January 27, 2025 • 29 mins
Tim and Leslie Grotenhuis join us for a remarkable exploration into the world of race directing and entrepreneurship. After moving to Asheville in 2005 and immersing themselves in the running community, this passionate pair transformed their volunteer work into Kick It Events, a flourishing business birthed in 2014. They reveal how Leslie's production coordination skills and Tim's web design expertise paved the way for their success, and how they turned the challenge of directing races such as the Thomas Wolfe 8K and the Hot Chocolate 10K into a thriving enterprise. Their journey underscores the unpredictable paths that hobbies can take, shaped by creativity, community involvement, and a shared love for running.
Join us for an inspiring conversation that challenges you to keep an open mind and push the boundaries of your ventures.
Kick It Events Management is a small, family owned business producing outstanding events in Asheville and the surrounding Western NC area. The company launched in 2014, but their journey of becoming running event production coordinators begins much earlier.
Originally, they donated our time as volunteer race directors to the Asheville Track Club for the Thomas Wolfe 8k and to the Isaac Dickson Elementary School PTO for the Hot Chocolate 10k (now the Hot Chocolate Races) from 2006 to 2013. After many requests for help with other events they launched the race direction side of the business in 2014 and became professional event producers. In 2020, as the world screeched to a halt they used that lull in the event schedule to add race timing to our list of services as well as adding some event marketing skills to their resume.
Leslie and Tim currently produce over 15 races a year and have a handful of race timing only clients. They also work with and help support through partnerships over 15 local non-profit organizations.
Thanks for Listening. You may contact me at https://billgilliland.actioncoach.com/
All the best!
Bill
Thanks for listening. Please hit the subscribe button, leave us a 5 star review, and share this podcast. You can reach me at williamgilliland@actioncoach.com.
All the best!
Bill
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bill Gilliland (00:01):
Hey there, welcome to this week's episode
of Epic Entrepreneurs.
I am with Tim and Leslie ofKick it Events and we're looking
forward to learning what we canabout their business and about
what they've been up to sowelcome.
Leslie Grotenhuis (00:19):
Hi, thanks for having us.
And I'm going to pronounce ourlast name for you, because it's
a toughie it's "Groton
Bill Gilliland (00:29):
House, I would have gotten it right.
Groton House Tim and Leslie.
Groton House See, I would havegotten it right, but I made the
mistake of not asking ahead oftime.
Since we're doing this, that'son me y'all.
So tell us a little bit aboutyour business and how it came to
be and sort of the origin story.
Leslie Grotenhuis (00:49):
Sure, I mean, it's definitely a pretty
organic origin story to thebusiness.
So we are both runners and wemoved to Asheville in 2005.
Moved to Asheville in 2005.
(01:12):
And when we moved right away Ihad two small children and was
pregnant with twins.
But Tim connected with theAsheville Track Club and wanted
to be a part of the runningcommunity from the get-go via
the track club, and that wasreally at that time there
weren't a lot of running groupslike there are now and so that
was like the running group andthey had a race that they wanted
(01:37):
help with, the Thomas Wolfe 8K,which was Asheville's oldest
running event, and he basicallysigned up and said you know, I
want to be the race director.
And came home and said we'regoing to be race directors.
Bill Gilliland (01:53):
Surprise, yeah, no, I love that.
I might as well get involved.
If you want to get to know somepeople, we'll be race directors
, okay, yeah.
Leslie Grotenhuis (02:02):
That's right, we are jumping, uh, full
throttle.
So, um, yeah, and so by thetime the race came around, uh,
it was no longer pregnant withtwins, we had twin newborns and
two small children.
So it was a family endeavor andwe learned a lot.
You know, as a runner, being onthe other side of a race is
(02:28):
very eye opening and you don'tthink about all the details that
go into it.
So we kind of volunteered, racedirected that race.
We were asked to create a racefor our school, which was Isaac
Dixon, and that became the,eventually the hot chocolate
Asheville hot chocolate races.
(02:50):
And I mean, my background is,before becoming a stay-at-home
mom, was in productioncoordination, which is the same
thing as race directing.
So I was working in the musicindustry coordinating pieces of,
you know, pulling somethingtogether, and really that's just
(03:15):
a skill set that if you, youknow, have an interest in
something, you can morph thoseskills into other, producing
other things.
And so that's what thisbasically came, how this came
about as a business, as peoplebegan asking me to help them
(03:38):
with races, or you know, we cameup with some race ideas and
then and Tim is actually hisbackground is in computers, he's
a web designer.
So this wasn't his full timegig but it became my full time
gig.
It because I, you know, likethe example of us moving here
(04:09):
and jumping full throttle intohelping a local nonprofit.
We get to work with so manylocal nonprofits and businesses
and organizations and are reallyinterwoven into the community
with our events.
So, yeah, so that's how it cameabout is we kind of volunteered
and then it became a viablebusiness.
Tim Grotenhuis (04:32):
Just to add a little bit to that back in 2007,
when we created the AshevilleHot Chocolate 10K and then that
became the races.
You know we did that as avolunteer parents as part of the
parent teacher organization,and so you know we were
volunteering for the Ashevilletrack club and then we were
volunteering for the school andthe PTO.
(04:53):
And then, six years of that,you know, we got to the point
where it was.
It was a lot of work and wesaid, hey, we need to transition
this to other parents at theschool.
And they go hmm, what if wepaid you to put on the race?
And we went, oh, that's aninteresting idea.
And that really was the genesis, you know, in 2014, of the
start of Kick it events.
Bill Gilliland (05:13):
Oh, we can get paid for this.
Oh, that's cool.
Tim Grotenhuis (05:15):
We can get paid.
Bill Gilliland (05:16):
Yeah, we're doing it anyway.
We might as well get paid forit.
But it sounds like to me, timjust said let's do this thing.
And then he and he knew you hada skill set, leslie, and so he,
he volunteered.
Essentially he just said uh,you know you can, you know we
can do this, because let's putit to work yeah, let's, let's
get the skill set.
No, that's cool.
And then, hey, and now, and nowit's a morph to the fact that
somebody will actually pay us todo it.
(05:37):
So, yeah, so, so that's cool.
So then what?
Like, then, all right, we canget paid for this.
Now, what?
Leslie Grotenhuis (05:49):
Now what?
Yeah, I mean then it's therealizing that you have to work
really hard to get enoughclients to have it be a viable
business.
Business.
(06:13):
And and now I mean we, we havea, we have clients, so we have
nonprofits that hire us, likefrom that origins of working
with nonprofits, volunteers.
We also have our own events, sowe were able to create an event
ideas and then partner withnonprofits to be a benefactor of
our own events.
So we basically had to buildfrom their ideas and
(06:37):
relationships and clients, likeany other business.
You know building a client basebusiness.
You know building a client base.
And then with the pandemic, youknow that was a year of no
racing.
So we had a race in January andthen we had races in December.
(06:57):
So we had a year for me of soulsearching and really thinking
is this viable, can we continue?
Well, tim was deciding he weregoing to not only are we going
to continue, but he wanted tobuild another side of the
business.
So we really have to continueto be dynamic with the business.
(07:18):
But he expanded the businessfrom COVID by adding timing.
So that just broadened ourclient base so that we can have
timing services and that alsoincreases our revenue because
we're not paying somebody elseto do timing.
(07:39):
We are doing our own timing forevents.
So I mean, yeah, that's whereit goes from there.
As we just are now, continue tokind of roll with the punches
of the event world and, um, growfrom, yeah, any challenge.
You gotta dig deep and figureout how you can grow from it and
expand the business yeah, sowe've had a few challenges.
Bill Gilliland (08:03):
Uh, in the last four years or so, we've had, you
know, we've had a fewchallenges in the last four
years or so.
We've had, you know, we've had,we've had stuff.
So let's talk about challenges,like what are some of the
challenges that you have facedand what are some of the
learnings that you've had fromthe challenges?
Yes, yeah.
Leslie Grotenhuis (08:22):
So challenges like let's talk about the most
recent challenge so we just had,you know a good bit of many of
our event area flooded anddestroyed Greenway, along the
(08:46):
river, and we've been runningalong the river since our first
hot chocolate 10K.
So, like 2008, we were runningalong the river.
I think we were the first raceto run along the river when it
was industrial and not so pretty, and now it's gorgeous.
It's gorgeous, and now we haveto wait for it to be revitalized
(09:11):
again.
So it's basically pivoting.
Where else can we go?
How can we support thosenonprofits that are going to
revitalize um with our events?
Um, and then you know we'retalking about expanding into
more than just the area.
So can we use this knowledgethat we've been doing this for
(09:33):
over a decade, um?
Can we consult with othernon-profits that want to do
races but have no idea where tostart and don't have that skill
set um but, might you know, havethe passion to want to put on a
fundraiser race?
Bill Gilliland (09:51):
yeah, so is.
So is.
So is the model 100 non-profit,like there's always a
non-profit partner?
Leslie Grotenhuis (09:59):
with our.
It's typically a nonprofit, soit's typically somebody who's
hiring us to put on a race.
It's.
I'm trying to think oh actually, once we did put on a whole
running series for a for theradio station, so we had like a
(10:20):
four race series, but typicallyit's a nonprofit.
Yeah, I mean this is the ideathat people want to produce a
well-done fundraiser 5K or 10Kor whatever.
When we are producing the race,we always have a nonprofit that
we are partnering with forvolunteers and for just like to
(10:45):
benefit.
So we'll donate a portion ofthe proceeds but we kind of flip
that relationship where we havecontrol over the raise totally
and then they can do less workand still benefit.
But yeah, there's usually anonprofit component.
Bill Gilliland (11:01):
Got it, got it.
Yeah, it's a good model.
Tim Grotenhuis (11:06):
I mean it's yeah I was gonna just jump, jump
back into the challenges pieceof it that you asked about oh,
yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah um,you know, when we were first
starting out, after every eventthat we would have, we would all
, we would get back together andwe would say, all right, we
would kind of retrospect on itand we'd say what went well, you
know, and what didn't go sowell, and how can we improve,
(11:28):
improve it for the next time.
And so every time weretrospected, we had, you know,
things that we needed to fix andwe would work on trying to do
that, uh, iteratively, you know,through the next race and the
race after that.
Um and uh, uh, you know, covidLeslie mentioned COVID that was
a huge challenge, right, therewere right.
(11:50):
When it hit, we were likethat's it, there's nothing we
can do.
You know, we're, we're, we'redone until you know it.
It, uh, you know, until this isdone.
And uh, we were thinking aboutgiving up because, uh, you know
who knows how long this is goingto go on.
But we didn't.
We got over that.
It took us a little while and,you know, we bounced back from
(12:10):
it and came back stronger, Ithink, because we did use the
opportunity to expand thebusiness and build some timing
systems and really think moreabout the business.
It was kind of a good downtimeactually for us.
Bill Gilliland (12:23):
Yeah, I want to ask you about the business.
It was kind of a good downtimeactually for us.
Yeah, I want to ask you aboutthe timing.
So what's that about?
How does that, how does howdoes that work and why is that a
big deal?
Tim Grotenhuis (12:33):
Sure, well, every race that's out there has
you know when, when people arecrossing the finish line or the
starting line and then thefinish line, you know they get
their time from the race.
Uh, and that's typically athird party vendor will supply
the timing.
Race directors generally don'thave their own timing equipment.
Um, it's expensive to build.
You have to have someone thatthat knows what they're doing to
(12:53):
maintain it.
Um, because leslie and I, uh,you know, have this, you know
partnership that's built in.
Uh, and I've got the tech side.
I was able to bring in the, thetechnology piece of it, and man
, the timing system, whileleslie and uh rihanna were able
to take over and and do, um, youknow, all the course planning
and and all the other thingsthat race directors do, and I
(13:16):
could focus on that timingaspect of it.
Um, and it's expensive, but I,instead of buying a pre-packaged
system, as mentioned, you knowthe technology side that I have
I went through and said, allright, well, how am I going to
build this?
And it was kind of like, youknow, it was kind of like, oh,
legos for adults or, uh, youknow the erector sets of of of
old and, uh, that was a lot offun, so ordered a, a big timing,
(13:38):
truss, big, you know structurethat we put together for every
event and it's, you know, hasthese large banners.
Now that we can promote ourraces and promote, you know, for
our clients that are hiring us,we can, you know, order these
banners that really make it looklike a championship sort of
race, you know.
Bill Gilliland (13:58):
Yeah, so essentially you were paying
somebody outside and so you justbring it inside.
So there's an investment upfront, but now you can save that
money or just make more money,I guess on a raise because you
don't have to pay.
That's not an expense you haveanymore.
Leslie Grotenhuis (14:18):
Right, yeah, and it allowed us to come back
from COVID quicker.
Because that raised expenseHiring somebody.
It became, you know, a bighurdle.
So when we were coming backfrom COVID it was basically like
the city only allowed 50 peopleat a time.
Say like in Carrier Park or inany park.
(14:42):
Say like in carrier park or inany park, right?
So we were allowed to like, sayall right, well, we, we're just
gonna have our timing and do itas much as we need to do the
timing and then roll it um intolike our registration and it
doesn't cost us this like bighurdle of having to hire
somebody, some big flat fee tocome in time when there's only
(15:03):
going to be you know 100 people.
Yeah, yeah, right, so we wereable to actually yeah, and then
come up with, like, morecreative events and um, yeah, so
I it.
Actually I think the thechallenge of covet and then tim,
using his expertise to kind ofgive us this tool, allowed us to
(15:23):
be more creative with theevents we did come up with
coming out of COVID so that youknow, we could have events where
maybe there's less people butpeople were dying to do
something and have events and goto races again so go to races
(15:49):
again.
Bill Gilliland (15:49):
So, yeah, that's yeah.
So, and you and y'all, justbecause you like, it seems like
you could go into other kinds ofevents, but y'all specialize in
running because you likerunning yeah we have done other
events, so we we actually, um,we've helped with the Mountain
Sports Festival.
Leslie Grotenhuis (16:02):
I don't know if you're yeah, so Tim was the
executive director of the sportsfestival for I don't know how
many years Tim two, three years.
Tim Grotenhuis (16:14):
Three years I was the executive director and
then I was on the board foranother.
I was a total of eight years, Ithink, on the board.
I was total of eight years, Ithink, on the board.
So that was the big festival wehad down at Carrier Park to
highlight the outdooropportunities in and around
Asheville, to bring people toAsheville, which we did
successfully, I think.
Bill Gilliland (16:31):
Oh yeah, absolutely, I think anything you
do.
Leslie Grotenhuis (16:50):
So I think that's good.
And then at one point I washired on as the festival to
produce running events for thefestival and help manage the
festival village, so like thevendors and the sponsors within
the festival village, and thenall of the sporting events and
then creating sporting eventsfor them.
So we've yeah, we've done someother things as well.
Bill Gilliland (17:05):
Yeah, so you've dabbled in some other things
along the way, but it's sort ofit's sort of been opportunistic.
It seems like people come toyou or you've have an interest
anyway, and so you get involvedand there's a good theme there
Get involved in something younever know it might be a
business.
Yeah, it's, it's, it's prettygood.
I have this theory.
I've had a number of clientsthat are runners, that are good
runners, I mean some.
(17:26):
You know, I have one guy whowas, you know, ran in college
and he he had a fast enough timein the to run in the Olympic
trials and some things like that.
But you know, so it was.
It was uh.
So I have a theory that that,that that runners make good
business people.
So what have you learned fromrunning that you've been able to
(17:48):
take over into business?
Leslie Grotenhuis (17:51):
Oh gosh.
Well, I mean, let's go to thechallenges again, where when
you're running running longdistance running you have to dig
deep.
When it's uh, it's getting hard, and you know like, if you
(18:13):
think about running a marathon Imean like I have run the New
York marathon and the um,external, um energy that you're
getting from the crowd andcheering you on is so helpful.
So I feel like that's somethingthat maybe not all runners need
(18:36):
or enjoy, that I know there'slots of people that run to likes
to run in the quiet of thewoods, but for me and I know,
for my business and events, I amalso praise motivated, so I
will work, work, work for myclient and to have them say that
was amazing, this was so great.
(18:59):
Or our runners just to have agreat like, oh, that was so
great.
You know, we love this T-shirt,we love this prize, whatever
Similar similar mindset.
I feel like surprise, whateverSimilar similar mindset.
I feel like like I need thatexternal energy.
Definitely.
We've talked, tim and I havetalked about how we're praise
(19:19):
motivated, cause I mean westarted this by just getting
like accolades no money,volunteers, people just being
like great job and we'd be likeyeah, we did a great job.
So I don't know, maybe that,tim.
I don't know if you have otherthoughts about.
Bill Gilliland (19:33):
Yeah, no, I'd love to hear what Tim has to say
about this.
Tim Grotenhuis (19:41):
Running experience.
I mean I think maybe youtouched on it all I mean, in all
of our events, you know we dolike you mentioned the New York
City Marathon we try to bringthat enthusiasm and that
positive attitude to all theevents that we do to try to make
those runners uh, you know,want to come back for more.
Bill Gilliland (19:57):
so yeah, no, I like it, and I think there's
something about always knowingthere's more and what the
runners keep proving that, thatyou there's.
There's always the nextdistance or the next right, the
next let's run up to the top ofthe hill to that there's always
the next distance or the nextspeed.
Tim Grotenhuis (20:14):
Let's run up to the top of the hill to see
what's on the other side.
Bill Gilliland (20:17):
Yeah, the next personal best, the next
something, yeah, so I thinkthere's, you know.
And then look, there's going tobe painful times in business
and they're not nearly aspainful as some of the things
you feel running.
So, yeah, it's good.
Let me all right.
So you've had some challenges,so what are some of the biggest
(20:37):
lessons that you've gotten alongthe way?
Tim Grotenhuis (20:42):
Can I jump in here, les?
Yes, for sure, for sure, Ithink.
Pay attention to theopportunities that present
themselves.
You know, back when I was thedirector of the mountain sports
festival, I had an opportunityto do a radio show for the local
uh radio station, called themountain sport show, where I
(21:03):
interviewed uh local sportingpersonalities and one of the
dudes I interviewed, one of thepeople I interviewed was um Jim
Brendel from the Smoky MountainRelay and uh we had a great hour
of chatting back and forth andgot along really well.
And soon after that he called meand goes hey, I've got the.
He's the director of the SmokyMountain Relay.
(21:23):
I've been director of thisrelay for years, you know, and I
want it's too much because helives out in Oregon.
I want to.
I got to find someone totransition it to.
And he goes what about you andLeslie?
And Leslie and I went well,that's an interesting idea.
And uh, and so we thought we'dgive it a try.
And you know it's, we took itover and that was back in 2000.
(21:44):
Was it 19?
Was our first year?
Less, I can't remember.
Yeah, yeah, 2019.
And we did it.
We did it well.
We've made it better.
I think jim did a great job,but you know we, we've been
working on trying to improve itand, uh, you know, it just
presented itself.
So look and see what is outthere and take advantage of it
yeah, I know I love that listen.
Bill Gilliland (22:05):
Keep your eyes open, look around, see what's
see, what's see what's out thereyeah, I, I and I think a little
bit.
Leslie Grotenhuis (22:15):
I mean, there's, you know, caution is
good, but you also have to be alittle bit.
Do things that are scary, youknow, like take on an event
that's 200 miles, or you knowthings that you think I don't
know if we could do this Um, butlet's try, um, and you know, I
(22:42):
guess with a skillset thatbecomes less scary.
But I think, you know, takingrisks is always it's a good
thing to try to push yourself umto try to push yourself um with
(23:02):
.
Bill Gilliland (23:02):
You know events and ideas.
Yeah, it makes sense, I meanalways.
I mean, how are you?
I'm a like, better, like how dowe make it better person and
sounds like y'all are too.
Because I mean, what you'redoing is when you, when you look
at an event and then say, well,hang on, let's review the event
so we can be better next time.
And it's the same thing withrunning right, you're always
looking to how do I be a littlebit better?
How can I become somethingdifferent or better than I am?
(23:25):
So I think, yeah, pushingyourself to take a little risk
and then do some stuff, that'sscary.
I love that.
Let me ask you all we'll wrapup with this one question that I
almost always ask everybody,and that is what do you wish you
had known?
In other words, what do youwish somebody had told you that
you know now that you didn'tknow at some point in the past?
I'll start with you, lesliewhat do you?
(23:48):
What?
Leslie Grotenhuis (23:59):
I mean, I think that I wish I had known
that marketing is everything.
Every business is alsomarketing.
So, um you know, wish I hadlearned, I did go back.
(24:20):
That was like a COVID thingwhere I went back and I did like
an extra kind of class on moremarketing skills, but that's
that.
If you're a small businessowner, you're also marketing
unless you're.
Unless you're, you know, arehiring somebody, but that's part
of the the gig as a smallbusiness owner yeah, every
(24:44):
business is marketing.
Bill Gilliland (24:44):
You're just marketing something, whatever it
is that you provide, whateverservice you provide.
So every business is marketing.
So it's a good.
It's a good learning.
It's a good learning.
What you got, what, what, what?
This is one of the great thingsI get.
I get.
I get all these learnings fromfrom business owners that I can
use, so it's good.
It's what part of the stickhere?
(25:05):
What do you?
What do you?
What do you have, tim?
What do you have for us?
Tim Grotenhuis (25:10):
That's a great question, um, I mean, I'm I'm
still learning, uh, you know um,of course what do I wish?
Bill Gilliland (25:20):
uh well, maybe you should rephrase or say
restate the question one moretime what is just something that
you know now that you wish youhad known a long time ago, yeah,
or before you started thebusiness?
Tim Grotenhuis (25:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah , I think it's kind of a subset
of what Leslie said.
You know, google Ads, seo, allthose things that I've, you know
, key marketing metrics beingable to, you know, read the
output from Google ads and dosomething with it.
(25:58):
You know, and that's I've beenlearning that over the years and
if I, you know, if I had beenable to start with that 10 years
ago, we, we maybe would be.
I mean, I wouldn't further,definitely, but you know, then
then there's all kinds of otherthings about how do you grow
with employees and stuff that Istill don't know anything about.
Bill Gilliland (26:16):
so, you know, it's a, it's a learning process,
whatever you do yeah, of course, yeah, well, I think that's one
of the things is always have tobe learning, always have to be.
If you want to be better, yougot to become something
different, which means youalways got to be learning.
So somebody wants to have anevent, they're a nonprofit or
they're not a nonprofit and theyjust want to have an event.
(26:37):
What?
How do they get in touch withyou?
Leslie Grotenhuis (26:42):
I mean our website is kickiteventscom or
they can email info atkickitevents, you know, if they
want to see what we're up to.
We're on all this socials right.
So kick it events on Instagramand and then we've got you know
(27:04):
any of those events.
Everybody, everyone has asocial media Instagram, facebook
, so many places to see whatwe're doing.
But yeah, to reach out andwe'll send you.
You know, we will help youfigure out whatever you want to
do.
Bill Gilliland (27:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah and yeah, that's, that's,
that's awesome Great name.
By the way, kick it events, Ithink.
I think.
I mean there are some.
You know some companies have itand some don't.
And you know kick it events hasit, some don't, and you know
Kicking Events has it.
So well done, thank you.
I'm picking that out.
I don't know what the processwas for that.
Maybe that's another story foranother podcast.
(27:43):
So anyway, thanks for takingthe time to be with us today.
I really appreciate it.
Leslie Grotenhuis (27:49):
Thanks, bill, thanks for having us.
Bill Gilliland (27:51):
And until next time, all the best.
Hey there, welcome to this week's episode
of Epic Entrepreneurs.
I am with Tim and Leslie ofKick it Events and we're looking
forward to learning what we canabout their business and about
what they've been up to sowelcome.
Leslie Grotenhuis (00:19):
Hi, thanks for having us.
And I'm going to pronounce ourlast name for you, because it's
a toughie it's "Groton
Bill Gilliland (00:29):
House, I would have gotten it right.
Groton House Tim and Leslie.
Groton House See, I would havegotten it right, but I made the
mistake of not asking ahead oftime.
Since we're doing this, that'son me y'all.
So tell us a little bit aboutyour business and how it came to
be and sort of the origin story.
Leslie Grotenhuis (00:49):
Sure, I mean, it's definitely a pretty
organic origin story to thebusiness.
So we are both runners and wemoved to Asheville in 2005.
Moved to Asheville in 2005.
(01:12):
And when we moved right away Ihad two small children and was
pregnant with twins.
But Tim connected with theAsheville Track Club and wanted
to be a part of the runningcommunity from the get-go via
the track club, and that wasreally at that time there
weren't a lot of running groupslike there are now and so that
was like the running group andthey had a race that they wanted
(01:37):
help with, the Thomas Wolfe 8K,which was Asheville's oldest
running event, and he basicallysigned up and said you know, I
want to be the race director.
And came home and said we'regoing to be race directors.
Bill Gilliland (01:53):
Surprise, yeah, no, I love that.
I might as well get involved.
If you want to get to know somepeople, we'll be race directors
, okay, yeah.
Leslie Grotenhuis (02:02):
That's right, we are jumping, uh, full
throttle.
So, um, yeah, and so by thetime the race came around, uh,
it was no longer pregnant withtwins, we had twin newborns and
two small children.
So it was a family endeavor andwe learned a lot.
You know, as a runner, being onthe other side of a race is
(02:28):
very eye opening and you don'tthink about all the details that
go into it.
So we kind of volunteered, racedirected that race.
We were asked to create a racefor our school, which was Isaac
Dixon, and that became the,eventually the hot chocolate
Asheville hot chocolate races.
(02:50):
And I mean, my background is,before becoming a stay-at-home
mom, was in productioncoordination, which is the same
thing as race directing.
So I was working in the musicindustry coordinating pieces of,
you know, pulling somethingtogether, and really that's just
(03:15):
a skill set that if you, youknow, have an interest in
something, you can morph thoseskills into other, producing
other things.
And so that's what thisbasically came, how this came
about as a business, as peoplebegan asking me to help them
(03:38):
with races, or you know, we cameup with some race ideas and
then and Tim is actually hisbackground is in computers, he's
a web designer.
So this wasn't his full timegig but it became my full time
gig.
It because I, you know, likethe example of us moving here
(04:09):
and jumping full throttle intohelping a local nonprofit.
We get to work with so manylocal nonprofits and businesses
and organizations and are reallyinterwoven into the community
with our events.
So, yeah, so that's how it cameabout is we kind of volunteered
and then it became a viablebusiness.
Tim Grotenhuis (04:32):
Just to add a little bit to that back in 2007,
when we created the AshevilleHot Chocolate 10K and then that
became the races.
You know we did that as avolunteer parents as part of the
parent teacher organization,and so you know we were
volunteering for the Ashevilletrack club and then we were
volunteering for the school andthe PTO.
(04:53):
And then, six years of that,you know, we got to the point
where it was.
It was a lot of work and wesaid, hey, we need to transition
this to other parents at theschool.
And they go hmm, what if wepaid you to put on the race?
And we went, oh, that's aninteresting idea.
And that really was the genesis, you know, in 2014, of the
start of Kick it events.
Bill Gilliland (05:13):
Oh, we can get paid for this.
Oh, that's cool.
Tim Grotenhuis (05:15):
We can get paid.
Bill Gilliland (05:16):
Yeah, we're doing it anyway.
We might as well get paid forit.
But it sounds like to me, timjust said let's do this thing.
And then he and he knew you hada skill set, leslie, and so he,
he volunteered.
Essentially he just said uh,you know you can, you know we
can do this, because let's putit to work yeah, let's, let's
get the skill set.
No, that's cool.
And then, hey, and now, and nowit's a morph to the fact that
somebody will actually pay us todo it.
(05:37):
So, yeah, so, so that's cool.
So then what?
Like, then, all right, we canget paid for this.
Now, what?
Leslie Grotenhuis (05:49):
Now what?
Yeah, I mean then it's therealizing that you have to work
really hard to get enoughclients to have it be a viable
business.
Business.
(06:13):
And and now I mean we, we havea, we have clients, so we have
nonprofits that hire us, likefrom that origins of working
with nonprofits, volunteers.
We also have our own events, sowe were able to create an event
ideas and then partner withnonprofits to be a benefactor of
our own events.
So we basically had to buildfrom their ideas and
(06:37):
relationships and clients, likeany other business.
You know building a client basebusiness.
You know building a client base.
And then with the pandemic, youknow that was a year of no
racing.
So we had a race in January andthen we had races in December.
(06:57):
So we had a year for me of soulsearching and really thinking
is this viable, can we continue?
Well, tim was deciding he weregoing to not only are we going
to continue, but he wanted tobuild another side of the
business.
So we really have to continueto be dynamic with the business.
(07:18):
But he expanded the businessfrom COVID by adding timing.
So that just broadened ourclient base so that we can have
timing services and that alsoincreases our revenue because
we're not paying somebody elseto do timing.
(07:39):
We are doing our own timing forevents.
So I mean, yeah, that's whereit goes from there.
As we just are now, continue tokind of roll with the punches
of the event world and, um, growfrom, yeah, any challenge.
You gotta dig deep and figureout how you can grow from it and
expand the business yeah, sowe've had a few challenges.
Bill Gilliland (08:03):
Uh, in the last four years or so, we've had, you
know, we've had a fewchallenges in the last four
years or so.
We've had, you know, we've had,we've had stuff.
So let's talk about challenges,like what are some of the
challenges that you have facedand what are some of the
learnings that you've had fromthe challenges?
Yes, yeah.
Leslie Grotenhuis (08:22):
So challenges like let's talk about the most
recent challenge so we just had,you know a good bit of many of
our event area flooded anddestroyed Greenway, along the
(08:46):
river, and we've been runningalong the river since our first
hot chocolate 10K.
So, like 2008, we were runningalong the river.
I think we were the first raceto run along the river when it
was industrial and not so pretty, and now it's gorgeous.
It's gorgeous, and now we haveto wait for it to be revitalized
(09:11):
again.
So it's basically pivoting.
Where else can we go?
How can we support thosenonprofits that are going to
revitalize um with our events?
Um, and then you know we'retalking about expanding into
more than just the area.
So can we use this knowledgethat we've been doing this for
(09:33):
over a decade, um?
Can we consult with othernon-profits that want to do
races but have no idea where tostart and don't have that skill
set um but, might you know, havethe passion to want to put on a
fundraiser race?
Bill Gilliland (09:51):
yeah, so is.
So is.
So is the model 100 non-profit,like there's always a
non-profit partner?
Leslie Grotenhuis (09:59):
with our.
It's typically a nonprofit, soit's typically somebody who's
hiring us to put on a race.
It's.
I'm trying to think oh actually, once we did put on a whole
running series for a for theradio station, so we had like a
(10:20):
four race series, but typicallyit's a nonprofit.
Yeah, I mean this is the ideathat people want to produce a
well-done fundraiser 5K or 10Kor whatever.
When we are producing the race,we always have a nonprofit that
we are partnering with forvolunteers and for just like to
(10:45):
benefit.
So we'll donate a portion ofthe proceeds but we kind of flip
that relationship where we havecontrol over the raise totally
and then they can do less workand still benefit.
But yeah, there's usually anonprofit component.
Bill Gilliland (11:01):
Got it, got it.
Yeah, it's a good model.
Tim Grotenhuis (11:06):
I mean it's yeah I was gonna just jump, jump
back into the challenges pieceof it that you asked about oh,
yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah um,you know, when we were first
starting out, after every eventthat we would have, we would all
, we would get back together andwe would say, all right, we
would kind of retrospect on itand we'd say what went well, you
know, and what didn't go sowell, and how can we improve,
(11:28):
improve it for the next time.
And so every time weretrospected, we had, you know,
things that we needed to fix andwe would work on trying to do
that, uh, iteratively, you know,through the next race and the
race after that.
Um and uh, uh, you know, covidLeslie mentioned COVID that was
a huge challenge, right, therewere right.
(11:50):
When it hit, we were likethat's it, there's nothing we
can do.
You know, we're, we're, we'redone until you know it.
It, uh, you know, until this isdone.
And uh, we were thinking aboutgiving up because, uh, you know
who knows how long this is goingto go on.
But we didn't.
We got over that.
It took us a little while and,you know, we bounced back from
(12:10):
it and came back stronger, Ithink, because we did use the
opportunity to expand thebusiness and build some timing
systems and really think moreabout the business.
It was kind of a good downtimeactually for us.
Bill Gilliland (12:23):
Yeah, I want to ask you about the business.
It was kind of a good downtimeactually for us.
Yeah, I want to ask you aboutthe timing.
So what's that about?
How does that, how does howdoes that work and why is that a
big deal?
Tim Grotenhuis (12:33):
Sure, well, every race that's out there has
you know when, when people arecrossing the finish line or the
starting line and then thefinish line, you know they get
their time from the race.
Uh, and that's typically athird party vendor will supply
the timing.
Race directors generally don'thave their own timing equipment.
Um, it's expensive to build.
You have to have someone thatthat knows what they're doing to
(12:53):
maintain it.
Um, because leslie and I, uh,you know, have this, you know
partnership that's built in.
Uh, and I've got the tech side.
I was able to bring in the, thetechnology piece of it, and man
, the timing system, whileleslie and uh rihanna were able
to take over and and do, um, youknow, all the course planning
and and all the other thingsthat race directors do, and I
(13:16):
could focus on that timingaspect of it.
Um, and it's expensive, but I,instead of buying a pre-packaged
system, as mentioned, you knowthe technology side that I have
I went through and said, allright, well, how am I going to
build this?
And it was kind of like, youknow, it was kind of like, oh,
legos for adults or, uh, youknow the erector sets of of of
old and, uh, that was a lot offun, so ordered a, a big timing,
(13:38):
truss, big, you know structurethat we put together for every
event and it's, you know, hasthese large banners.
Now that we can promote ourraces and promote, you know, for
our clients that are hiring us,we can, you know, order these
banners that really make it looklike a championship sort of
race, you know.
Bill Gilliland (13:58):
Yeah, so essentially you were paying
somebody outside and so you justbring it inside.
So there's an investment upfront, but now you can save that
money or just make more money,I guess on a raise because you
don't have to pay.
That's not an expense you haveanymore.
Leslie Grotenhuis (14:18):
Right, yeah, and it allowed us to come back
from COVID quicker.
Because that raised expenseHiring somebody.
It became, you know, a bighurdle.
So when we were coming backfrom COVID it was basically like
the city only allowed 50 peopleat a time.
Say like in Carrier Park or inany park.
(14:42):
Say like in carrier park or inany park, right?
So we were allowed to like, sayall right, well, we, we're just
gonna have our timing and do itas much as we need to do the
timing and then roll it um intolike our registration and it
doesn't cost us this like bighurdle of having to hire
somebody, some big flat fee tocome in time when there's only
(15:03):
going to be you know 100 people.
Yeah, yeah, right, so we wereable to actually yeah, and then
come up with, like, morecreative events and um, yeah, so
I it.
Actually I think the thechallenge of covet and then tim,
using his expertise to kind ofgive us this tool, allowed us to
(15:23):
be more creative with theevents we did come up with
coming out of COVID so that youknow, we could have events where
maybe there's less people butpeople were dying to do
something and have events and goto races again so go to races
(15:49):
again.
Bill Gilliland (15:49):
So, yeah, that's yeah.
So, and you and y'all, justbecause you like, it seems like
you could go into other kinds ofevents, but y'all specialize in
running because you likerunning yeah we have done other
events, so we we actually, um,we've helped with the Mountain
Sports Festival.
Leslie Grotenhuis (16:02):
I don't know if you're yeah, so Tim was the
executive director of the sportsfestival for I don't know how
many years Tim two, three years.
Tim Grotenhuis (16:14):
Three years I was the executive director and
then I was on the board foranother.
I was a total of eight years, Ithink, on the board.
I was total of eight years, Ithink, on the board.
So that was the big festival wehad down at Carrier Park to
highlight the outdooropportunities in and around
Asheville, to bring people toAsheville, which we did
successfully, I think.
Bill Gilliland (16:31):
Oh yeah, absolutely, I think anything you
do.
Leslie Grotenhuis (16:50):
So I think that's good.
And then at one point I washired on as the festival to
produce running events for thefestival and help manage the
festival village, so like thevendors and the sponsors within
the festival village, and thenall of the sporting events and
then creating sporting eventsfor them.
So we've yeah, we've done someother things as well.
Bill Gilliland (17:05):
Yeah, so you've dabbled in some other things
along the way, but it's sort ofit's sort of been opportunistic.
It seems like people come toyou or you've have an interest
anyway, and so you get involvedand there's a good theme there
Get involved in something younever know it might be a
business.
Yeah, it's, it's, it's prettygood.
I have this theory.
I've had a number of clientsthat are runners, that are good
runners, I mean some.
(17:26):
You know, I have one guy whowas, you know, ran in college
and he he had a fast enough timein the to run in the Olympic
trials and some things like that.
But you know, so it was.
It was uh.
So I have a theory that that,that that runners make good
business people.
So what have you learned fromrunning that you've been able to
(17:48):
take over into business?
Leslie Grotenhuis (17:51):
Oh gosh.
Well, I mean, let's go to thechallenges again, where when
you're running running longdistance running you have to dig
deep.
When it's uh, it's getting hard, and you know like, if you
(18:13):
think about running a marathon Imean like I have run the New
York marathon and the um,external, um energy that you're
getting from the crowd andcheering you on is so helpful.
So I feel like that's somethingthat maybe not all runners need
(18:36):
or enjoy, that I know there'slots of people that run to likes
to run in the quiet of thewoods, but for me and I know,
for my business and events, I amalso praise motivated, so I
will work, work, work for myclient and to have them say that
was amazing, this was so great.
(18:59):
Or our runners just to have agreat like, oh, that was so
great.
You know, we love this T-shirt,we love this prize, whatever
Similar similar mindset.
I feel like surprise, whateverSimilar similar mindset.
I feel like like I need thatexternal energy.
Definitely.
We've talked, tim and I havetalked about how we're praise
(19:19):
motivated, cause I mean westarted this by just getting
like accolades no money,volunteers, people just being
like great job and we'd be likeyeah, we did a great job.
So I don't know, maybe that,tim.
I don't know if you have otherthoughts about.
Bill Gilliland (19:33):
Yeah, no, I'd love to hear what Tim has to say
about this.
Tim Grotenhuis (19:41):
Running experience.
I mean I think maybe youtouched on it all I mean, in all
of our events, you know we dolike you mentioned the New York
City Marathon we try to bringthat enthusiasm and that
positive attitude to all theevents that we do to try to make
those runners uh, you know,want to come back for more.
Bill Gilliland (19:57):
so yeah, no, I like it, and I think there's
something about always knowingthere's more and what the
runners keep proving that, thatyou there's.
There's always the nextdistance or the next right, the
next let's run up to the top ofthe hill to that there's always
the next distance or the nextspeed.
Tim Grotenhuis (20:14):
Let's run up to the top of the hill to see
what's on the other side.
Bill Gilliland (20:17):
Yeah, the next personal best, the next
something, yeah, so I thinkthere's, you know.
And then look, there's going tobe painful times in business
and they're not nearly aspainful as some of the things
you feel running.
So, yeah, it's good.
Let me all right.
So you've had some challenges,so what are some of the biggest
(20:37):
lessons that you've gotten alongthe way?
Tim Grotenhuis (20:42):
Can I jump in here, les?
Yes, for sure, for sure, Ithink.
Pay attention to theopportunities that present
themselves.
You know, back when I was thedirector of the mountain sports
festival, I had an opportunityto do a radio show for the local
uh radio station, called themountain sport show, where I
(21:03):
interviewed uh local sportingpersonalities and one of the
dudes I interviewed, one of thepeople I interviewed was um Jim
Brendel from the Smoky MountainRelay and uh we had a great hour
of chatting back and forth andgot along really well.
And soon after that he called meand goes hey, I've got the.
He's the director of the SmokyMountain Relay.
(21:23):
I've been director of thisrelay for years, you know, and I
want it's too much because helives out in Oregon.
I want to.
I got to find someone totransition it to.
And he goes what about you andLeslie?
And Leslie and I went well,that's an interesting idea.
And uh, and so we thought we'dgive it a try.
And you know it's, we took itover and that was back in 2000.
(21:44):
Was it 19?
Was our first year?
Less, I can't remember.
Yeah, yeah, 2019.
And we did it.
We did it well.
We've made it better.
I think jim did a great job,but you know we, we've been
working on trying to improve itand, uh, you know, it just
presented itself.
So look and see what is outthere and take advantage of it
yeah, I know I love that listen.
Bill Gilliland (22:05):
Keep your eyes open, look around, see what's
see, what's see what's out thereyeah, I, I and I think a little
bit.
Leslie Grotenhuis (22:15):
I mean, there's, you know, caution is
good, but you also have to be alittle bit.
Do things that are scary, youknow, like take on an event
that's 200 miles, or you knowthings that you think I don't
know if we could do this Um, butlet's try, um, and you know, I
(22:42):
guess with a skillset thatbecomes less scary.
But I think, you know, takingrisks is always it's a good
thing to try to push yourself umto try to push yourself um with
(23:02):
.
Bill Gilliland (23:02):
You know events and ideas.
Yeah, it makes sense, I meanalways.
I mean, how are you?
I'm a like, better, like how dowe make it better person and
sounds like y'all are too.
Because I mean, what you'redoing is when you, when you look
at an event and then say, well,hang on, let's review the event
so we can be better next time.
And it's the same thing withrunning right, you're always
looking to how do I be a littlebit better?
How can I become somethingdifferent or better than I am?
(23:25):
So I think, yeah, pushingyourself to take a little risk
and then do some stuff, that'sscary.
I love that.
Let me ask you all we'll wrapup with this one question that I
almost always ask everybody,and that is what do you wish you
had known?
In other words, what do youwish somebody had told you that
you know now that you didn'tknow at some point in the past?
I'll start with you, lesliewhat do you?
(23:48):
What?
Leslie Grotenhuis (23:59):
I mean, I think that I wish I had known
that marketing is everything.
Every business is alsomarketing.
So, um you know, wish I hadlearned, I did go back.
(24:20):
That was like a COVID thingwhere I went back and I did like
an extra kind of class on moremarketing skills, but that's
that.
If you're a small businessowner, you're also marketing
unless you're.
Unless you're, you know, arehiring somebody, but that's part
of the the gig as a smallbusiness owner yeah, every
(24:44):
business is marketing.
Bill Gilliland (24:44):
You're just marketing something, whatever it
is that you provide, whateverservice you provide.
So every business is marketing.
So it's a good.
It's a good learning.
It's a good learning.
What you got, what, what, what?
This is one of the great thingsI get.
I get.
I get all these learnings fromfrom business owners that I can
use, so it's good.
It's what part of the stickhere?
(25:05):
What do you?
What do you?
What do you have, tim?
What do you have for us?
Tim Grotenhuis (25:10):
That's a great question, um, I mean, I'm I'm
still learning, uh, you know um,of course what do I wish?
Bill Gilliland (25:20):
uh well, maybe you should rephrase or say
restate the question one moretime what is just something that
you know now that you wish youhad known a long time ago, yeah,
or before you started thebusiness?
Tim Grotenhuis (25:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah , I think it's kind of a subset
of what Leslie said.
You know, google Ads, seo, allthose things that I've, you know
, key marketing metrics beingable to, you know, read the
output from Google ads and dosomething with it.
(25:58):
You know, and that's I've beenlearning that over the years and
if I, you know, if I had beenable to start with that 10 years
ago, we, we maybe would be.
I mean, I wouldn't further,definitely, but you know, then
then there's all kinds of otherthings about how do you grow
with employees and stuff that Istill don't know anything about.
Bill Gilliland (26:16):
so, you know, it's a, it's a learning process,
whatever you do yeah, of course, yeah, well, I think that's one
of the things is always have tobe learning, always have to be.
If you want to be better, yougot to become something
different, which means youalways got to be learning.
So somebody wants to have anevent, they're a nonprofit or
they're not a nonprofit and theyjust want to have an event.
(26:37):
What?
How do they get in touch withyou?
Leslie Grotenhuis (26:42):
I mean our website is kickiteventscom or
they can email info atkickitevents, you know, if they
want to see what we're up to.
We're on all this socials right.
So kick it events on Instagramand and then we've got you know
(27:04):
any of those events.
Everybody, everyone has asocial media Instagram, facebook
, so many places to see whatwe're doing.
But yeah, to reach out andwe'll send you.
You know, we will help youfigure out whatever you want to
do.
Bill Gilliland (27:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah and yeah, that's, that's,
that's awesome Great name.
By the way, kick it events, Ithink.
I think.
I mean there are some.
You know some companies have itand some don't.
And you know kick it events hasit, some don't, and you know
Kicking Events has it.
So well done, thank you.
I'm picking that out.
I don't know what the processwas for that.
Maybe that's another story foranother podcast.
(27:43):
So anyway, thanks for takingthe time to be with us today.
I really appreciate it.
Leslie Grotenhuis (27:49):
Thanks, bill, thanks for having us.
Bill Gilliland (27:51):
And until next time, all the best.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!