Meet Addam Agderian

We recently connected with Addam Agderian and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Addam, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
I don’t think I ever did. A lot of my success was driven by my insecurities. It was reflected in my work that I was trying harder, and did not take anything for granted. If I felt insecure or nervous about something, it showed that my feelings were real and genuine…and people see that. People can spot a phony!

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
So fun fact about myself: I’ve been fired from (almost) every job I had – not because I was a bad worker, but because I found a better way to do something, or because what I was doing wasn’t stimulating enough. Most employers don’t like that. You’re trained in corporate to toe the company line and basically be a robot. I felt that my individuality and creativity was being stripped from me eight hours a day, five days a week.

I founded Conrad’s Concessions Events in 2008 when I was still in college. As with a lot of good companies today, it all started out of my garage! My girlfriend’s father (now my father-in-law) floated me a small loan to purchase my first piece of equipment, which was pre-owned. I then created a very basic website and soon found myself in business. The following winter, word quickly got out about my unique business, and I found that word of mouth was the best form of advertising.

Fast forward to present day, I am armed with a great team and offer over thirty different products and services, ranging from different sized chocolate fountains, to frozen drink machines, to hot cocoa stations, and so much more. We’ve positioned ourselves to be the premier concession/speciality company in the Tri-State area.

Most recently, we started offering a create-your-own yogurt parfait station, which is very popular with corporate events, bridal/baby showers, and health-conscious clients.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

  1. Emotional intelligence is very important – knowing what to say, as well as knowing what not to say. Sometimes the power is in the pause.The key is to listen to your clients and really understand what they are asking or what they want. For example, if a mother calls us and says that she wants a popcorn cart for her child’s birthday, she’s really calling because she wants to make the event extra special. We are honored to be a part of so many milestones and big events in our clients’ lives.
  2. Time management (Still awork in progress for me). It is very easy to get distracted when you wear different hats in your business: customer service, marketing, tech support, accounting, etc. Learning to prioritize what needs to be done and even making a task list for the day can help keep you on track. As someone who was diagnosed with ADD/ADHD as a child, this is easier said than done!
  3. Resilience – As with anything in life, business ownership has its highs and lows. As Dave Ramsey says, “Success is a pile of failures that you sit on top of instead of underneath.” I studied business in school and earned a marketing degree. At no time during my college tenure was I taught how to deal with an irate client or how to make split-second decisions.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
It’s just as important to cultivate your strengths as it is to embrace your weaknesses. You need to know what you can and cannot do and set the tone for yourself. You’ll learn three times as quickly from your failures as you will from your successes. It’s equally important to surround yourself with people who aren’t like you – that is what makes your team well-rounded. It gives you different perspectives and ideas versus being surrounded by a bunch of “yes men.” Collaborating and brainstorming is where useful creativity stems from.

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