June 3, 2025 • 38 mins
Deidre Hillman the founder of The 13th Hat, a corporate event planning company she launched in 2021 after serving as a state director for a nonprofit organization. With nearly 15 years of experience in event planning, Deidre thrives on creating memorable experiences—from fundraisers and galas to her personal favorite, conferences. She brings an energetic and strategic approach to every event, ensuring each one is both impactful and engaging.Deidre holds a Master’s in Business from the University of Mary and is a certified John Maxwell Coach, Facilitator, and Trainer, equipping her with the leadership skills to inspire and guide others in the event planning industry.Based in Bismarck, ND, Deidre lives with her husband, Matt, and their spirited daughter, Harper. When she’s not planning events, she dedicates her time to volunteering as a Wish Coordinator for Make-A-Wish and serving on the Dakota Zoo board. She and her family love adventuring together, with camping being their favorite summer tradition.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by
the City of Bismarck's Human Relations Committee and produced by
Dakota Media Access. The purpose of the podcast is to
celebrate change makers in Bismarck whose contributions break barriers, build connections,
and redefine what is possible for our community.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to These Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by Tia
Jorgensen and Sergiana Woodski, both members of the City of
Bismarck's Human Relations Committee. Thank you for joining us as
we highlight the individuals driving positive change and making a
lasting impact on our community. Their stories inspire progress and
shape the future of our city.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Today's guest is Deirdre Heilman, the founder of thirteen pat,
a corporate event planning company she launched in twenty twenty
one after serving as the state director for a nonprofit organization.
With nearly fifteen years of experience in event planning, Deetera
thrives on creating memorial experiences, from fundraisers and galas to
her personal favorite conferences. She brings an energetic and strategic
(01:09):
approach to every event, ensuring each one is both impactful
and engaging. Deeter holds a master's in business from the
University of Mary and is a certified John Maxwell Coach,
facilitator and trainer, equipping her with the leadership skills to
inspire and guide others in the event planning industry. Based
in Bismarck, she lives with her husband, Matt and their
(01:30):
spirited daughter Harper. When she's not planning events, she dedicates
her time to volunteering as a wish coordinator for Make
a Wish and serving on the Dakota Zoo Board. She
and her family love adventuring together, with camping being their
favorite summer tradition. Welcome to a program, Deirdre.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Thank you for having me excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
I'm pretty sure Harper beat Matt time wise at the
Parkinson's race just recently, didn't.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
She's very proud of it. Yes, I thought so too,
by like five or six seconds. It's fun to see
them run together.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
But why is Bismarck home for you guys?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Well, Bismarck has been home to me since I was
about twelve years old. I'm actually a Bowman girl. That's
where I was born and raised. You're giggling because how
many of your guests? Yes, oh, Jackie's.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Because everyone's from like Southwestern should.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Be from the western North are going on.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
It's amazing. But moved up here, graduated high school. I
did leave for a hot minute. I went to Minneapolis
for a couple of years and came back. I married Matt,
who is not leaving. I don't know. Maybe I would
have possibly left again at some point in time. Part
of my story is that my parents all became terminally ill.
(02:43):
My mom, my stepdad, and my dad became terminally ill
with cancer right when I was actually interviewing for jobs
in Phoenix, so they actually didn't know I was looking
for work, and really glad that I stayed to stay
down as a caregiver for them and really learned what
the community can do for you at times at adversity.
I had never led on my community like that before,
and don't plant on leaving.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
No, So what made you want to start your own
event planning business, especially so close to the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
It was a little bit of an accident. I hung
up the hat, if you will, at that nonprofit. It
was the North CoA women's business center. I just had
great leadership fatigue. That's really the only way I can
describe it now. I couldn't describe it then, and a
couple of the clients that I had worked with from
the Women's Business Center came to me and said, will
you continue on some of the events that you had
(03:34):
at the Women's Business Center? Will those stay on? I
had a federal contract at the time. I was actually
doing federal programming, training, developing content, and finding speakers across
the nation to help businesses reopen post COVID, And that's
when the thirteenth hat was dreamt up at about four
in the morning of really filling a need. I definitely
(03:57):
leveraged the fact that many people didn't come back at
full workforce. I mean many people statistics, as you know,
during COVID, we're working two two and a half jobs,
and some of them are coming back to the workplace
only doing one job, maybe sticking with their full time
career and not their part time gigs. Also, I think
people protected their time more so when you think about
(04:17):
event planners, it's oftentimes somebody in human resources or somebody
your front desk administration person that's got that bubbly personality.
It's not an actual paid position. So I leveraged that
I reached out to executives and said, you can hire
me on as a project manager temporary for a sliver
of what you pay the salary. You can continue to
(04:39):
support the other team members and keep them in their roles,
and I'll help you plan your events. And events were
huge post COVID. People had funding they had to spend,
they had requirements to get people cut up in continuing education, credits, fundraisers,
all those things, and so it grew very quickly.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I think it's really easy for people who are not
involved in the event planning of whether it's a business
or nonprofit, to assume that it's just like an easy task.
People can I think we all know that that is
not the case. But with yours, the name is thirteenth Hat.
(05:19):
How did you come up with that?
Speaker 4 (05:21):
I was born to entrepreneurs, serial entrepreneurs. Literally. My dad
had many businesses, some went very successfully and some failed.
My mom and my stepdad were realtors brokers in the community,
and so entrepreneurship was definitely in my blood. My dad's
(05:42):
first company was called Hat Electric, and I wanted to
honor that somehow. Also. I used to coach women on
starting their businesses when I was at the Women's Business Center,
and I would talk about all the hats you have
to wear, all the plates you have to spin whatever
fit them, you know, all the balls you're trying to juggle,
and when you're going to drop one or need to
take a off like I had to during adversity, who
(06:02):
can wear that hat for you? And I just loved
the number thirteen, So I kind of came up with
this spin. It was quite lengthy at the beginning, but
I would say, when planning an event, you've got to
wear a dozen hats at any given time, and you
can hire us to wear one or all of them,
and then inevitably, at thirteenth one is going to get
thrown at you, and we'll wear that one too.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
That's awesome, very great name.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Thank you so.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
In reading your bio when T and I were talking
to put the questions together, we're very surprised that your
favorite part of event planning is conferences. So why conferences?
All things?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
You don't think you'd like that those are my jam
They are my favorite. They are so complex, from thinking
about the guest experience and the food and the timing
of the breaks to the swag. Also, I used to
and I am I'm a speaker this week actually at
a conference. I've been a speaker, so I understand what
(06:57):
a speaker needs to be successful. So helping identify speakers
and curate their messages to get people in the room
all the way to you know, the feedback and the
surveys afterwards. What I personally love is you have to
work the grind is so much in the forefront of
the event and then event day, like you just have
to know where you need to be every minute of
(07:19):
the day, and so you work so hard to build
that run of show or that you know, TikTok whatever
you call it within your organization, and then it's just
like you see all the pieces come together that day.
Where as a fundraiser or gala like you are game on,
it's not until I don't know, the energy in the
(07:39):
room gets really filled and it's just a higher expectation.
I think. Is a conference a conference you can always
even if a speaker doesn't show, you can sub them,
you can send them to another breakout. I just love conferences,
everything about them.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
So what is the like a typical size conference that
you do or even the largest one that you've done.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Yeah, good question. I don't know how to quantify that.
Sometimes it's a number of attendees. Sometimes, like when it's
a fundraiser, it's you know, dollars raised. But I have planned, well,
not a conference, but I helped plan a sponsorship event
at a music festival in Minnesota, a very large music festival,
(08:22):
and I had anywhere from one thousand people to about
twelve hundred people every night. It's over four thousand people
in three days. But conferences tend to around here, average
around three fifty four fifty. I have planned them up
to six hundred though.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
So besides these awesome, fun, super exciting conferences, not that
the conferences aren't, but the lead up to it planning.
You know, at the time of kind of preparing this,
you were also working with Bismark Parkinson Support Group on
with our annual race. But what are you know, other
than those typical race fundraisers, conferences, What are some of
(09:01):
the other things that you help with.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
So I have such a variety of clients and I
love it. And some are corporate and independent companies and
a lot of nonprofits. I tend to attract a lot
of nonprofits, so a lot of those are educational opportunities,
it might be board retreats, it might be staff retreats.
We just did last summer, honored to work with a
(09:24):
nonprofit that held sixty people at a retreat in the
Black Hills, and so we got to plan that all
through Customer State Park in Rapid City and all the
details from transportation and meals and sleeping arrangements to intentional
connection moments. I've also helped plan the mandad Rodeo. So
(09:47):
I kind of joke, you know, one day you're like
in your tennis shoes and jeans, and then the next
day I was honored. I had the opportunity to plan
the book signing for Harold Ham a couple of years ago,
and so you're very formal and professional and gear. And
then I have the winter By Party that is a
fun cocktail, networking, mixer, social that you're in your heels
(10:09):
an address, and so the variety is pretty vast. I
had no idea when I started the company. I thought
if I could get some small, some medium, some large
companies that I could help them with, that would be
the perfect recipe. And I'd say, we're really close to
being there. So huge variety of events.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
So what have been some of your favorite events to plan.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I know I saw that one. It's like picking your
favorite child. I mean I already said conferences are some
of my some of my favorites. I think though, anytime
I can help plan an event with some level of impact, yes,
I love helping, you know, with open house or a
(10:54):
staff celebration. But when I have the opportunity to impact,
like giving Hearts for example. You know, I'm the contractor
in Bismarck from the Fargo team the Dakota Medical Impact
Foundation for giving Heart stay. When I look at what
was it, thirty two million dollars raised for nonprofits, and
(11:14):
I think I was a little tiny slice of that,
and I maybe encouraged somebody to take a risk with
their fundraising, or maybe I educated a business on how
to get involved. That really fills my heart. And I
don't even know how to describe that to somebody that's
never had that opportunity. But as a solo preneur, you
(11:36):
have to take those moments and pause and celebrate those things.
And I think if I didn't have that fulfillment, I
would have fatigue. I mean, we're joking a little bit
about conferences, and you guys are like, oh, what's so
fun about that? I mean, there is such thing as
event hangover and what I call and I am just
this unique character that I can get up the next
day and I can't wait to do the next event.
(11:57):
I don't have that fatigue.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Do you ever have a sadness that the event's over?
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Though?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Are you just sing to the next event?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (12:06):
I mean I have had clients that have retired events
and that makes me sad or maybe they go different direction.
As of last year, I had one hundred percent return
on clients. But now I'm seeing people make changes or pivots,
or they're hiring within and so to plan their events.
So then they hire me as the consultant to come
train that person, so I still get to standalf So yeah,
(12:27):
I get sad when they don't do them anymore. But
I think that's when I just sat across the table
from a nonprofit yesterday we were doing a giving heard
stay debrief, and I asked them how their largest fundraiser went,
which was last month, and they're like, so grateful it's over.
And that hurts my heart. But that's the solution that
(12:47):
I that's the problem that I helped solve. Is I
don't want our clients to be exhausted or remorseful after
their event. I want them to be present at it.
And I really hear time and time again by us
joining the team that that's what they get to be.
They get to be a part of their event instead
of just working and being really drained afterwards.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
When you ask Sergeiana about you know, like, do you
get sad when it's over, a lot of the nonprofits
that I've been involved in, like TIM or D White
and Blue, we get to go do these awesome things
and then we all leave and go back home separated,
and it is like truly devastating. And what I think
is so interesting about you and getting to kind of
have worked with you in some nonprofits is you would
(13:28):
never know that you are not one hundred percent a
part of the team that's there all the time doing
the work every day, every day every day, that you're
kind of that facilitator of the event. And so, you know,
some of us we may feel that sadness that the
race is over, but luckily we have people like you
(13:49):
that are like, let's not even a month later, what
can we do better for next year?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
You know?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I coach clients my clients that the event doesn't end.
When the event ends. There's so much work and opportunity
to do post event. So you're right. I was working
on the agenda actually this weekend for the Perkinson's event,
because every all the ideas are fresh and new, and
I also like to make when possible, when I have
(14:20):
a creative client, if they've had the event for several years,
I really like to come up with some new ideas
and create some unpredictability to the guests. And so I
think the best way to do that is when you're
coming off fresh from the event and thinking about what
worked well, you know, what are areas of improvement. We
all go to events, we all go to conferences nationally,
(14:41):
we all go to events and other communities and so
I'll say, what did you see at another event that
how can we incorporate it here? Or And of course
I am a podcast listener. I get new ideas. There's
some women that are on the East West coast sorry
called Better Events. I think is their podcast, and I'm
addicted to them and I just get so energized by
(15:03):
listening to them and new ideas, and that's something they
talk about to it just you have to continue the feedback,
and you have to get it from both the client
and the attendees and your vendors and your speakers and
the people who serve the food, anywhere you can get it.
Just to see what worked.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Well, You'd be very proud of me. As the race
was going on, I was emailing. I'm not even taking notes.
I would email Corey. Corey, who's one of our the
main board members. I would email her and then like,
we need to do this next year. And then I
think she probably had twenty seven emails from me by.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
The time race work.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
But while it's in your head, you have to like,
you do you have to say it yeah, okay, but
we'll stop talking about the race that I'm familiar with now.
It was I think it was pretty well publicized the
Governor Armstrong's inaugural gallo, which you were able to plan.
Talk about everything that went into that and how it can.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Vote strong partnerships for sure. So that particular event was
put on actually by the thirteenth Hat my company, but
also the Fanatics is another event planning company in town.
It's owned by the same owners of The larks Or.
John Bollinger is the founder of the Fanatics team and
we partnered up on it, but I definitely wore that
(16:23):
captain hat and project managed that strong vendor relationships, casting
the vision from the client and keeping them very involved
was important. So Jac from the Governor's Office, what fantastic
and fun time we had working with her and the
first Lady and just we couldn't have pulled off a
(16:45):
better event. Honestly, I think there were so many wow factors.
The event center can sometimes have some stricter rules, and
we got we got to get really creative with this one.
Just from moving security to the typical where you walk
into the event center and I was like, Robert, can
we can we move security to a different door and
(17:06):
what would that look like? And how would we you know?
And we just did walk through after walk through and
hours and hours of meetings. And I'm a very visual person,
so as often as the team could get together and
share visuals, it just it fell into place so nicely.
And what an honor to be a part of that event.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
How long did you have to plan that? I don't
think it was very long, was it?
Speaker 4 (17:29):
No, Because you can't start anything until after the results
are in, So it was right around Thanksgiving really when
we kicked it off, so two months and it was
it was pretty fierce. But I also think many people
in this industry work well under pressure. You have to,
or you would you would lose your steam and you
would lose your cool and you wouldn't get invited back
(17:51):
to plan other events. So I think we all thrive
off of that a little bit. What it did do
for me from a business perspective is I have several contractors.
I had to engage them in some current client workload,
ask them to amp their hours up so I could
be more focused on that project and so grateful for
(18:11):
my team.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
That's awesome. So did you plan events in like past
jobs and if so, how has event planning changed over
the years.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Yeah, I joke a little. As I mentioned, my parents
have passed away, but this so they're not here to vouch.
But I've been, you know, planning quote unquote parties since
I was about, you know, fifteen. I was quite the
party girl and hosted a lot of them at my
parents' home and didn't always get caught sometimes I did so,
but in all seriousness, from a professional standpoint, I was
(18:45):
that person that worked at other companies that would come
to me, he dedraw, do you want to plan the
Christmas party? Hey, we've got a customer appreciation event. Do
you want to come join that committee and be a
part of it? And part of that's my WU personality, right,
I mean fun is a huge thing that I thrive
off of. I have to have fun in my every
day or I just drained. So then when I was
(19:10):
at the Women's Business Center, we had events all the
time from our Women's Leadership program. You think about that
a training as an event, I mean where we want
the guest from the minute that they pull in the
parking lot to feel welcomed and have the good communication
and know a familiar face in there. And we had
our large women's business summit that they don't do anymore.
(19:31):
They have a summit now, but it looks very different.
That was more of a traditional conference with a couple
hundred business professionals here in Bismarck. Also, we had our
Leading Ladies Luncheon, which was more a celebratory event. So
how they've changed, Well, of course, I mean we never
used to live stream all of those and now that
(19:51):
is absolutely something that clients have to take into a
factor of their budget. When it comes to production and
are they going to record anything live stream. People find
comfort in being able to stay home and receive information
and education and participate virtually. So that's something that's changed greatly. Also.
(20:11):
I mean, we just don't have some of the vendors
that we used to have here. They've almost some of
them have retired or moved on, and so our vendors
have changed a little bit too. I think about like
planning ted X here. I don't know, we just had
some other vendors that we could bring to the table
and get creative with, and now there seems to be
(20:31):
less in some particular areas, and they just are more transactional.
They don't really want to sit at the table and
talk creatively with you. So that's what I would say,
is maybe evault over the last ten years from when
I think back at some of my early events.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
So the Women's Leadership program that was like twenty eighteen, right,
is that I think that's where I met you.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
Maybe, yeah, you were with the boards, yes.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Okay, So we were all told to bring a favorite
quote at the beginning of this. Nobody told us why.
My favorite quote is the Man in the Arena by
President Teddy Roosevelt, which if you don't know, is essentially
an entire page long. Yes, I remember yours graduation day.
Turns out they had our quotes beautifully framed, so in
(21:22):
my office to this day is my I think it's
an eleven seventeen framed quote of the man in the arena.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
I love it. But yes, those are those special touches
that we wanted to bring you back full circle from
the first minute you walked in. You had to get
up and read your quote, and it's that moment of
nobody knows me, and I really don't want it's a
transparent it's a personal thing. I mean a lot of
people do, like a doctor Seuss quote or something like that.
(21:50):
And I to remember because I don't know if you've
read the whole thing or not, but I remember Joanna
trying to figure out like how to frame all of them.
I think that was the first year that we did that.
We gifted them back to you. So I love that
you still use it.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah, it's still hanging in there. But so that kind
of you know, just leads into this. Then you really
are an easy person to work with, and you're really
just a genuinely fun person and you have a great personality,
assuming know that that doesn't always mean there are no
bumps in the roads. How do you kind of handle
conflicts with clients as they arise?
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Yeah, I thank you, First of all. I definitely tried
to work really hard to have open space for dialogue
all the time and get opinions of everybody. Sometimes though,
under pressure, you've just got to make the decision and
eat the frog and you know, take the phone call
afterwards if you made the wrong decision. But I think
(22:50):
going back to I really want to become an extension
of the client and make a decision based on all
the knowledge I've got and all the relationship that we've
had in the planning, to know that they trust me
to make sometimes some tough decisions, whether it's you know,
a vendors late and we have to pivot, or we
had to cut something like we've had speakers not show up,
(23:10):
they put them in the wrong date, things like that.
Conflict it happens. People get very excited over sometimes very
little things, and so gathering details from them, promising them,
follow up, doing whatever you can to rectify it. You know,
I can think of just attendees showing up and they
(23:31):
can't find their ticket and they can't find their receipt,
and you know it's a sole out event, and so
you're trying to find this win win, and you know,
you just you make those exceptions, but I always always
follow up. I mean, I always make sure that that
person is okay after the conflict. And they may still
not be happy with what the solution is, but I
(23:53):
definitely don't want somebody to feel like they weren't heard.
I think that's what's important, most important to me.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
So can you talk to us about your business growth
of Thirteenth Hat and where that's so.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
If you look at my logo, it's as the thirteenth
Hat Business and Event Strategy, And up to even a
month ago, you could go to my website and I
would talk about business solutions. When I started the company,
I thought there would be two revenue streams. One was
coaching training, you know, I thought i'd be back on
the stage. I thought I would be, you know, really
(24:29):
close to coaching people and using some of my John
Maxwell tools. It took me a year to put the
pride to site and say that's a messy and I
really really really know we're good at event planning, and
that's now when you go to our website, it just
talks all things event planning. I'm fortunately I haven't had
(24:49):
to market a lot. I have done some marketing things
like speaking at conferences or offering trainings I get the
North Code Association of Nonprofits conference has got me business,
but it's also helped me refine my mission as well.
And so the growth, I don't know. I have big plans.
(25:10):
I have plans to scale. I would love to have
not a big office setting, but I'd like to have
a storefront here of some sort. I am trying to
grow in Fargo. I'm meeting with potential partners in Sioux Falls.
Getting a venue was important to me, and I bought
into a venue this year, so I'm now one of
(25:33):
the part owners of Send it Over at man Down.
So there have been things like that that I said
three and four years ago if I could only have
a venue that I could hold events at as well,
and that kind of just fell my lap sooner than
I thought I would. So the growth has been really good.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
So I think it kind of zoned what I wanted
to ask you next to you talked about kind of
having these two different ideas and realizing you had to
focus on like what made sense in the moment, and
then having those plans of scaling. But any other tips
that you would have for somebody who wants to start
their own business.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
Yeah, so I had to do some reflecting because at
the Women's Business Center we coached women on starting and
growing their businesses. And not that I ever feel like
we were giving bad information, but we only knew what
we knew. And now that I am an entrepreneur and
a successful one, there are so many things that I
(26:32):
didn't know, like, for example, audits by the job service
to make sure your contractors are really contractors and not employees.
And so my advice though remains that foundation of build
what we used to call your bail team. You know,
who is your banker, what does your banking relationship look like?
Who's your you know, your accountant and managing your numbers,
(26:53):
and you know, making sure invoices are being paid timely
and your processes are in place for that. Your insurance
I have to carry a very hefty two million dollar
special insurance policy because of where we hold events. And
then that legal team I didn't I haven't had to
lean into that too. Much. But I do have you know,
legal people in my back pocket, especially when I get
(27:16):
a question from a client like what's the difference between
a volunteer and an employee? And you know, I just
had to lean into that. So I would still say
my advice is build that bail team and then just
start right when you know that your whatever that hobby
is is going to turn into a business, just open
that banking account, you know, so your finances are separate.
(27:36):
Otherwise it's messy afterwards you have to go back and
was this a personal expense or business expense like some
of those foundational things. But I would also say lean
into those resources, the Women's Business Center, the Small Business
Development Center, call like for me, I could call another
event planning company, probably not in Bismarck for advice, but
(27:57):
I might call an event planner in Billings, for example,
to get some advice like what would you do differently?
So just fostering yourself or building relationship with a mentor
as well, that's done it before is very important. I
hit a spot where I was like, do I guess
need to go back and work for somebody else? This
is hard, This is so hard, And I invested in
(28:21):
mentorship retreat. I spent weeks going through some business planning remotely,
and then I did a retreat in Florida. It was,
like I said, it was an investment, and I got
some of the best advice from sitting around a circle
of other entrepreneurs that had nothing to do with my
industry too. So that's probably what I would say, is
(28:42):
just surround yourself with those people.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
People think it's like the easiest job in the world.
When you work for yourself, you get to work when
you want, only when you want, and not three am
when you're waking up with ideas and taking notes.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
And yes, yes, I had to adjust processes because my
clients would say, do you ever sleep? And I still
hear that do you ever sleep? You're all over the place,
You're so busy. And I don't want them to think
that I'm not in a healthy spot, because to truly,
I am working harder than I ever have. I've never
not been one that wants to work multiple jobs. I mean,
(29:16):
I did my master's and worked full time and part
time while I completed a master's degree, taking care of
my parents and managing a career and my marriage, and
I can I mean, I can grind, but I'm telling
you I'm not fatigued, even though I'm working harder. When
you find what you were like, this was my colleen,
I really feel it, and I really can see the
(29:39):
growth for this company in this area and in other communities,
and I know that it's going to be worth it.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
So you had mentioned earlier that you didn't have to
do you don't have to do a lot of marketing marketing,
So then what is the most common way you get
new clients?
Speaker 4 (29:55):
I would definitely I would say networking and referrals. I
also I offer discounts to clients that sign multi year
contracts with me, and that was something I didn't do
the first year. And then I sat on the you know,
edge of the couch one night wondering am I going
to book other deals? And so that's where that idea
came from. But I'm just kind of to a point
(30:16):
now where if I were to add more clients, I
would have to add more contractors. And so I'm happy
with with my client base right now. And I have
done some marketing I have. I've done some magazines, I've
done some you know, traditional marketing and advertising, just not
a lot When I would work with women at the
(30:37):
Women's Business Center. They'd say, like, you get all these
ad agencies that call you and pitch these big numbers,
and I don't have the budget, and do I need
to do it. I haven't had to worry about that
in my budget at all. But I show up. I honestly,
I show up. I'm involved in the community. I volunteer
at places, I serve on the board, I serve on
Make a Wish, and I use a ton of social
(30:58):
media to share what we're working on.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
And one of the questions that I wanted to ask
you before we do run out of time was like,
how someone becomes a better fundraiser? But I think my question,
now that I've seen you and work like in action,
is why is their value for people to outsource their fundraising,
even if they're a nonprofit, like to bring someone like
(31:23):
you in to assist in that process?
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Yees. So I love that you asked me that question
because I actually say that there are a couple of
things we don't do. One is when a client hires us,
we don't manage their money. So we are hired just
like you pay your cater you pay us as a
contractor at the end of the event or through the planning.
So if if you want XYZ cater and we hire
(31:47):
that cater, you pay them. We don't pay that, So
you don't give us the lump sum budget of your
event and then we pay all the bills. The other
thing we don't do is actually we don't do sponsorship asks.
I love creating really great sponsorship packages to match your culture,
to match your theme of your event, to match your mission,
(32:08):
whatever it is, and I will coach you through how
to do that ask and get creative. I really really
believe that sponsorships are relationships and not just here's our
upcoming event. You know, do you want to throw a
couple hundred dollars or a couple thousand dollars at it?
I really believe that you, and what I mean by you,
the client is much more equipped with some stories and
(32:30):
can sit down and get to know your potential sponsor.
So when it comes to that, what I tell people
is we will be sitting there worrying about how many
sandwiches should be served, or what time the decorator should
show up, or all those other little details that may
be busy in your mind. As the prior event planner.
Let us worry about all those little details, so you
(32:51):
can be present with your sponsorship asks. And again, go
meet with them, Go sit down, Go bring them a
cup of coffee or what, you know, whatever it is
that they want to, you know, go toward their office,
go get to know their staff. Sponsorships are vital to events,
especially nonprofit fundraisers, and so I just you can't just
(33:13):
create a brochure and expect people to just check the box. Yes,
I'm going to be there. So we actually say that's
the second thing we don't do. We don't do your
sponsorship asks, but we'll get you to a place where
you feel comfortable doing them yourself. And I've failed at it.
I mean we've tried it and we fail.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
I see that surprises me because I feel like the
board that I'm referring to you, I feel like we're
all so much more empowered.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Now.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
We have some people that are just like go getters,
but I hate asking people for money. And so when
you have that established, like this is what's across the
board being asked, it is so helpful to just kind
of know I'm going in and asking the same thing,
just maybe in a different way than the rest of
the board.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Yes, yes, and the exact when you're referring to it's
a little it's a little unique because I still send
it those requests off as an extension on the board.
I mentioned which board member has a relationship, and they're
all first right of refusals. If it's a brand new sponsorship,
I'll ask that the client do it for sure. So
sometimes those repeat ones and you already know that are
(34:18):
gonna come back on you. Of course that's more administrative
than it is that relationship that I was talking about.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
So can you talk to us then how you were
involved in the community aside from thirteenth pat Yes.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
So when when my parents passed away, I was a
brand just had met my husband through all of this
and you know, combined households, I quit my job. I realized,
like what am I gonna do with all this time? No,
my parents were gone and I no longer had anybody
to care for. So I did two things I knew
(34:51):
I loved animals and I kind of liked kids at
the time. Sorry, Tia, I know, just ta get a
drink of water there. So I inquired on the zoo,
met with somebody who is a board member who said, yeah,
I just come to a board meeting and started with
the zoo board, and I love that. I've tried to
resign like three times. I can't give it up. Capacity
(35:12):
sometimes gets in the way, but I continue to pour
into our zoo. I think that our zoo is so fantastic,
whether it's you know, teenagers going to you know, hang out,
or young families or a date night. And we have
fun events there too that are adult only. So I
just love all that. So I pour as much energy
as I can into the zoo. Back to I think
(35:35):
I like kids. I also reach out to Make a
Wish and asked what does it look like to be
a part of Make a Wish, and so went through
the training and became a volunteerer and grant wishes. So
those are two ways that I stay involved. But I
try to anytime. I just volunteered at the Humanities event.
When I can be at an event, put me to work,
(35:55):
and so I just try to really volunteer as often
as I can, if you know, nothing else is being sacrificed,
and if I also can. Another trick is to incorporate
my family, you know, bring Matt and Harper along as well,
so I just think volunteer. I mean, I don't have
a ton of money that I can always give, but
I have time. And being a caregiver for people that
(36:19):
really really took a lot of hours every day and
every week. I realized my capacity was more than I had.
I had no idea. So now I give that time
back to the community when I can.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Well, that kind of leads us right into the last
question that we ask everyone, and that's how would you
encourage others to be a good neighbor.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
I see this question, you know, like on social media
and different groups, people post I'm brand new here, where
do you meet people? And I will I'll go back
to go volunteer. Whether it is you know your church
or a nonprofit or just don't sign up for their
newsletters of the nonprofis. We have hundreds of nonprofits around here,
(37:02):
all looking for people to get involved, whether it's you know,
helping them stain a fence or stock a cupboard or
you know, move whatever it is you can if you
can offer that, right, thank you notes. So I really
think that's a great way to get involved in our
community is go volunteer. You'll learn about that organization, but
also you'll meet people at it. And for me, I know,
(37:24):
I'm an extrovert. I know for introverts that could be
kind of hard, but for an extrovert, it's very easy.
For me, I get fatigued. Don't get me wrong, there
are times I'm done peopling. But if somebody wants to
get involved, and that's my first piece of advice for them, awesome.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Well, thank you and thanks again for everyone for tuning
into these of your neighbors. Thank you for wanting to
get to know your neighbors as we hold these important
and necessary conversations. If you found this conversation as important
as we do, please make sure to share it with
your neighbors.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Thank you for tuning in too. These or Your Neighbors
a podcast hosted by the City of Bismarck's Human Relations
Committee and produced by Dakota Media Access. We hope you
were inspired by the stories of citizens driving meaningful change
in Bismarck. For more info on the HRC, visit bismarckand
dot gov.
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by
the City of Bismarck's Human Relations Committee and produced by
Dakota Media Access. The purpose of the podcast is to
celebrate change makers in Bismarck whose contributions break barriers, build connections,
and redefine what is possible for our community.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to These Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by Tia
Jorgensen and Sergiana Woodski, both members of the City of
Bismarck's Human Relations Committee. Thank you for joining us as
we highlight the individuals driving positive change and making a
lasting impact on our community. Their stories inspire progress and
shape the future of our city.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Today's guest is Deirdre Heilman, the founder of thirteen pat,
a corporate event planning company she launched in twenty twenty
one after serving as the state director for a nonprofit organization.
With nearly fifteen years of experience in event planning, Deetera
thrives on creating memorial experiences, from fundraisers and galas to
her personal favorite conferences. She brings an energetic and strategic
(01:09):
approach to every event, ensuring each one is both impactful
and engaging. Deeter holds a master's in business from the
University of Mary and is a certified John Maxwell Coach,
facilitator and trainer, equipping her with the leadership skills to
inspire and guide others in the event planning industry. Based
in Bismarck, she lives with her husband, Matt and their
(01:30):
spirited daughter Harper. When she's not planning events, she dedicates
her time to volunteering as a wish coordinator for Make
a Wish and serving on the Dakota Zoo Board. She
and her family love adventuring together, with camping being their
favorite summer tradition. Welcome to a program, Deirdre.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Thank you for having me excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
I'm pretty sure Harper beat Matt time wise at the
Parkinson's race just recently, didn't.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
She's very proud of it. Yes, I thought so too,
by like five or six seconds. It's fun to see
them run together.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
But why is Bismarck home for you guys?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Well, Bismarck has been home to me since I was
about twelve years old. I'm actually a Bowman girl. That's
where I was born and raised. You're giggling because how
many of your guests? Yes, oh, Jackie's.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Because everyone's from like Southwestern should.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Be from the western North are going on.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
It's amazing. But moved up here, graduated high school. I
did leave for a hot minute. I went to Minneapolis
for a couple of years and came back. I married Matt,
who is not leaving. I don't know. Maybe I would
have possibly left again at some point in time. Part
of my story is that my parents all became terminally ill.
(02:43):
My mom, my stepdad, and my dad became terminally ill
with cancer right when I was actually interviewing for jobs
in Phoenix, so they actually didn't know I was looking
for work, and really glad that I stayed to stay
down as a caregiver for them and really learned what
the community can do for you at times at adversity.
I had never led on my community like that before,
and don't plant on leaving.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
No, So what made you want to start your own
event planning business, especially so close to the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
It was a little bit of an accident. I hung
up the hat, if you will, at that nonprofit. It
was the North CoA women's business center. I just had
great leadership fatigue. That's really the only way I can
describe it now. I couldn't describe it then, and a
couple of the clients that I had worked with from
the Women's Business Center came to me and said, will
you continue on some of the events that you had
(03:34):
at the Women's Business Center? Will those stay on? I
had a federal contract at the time. I was actually
doing federal programming, training, developing content, and finding speakers across
the nation to help businesses reopen post COVID, And that's
when the thirteenth hat was dreamt up at about four
in the morning of really filling a need. I definitely
(03:57):
leveraged the fact that many people didn't come back at
full workforce. I mean many people statistics, as you know,
during COVID, we're working two two and a half jobs,
and some of them are coming back to the workplace
only doing one job, maybe sticking with their full time
career and not their part time gigs. Also, I think
people protected their time more so when you think about
(04:17):
event planners, it's oftentimes somebody in human resources or somebody
your front desk administration person that's got that bubbly personality.
It's not an actual paid position. So I leveraged that
I reached out to executives and said, you can hire
me on as a project manager temporary for a sliver
of what you pay the salary. You can continue to
(04:39):
support the other team members and keep them in their roles,
and I'll help you plan your events. And events were
huge post COVID. People had funding they had to spend,
they had requirements to get people cut up in continuing education, credits, fundraisers,
all those things, and so it grew very quickly.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I think it's really easy for people who are not
involved in the event planning of whether it's a business
or nonprofit, to assume that it's just like an easy task.
People can I think we all know that that is
not the case. But with yours, the name is thirteenth Hat.
(05:19):
How did you come up with that?
Speaker 4 (05:21):
I was born to entrepreneurs, serial entrepreneurs. Literally. My dad
had many businesses, some went very successfully and some failed.
My mom and my stepdad were realtors brokers in the community,
and so entrepreneurship was definitely in my blood. My dad's
(05:42):
first company was called Hat Electric, and I wanted to
honor that somehow. Also. I used to coach women on
starting their businesses when I was at the Women's Business Center,
and I would talk about all the hats you have
to wear, all the plates you have to spin whatever
fit them, you know, all the balls you're trying to juggle,
and when you're going to drop one or need to
take a off like I had to during adversity, who
(06:02):
can wear that hat for you? And I just loved
the number thirteen, So I kind of came up with
this spin. It was quite lengthy at the beginning, but
I would say, when planning an event, you've got to
wear a dozen hats at any given time, and you
can hire us to wear one or all of them,
and then inevitably, at thirteenth one is going to get
thrown at you, and we'll wear that one too.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
That's awesome, very great name.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Thank you so.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
In reading your bio when T and I were talking
to put the questions together, we're very surprised that your
favorite part of event planning is conferences. So why conferences?
All things?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
You don't think you'd like that those are my jam
They are my favorite. They are so complex, from thinking
about the guest experience and the food and the timing
of the breaks to the swag. Also, I used to
and I am I'm a speaker this week actually at
a conference. I've been a speaker, so I understand what
(06:57):
a speaker needs to be successful. So helping identify speakers
and curate their messages to get people in the room
all the way to you know, the feedback and the
surveys afterwards. What I personally love is you have to
work the grind is so much in the forefront of
the event and then event day, like you just have
to know where you need to be every minute of
(07:19):
the day, and so you work so hard to build
that run of show or that you know, TikTok whatever
you call it within your organization, and then it's just
like you see all the pieces come together that day.
Where as a fundraiser or gala like you are game on,
it's not until I don't know, the energy in the
(07:39):
room gets really filled and it's just a higher expectation.
I think. Is a conference a conference you can always
even if a speaker doesn't show, you can sub them,
you can send them to another breakout. I just love conferences,
everything about them.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
So what is the like a typical size conference that
you do or even the largest one that you've done.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Yeah, good question. I don't know how to quantify that.
Sometimes it's a number of attendees. Sometimes, like when it's
a fundraiser, it's you know, dollars raised. But I have planned, well,
not a conference, but I helped plan a sponsorship event
at a music festival in Minnesota, a very large music festival,
(08:22):
and I had anywhere from one thousand people to about
twelve hundred people every night. It's over four thousand people
in three days. But conferences tend to around here, average
around three fifty four fifty. I have planned them up
to six hundred though.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
So besides these awesome, fun, super exciting conferences, not that
the conferences aren't, but the lead up to it planning.
You know, at the time of kind of preparing this,
you were also working with Bismark Parkinson Support Group on
with our annual race. But what are you know, other
than those typical race fundraisers, conferences, What are some of
(09:01):
the other things that you help with.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
So I have such a variety of clients and I
love it. And some are corporate and independent companies and
a lot of nonprofits. I tend to attract a lot
of nonprofits, so a lot of those are educational opportunities,
it might be board retreats, it might be staff retreats.
We just did last summer, honored to work with a
(09:24):
nonprofit that held sixty people at a retreat in the
Black Hills, and so we got to plan that all
through Customer State Park in Rapid City and all the
details from transportation and meals and sleeping arrangements to intentional
connection moments. I've also helped plan the mandad Rodeo. So
(09:47):
I kind of joke, you know, one day you're like
in your tennis shoes and jeans, and then the next
day I was honored. I had the opportunity to plan
the book signing for Harold Ham a couple of years ago,
and so you're very formal and professional and gear. And
then I have the winter By Party that is a
fun cocktail, networking, mixer, social that you're in your heels
(10:09):
an address, and so the variety is pretty vast. I
had no idea when I started the company. I thought
if I could get some small, some medium, some large
companies that I could help them with, that would be
the perfect recipe. And I'd say, we're really close to
being there. So huge variety of events.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
So what have been some of your favorite events to plan.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I know I saw that one. It's like picking your
favorite child. I mean I already said conferences are some
of my some of my favorites. I think though, anytime
I can help plan an event with some level of impact, yes,
I love helping, you know, with open house or a
(10:54):
staff celebration. But when I have the opportunity to impact,
like giving Hearts for example. You know, I'm the contractor
in Bismarck from the Fargo team the Dakota Medical Impact
Foundation for giving Heart stay. When I look at what
was it, thirty two million dollars raised for nonprofits, and
(11:14):
I think I was a little tiny slice of that,
and I maybe encouraged somebody to take a risk with
their fundraising, or maybe I educated a business on how
to get involved. That really fills my heart. And I
don't even know how to describe that to somebody that's
never had that opportunity. But as a solo preneur, you
(11:36):
have to take those moments and pause and celebrate those things.
And I think if I didn't have that fulfillment, I
would have fatigue. I mean, we're joking a little bit
about conferences, and you guys are like, oh, what's so
fun about that? I mean, there is such thing as
event hangover and what I call and I am just
this unique character that I can get up the next
day and I can't wait to do the next event.
(11:57):
I don't have that fatigue.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Do you ever have a sadness that the event's over?
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Though?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Are you just sing to the next event?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (12:06):
I mean I have had clients that have retired events
and that makes me sad or maybe they go different direction.
As of last year, I had one hundred percent return
on clients. But now I'm seeing people make changes or pivots,
or they're hiring within and so to plan their events.
So then they hire me as the consultant to come
train that person, so I still get to standalf So yeah,
(12:27):
I get sad when they don't do them anymore. But
I think that's when I just sat across the table
from a nonprofit yesterday we were doing a giving heard
stay debrief, and I asked them how their largest fundraiser went,
which was last month, and they're like, so grateful it's over.
And that hurts my heart. But that's the solution that
(12:47):
I that's the problem that I helped solve. Is I
don't want our clients to be exhausted or remorseful after
their event. I want them to be present at it.
And I really hear time and time again by us
joining the team that that's what they get to be.
They get to be a part of their event instead
of just working and being really drained afterwards.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
When you ask Sergeiana about you know, like, do you
get sad when it's over, a lot of the nonprofits
that I've been involved in, like TIM or D White
and Blue, we get to go do these awesome things
and then we all leave and go back home separated,
and it is like truly devastating. And what I think
is so interesting about you and getting to kind of
have worked with you in some nonprofits is you would
(13:28):
never know that you are not one hundred percent a
part of the team that's there all the time doing
the work every day, every day every day, that you're
kind of that facilitator of the event. And so, you know,
some of us we may feel that sadness that the
race is over, but luckily we have people like you
(13:49):
that are like, let's not even a month later, what
can we do better for next year?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
You know?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I coach clients my clients that the event doesn't end.
When the event ends. There's so much work and opportunity
to do post event. So you're right. I was working
on the agenda actually this weekend for the Perkinson's event,
because every all the ideas are fresh and new, and
I also like to make when possible, when I have
(14:20):
a creative client, if they've had the event for several years,
I really like to come up with some new ideas
and create some unpredictability to the guests. And so I
think the best way to do that is when you're
coming off fresh from the event and thinking about what
worked well, you know, what are areas of improvement. We
all go to events, we all go to conferences nationally,
(14:41):
we all go to events and other communities and so
I'll say, what did you see at another event that
how can we incorporate it here? Or And of course
I am a podcast listener. I get new ideas. There's
some women that are on the East West coast sorry
called Better Events. I think is their podcast, and I'm
addicted to them and I just get so energized by
(15:03):
listening to them and new ideas, and that's something they
talk about to it just you have to continue the feedback,
and you have to get it from both the client
and the attendees and your vendors and your speakers and
the people who serve the food, anywhere you can get it.
Just to see what worked.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Well, You'd be very proud of me. As the race
was going on, I was emailing. I'm not even taking notes.
I would email Corey. Corey, who's one of our the
main board members. I would email her and then like,
we need to do this next year. And then I
think she probably had twenty seven emails from me by.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
The time race work.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
But while it's in your head, you have to like,
you do you have to say it yeah, okay, but
we'll stop talking about the race that I'm familiar with now.
It was I think it was pretty well publicized the
Governor Armstrong's inaugural gallo, which you were able to plan.
Talk about everything that went into that and how it can.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Vote strong partnerships for sure. So that particular event was
put on actually by the thirteenth Hat my company, but
also the Fanatics is another event planning company in town.
It's owned by the same owners of The larks Or.
John Bollinger is the founder of the Fanatics team and
we partnered up on it, but I definitely wore that
(16:23):
captain hat and project managed that strong vendor relationships, casting
the vision from the client and keeping them very involved
was important. So Jac from the Governor's Office, what fantastic
and fun time we had working with her and the
first Lady and just we couldn't have pulled off a
(16:45):
better event. Honestly, I think there were so many wow factors.
The event center can sometimes have some stricter rules, and
we got we got to get really creative with this one.
Just from moving security to the typical where you walk
into the event center and I was like, Robert, can
we can we move security to a different door and
(17:06):
what would that look like? And how would we you know?
And we just did walk through after walk through and
hours and hours of meetings. And I'm a very visual person,
so as often as the team could get together and
share visuals, it just it fell into place so nicely.
And what an honor to be a part of that event.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
How long did you have to plan that? I don't
think it was very long, was it?
Speaker 4 (17:29):
No, Because you can't start anything until after the results
are in, So it was right around Thanksgiving really when
we kicked it off, so two months and it was
it was pretty fierce. But I also think many people
in this industry work well under pressure. You have to,
or you would you would lose your steam and you
would lose your cool and you wouldn't get invited back
(17:51):
to plan other events. So I think we all thrive
off of that a little bit. What it did do
for me from a business perspective is I have several contractors.
I had to engage them in some current client workload,
ask them to amp their hours up so I could
be more focused on that project and so grateful for
(18:11):
my team.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
That's awesome. So did you plan events in like past
jobs and if so, how has event planning changed over
the years.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Yeah, I joke a little. As I mentioned, my parents
have passed away, but this so they're not here to vouch.
But I've been, you know, planning quote unquote parties since
I was about, you know, fifteen. I was quite the
party girl and hosted a lot of them at my
parents' home and didn't always get caught sometimes I did so,
but in all seriousness, from a professional standpoint, I was
(18:45):
that person that worked at other companies that would come
to me, he dedraw, do you want to plan the
Christmas party? Hey, we've got a customer appreciation event. Do
you want to come join that committee and be a
part of it? And part of that's my WU personality, right,
I mean fun is a huge thing that I thrive
off of. I have to have fun in my every
day or I just drained. So then when I was
(19:10):
at the Women's Business Center, we had events all the
time from our Women's Leadership program. You think about that
a training as an event, I mean where we want
the guest from the minute that they pull in the
parking lot to feel welcomed and have the good communication
and know a familiar face in there. And we had
our large women's business summit that they don't do anymore.
(19:31):
They have a summit now, but it looks very different.
That was more of a traditional conference with a couple
hundred business professionals here in Bismarck. Also, we had our
Leading Ladies Luncheon, which was more a celebratory event. So
how they've changed, Well, of course, I mean we never
used to live stream all of those and now that
(19:51):
is absolutely something that clients have to take into a
factor of their budget. When it comes to production and
are they going to record anything live stream. People find
comfort in being able to stay home and receive information
and education and participate virtually. So that's something that's changed greatly. Also.
(20:11):
I mean, we just don't have some of the vendors
that we used to have here. They've almost some of
them have retired or moved on, and so our vendors
have changed a little bit too. I think about like
planning ted X here. I don't know, we just had
some other vendors that we could bring to the table
and get creative with, and now there seems to be
(20:31):
less in some particular areas, and they just are more transactional.
They don't really want to sit at the table and
talk creatively with you. So that's what I would say,
is maybe evault over the last ten years from when
I think back at some of my early events.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
So the Women's Leadership program that was like twenty eighteen, right,
is that I think that's where I met you.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
Maybe, yeah, you were with the boards, yes.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Okay, So we were all told to bring a favorite
quote at the beginning of this. Nobody told us why.
My favorite quote is the Man in the Arena by
President Teddy Roosevelt, which if you don't know, is essentially
an entire page long. Yes, I remember yours graduation day.
Turns out they had our quotes beautifully framed, so in
(21:22):
my office to this day is my I think it's
an eleven seventeen framed quote of the man in the arena.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
I love it. But yes, those are those special touches
that we wanted to bring you back full circle from
the first minute you walked in. You had to get
up and read your quote, and it's that moment of
nobody knows me, and I really don't want it's a
transparent it's a personal thing. I mean a lot of
people do, like a doctor Seuss quote or something like that.
(21:50):
And I to remember because I don't know if you've
read the whole thing or not, but I remember Joanna
trying to figure out like how to frame all of them.
I think that was the first year that we did that.
We gifted them back to you. So I love that
you still use it.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah, it's still hanging in there. But so that kind
of you know, just leads into this. Then you really
are an easy person to work with, and you're really
just a genuinely fun person and you have a great personality,
assuming know that that doesn't always mean there are no
bumps in the roads. How do you kind of handle
conflicts with clients as they arise?
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Yeah, I thank you, First of all. I definitely tried
to work really hard to have open space for dialogue
all the time and get opinions of everybody. Sometimes though,
under pressure, you've just got to make the decision and
eat the frog and you know, take the phone call
afterwards if you made the wrong decision. But I think
(22:50):
going back to I really want to become an extension
of the client and make a decision based on all
the knowledge I've got and all the relationship that we've
had in the planning, to know that they trust me
to make sometimes some tough decisions, whether it's you know,
a vendors late and we have to pivot, or we
had to cut something like we've had speakers not show up,
(23:10):
they put them in the wrong date, things like that.
Conflict it happens. People get very excited over sometimes very
little things, and so gathering details from them, promising them,
follow up, doing whatever you can to rectify it. You know,
I can think of just attendees showing up and they
(23:31):
can't find their ticket and they can't find their receipt,
and you know it's a sole out event, and so
you're trying to find this win win, and you know,
you just you make those exceptions, but I always always
follow up. I mean, I always make sure that that
person is okay after the conflict. And they may still
not be happy with what the solution is, but I
(23:53):
definitely don't want somebody to feel like they weren't heard.
I think that's what's important, most important to me.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
So can you talk to us about your business growth
of Thirteenth Hat and where that's so.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
If you look at my logo, it's as the thirteenth
Hat Business and Event Strategy, And up to even a
month ago, you could go to my website and I
would talk about business solutions. When I started the company,
I thought there would be two revenue streams. One was
coaching training, you know, I thought i'd be back on
the stage. I thought I would be, you know, really
(24:29):
close to coaching people and using some of my John
Maxwell tools. It took me a year to put the
pride to site and say that's a messy and I
really really really know we're good at event planning, and
that's now when you go to our website, it just
talks all things event planning. I'm fortunately I haven't had
(24:49):
to market a lot. I have done some marketing things
like speaking at conferences or offering trainings I get the
North Code Association of Nonprofits conference has got me business,
but it's also helped me refine my mission as well.
And so the growth, I don't know. I have big plans.
(25:10):
I have plans to scale. I would love to have
not a big office setting, but I'd like to have
a storefront here of some sort. I am trying to
grow in Fargo. I'm meeting with potential partners in Sioux Falls.
Getting a venue was important to me, and I bought
into a venue this year, so I'm now one of
(25:33):
the part owners of Send it Over at man Down.
So there have been things like that that I said
three and four years ago if I could only have
a venue that I could hold events at as well,
and that kind of just fell my lap sooner than
I thought I would. So the growth has been really good.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
So I think it kind of zoned what I wanted
to ask you next to you talked about kind of
having these two different ideas and realizing you had to
focus on like what made sense in the moment, and
then having those plans of scaling. But any other tips
that you would have for somebody who wants to start
their own business.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
Yeah, so I had to do some reflecting because at
the Women's Business Center we coached women on starting and
growing their businesses. And not that I ever feel like
we were giving bad information, but we only knew what
we knew. And now that I am an entrepreneur and
a successful one, there are so many things that I
(26:32):
didn't know, like, for example, audits by the job service
to make sure your contractors are really contractors and not employees.
And so my advice though remains that foundation of build
what we used to call your bail team. You know,
who is your banker, what does your banking relationship look like?
Who's your you know, your accountant and managing your numbers,
(26:53):
and you know, making sure invoices are being paid timely
and your processes are in place for that. Your insurance
I have to carry a very hefty two million dollar
special insurance policy because of where we hold events. And
then that legal team I didn't I haven't had to
lean into that too. Much. But I do have you know,
legal people in my back pocket, especially when I get
(27:16):
a question from a client like what's the difference between
a volunteer and an employee? And you know, I just
had to lean into that. So I would still say
my advice is build that bail team and then just
start right when you know that your whatever that hobby
is is going to turn into a business, just open
that banking account, you know, so your finances are separate.
(27:36):
Otherwise it's messy afterwards you have to go back and
was this a personal expense or business expense like some
of those foundational things. But I would also say lean
into those resources, the Women's Business Center, the Small Business
Development Center, call like for me, I could call another
event planning company, probably not in Bismarck for advice, but
(27:57):
I might call an event planner in Billings, for example,
to get some advice like what would you do differently?
So just fostering yourself or building relationship with a mentor
as well, that's done it before is very important. I
hit a spot where I was like, do I guess
need to go back and work for somebody else? This
is hard, This is so hard, And I invested in
(28:21):
mentorship retreat. I spent weeks going through some business planning remotely,
and then I did a retreat in Florida. It was,
like I said, it was an investment, and I got
some of the best advice from sitting around a circle
of other entrepreneurs that had nothing to do with my
industry too. So that's probably what I would say, is
(28:42):
just surround yourself with those people.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
People think it's like the easiest job in the world.
When you work for yourself, you get to work when
you want, only when you want, and not three am
when you're waking up with ideas and taking notes.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
And yes, yes, I had to adjust processes because my
clients would say, do you ever sleep? And I still
hear that do you ever sleep? You're all over the place,
You're so busy. And I don't want them to think
that I'm not in a healthy spot, because to truly,
I am working harder than I ever have. I've never
not been one that wants to work multiple jobs. I mean,
(29:16):
I did my master's and worked full time and part
time while I completed a master's degree, taking care of
my parents and managing a career and my marriage, and
I can I mean, I can grind, but I'm telling
you I'm not fatigued, even though I'm working harder. When
you find what you were like, this was my colleen,
I really feel it, and I really can see the
(29:39):
growth for this company in this area and in other communities,
and I know that it's going to be worth it.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
So you had mentioned earlier that you didn't have to
do you don't have to do a lot of marketing marketing,
So then what is the most common way you get
new clients?
Speaker 4 (29:55):
I would definitely I would say networking and referrals. I
also I offer discounts to clients that sign multi year
contracts with me, and that was something I didn't do
the first year. And then I sat on the you know,
edge of the couch one night wondering am I going
to book other deals? And so that's where that idea
came from. But I'm just kind of to a point
(30:16):
now where if I were to add more clients, I
would have to add more contractors. And so I'm happy
with with my client base right now. And I have
done some marketing I have. I've done some magazines, I've
done some you know, traditional marketing and advertising, just not
a lot When I would work with women at the
(30:37):
Women's Business Center. They'd say, like, you get all these
ad agencies that call you and pitch these big numbers,
and I don't have the budget, and do I need
to do it. I haven't had to worry about that
in my budget at all. But I show up. I honestly,
I show up. I'm involved in the community. I volunteer
at places, I serve on the board, I serve on
Make a Wish, and I use a ton of social
(30:58):
media to share what we're working on.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
And one of the questions that I wanted to ask
you before we do run out of time was like,
how someone becomes a better fundraiser? But I think my question,
now that I've seen you and work like in action,
is why is their value for people to outsource their fundraising,
even if they're a nonprofit, like to bring someone like
(31:23):
you in to assist in that process?
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Yees. So I love that you asked me that question
because I actually say that there are a couple of
things we don't do. One is when a client hires us,
we don't manage their money. So we are hired just
like you pay your cater you pay us as a
contractor at the end of the event or through the planning.
So if if you want XYZ cater and we hire
(31:47):
that cater, you pay them. We don't pay that, So
you don't give us the lump sum budget of your
event and then we pay all the bills. The other
thing we don't do is actually we don't do sponsorship asks.
I love creating really great sponsorship packages to match your culture,
to match your theme of your event, to match your mission,
(32:08):
whatever it is, and I will coach you through how
to do that ask and get creative. I really really
believe that sponsorships are relationships and not just here's our
upcoming event. You know, do you want to throw a
couple hundred dollars or a couple thousand dollars at it?
I really believe that you, and what I mean by you,
the client is much more equipped with some stories and
(32:30):
can sit down and get to know your potential sponsor.
So when it comes to that, what I tell people
is we will be sitting there worrying about how many
sandwiches should be served, or what time the decorator should
show up, or all those other little details that may
be busy in your mind. As the prior event planner.
Let us worry about all those little details, so you
(32:51):
can be present with your sponsorship asks. And again, go
meet with them, Go sit down, Go bring them a
cup of coffee or what, you know, whatever it is
that they want to, you know, go toward their office,
go get to know their staff. Sponsorships are vital to events,
especially nonprofit fundraisers, and so I just you can't just
(33:13):
create a brochure and expect people to just check the box. Yes,
I'm going to be there. So we actually say that's
the second thing we don't do. We don't do your
sponsorship asks, but we'll get you to a place where
you feel comfortable doing them yourself. And I've failed at it.
I mean we've tried it and we fail.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
I see that surprises me because I feel like the
board that I'm referring to you, I feel like we're
all so much more empowered.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Now.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
We have some people that are just like go getters,
but I hate asking people for money. And so when
you have that established, like this is what's across the
board being asked, it is so helpful to just kind
of know I'm going in and asking the same thing,
just maybe in a different way than the rest of
the board.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Yes, yes, and the exact when you're referring to it's
a little it's a little unique because I still send
it those requests off as an extension on the board.
I mentioned which board member has a relationship, and they're
all first right of refusals. If it's a brand new sponsorship,
I'll ask that the client do it for sure. So
sometimes those repeat ones and you already know that are
(34:18):
gonna come back on you. Of course that's more administrative
than it is that relationship that I was talking about.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
So can you talk to us then how you were
involved in the community aside from thirteenth pat Yes.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
So when when my parents passed away, I was a
brand just had met my husband through all of this
and you know, combined households, I quit my job. I realized,
like what am I gonna do with all this time? No,
my parents were gone and I no longer had anybody
to care for. So I did two things I knew
(34:51):
I loved animals and I kind of liked kids at
the time. Sorry, Tia, I know, just ta get a
drink of water there. So I inquired on the zoo,
met with somebody who is a board member who said, yeah,
I just come to a board meeting and started with
the zoo board, and I love that. I've tried to
resign like three times. I can't give it up. Capacity
(35:12):
sometimes gets in the way, but I continue to pour
into our zoo. I think that our zoo is so fantastic,
whether it's you know, teenagers going to you know, hang out,
or young families or a date night. And we have
fun events there too that are adult only. So I
just love all that. So I pour as much energy
as I can into the zoo. Back to I think
(35:35):
I like kids. I also reach out to Make a
Wish and asked what does it look like to be
a part of Make a Wish, and so went through
the training and became a volunteerer and grant wishes. So
those are two ways that I stay involved. But I
try to anytime. I just volunteered at the Humanities event.
When I can be at an event, put me to work,
(35:55):
and so I just try to really volunteer as often
as I can, if you know, nothing else is being sacrificed,
and if I also can. Another trick is to incorporate
my family, you know, bring Matt and Harper along as well,
so I just think volunteer. I mean, I don't have
a ton of money that I can always give, but
I have time. And being a caregiver for people that
(36:19):
really really took a lot of hours every day and
every week. I realized my capacity was more than I had.
I had no idea. So now I give that time
back to the community when I can.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Well, that kind of leads us right into the last
question that we ask everyone, and that's how would you
encourage others to be a good neighbor.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
I see this question, you know, like on social media
and different groups, people post I'm brand new here, where
do you meet people? And I will I'll go back
to go volunteer. Whether it is you know your church
or a nonprofit or just don't sign up for their
newsletters of the nonprofis. We have hundreds of nonprofits around here,
(37:02):
all looking for people to get involved, whether it's you know,
helping them stain a fence or stock a cupboard or
you know, move whatever it is you can if you
can offer that, right, thank you notes. So I really
think that's a great way to get involved in our
community is go volunteer. You'll learn about that organization, but
also you'll meet people at it. And for me, I know,
(37:24):
I'm an extrovert. I know for introverts that could be
kind of hard, but for an extrovert, it's very easy.
For me, I get fatigued. Don't get me wrong, there
are times I'm done peopling. But if somebody wants to
get involved, and that's my first piece of advice for them, awesome.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Well, thank you and thanks again for everyone for tuning
into these of your neighbors. Thank you for wanting to
get to know your neighbors as we hold these important
and necessary conversations. If you found this conversation as important
as we do, please make sure to share it with
your neighbors.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Thank you for tuning in too. These or Your Neighbors
a podcast hosted by the City of Bismarck's Human Relations
Committee and produced by Dakota Media Access. We hope you
were inspired by the stories of citizens driving meaningful change
in Bismarck. For more info on the HRC, visit bismarckand
dot gov.
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