Meet Duelly Noted

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cassondra Ruprecht a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cassondra , so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
This is an interesting question. It cannot be answered simply because purpose cannot come from just one thing in life. If you find purposed from just one thing, then I believe it to be something that will let you down eventually. Purpose, accomplishments, and success ebb and flow from all the different journeys you are living.

Both of us find purpose in music, our children, families, chosen family, friends, other jobs that help supplement our financial households, and other passions we have that bring joy to our lives.

Life is all about balance. We have definitely had to learn that over the years. A great example of this is starting Duelly Noted both as single women, and eventually starting families and having kids. It makes touring, contracts, and family/work life balance trickier to do.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Duelly Noted is a female owned dueling piano show based out of the Twin Cities. They travel all over the nation performing for fairs, corporate parties, weddings, private parties, fundraisers, theaters, and other community events. Cassondra and Jacy have been best friends since 2008 and have owned and operated Duelly Noted since 2015. They are a dynamic duo that exude fun on all levels. The show they have built involves crowd participation, comic relief, moments of story-telling, and high energy performance tunes. They stand out among other dueling piano players, not just because they are females in this business, but because they have amazing voices and a chemistry only best friends can have.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Three skills we have prioritized in our business are communication, connection, and prioritization.

Communication is number one for us because it creates our connection. As business partners we have to make decisions together. They are often crucial and we need to be on the same page. Our process off stage begins with communication before the gig is even booked. We work with our agents, G.L. Berg. Once we have a contract in hand, we are advancing dates, organizing details for the shows, and making sure to deliver the best performance that suits our clients needs for their event. On stage, we communicate with each other and the audience, to create a memorable connection.

Our connection began many years ago with our friendship. It now naturally translates into our show (people think we’re sisters) and onto our audience. It starts with our stage esthetic – our glossy white grand piano shells, 8×10 banner with our text request line, and our creative outfits – it sets the right tone for our show. Once we start, it’s all about the audience: we first earn their trust by demonstrating our talent so they know what to expect from us. Then we start receiving requests and are able to connect on another level with them and get more personal. We also do a lot of interaction, audience participation, and story telling. We always end with a banger to make sure that memorable connection was made and they leave wanting more.

Prioritization – Situations in our lives are constantly changing, whether we want them to or not. We have to make sure we maintain our priorities: our families, which can seem easy, but not always easy to execute. We have to be able to reassess things as they come up, communicate to find how to adapt, and then keep moving forward so we don’t get bogged down.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
A challenge we are both facing is a work-life balance.

We both have families and other means of income that we have to make time for. You can only imagine how hard it can be to balance being business owners, mothers, wives, as well as working other jobs, continuing education, and maintaining our households. That also doesn’t include self-care or having a social life outside of our families. This is something we understand a lot of people struggle with. All we can do is communicate with each other so we can best plan for what’s ahead.

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