Meet Night Owl

 

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

Night Owl, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Prior to forming Night Owl Ventures, the five of us collaborated on large friend gatherings in the Southern Utah wilderness. Along the way we helped to build a conscious community surrounding music and connection. In 2022, we were getting invited to DJ events around Salt Lake City. We found these events to be lacking the safe and inclusive environment that encourages the connection that we experienced down south and around the world. This led us to create unique electronic music events here in the city that foster the vibe we enjoyed so much.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

The five of us founders were hosting private events among friends well before Night Owl was created. We’re talking huge production value; lights, lasers, big sound, excursions, workshops, wellness gifts, and the list goes on. All voluntarily and collectively given by our close friends. We felt the music scene in Salt Lake lacked this atmosphere for true connection and wanted to bring these experiences to a larger audience. These experiences often involved staying up until sunrise and beginning a new day, weary-eyed, with new and old friends. Night Owl was born.
Our biggest purpose is to bring an entire unique experience. From a silent disco at the Loveland Living Aquarium, to a community voted DJ lineup during election time, to a winter black light party on an indoor sand-filled dancefloor, we feel that our distinctive events stand-out from the typical events that include only lights and music. Our events always include a place to escape the loud dancefloor and other activities like artist vendors, performances, games, and raffles. We foster a safe space for all people of all colors, races, genders, identities, and beliefs to fully express themselves while deeply connecting with others and experiencing something that will last in their hearts for a long, long time.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Music
Playing great music is an obvious requirement for guests to enjoy themselves. However, the lineup and how the vibe of that music progresses over the night is just as important. The opening DJs, headliners, and closing DJs need to all play the right music at the right time.

Organization
There are a lot of moving parts when planning any type of event. Staying organized is key in making sure all tasks are completed, you don’t go over budget, and the event runs smoothly. Creating lists, spreadsheets, and instructions are critical. Communicate clearly but do not micro-manage.

Perspective
It’s easy to lose perspective on the original purpose or goal when you are in the thick of it. Periodically stepping back and reminding yourself why you are doing it will help you to realign with what is important. This helps lower stress around the things that do not matter. None of the Night Owl founders do this for the money (it’s very little). We’re fortunate that we all have day jobs to cover that. Therefore, we do it for the joy it brings people. It’s easy to get wrapped up into the capitalist society and start to nickel and dime the budget for maximum profit. Even if something is your day job, we strongly believe there is a balance to be found between value for the customer and paying the bills. Too often today people lose sight of that or the overall purpose.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

The cost of real estate in Salt Lake City has skyrocketed in recent years like most major cities in the US. This has made it harder to find venues with rental prices within budget and thus keeping our ticket prices reasonable for our guests. Additionally, many of the underground venues are closing down due to owners selling off their buildings to developers offering a hefty payoff to come in and build apartments.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Tanner Segro

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