Episode 174: From Side Hustle To CEO | Casey Hohman | Founder of Scottsdale Bachelorette
Casey Hohman is one of those people who makes you believe anything is possible. What started as a side hustle became a wildly successful company. Casey learned how to lead, grow, and stay grounded as a first-time founder. He opens up about the early days, the mindset shifts that helped him go from employee to entrepreneur, and how he's scaling something joyful without losing his own spark.
“Instead of “what’s the worst thing that could happen” why not spend time asking “what’s the best thing that can happen”?”
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Cabana Boys - Nelson Brooks
Must Do in Scottsdale
CamelBack Mountain - hike
Toca Madera - MX restaurant with fire dancers
The Montauk - brunch place
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters
00:00 From side hustle to CEO
01:20 How Scottsdale became a bachelorette hub
03:00 Casey’s pivot from corporate life
05:15 Early signs of traction
07:00 Building systems that scale
09:45 Lessons from leadership and growth
11:30 The mindset shift to “I am a founder”
13:15 Working with a business coach
15:00 Redefining success through entrepreneurship
17:30 Learning how to rest while growing
19:00 When personal growth meets business growth
21:30 Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
23:15 What powerful means to Casey
I had this gravitational bolt that was pulling me away from, more people submitting inquiries. More of my attention and time was getting focused on this, and I hit this point of okay, I've got this full-time job, but I've also got this thing that's really starting to take off.
What do I do?
That's Casey Hohman and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Hey guys, I'm Kara Duffy, a business coach and entrepreneur on a mission to help you live your most extraordinary life. By showing you anything is possible, people who have mastered freedom, ease, and success, who are living. Their best and most ridiculous lives and who are making an impact. Are often people you've never heard of until now.
Today's guest is someone I am so proud of. Casey is an entrepreneur and founder of Scottsdale Bachelorette focusing on decor, itineraries, and additional services for bachelorette parties. He's a business coaching client of mine who has made huge leaps and bounds including quitting his day job to run the business full time, building out a great team and continuing to make tricky choices each day to keep crushing it.
As a leader, a business owner, and also celebrating all that Scottsdale has to offer. His business has been taking off like a rocket ship based on the quality. And the amazing moment that he's creating for his customers. I'm so excited for you to meet him and to hear his story.
Welcome to The Powerful Today Gentleman's podcast.
I'm so honored to be here and chatting with you and in this format instead of our coaching format.
I know, I'm super excited. So let's tell everybody right away. Who you are, where you are, and what you're up to.
Yes. So my name's Casey Hohman. I'm the owner and founder of Scottsdale Bachelorette.
I'm actually in Phoenix, Arizona. But right next to Scottsdale. And what we're up to is we are building an awesome bachelorette party planning company here in Scottsdale, Arizona. The number two most popular destination for bachelorette parties this year in the us.
And the other thing about you is that you are one of my super all-star clients.
There are not many people who are allowed to graduate into a once a month option for coaching, and you take the coaching and run with it and you've killed it. I just wanna brag a little bit about you to everyone listening, if that's okay.
Please.
So we started working together and you hadn't even been a full year in business yet, but yet in that first year of coaching, you were able to scale your business to such a degree that you were able to make the leap and quit your day job.
So I wanna just start at the beginning. How did you get into bachelor parties? What was your day job? Have you always been in Phoenix? I have so many questions. I'm sure everyone listening does as well. So let's start at the beginning.
Yeah, so I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I went to school for business and marketing, and when I graduated I had the opportunity to move out with my sister to San Francisco, and I thought that'd be a really great start for me.
Just a noose. City, brand new outta college. It would be a really great opportunity for me. So I started working out there and quickly got a job into sales, which is a typical, entry level position for a lot of people coming outta college. And that turned out to be such a good experience for me.
I worked for a wedding photography company at the time where I was talking to brides and helping them get connected with photographers. Then pivoted from that into the world of startups as many people in San Francisco do. So I had a really long stint with Yelp actually selling, working with them on advertising.
And then I moved my way into to sales management and had the opportunity with them. They opened an office out in Scottsdale, which a lot of tech companies at the time were, having satellite branch offices out in Arizona. The cost of living was less. There's a really great, pool of talent from schools like a SU and U of a.
And so I said yes. I said, why not? I was there for a few years and it sounded like a really good opportunity and I was very hesitant to move to Arizona at the time. Just the climate of different things that were happening at the time and was just nervous about it. It wasn't the cool place that it is today.
It had a bad rap at the time and, but I decided to do it. And once I moved out to Arizona, it instantly felt like home. Life was just a lot easier for me. I really found a great group of friends, great group of people, and I really just fell in love with Arizona itself. And I continued to work for startups.
After Yelp, I went to Uber and worked for them. Then went to a real estate tech company. So I was getting to grow my career and working in the field of startups. And what I really loved about working for startups was the opportunity to build something, whether it was, this new project we're working on, or training new hires or whatever it was, Hey, we don't have this figured out.
And I got to be the person that helped to figure it out. And I loved that about the work that I was doing. And fast forward to kind of 2019 or 2000, December of 2018. I started to see some bachelorette parties coming to town and I thought from my perspective how do they know where to go and what to do and that type of thing.
And one of the things I hate about traveling is. Trying to figure out where to go and what to do. Like I'm planning a trip right now to, to Thailand, and it's so difficult. Like I hate spending hours of research. I hate doing that. And I thought, Hey, I'm local. I could tell these. I could help these people figure out where to go and what to do.
And I've always had women as my friends growing up. Through ever since grade school and into high school, as a gay person? As a gay man, I've always been more in touch, I think, with the feminine side of myself than maybe most people or most men in that case at least.
And so I've always had a really good understanding of what women like and what women want because they're my friends and I do understand where they're coming from a lot of times. So that was how I got the idea and, it's just been a journey since then.
What did your friends and family think when you said, I'm gonna start a bachelor planning and decor business?
Okay. Like probably a little bit out of left field and everyone's is that a thing type? I think like with a lot of businesses, they're like, is that a business? Is, can you do something like that? And at first I was just curious about it. I just thought, you know what, why not me?
Why not? I have my sister has her own business. My dad was a roofer. I have some people that have been entrepreneurs and know other people that are entrepreneurs that. I think I have my stuff together a lot better than them in a lot of cases, some other people. And I'm like, if they can't do it, why can't?
And if they can do it, why can't I? And I've just always been curious about it. So I think when I started it, it was more out of curiosity to be like, Hey, why don't I just, I'll do it as a side hustle. It'll be a little extra income on the side and it'll be fun to learn from it. And so that's how I got started.
And how it, built from there.
What was the point when you realized, oh shit, this is actually a business.
I think it was last year. It was probably around the time that I came to you and had, and started to think about coaching. It started in 2018. 2019 was really my first year in business, and that was whenever it was just like a side hustle and, figuring things out and, it wasn't really taking off.
Obviously we had. 2020 was the pandemic. And so there was a huge downturn there. And again, wasn't something I was concerned about 'cause this was just my side business. But then in 2021 things really started to turn around. I had created some decor packages, which, the product offering really seemed to fit.
With what, I did it for myself to make it easier for us to do our setups, the right then is when I realized that this is what the people really wanted and that's when it started to blow up and people were getting orders. And then, also it just started to, I had this gravitational pool that was pulling me away from, more people submitting inquiries.
More of my attention and time was getting focused on this. And I hit this point of okay, I've got this full-time job. But I've also got this thing that's really starting to take off. What do I do? And that was that scary moment of do I take the plunge and actually think about doing this and come up with a plan to do it?
Or do I just kinda let this be a side thing and continue to grow my career in the corporate field? And that was that moment when I was like, okay, I think I gotta do this.
Yeah. How many people talk about being at that fork in the road where there was no reason for you to leave? The career you had, you were successful, you, it was working, it was providing what you needed in life, and yet you saw this business growing.
Like what was it that was in that entrepreneurial space where you said, you know what I'm gonna make the right turn. I'm gonna go and try this out. Were you scared? Were you nervous? What did you have to factor in before you could be like, okay, we're gonna do it?
Yeah, I think the biggest thing that I've learned from jumping from a, corporate job into being, a full-time entrepreneur, is that a lot of times you talk yourself out of doing what you wanna do.
Out of fear. And that was the biggest sticking point for me was, when I was considering it or when I was thinking about doing it, I was thinking about all these, what ifs that could go wrong. What if I don't make any money? What if I, what if I give up all this?
How am I gonna do this? How am I gonna pay for my health insurance? All these things that were just like the worst case scenario in my head. And when I really sat down and thought about the worst case scenario, it really wasn't as bad as. I thought it was, and for anyone thinking about this, it's not as bad as you think it would be.
You've got a network typically of family and friends and people that will be there for you and, I wasn't gonna end up homeless or I could sell my condo if I needed to, whatever, right? It's not gonna be as bad as you think it is. Instead, I flip that to, to say what's the best thing that could happen?
Instead of, what's the worst thing that happen? What's the best thing? How could this actually turn out to be really great for me? Great for me, not only financially, but as a person and help me grow. And if it doesn't work out, I could be even more marketable in the job market than I am right now. Because I went through this experience.
And so I think that was the pivotal moment for me when I really sat down and. Put aside the fears and actually mapped them out and came up with a plan of okay, worst case scenario, what's my runway and how long I could survive without needing to ask friends or family for anything?
And then can I do that? And then if I don't, what's my plan? Then? What's my backup plan? And once I had that mapped out, I was like, all right let's give this a try.
And in that first year, besides taking the leap from side hustle to full-time, you've also expanded your team. You got a space that you've been rinsing out.
You invested in vehicles like your growth trajectory has been pretty phenomenal and you've made more decisions in year one than I think most people make in the first five years. Has it all occurred to you, as of course this is what I do next, or does each new decision come up as a. As a heavy kind of panicky decision.
I think anytime a new decision comes up, I still have that fear that I had when I made the leap, it still comes up again and again. And I don't know if that's, I think that's something a lot of people have, right? Where it's it is scary whenever you're independent to make a decision and to take on this new thing or whatever it is.
I always refer to it as like this stretching moment where it's okay, we're here right now. And we survived this past week or whatever it is doing, 29 parties. We could stay here, we could stay in this realm and just keep living in 29 parties, but what if we tried doing 32?
Like what would that take? Like just a little bit extra. What if we did 35? What would need to happen in order for that to happen? And and then again, running that scenario in my head, okay, if I got a van and I didn't need it and it was an extra expense, what would I do then? And so then you quickly realize that, again, it's a lot of times fear that's holding you back, trying to make those small decisions to say okay.
If I do this, how's this gonna help me grow? How's this gonna help the business grow? And how can we all benefit from this?
And those are the great questions that we get to dive into.
Yes.
Yeah. You're so great at coming to me with all your scenarios and being like, okay, let's choose. But that, I think that's the important part of having a coach or a community because then you have someone to bounce it off of.
'cause
yeah.
Being an entrepreneur can also be really lonely.
Yep.
And it's not. It's it can be lonely in the sense that if your friend and family network aren't entrepreneurs, it can, you can have a weird schedule. You can be making choices that they're not making, but it can also be really lonely 'cause you realize, oh shit, like I have to make every decision.
There's no one, we're so used to, I think in a corporate space, having a foil or having. No one's ever worked where everyone agrees with you, right? So usually use to some push and pull and some discussion, and it's really hard to have a conversation by yourself.
It is. Yeah. And that's the biggest thing is you're as an entrepreneur and as a, I don't even have a partner or anything in terms of a business partner.
I'm doing this all by myself. So yeah. I'm just literally talking to myself all the time in my head. And when I do ask, or I just bring up what's happening with friends and family. To be honest, like sometimes I just don't get the best advice from them. And I'm, yeah. And I try to be, I wanna be nice, but I'm like, absolutely that would not work.
And as much as people, other people wanna help and they wanna give you their input. It's so helpful having you as a coach and just having, having someone, whoever that is for you to say Hey, this is someone that I really admire and respect and that has been through this and can help me think about things.
And, even you and I have had conversations about things and. What I found is, I know a lot of times I come to the decision myself. It's something that I've come up with. But just talking it out and talking through the different scenarios and what to consider when making those things is really what's helped me get there.
And so I think for anyone that's in this community you do need someone, whether it's a mentor or partner or someone else to bounce those ideas off of. 'cause it can be very lonely. And you're also limiting yourself by only having what's in your, between your two ears, right? Yeah. So you've gotta expand your horizons a little bit.
And especially for a business like you where you're allowing people to come together and you're connecting the community of Scottsdale and Phoenix that you love with these people who are coming in from outta town. Like your business ultimately is helping people have amazing connections.
And we have to remember that we need those too.
Yeah.
We need that. And so often it's so easy to get stuck behind our own computers and try to run an entire business just from a laptop. Yeah. And I find, and I'm curious if you do that, whenever I realize that I've been behind the laptop too long, things start getting sticky or it feels like the business is in.
Going through like mud versus like really smooth sailing. So that's a cue for me that I have to like, get back out into reality and be with people again and show up in places. How does that occur for you and what are you doing to make sure that you are out in the real world, in the community, enhancing the business, but also for yourself.
Yeah, I think, when I, when you're well connected, especially in my type of business, when you're well connected with other partners that do things that are adjacent to what I'm doing, whether that be, Nelson at the Cabana Boys, or one of our Airbnb hosts that own multiple Airbnbs, it.
You do find that there's a lot of overlap in experiences that you can relate to them on. But it also helps you get creative ideas flowing for things that you can innovate on. So I think to your point, when you're stuck behind the computer and you're going through your inbox and you're just trying to play catch up with everything that you've got going on, you're really not leaving time for yourself to explore other directions that you could go or that you could help your partners, that they could help you.
Yeah, I think it's, I've been trying to do something that I've always had some challenges with is delegating tasks to people on my team. Not due to any lack of trust or anything like that, but it's more of. Sometimes I feel like I'm inconveniencing someone if I give them something that I should be doing, or in my head I think I should be doing.
And so I found that the more that I can delegate that, the more that it does free up some time for me to do these other things. And then everyone benefits, the team gets to benefit from new things and things like that as well.
And I love that you've spun that into a really amazing way to network and showcase what's in Scottsdale.
Yeah.
If anyone isn't following Scottsdale Bachelorette on Instagram, you should be go do it right now, because it's not just for people who want to go there for a bachelorette party, like you're telling people, here's the best restaurant, here's the best activity. I love now that I'm like, Ooh, I need to go to Scottsdale.
I have to go check that out.
Yeah. That was when I, going back to the, like the crux of why I created the business in the first place was to help people get connected to all the great things that there are here. To help solve that need. And so I think even though like itinerary planning itself isn't our most popular service the fact that we're able to provide that to people and help them get connected to those things helps strengthen our own brand and help strengthen our relationships with our partners as well.
Because not only are we driving our business, but we're able to drive that business to other great local businesses as well.
Being someone who is constantly bringing new ideas to the table for your employees and your customers and your partners, what are you doing to make sure that you're fueling yourself for inspiration and for just the brain capacity to handle all the decisions you make on a regular basis?
Yeah, I think a couple things. One is and we've talked about this, privately, but, making sure that you're nourishing yourself first and foremost. And I think it's that thing of yeah, the air the air mask drops out and put it on before you help someone else.
And I think the last couple months have been. Extremely busy for us. It's the peak of bachelorette season in a year where you've got the most weddings in US history since 1984. We've got Scottsdale being number two. The business is doing great. And I was hitting a moment where like I was working these extremely long days every day of the week.
And I wasn't getting enough for myself. And I started to feel that. And that was the first moment as an entrepreneur, that I was like, Hey, listen, I've gotta take care of myself because I need to reset my brain sometimes so that I can have the creativity to be able innovate on the business.
And, so I think it is about, for me personally, I need to spend time with my boyfriend because that helps me recharge and work on our relationship. I love to work out and be active and I need to have time for the gym or for my workout classes. I wanna spend time with my mom because I may not have that many more years with her.
And she's here locally in Arizona now. So when I'm working and I'm not doing those things, I'm not the happiest version of myself and I'm not innovating on the business. And and I think, something we've talked about before is like. Why did you do this? Why did you get into this? Yeah. I didn't get into having my own business so that I'd be working, seven days a week, 13 hours a day.
I did it so that I'd have more autonomy and more flexibility and all these great things that come along with having that freedom. And so it's about reminding yourself to do that, and then that helps unlock a lot of my creativity. Yeah, so that's how it goes for me.
I remember being really proud of you that you went on this amazing trip to Italy in year one.
And so many entrepreneurs are so nervous to take time off or take a vacation or there's the whole thing of oh God, it's all gonna collapse. What am I gonna come back to? But you really chose to go on that trip. How important is travel for you and getting out to explore the world?
I love it.
It's definitely, one of my things that I, we'll splurge on and we'll, make sure I really do it up if I am gonna do it. Because to be able to unwind and decompress, sometimes you can't, a lot of times you can't do that in two days. Yeah. And and I also think it helps put into perspective what's important in life, right?
Yeah. We all get caught up in. This week and the next month and the quarter and that type of thing. And then a lot of times when you step away and you get to experience another culture or you get to just have time to meditate or relax, that just. Totally changes your perspective of Hey, what's actually important in my life?
And making sure that you just reprioritize those things. A lot of times when you go on vacation, people are like, I wanna buy a home here. It's it's not necessarily because you, you like that place that much. It's because you like that you're prioritizing yourself and you're having this amazing.
Experience that you really should be giving more of. And that's your realization when you wanna buy that house in Tulum,
which I think everyone does when we go. I, the, I just think that we are so good at putting the priorities backwards, especially when we're coming out of the kind of corporate.
Hamster wheel that we've been taught to do, where like work should take up the majority of your time that you're not sleeping. And to me, that's the number one reason to be an entrepreneur. I don't want all of my waking hours to be working hours. There's so much cool shit to see out there.
Being, for me, freedom of vocation and freedom of time are so important because. Having traveled the world for work previously, like I know that I can go to Paris and still take calls. Yeah. And obviously it was been so hard being in lockdown and stuck and not really being able to travel the past couple of years.
'cause it was right when I was finally feeling I could do that in my business again. 'cause just like everybody else, I'm like, okay, we're not doing it. Like we're tight gripping this until it feels like it's stable. Even myself when I started the company and I went full-time entrepreneur.
Yeah. I was, white knuckling, so focused on make it work and set it up and get the sales in. And I think we all go through this period where we don't trust that the plan we put together and the business that we believed it enough to make the leap is going to actually stay that way.
And, but there comes a point when you're like, you know what? This is working. I can go, I can start implementing all the rea, the other reasons why I started this, yeah. I can start traveling and working. I can start, taking time off. I can start moving towards whatever schedule I actually want.
It's just such a freeing feeling when you go holy shit, like this is working and I get to now have my dream life versus just a business That became my new job.
Yeah. And I think it takes obviously a while to get there, as you mentioned. There's the white knuckling. There is a, I think I'm still in that phase in a lot of ways with the grocery, with experience this year.
But I think, last year, like I mentioned, like you talked about when I went to Italy and even on a trip I took after that, my team, it was my first time that I had gone away. Trusted everything with my team and everything went amazing. And so I think what you realize is again, going back to the fear of what could go wrong and what could be worse, it's the worst case scenario doesn't happen.
It actually ends up turning out really great if you have a great team and you've set things in place to prevent things from happening. But then also, as you grow a business it doesn't just fall off a cliff in a week or two weeks when you take a break, right? It's, it's. It if you're doing the right things, it's growing to the point where it'll even continue growing when you're gone, if you're doing the right things. And taking that small break, you might think it's a big deal, but it's really not. And so that's why this year, and I, strategically planned my trips to be when they're not, our busiest times.
But. Even still, I'm not worried about going on them. 'cause I know my team's in place to take care of everything while I'm gone. And I know that everything I've done, there's not gonna be any impact to that. Now, one day what? I like to be able to work remotely and do that. Yeah. And I think we're, I'm getting there and I would, that's that was my dream when I started and when I first quit my job, I was like, Ooh, I'll be able to like work from Yeah.
Italy or something like that. Not there yet, one day still on the goal list.
And there's a quote that I love that you and I have talked about of a small business owner does the work. An entrepreneur creates systems, and you have spent so much time and we've had so many conversations about those systems being put in place.
Having a great team as a system, having your SOPs like you've been so focused on creating the right structures. So that you can keep backing up a little, and it doesn't mean that you're backing up to not do the work.
And that's a thing you brought to me. You're like, I don't wanna give my business away either.
And it's no. We just need to keep elevating you because there's always a bigger strategic conversation to have or brand development to have. And we have to remember as the business owners, to keep elevating ourselves up so we can see that 30,000 foot view. Because it is so easy to get sucked into.
The basic level tasks, the emails, the fire drills, and like how has putting those structures in place for you changed how you approach your business and how has that shifted even from how you thought about business in the corporate setting?
Yeah, I think one of the, as far as creating systems that's been.
Our whole mo And what I think that I'm really good at and what my superpower has been for this whole business is how do we take something really complex like setting up a once in a lifetime bachelorette party and be able to systematize that, to be able to do 30 of them within a week and do it within this team within 30 to 45 minutes.
So it's a lot of planning and a lot of work that goes into making that happen. And as a business owner, I've, I have struggled with putting myself on the job site, yeah. Which is, I don't need to be on the job site doing the setups, that time could also be spent on growing the business and doing those types of things.
And so that's something I've slowly tried to pull myself away from. But to be perfectly honest, as you and I have discussed, like I have some. Guilt almost of doing that because for some reason in my head I think maybe my team will think that I'm not, in the trenches with them or I don't want them to feel like I'm abandoning them. And I think maybe a lot of entrepreneurs or business owners that are you. Doing this might feel the same way. Because, this was something that just a year ago I was doing pretty much on my own. And so now for me to ask other people to do it, it's one of those things of I wouldn't wanna ask anyone else to do anything that I wouldn't be willing to do myself.
Yeah. And I know we have really long days. There's a lot of work to be done. But, I think on the other hand, it's like you're never gonna be able to grow the business and be able to give these people future opportunities to grow themselves if you're not out there being the CEO that's actually leading.
The vision of the business. And so I think from, how that relates to the corporate America part of things is, you are, you're typically given a task within, a job of Hey. Here's the project, you're gonna make this work and you're doing the work in a lot of cases unless you are in some type of an executive position.
So you're basically stepping out of the world of having a job to do into a world of being an executive. And for some period of time, for all entrepreneurs, there is gonna be an overlap. But in order, from here to there, right? What gets you, what got you here is not gonna get you there to where you're gonna go.
You have to also make that shift. And so that's something that I'm still working on.
When people ask me who are my dream clients, it's people who are compassionate, who wanna be, aligning with their purpose, who do wanna still make a profit. 'cause there's plenty of people who are afraid to make money.
And one, and you fit all of those characteristics 'cause you care so much. With that example just shows you want your team to know they're valued and to know they're appreciated, and you have already even allowed people to grow within your team, which is incredible. Where did you learn or see modeled, like being compassionate and putting your team first?
There's such an amazing blend that you have of confidence and compassion. Where did that come from? Is it just how came outta the womb or were there people in your life modeling that, that you were inspired by?
I think as a person, ever since I was a kid, I've always been a little bit more on the emotional side.
Maybe it is a result of, partially of being a gay man and how that is, has made me different in a lot of ways. And I think, even, here we are in Pride Month and maybe this is a, a good time to talk about that, but it's maybe a lot of people don't have that same shared experience, but, being a gay person growing up.
I always was a little bit more sensitive to how other people feel and think, because I know that I've been othered at times. And so that just helps me give a little bit more context into, how other people might feel and react to things that are said or done to them or whatever.
And so I think that has given me a lot of. It's actually helped me a lot in my career as well where I'm able to think about when I stepped into a management position at work, like how does my team feel? Those types of things. And as I'm leading this business as well. And so in, in it and with my customers, right?
This experience, if I got this cup like this and this looked like this, how would I feel if I got that? And I paid this money for this, right? So I think having a lot of empathy, has really helped me as a person and I think helped me as. My business career and also as a leader.
I don't remember the second part of the question, but
it was, did you know who have you been inspired by, who have been mentors? Has anyone modeled anything that you bring into your business now and just who you are as a human?
Yeah, I think there's been a couple of, managers that I've had in the past that have really helped me with this the first one is Eric Alioto. She was one of my sales leaders at Yelp. And, kid Fresh outta high school or fresh outta college, I should say. First real. Sales job. She taught me a lot about and all of us, I think a lot about how to be a human on the phone and interact with people and not just be, this cog in the wheel and help understand people a lot better.
And so I think her and also another manager that I had, her name's Sandy Lau and she's, a VP of HR at the most recent. Company that I work for, but I think both of those leaders, they put people first, right? And I think a lot of times when you come to work or you come to a company, you have to realize that yes, we're doing a job, but you're a human.
I want to, I care about you on a human level. If someone has an issue going on, it's not when are you gonna come back to work? It's no, seriously, how are you doing? And can you please take all the time off that you need to? Whatever. And I think that whenever you treat people like humans instead of employees or something like that is a huge part of how I've developed that empathy.
And it's really helped shape me as well. Yeah.
All the powerful humans that are on this podcast, it's not just about work for them. There's, they're, we are all very complex people. Yeah. And there's so much that's happened in the world. Since you've started this business, when you look at the impact you're making, what are the social issues or the political issues that you say that you're trying to navigate and either incorporate into your business or trying to make sure that you're keeping an eye on because they really matter to you, even if it's strictly on a personal level?
Yeah. I think, I think it, it's difficult as an entrepreneur to sometimes. Give a really hard stance publicly on things because you don't wanna alienate part of your consumer base, right? But at the same time, I also need to recognize what's important to me and what matters to me in this world.
Yeah. And I haven't really gravitated yet towards a specific charity or anything like that in terms of with my business. That just hasn't been a focus. Certainly I think lately the issue of gun control has rocked a lot of us to our core, and I shouldn't say gun control, but I should say the mass shootings.
Yeah. I think all of us. With the most recent one that happened in Texas with the kids. It's horrible. It's gotta stop and the more you peel back an onion because we're all just living our lives every day. And if it doesn't happen to us, we might see it on the news on a flash, and then a couple days later it's gone.
But you start peeling back the onions of like teachers having to like prep themselves and going through these drills and I started talking to my nephew and. Just how this has become an everyday occurrence and it's, it doesn't seem right that we should accept this in our lives.
I don't know how that ties in with bachelorette parties, but, and what I'm doing. But I do know that it matters to me. And personally it's important for me to take a stand. So I'm really excited to be joining the March for Life March for our Lives. That's happening. There's gonna be a local one here in Phoenix, and I've shared that, and I'm really excited to go and just be a voice for that.
Because I think, there's a situation of something that, that does need to be done
well, and it's such a fine balance, right? Because. We don't wanna insult people who maybe don't, who could be customers that maybe haven't had the level of conversations or have gone through the inquiry process that we have.
And it's also so often when we lean in on what matters to us that may not seem like it applies to business, that actually can attract more of our dream customers. It's like this really interesting kind of dance that we have to do.
And I think as well, like I. What shocked me, after George Floyd was killed, and after Breonna Taylor was killed, that the first people to start saying this isn't okay.
Were people that I followed in the business space, even before the political space. And it was really interesting for me to see that you know what? Who's in, who's an influencer. And if they are, what are they saying? What are they doing? What does it look like? Yeah. Now, obviously as a business coach, like per speaking, my political mind in that space might not make sense, but it's also why I've created Powerfully as a space as well, because all the people that I know who are.
Creating their own business or following their passion or diving into athletics or the sciences, whatever their thing is, who's been on this podcast? Everyone cares. Everyone is looking for more fairness and more equality and just more it's like what occurs to us is normal. Like it would be so weird for you and I like, we would not tolerate going to work.
Worried that there is gonna be an active shooter,
right?
Like we would never create that space for our employees. We would never create it for ourselves. It's just such like a, it's that to me is the mind blowing part of, you want these people to do the most important job in the world, which is teach children, and you don't wanna make sure that like you're gonna add that layer of stress and just like taking how much of their mental.
Capacity is taken up by planning for that, worrying about that, thinking about that. It just it's, and then trying
to arm them with guns to defend themselves and, having that responsibility of the children, right? It's yeah. It just doesn't seem right and it is upsetting, I think, to even think about because, put yourself in that teacher's position, right?
Again, with the empathetic part of who I am, I'm just like, God, I could never, don't gimme a gun and expect me to protect like all these people. Like I would freeze the moment that like you would've had the right training. Like I would've no idea I'd be I'd try to stay calm on all those things, but it would be so difficult for me and I would hate to be even asked to do that.
Yeah when the career that I got into was not public defense, it's not, I did not sign up to be a police officer. I signed up to teach children, right? And I think we have to be careful about what we're asking people to do in light of, what the laws are and what needs to actually change, right?
Yeah. Where do we actually solve the problem? And I think we have to take a good, deep look at that, not just how people feel about it. For a lot of people, and myself included it's where do you start sometimes? And I think that's what's really difficult. It's, not always that you don't care or that it's you want to do something, but it's like, what can I do?
To help make an impact and make an influence on something that I care about. And there's a lot of causes out there. So it's like you almost need to obviously pick where you think you can make or where you wanna make a difference, right? And I think that's a journey that everybody goes on is like, Hey, where do I wanna invest that time and energy into?
And where can I. Where do I wanna be able to share something to make a difference? So I think, yeah, I think for me that there's still, there's a number of places that I think that could go. But certainly right now it's definitely with the mass shootings and what can be done there.
Yeah. How does it feel to be creating moments and memories and these things that people will remember for the rest of your lives? Like, how much joy does that bring you, and how much does that fuel you to keep going?
It's really incredible. To be able to, for a couple reasons. One, we've got the maid of honor who has this immense amount of pressure to create this fantastic experience for someone that they care about so much, whether it's their sister or best friend or something like that. So that's a really great part of it, is just to be able to take that stress off of them and make something amazing for this person that they care so much about. But then of course, the bride, right?
And that's what this is all about for the bachelorette weekend, is making her feel special, making her feel celebrated, and really creating this weekend experience that. You don't, in most cases, get to experience very often. I think anyone listening, it's like, when's the last time you got a group of your closest friends and siblings and people that you care about the most in your life?
And in most cases, women that are so impactful. And being able to just spend a whole weekend with them and just let loose and have a great time like that. Usually there aren't many opportunities in your life that you get to do that. So the fact that we get to be part of that is really special.
And I think for me and our team, when we see reactions, like we're putting together like a montage of all our reaction videos right now, which is really fun. 'Cause sometimes we either get 'em ourselves or we get like the maid of honor to capture it for us. That's feels really special because we're, a lot of times, again, with your routine, you're getting in, you're setting up, you're onto the next house.
But like every time someone walks in and sees what we did, there's a reaction. There's an emotional connection there, and that's a memory that we created that they'll never forget. And I think that's a really cool part about. Our business and what we do is being able to create those moments for people.
And again, while I take it very seriously, right? It's yeah, if you mess it up or you don't do it right, then that's a really big deal. 'cause you messed up this really big moment. It's it's not as big as a wedding day, but it's, it's in that same genre of you can't do this every year.
So that, that brings all the more pressure and why it's, why we wanna make sure we do it right.
I also think what's really interesting is often in the wedding space, there's a lot of waste. Yeah. And you've taken a really interesting approach with your business of having a lot of sustainability simply in reusing a lot of the materials that you do use for decor and you do use for the parties.
Yeah.
Was that an intentional choice for sustainability reasons? Was it like financially led? What got you to the path of. Hey, we can do this. Make it look amazing, and we can be sustainable in the process.
It was really a 360 idea for a lot of reasons. When I first started the business, we used to have people ship us their own decor items and we would set those up.
So initially, I saw the waste and I saw, but I saw a lot of the same things being purchased. Like Final Fiesta Scottsdale be before the veil. People will go on and they'll purchase these things for their event. They use them, but no one's taking that home with them or reusing that, ever again.
And so initially I was like they're buying these things from somewhere else. I should just be the one that provides it as part of this service. So that was where I came up with that idea to create, themes and packages. So we now have five. Themes that people can choose from. It's a great, thing for them, simplicity.
They just say, boom, I want this one. It comes with everything I need, and we're able to provide a much higher quality experience, whether it's these amazing backdrops, neon signs, high-end pool floats that these people would never buy on their own because it would be cost prohibitive to do that.
So pair that with, hey, what if we got reusable cups? So then that way we don't have to buy cups every single time and think about, 10 cups times, hundreds of bachelorette parties going into landfills every weekend. And what else can we do? Okay, if you don't use all the napkins, let's ask you to save those so we can reuse those for future parties.
So having that, theme model allows us to reuse the same things, but then also. Preserves a lot from going in the landfill and we always try to think about like when we bring stuff back, Hey, can we reuse this? Obviously within reason. Yeah. And things like the balloons, most people don't realize Mylar balloons, those letter balloons, those will last forever as long as you don't pop them or squeeze them.
So we'll put those in a bag, put 'em in our van and reuse 'em for the next weekend. That saves us a ton of time. It saves us money and it also saves a lot of waste. And everyone really seems to support that. We leave a note saying, Hey, we always try to recycle. Please leave the following items that you don't wish to take with you so we can reuse them.
And everyone's really great about that. So I think it's really helped us from, a goodwill perspective doing right for the environment and then of course from a business and time perspective so that we're not duplicating our efforts and wasting time and money and energy on things that we don't need to.
And I think as well, what I really admire about you is. Your curiosity for asking questions, and that's a great example of you saying like, how could we do this differently? Yeah. How could we provide it? Because often we feel like there's no way to combine all the things we care about and make them all fit together, but ultimately it's really just can we get more creative about it?
And I think that's a great example of really making, as you said, a 360 approach where. It does help the business. It does per level up the experience. It does make it more quality. It is sustainable. It is economical, like there's so many yeses to that system that you've made. And I love that, that people are on board with it as well.
'cause. You want to have all the cowboy hats, but you do not need the cowboy hats when you get home often. That's
right. So we rent those out, it saves them money and then we reuse them. Yeah. And I think, I think that's what's really been fun. And what I love about having my own business is constantly saying and admitting Hey, we don't have the perfect.
We don't have the perfect model figured out and if you're just copying what someone else is doing, they don't have the perfect thing figured out either. It's as you go through every part of your day, it's just you had to be like this is a friction point, or this could be better.
Yeah. Like, how could I be part of making that better? What could we change to make that better? Even problems that we run into our business. Like sometimes we were forgetting things or whatever, and we'd say why don't we just create like a checklist that we have, like everything. So we sign our names, we make sure, so like little things like that.
And then that little decision has really helped us. We never did that before. It took us a year to even think of that, and now that we have it, it's gosh, why didn't we think of that before? So I think that's what's really fun is. And if you work somewhere else at a corporate job, they're like, we don't do checklists, so you're not gonna do that.
Whatever it is. It's harder to make a change and an impact than whenever you're a business owner. You can say, Hey, let's try it and let's see. Yeah, what happens and does it make things better? If it's a waste of time and doesn't make things better, don't do it. We'll just stop doing it.
So
what are you most excited about as we're turning the corner in 2020? What are you looking forward to? What are you excited about? What are the big scary goals that you have for this year?
Something that we're working on right now is thinking about how can we help people beyond bachelorettes, right?
And identifying and really taking a step back and seeing that we've been able to solve a need and provide a service that people want. But how can that service be trans translated to other people? In different ways. And so people have asked, why don't you do baby showers?
Or why don't you do these things? And that doesn't get me super excited. And I also don't know if it's. The core of what we're actually solving. 'cause there's other local service providers that do ba, that do baby showers and things like that. And so I think for what we're looking at right now is how can we help other travelers and other people that are coming to Scottsdale for other celebrations and other reasons.
And other groups rather than just bachelorette parties. And I think that. As I think about what's next for my business, it's really about tapping into that. Because a lot of things that we're doing right now, whether it be kitchen stocking or beer pong, table rentals or things like that could be translated to other groups.
And maybe it's not something we really a niche that we're gonna dive into, like family travel, but. Maybe it's some broader thing that we could say, Hey, maybe you're not coming for a bachelorette party, but maybe you've got a friend that's coming for a 30th birthday or something like that.
And we could, help them out there. So I think, I think about what's next and what gets me excited. It's about being able to help more people with other types of, needs for coming to our city.
Yeah. I'm sure everyone is very excited about you and the business and they wanna follow you, hire you.
Where can they follow, find you and support you?
Yeah, so our website is scottsdale bachelorette.com. On Instagram, you can find us at Scottsdale Bachelorette. And we're getting into TikTok now quite a bit. Scottsdale Bachelorette as well. Definitely give us a follow, even if you're not into bachelorette parties, we do provide a lot of fun and entertaining content.
Definitely check us out and we'd love to help you if you or anyone you know is coming to Scottsdale for a bachelor party. Or if you're coming for something else, let us know too, 'cause we're gonna be getting to that soon as well.
I'm sure everyone wants to know, 'cause now we're planning how can we get to Scottsdale?
ASAP? Where are three places or things? You're like, you have to go here.
Okay. So if you're coming during nice weather, I would absolutely recommend getting out and hiking Camo Back Mountain. That is a fantastic, beautiful hike. Very close to Old Town Scottsdale, amazing views and really gives you that sort of desert vibe.
The second one that I would highly recommend is a restaurant called Toca Madera. Okay. It's an amazing Mexican cuisine restaurant. They've got fire dancers. It's a ton of fun. And then another one of my favorites is a brunch spot called the Montauk. And so that's a Hampton, it's inspired restaurant.
They have a lobster rule, which is, not local to Arizona, but still really delicious and lots of great cocktails and a good vibe. So those would be three places I'd recommend checking out.
All right, we've said it before, but I'm absolutely coming for a Scottsdale weekend so we can not just hang out, but I wanna now do all the things you share on Instagram.
Yes. Because they look so fun. But Casey, it has been an honor to have you on The Powerful Ladies Podcast. As one of our powerful gentlemen, I am so proud of you for what you've created and who you are and how much you are putting into your business and your community. You're really to me a model entrepreneur, and I'm just so thankful that I get to be a contribution to you and now to share you with everyone who's listening.
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me, and thank you for everything that you helped me with as well.
All the links to connect with Casey and Scott Slow Bachelorette are in our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com slash podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you are listening and leave us a rating and review. They are critical for podcast visibility. Come join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and if you're looking to connect directly with me, visit kara duffy.com or Kara under Duffy on Instagram.
You can also find both myself and powerful ladies on TikTok. I'll be back next week with a brand new episode with a new amazing guest. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. It'll be awesome and up to something you love.
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Instagram: scottsdalebachelorette
Website: scottsdalebachelorette.com
LinkedIn: casey-hohman
TikTok: @scottsdalebachelorette
Email: hello@scottsdalebachelorette.com
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
