The Story of Jules Music for Kids

It was midmorning on another beautiful early Spring Day and the parking lot outside the Booksellers Barns & Noble was unusually full given that it was a normal working Wednesday. I was there to meet with Jules at the suggestion of another one of my business coaching clients whose business was Video Production, he and Jules had been discussing making a promotional video showcasing Jules’s unique style of kid’s entertainment, with a view towards using it as a marketing tool aimed at TV channels that carried predominantly children’s content, such as The Disney Channel.

I walked through the bookstore, following the excited chatter of an audience of under 5 years old and their mother and some fathers.

Jules’s performance certainly was adored by his live infant audience, and what made their kids happy was a hit with the parents, teachers & the proprietors of the venues that booked him. He has a remarkable knack of engaging the kids.

At that time Jule’s business was working at private pre-schools -private celebrations- Kids mornings at Book Stores like this one.

Jules was not a young man, and his shows were by necessity high energy and there was often the need to travel hours across Southern California for dates, if he didn’t achieve work on TV, would his business be sustainable?

After the show, I sat down with Jules and we spoke about his plans and some of the business issues that he was experiencing. This led to us meeting each week when we started making some fundamental changes to the business financing, and other basics that needed  structuring.

Without wishing to pour cold water on Jules’s TV aspirations, I had concerns that the TV market was very crowded and competitive. My suggestion was that without ditching the possibility of trying out for the media work, we should have a viable plan B.

I planted the idea that he might be able to replicate his brand of entertainment with the careful selection and training of others that he could groom to become as successful as he was engaging the kids, so that Jules music for kids became a selective mini franchise. Certainly, there were challenges with the suggestion not the leased being finding candidates that could become “Jules 2-3-4 “etc.

To cut to the point, for various reasons, like his exhaustion, and not being able to accept all the work that he was being offered, Jules came around to my way of thinking.

Today, Jules still performs, because he loves doing it, but for every show that he performs the “other Jules” that he has hand picked and trained perform ten “Jules Music For Kids” shows.

He has a booking person organizing the schedules and an accountant / bookkeeper controlling the business elements of the successful “Jules Music For Kids” Brand.

Check out his Facebook Pages. Or this 1min sample  https://www.facebook.com/172891859443174/videos/196375638228625 

https://www.facebook.com/ittybittyrockers/ https://vimeo.com/176262094  you will smile!

Epilog :

 We remain good friends and remain in periodic contact, Jules called me  a few weekend back. After, the personal check in, I asked how the business was progressing, he told me that that weekend Friday through Sunday they had worked 10 gigs, I commented that he must have been exhausted! Jules laughed and said, “thanks to you my friend, I never left the house”, all the shows were performed by one or another of his cloned Jules performers.