Hustle-Free Entrepreneur

Welcome to The Hustle-Free Entrepreneur , the go-to podcast for event industry professionals and service-based business owners ready to ditch the hustle mindset and build sustainable, efficient businesses. Join us as we pull back the curtain on the unsexy side of entrepreneurship—think systems, processes, and back-office strategies that move the needle. Through expert interviews, actionable tips, and candid conversations, you’ll learn how to master running your business to focus on growth, profits, and living life on your terms. Whether you’re an event planner, venue owner, caterer, or solopreneur in any service-based field, this podcast is your ultimate resource for business success. Subscribe now to uncover strategies to help you scale smarter, not harder.

Hustle-Free Entrepreneur is a business podcast hosted by Jese Gary, with 60 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Jese Gary hosts Hustle-Free Entrepreneur, a business show with 60 episodes published.

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  Episode #19

  He Rebuilt His 32-Year-Old Event Company From Scratch

  Sep 2, 202658 min

  Send us Fan Mail Mark Mallchok has run an event business since 1992. Then he rebuilt it from scratch. FREE GUIDE: The Complete Business System Stack https://geasystemstudios.myflodesk.com/stack Listen instead: Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3j0XhORRvClcncQjKq4QVY | Apple https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449235 Thirty-four years in, and he still says the hardest part is selling while he is buried in his busiest season. In this conversation we get into the parts of running an event business that never make the highlight reel: who to hire first, why his slow month is decided three months before it arrives, and what it actually felt like to change the positioning of a 32 year old company and wait to find out if anyone would follow him. If you have been quietly wondering whether the way you built your business still works, start at 39:32. CONNECT WITH MARK Mark Mallchok is the co-founder of Brella, the event production and event optimization company he started with his business partner Bernadette in 1992. Brella is a women owned business specializing in global corporate meetings, with deep experience in pharma and complex international events. He has worked on every continent, including Antarctica. Website: https://www.brella.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brellamm/ ABOUT HUSTLE FREE ENTREPRENEUR The real, behind-the-scenes conversation for event industry business owners. Hosted by Jese Gary, for planners, photographers, florists, caterers, venue operators, and designers who have the revenue and the clients but not the freedom. New episodes every week. Subscribe: Listen to more episodes of the Hustle Free Entrepreneur Podcast → https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449235 Thanks for tuning in to the Hustle Free Entrepreneur Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to: ✅ Subscribe so you never miss an update ✅ Leave a review—it helps us reach more entrepreneurs like you! ✅ Share this episode with a fellow business owner who needs it Ready to streamline your business and ditch the hustle? Grab my free resources at https://stan.store/greeneyedambition . Let’s Connect! Instagram: @greeneyedambition Website: greeneyedambition.com Until next time, keep building smarter—not harder!

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  Episode #18

  Why She Quit $12,000 Weddings on Purpose

  Jul 31, 20261h 10m

  Send us Fan Mail Download the Complete Business System Stack for your event business: https://geasystemstudios.myflodesk.com/stack Stephanie built a wedding photography business over almost two decades, got to $8,000 to $12,000 a wedding, and then walked away from it on purpose. In this episode, she gets honest about the part nobody posts: being excellent at something you have stopped loving, watching the industry shift under you, and betting a multi-six-figure business on a photo booth she once told a friend "nobody would want." Jese and Stephanie get into the money, the jadedness, the ego check of corporate work, and why the seasons you want to skip are the ones building you. What you will hear: - The mentor who would not let her hold a camera for a full year, and why that made her better - How one bride's referral opened the door to corporate, and the ego check that came with it - The 2020 moment she watched 80% of her revenue disappear in a single week, and what kept the lights on - Why a photo booth is a second business, not an add-on, and what most photographers get wrong about it - The one thing she stopped doing that changed how the whole business feels Guest bio: Stephanie is a photographer and experience-maker who spent years shooting weddings under Sonju Photography before building Juju Booth, a photo and video experience company serving weddings, corporate events, and brand activations across multiple markets. She is in the Photo Booth Expo Hall of Fame. Originally rooted in South Florida, she now runs the business from North Carolina while her team stays close to home. About HFE: Hustle Free Entrepreneur is the real, behind-the-scenes conversation for event industry business owners who are successful on paper and quietly exhausted underneath it. Hosted by Jese Gary, HFE is where we talk about what running this business actually looks like, the money, the burnout, the pivots nobody shows online, without the hustle culture and without the motivational fluff. If you are running the version of your business that looks impressive from the outside and feels like survival on the inside, you are not alone, and you did not do anything wrong. Links: Connect with Stephanie: https://jujubooth.com/ Resources Mentioned: Want a free business system audit? Let’s identify the gaps and opportunities in your event business Work with GEA Systems Studio to build your systems + automations Thanks for tuning in to the Hustle Free Entrepreneur Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to: ✅ Subscribe so you never miss an update ✅ Leave a review—it helps us reach more entrepreneurs like you! ✅ Share this episode with a fellow business owner who needs it Ready to streamline your business and ditch the hustle? Grab my free resources at https://stan.store/greeneyedambition . Let’s Connect! Instagram: @greeneyedambition Website: greeneyedambition.com Until next time, keep building smarter—not harder!

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  Episode #17

  After 20 Years in Weddings, Here's What's Really Changing

  Jun 9, 202653 min

  Send us Fan Mail Tara Melvin has been planning weddings in Washington, DC for over 20 years. She has watched this industry shift three or four times over. Pinterest. Instagram. COVID. Now AI. And in this conversation, she said something that should stop every event business owner in their tracks. The competition is no longer the planner down the street. The competition is AI. And the vendors who do not train AI about who they are and what they do are about to become invisible. This is the real, behind-the-scenes conversation with Tara Melvin, founder of Signature Concepts and founder of the National Society of Black Wedding and Event Professionals (NSBWEP). She shares what 20+ years in luxury weddings have actually taught her about adapting without losing your soul, what she would do completely differently if she were starting today, and the trends quietly reshaping how couples plan, spend, and celebrate. In this episode: What weddings looked like in 2004 versus what couples expect right now Why couples have become the influencers of their own wedding day The exact reason most wedding vendors are about to disappear from AI search What Tara is telling her clients when they show up with AI-generated expectations Why multi-day, dress-coded, culture-infused weddings are the new norm The honest truth about boundaries when your clients are paying you six figures What Tara would do completely differently if she started over in 2026 The story behind NSBWEP and why community is the real legacy Where the industry is heading by 2029 (and the trend most vendors are sleeping on) If you are an event business owner who has been quietly wondering if the way you have been running things still works, this conversation is for you. You are not alone in this. About Tara: Tara Melvin is the founder and principal planner of Signature Concepts, L.L.C. (formerly Perfect Planning Events), the founder and president of the National Society of Black Wedding and Event Professionals (NSBWEP), the founder of The Signature CEO Conference, and the creator of The Executive Mentor Program. She has been recognized as a BizBash Industry Innovator (2022) and one of BizBash's Top 500 Most Influential Event Professionals (2020 to 2021). Find Tara: Signature Concepts: signatureconceptsllc.com NSBWEP: nsbwep.com The Signature CEO Conference: thesignatureceo.com Instagram: @signatureconceptsllc | @nsbwep | @signatureceo About HFE: Hustle Free Entrepreneur is hosted by Jese Gary, founder of GEA Systems Studio and LuxeGiving. The real, behind-the-scenes conversation about running an event industry business. New episodes weekly. Free for you: If you are an event- or service-based business owner who needs the actual systems running behind the business you show on Instagram, grab The Complete Business System Stack at https://geasystemstudios.myflodesk.com/stack. It is the same map I walk paying clients through. 🎙 Thanks for tuning in to the Hustle Free Entrepreneur Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to: ✅ Subscribe so you never miss an update ✅ Leave a review—it helps us reach more entrepreneurs like you! ✅ Share this episode with a fellow business owner who needs it 🚀 Ready to streamline your business and ditch the hustle? Grab my free resources at https://stan.store/greeneyedambition . 📲 Let’s Connect! 📌 Instagram: @greeneyedambition 📌 Website: greeneyedambition.com Until next time, keep building smarter—not harder!

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  Episode #16

  The Festival Staffing Problem Nobody's Saying Out Loud

  May 13, 202647 minS0

  <p> How to run festivals, community events, and event production successfully? Don't fall victim to running your business with a system held together by spreadsheets, QuickBooks, Google Forms, and a prayer.<br/><br/>This week, I'm back with Cat McDevitt, CMO at Eventeny, and we got into the festival operations conversation I've been wanting to have. Not the highlight reel. The real picture — the Frankenstein systems, the volunteer data that will shock you, the vendors who are quietly deciding you're a reputational risk, and what the festivals that are actually winning are doing differently.<br/><br/>If you organize festivals, pro...

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  Episode #15

  After 10 Years in Business, This Is What I'd Automate First

  Apr 28, 202627 minS3

  <p>If you've been running your event business on sticky notes, mental checklists, and willpower — this episode is for you. In this solo episode of Hustle Free Entrepreneur, Jese Gary breaks down how to actually use automation in your event business without sounding like a robot or losing the personal touch your clients pay you for.<br/><br/>This isn't a software pitch. It's an honest conversation about why so many event pros are stuck doing manual work that's quietly costing them clients, sleep, and revenue — and the simple, sustainable way to start automating one workflow at a time.<br/><br/>...

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