65 - Launching a Local Music Venue with Tobi Parks from xBk Artwork

Local to Legend

Local to Legend is the podcast for local business owners like you, looking for the resources and tools needed to create a scalable, profitable, simply irresistible brand. What makes local businesses different than small businesses? Local businesses have their own little ecosystems they work within. Some local business owners have the hopes of being sold to Unilever (Schmidt’s) or getting a HGTV show (Joanna Gaines) or being sold in Target (Ben & Jerry’s). Others want to be a legend in their own community where people know, love, trust, and refer them all the time. The cool thing about being a legend is it’s fairly subjective, right? We have legends in Des Moines, Iowa (my home base), but they aren’t legends in the country. We have legends in the country, but they aren’t legends in the world. What I’ve come to discover in hundreds of conversations with local business owner is this: they desire MORE for themselves. They want to expand, but how? They want to grow their business, but what do they do? They want to pivot, but what will that mean? Local to Legend is about that conversation. And I'm thrilled to have you here.

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Local to Legend

65 - Launching a Local Music Venue with Tobi Parks from xBk

May 23, 2022 • Emily Steele

In this week’s podcast episode, Emily chats with Tobi Parks, an entertainment and intellectual property attorney, majority owner and CEO of xBk, a Des Moines-based music venue, and Board Vice President for the National Independent Venue Association Foundation.

Listen in as Tobi & Emily chat through Tobi’s experiences in the music world, both as an artist and on the business side. Tobi shares how her journey led her from rural Missouri to New York City and details her decade in the city working for Sony Music, touring with bands, marrying her wife and having children. Ultimately, a desire for a better city to raise kids and be closer to family led Tobi and her family to Des Moines, Iowa, where she immediately immersed herself in the music scene.

Tobi walks listeners through her experience opening up xBk in the Drake neighborhood, her vision, the obstacles she had to overcome and what’s next for her (hint: it may just be right next door and involve cocktails).

Tune in for topics like:

Tobi’s background and music experience
Moving to NYC and spending a decade in the music industry there
The trip that made Tobi change her mind about Des Moines
The vision for xBk
Why the Drake neighborhood was chosen for a music venue
What’s next for Tobi & xBk

Links from the episode:

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