Music Director to Business Owner with SCORE client Chris Walls.
SCORE Client Success Story: Music Director to Business Owner with Chris Walls – how he transitioned from music director & conductor to his expanding band uniform business.
Henry Lopez has an insightful conversation with entrepreneur and Dallas SCORE client Chris Walls. Chris shares his interesting and inspirational entrepreneurship journey, how he has adjusted his business to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, and what he is currently focused on in his small business. Chris is the founder of Directors Assistant – providing uniforms and other products and services for marching bands, orchestras and more.
Chris Walls began his career as a music director, then identified an opportunity in his industry and develop a successful business which he has evolved over the years. He has overcome numerous challenges and obstacles, including the coronavirus pandemic, and yet continues to show why he is a successful entrepreneur.
Chris studied music education and then earned a masters in orchestral conducting. He shares the story of how he was presented with an opportunity to represent a marching band uniform company, and how he has grown that into a full-time small business today.
Chris lives in the Dallas, Texas area.
Topics and questions covered in this episode of The How of Business podcast include:
- What were your aspirations and dreams when you were in school?
- Chris share highlights of his early career.
- When did you know you wanted to be your own boss?
- Chris shares the story of when he first began representing the band uniform company and how that led to launching his own business.
- When you first got started with your business as a side-hustle, how did you manage having a career and developing a small business at the same time? How did you learn to manage your time and focus?
- How long did it take before you transitioned to business ownership full time?
- It’s often a challenge for artistic people to transition to business ownership – the business side of things can be a challenge. How have you been able to manage this and develop the business skills required?
- How has the COVID-19 crisis impacted your business, and how have you adjusted?
- When and why did you decide to contact SCORE for mentorship?
- What have you learned about the value of seeking mentors and coaches to help you grow your small business?
- How did your Dallas SCORE mentor (Ed Stone) help you grow your small business?
- What personal characteristics do you believe has been instrumental to your success in business?
- What’s next for your small business?
- When you are asked by others about how to get started with a small business idea, what are some of your recommendations?
More About This Series of SCORE Episodes:
This is the second in a series of special episodes of The How of Business podcast, focused on SCORE. In this series Henry Lopez will share what SCORE is about, the services they provide to our communities, and how you can use this great resource to help you start, run and grow your small business. We will also feature many of the talented and diverse SCORE volunteer mentors and staff, and share SCORE client success stories.
Henry Lopez is a volunteer SCORE Mentor, and is also an active small business owner, business coach and podcaster.
SCORE helps small business people through mentoring and training. Volunteer Mentors leverage decades of experience in a variety of business disciplines and industries. SCORE’s mentoring services are free! The Dallas chapter of SCORE serves 11 counties in the Dallas and North Texas Metroplex and Lubbock, Texas.
SCORE is the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors, with more than 10,000 volunteers in 300 chapters. For over 50 years, SCORE has served as America’s premier source of free business mentoring and education. As a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), SCORE has helped more than 11 million entrepreneurs through mentoring, workshops and educational resources since 1964.
Resources:
- SBA (Small Business Administration) Website
- SCORE National Website
- SCORE Dallas Website (to schedule a mentoring session and find workshops)
Other Podcast Episodes:
You can find other episodes of The How of Business podcast, the best small business podcast, on our Archives page.