I'm just going to give the very quick version. But I graduated from Michigan State a long time ago. I was an advertising major. And then I didn't want to work in an ad agency, so I went immediately back to grad school. So I came out of grad school at Michigan State. I must have been about 23. And you realize you're 23 and you don't know much about how the world is really how it really works.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I ended up doing a lot of volunteer work. And one of the opportunities was to work on the Super Bowl. And I was strictly Gopher. And, you know, you do. You grab the coffee, make copies, and yada, yada, yada. But also you're doing some real things such as inventory on merchandise, et cetera, et cetera. It was just such an exciting opportunity.
The executive director of the host committee said that guy is just. He's just really pretty. He's pretty impressive. And she recommended me for a job at the Convention and Visitors Bureau in Detroit, where I worked in marketing PR for four years. And then I relocated to Southern California and worked at a PR firm. It was all travel-related, short version. I ended up taking a job as PR director for this company, the manufacturer flows for the Tournament of Roses.
You know, the one with all the floats under your state, et cetera, et cetera. So I did that, and the art director and I, we were killing ourselves. But also we were getting requests to do special events. We're doing requests to do props for motion pictures or props for television commercials, et cetera, et cetera. We said, enough for working for someone else. We'll start our own company. And it just kind of took off from that and where we're doing solely events for corporations, associations, municipalities, and, you know, things of that nature.
04:52 - Gresham Harkless
Nice. I appreciate you sharing, you know, your journey. And it kind of sounds like you had maybe not exact same experience. But it kind of sounds like very similar experiences. And you were kind of building over the year and over time and experience, I imagine, on your expertise to be able to kind of deliver and support clients.
05:10 - Greg Jenkins
It's pretty. It's true. You don't really. I had a passion for being in the events industry because even at the Convention Visitors Bureau, I was working on Grand Prix and assigned to, like, Thanksgiving Day parades. And things of the nature, fireworks displays, et cetera, et cetera. So I always had that interest. But you never know where it's going to actually land you.
And so for me, it's just always doing the footwork. You put the work into it, and you just hope that it's. And you're happy with what you're doing and just hope that it leads to something where at least you can pay your bills. And so that was one of the things for me just enjoying the work, enjoying the process. And you learn a lot about the industry. You learn from your mistakes and your failures, et cetera, et cetera. And it's just. It's been quite a. Quite a process, but an enjoyable one.
06:02 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, I imagine, especially if, you know, you love and have that opportunity to always kind of sharpen your soul. And so I guess I wanted to drill down a little bit more, hear a little bit more about some of those things. How do you work with and serve your clients and how do you set and make that impact?
06:17 - Greg Jenkins
Yeah, actually, one of the things that we do is like, with each and every client, first of all, there's one of those things that you have to. You. You need to trust the client. The tr. The client needs to trust you. It has to be a client that you. You feel comfortable with it. It has to. It's one of those things that at least we're at this point where it just has to be a good fit. You're in it for the long haul. So you could be working on an event that could take place nine months later or six to nine months.
So think of it as a relationship. And if you're in a bad relationship for six to nine months, this could be the worst six to nine months of your entire life or something like that. But the other thing is just really sitting down with the clients and understanding their goals and objectives. And I know a lot of people attend events and it could be the company holiday party. I don't care what it is.
And you just feel like, I just had a great time and everything just worked. But a lot of it has to do with the logistics because One of my things is you can have the best-looking decor, you can have the best band. Beyonce could be the performer. But if the logistics aren't working or something like that is just really. It's just pretty troublesome and it can be quite a nightmare.
So one of the things I will say also, before I forget this is one of the things I can't stress enough is always due diligence. So going into the event, you're just doing your homework, you're doing your research, you're understanding that whatever suppliers you're working with, they're reliable, dependable, you can count on them. They were just ready to go and just hit the pavement, just running. And so there's a lot of different types of things that come into play there. So. But first of all, it's to understand the client's goals objectives and vision.
07:58 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, that's so true.
08:00] - Greg Jenkins
Exactly. And it's pretty much storytelling, because I know how it works I always say Disney does it best. They tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end, and events do the same, pretty much.
08:11 - Gresham Harkless
Nice. I love that. And this might even touch on your secret sauce. But I feel like I hadn't really thought about it. So I love that you explained it that way, that storytelling. And even, for lack of a better term, the kind of the strategy around the event, sometimes you just think events are just like you talked about, the bar or the lights and glamour and all those things.
But to really think strategically about the kind of, for lack of a better term, the purpose and the vision and the story that you want to be part of your greater stories is something. Do you feel like that ability to see it that way is something that you feel like makes you different and unique?
08:45 - Greg Jenkins
Yes, I think so. I won't say we're solely. I'm not saying we're the sole person on the face of the planet that thinks that way, but I will say it's a very important component. Because, for example, Gresha, if you were to attend a function, you would want to come in feeling a certain way. There may be anticipation and obviously that anticipation of how it's promoted, et cetera, et cetera, you would just want that experience to hit the thing and say, oh, God, this is like meeting my expectations.
And then as you move through the event one of the things I always say, like, you just want to always leave people wanting more. It's like going to a great movie and it goes off and saying, oh, my God, I just can't wait for the sequel to come out as opposed to sitting there and it's like God, I can't wait for this to be over or something like this. And so then you come out of the experience and think like, wow, that was just incredible because the lights come up. It's like, thank you all for coming, blah, blah, blah, be safe driving home or be safe going home.
And it's just that overall experience and what you witnessed throughout the evening. Sometimes it's just one component, could even be how food is served, or it just rotates that you're getting different appetizers during different times of the entire evening. Or it may be something in terms of how the lights are operating, or it may be the presentations or something like this where that surprise element, that is one of the things that whenever we see a crescendo for the fireworks display or something like this, it's that big blank blast of fireworks that just says wow.
And then it shuts down and it's just nothing but smoke in the air. And so you thought like, well, this is pretty incredible. And it starts off at that little smaller thing and it just builds up again, that big crescendo. And then it's over. And so I think that's one of the things about, you know, events that they tend to work like that.
10:34 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to switch gears a little bit, maybe go a little bit more behind the curtains for you. And I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?
11:49 - Greg Jenkins
For me, it's in terms of how many steps I'm taking and then also just measuring my physical health during the event and just like heart rate and things like this. It's just that kind of thing. Am I fluid? Do I have enough liquid or something like this on me or something like that? Or am I, I'm sorry, just hydrated or something? Because one of the things, and the reason I say that we have a lot of software programs and things like this to do, but to help with budgets and timelines and things of that nature.
But one of the things on a personal level for me is just maintaining your health during the event because you can tend to just run around and before you know it, yes, you're going to have maybe sore feet, even though you have flat shoes or whatever, comfortable shoes. But are you drinking enough water? Are you just taking care of yourself? Maybe you need something like this? Just snack on a granola bar for blood sugar and things of that nature. And that's one of the things I'm saying from a personal level for me, that's become very important.
12:48 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah. And I appreciate you sharing that. And so I want to ask you now for what I call CEO Nugget. So this is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. I like to say it might be something you would tell your favorite client or if you happen to be a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.
13:04 - Greg Jenkins
Something that I always say is that think of myself as a doctor or a lawyer. People look at it as like, you know, like, oh, you're a party planner or something like this. And it seems like, oh, that's just such a frivolous job or something like that. It's just such a frivolous job or something, which is, we're not solving the world's crisis, we're not solving hunger, we're not solving making peace in the world.
But one of the things I always say is just treat me. Think of me as a doctor or your lawyer. I'm going to give you my best advice from my years of experience. It's up to you to choose what to do with that advice. It's the same thing. The point is that we're a profession. It's a profession that is giving advice and trying to do the best on behalf of their clients.
13:53 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah.
13:53 - Greg Jenkins
And that can extend even though we don't do the social market. But that could be for those who do the social market, whether it's weddings, baby showers, and things of that nature, hopefully, that person is giving you their expertise and their advice and hopefully, you will look at it and say, hey, it has merit.
14:13 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. And ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So, Greg, what does being a CEO mean to you?
14:23 - Greg Jenkins
It means a big responsibility. It means that you're the visionary. It means that you're the. I know that it's a corny phrase, but the buck stops here. But you are the visionary. The buck stops here. You're the overseer. You set the tone for how you want other people to behave. We have a code of conduct. I know even though we're smart, we're not like Ford Motorcycle company, but we still have an in-house code of conduct. I think that's the biggest part. You're just setting the tone for how everything is going to work.
And it's a reflection of your company's reflection. When you mentioned, for example, some of the accolades, those accolades came, yeah, they're great and they're nice, but they also came to a great degree of responsibility and also overseeing a team and then collaborating with the team. So even though I may be the CEO, the people who work may work under me or subcontractors. I treat them just like they're just an equal partner. Because when you do that, they feel a sense of responsibility to you.
They feel as though you're not trying to micromanage. You bring up people so that you don't have to oversee every little layer of work that they're doing. They're providing you with updates and keeping you informed and you're keeping yourself informed. But you're not trying to micromanage anyone's work or something like that. And I think that's the problem of the, at least the co-process for me is just again, treating people like you want to be treated and as partners. And we are all here to work on behalf of the client.
15:55 - Gresham Harkless
Absolutely, Greg, truly appreciate that. And of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I want to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people can get ahold of you, and find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.
16:11 - Greg Jenkins
Boy, the best way to get ahold of us, we have a website. The website address is just too long. But it's Bravo Productions and we're based in Long Beach, California. If you have any questions you can just go through. We have a contact page and just message me information or message me a question. I know one of the things too is that we teach a class or serve as a guest lecturer in a marketing class. And about events, again, I would just say if you're thinking about going into the events industry, just do a lot of research. Understand there are different parts of the events industry.
16:44 - Gresham Harkless
All right, awesome. Well, to make it even easier, we'll have the links and information in the show notes as well. So there everybody can, you know, make sure they get a hold of you and the team and see the website. So thank you so much again, Greg. I appreciate your time. I appreciate the work that you do and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
17:00 - Greg Jenkins
Well, thank you. It's been a pleasure, my friend. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And good luck to all your listeners.
17:05 - Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
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