Today we’d like to introduce you to Wendy Land.
Hi Wendy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story starts in 2016. I was going through huge life changes that included divorce, moving and getting laid off from a personal assisting job that I had been at for four years. Let me add that I was not particularly happy at this job. I felt like I was not even coming close to using my potential, but I felt stuck and scared. For some reason when I got laid off I did not initially feel nervous, even though I was one person raising two children. About two weeks into not working I remember watching a movie and it all just hit me like a punch in the stomach. What was I going to do? At that point I went to bed, pulled up Facebook and a friend had messaged me. She had a friend, Eddie Bernal a restaurateur from Austin, who needed help at a private event in Johnson City where we currently lived. She sent me the message, not knowing I had lost my job but because my son already working at a café in Johnson City and thought he might know someone. It was a five hour job for $100 and I decided to do it myself. The next morning I ended up calling Eddie to let him know that I would do it. I had worked my way through college as a bartender and server, but I let him know that I had no event training. I ended up talking with Eddie for about 45 minutes. In that conversation I told him I had been laid off and really had no idea what I would do next. His next statement would change my life, “I’ll tell you what to do. Start a staffing company. They are desperate out there.” So I did.
He gave me some basic instruction on how to start and hire. I stopped to get a coffee and put together a one page website, designed a business card and Hill Country Event Staffing www.hillcountryeventstaffing.com became a reality three hours from ending that phone conversation! For the record, my teenage son helped with all things technical! That is not my forte! From that moment I started posting in our Dripping Springs Neighbors Facebook page for “Small Business Tuesday’ and then just started emailing caterers all around the hill country to introduce myself. I started working for Eddie in Austin at his private events until my business got going. I also hired 10 of my good friends who were willing to take this chance with me. About three months later, February 2017, I heard from my first caterer. She needed 17 staff for a large wedding, including culinary, bartenders and servers. This was huge! For that event I hired everyone that I thought would do a good job, including my son, his girlfriend, my friends and a couple of people who had heard what I was doing and wanted to be a part of it. It was a great night! A lot of hard work, laughs and just being a part of this huge celebration! The next thing that happened would put us on the map. Another caterer, Ashley Odem of Feast & Merriment, reached out to me to say that she had recently started her catering company and did not want to worry about staffing for any of her events. She then emailed me her upcoming events, and there were a lot! I started crying. I wasn’t just a little choked up, I was crying so hard that I could not catch my breath. I called one of my best friends and could barely talk. I managed to get out, “This is really going to work!” And, it did. Ashley and I still work together and I consider her a friend and an amazing entrepreneur. Once we started doing regular events it was challenging to hire enough staff. Then I randomly met two people from Texas State University with amazing entrepreneurial drive, Leon Vigil and Garth Tubbs.
Within weeks I was hiring their friends, roommates, girlfriends, etc. They were all driven and loved working events. To this day 90% of my staff still comes from Texas State University. It is also my alma mater. As a student, many years before, I would have never guessed how important this university would become to me. The staff we have are amazing and I am impressed with them all the time. It is also how, as a company, we continue to grow. Without them I would not have a company. Hill Country Event Staffing started off as staffing bartenders, servers and culinary for weddings, corporate events and private events. We work with caterers, venues and individuals. During the last few years that even expanded to festivals and concerts. We also discovered the need to help people plan bar packages for their events. This is now something I do regularly. As I got more experience staffing and working events I also organically began event planning and day of coordinating. This led to the creation of our sister company Silver Bullet Events www.silverbullettexas.co which is a full service event planning company that includes event planners, day of coordinators, event managers, floral and photography.
Silver Bullet is just getting off of the ground and we are very excited! I facetiously say that starting Hill Country Event Staffing is the best adult decision I ever made. It is not my first entrepreneurial endeavor, but it is the one that has been the most fun and the most successful. What is even more incredible is that my son, Brayson, now 22, and his girlfriend, Rebekah 25, are still a part of the company. From staffing, to photography to all the work that goes on behind the scenes, they can do it all. My daughter, Quinley 14, also joins in occasionally for small events and is amazing at passing appetizers and desserts to guests. It is our family business and we are in the business of creating amazing memories!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Over the last five years growing this company has not always been a smooth road. Learning to recognize the right type of individual that fits into our team was challenging in the beginning. I also had no systems in place. I did everything through email, payroll through Venmo and did not use contracts. We grew so quickly that I ended up hiring someone in 2019 to get systems we needed in place. We now use a scheduling app, direct deposit and have the contracts we need to do business efficiently. I still hit bumps in the road and then I figure out how to work through that, learn and make the necessary changes. It is all part of growth and becoming better.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Hill Country Event Staffing and Silver Bullet Events?
Silver Bullet Events is a full service event planning company that specializes in event planning, day of coordination, bar coordination, staffing, photography and floral. Hill Country Event Staffing specializes in staffing professional bartenders, servers and culinary at all types of events. Our culinary team work directly with caterers and also manage food service if an event has food dropped off by a restaurant that does not have catering staff. I believe that what separates us from others is the way we treat each client personally. I work with each client to brainstorm how to make their vision a reality. That may sound a little hokey – but it is true. Weddings in general follow a similar timeline. It is the details in that timeline that have the clients and guests leaving each event with huge smiles and amazing memories! I am most proud of what I have created. I have created a company and career for myself that doesn’t feel like work. My family and friends are able to work with me. It just feel like life. I have also met so many great people, including all the staff that work with me and so many other entrepreneurs in the event and service industry. What I would love readers to know about our services is that we take your event personally and want it to be exactly what you want. We offer full service event planning and if we do not do it we will have referrals of some amazing people that do.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is to continuing to grow Silver Bullet Events and Hill Country Event Staffing. We do an amazing job and our staff are happy. They are so happy that they tell their own friends and family. That ends up bringing us more happy staff. It is also very important that we act with integrity, all of us. I have employees tell me frequently that they love this job and I am a great boss. What I tell them is, “When you become a boss or have your own company treat people the same way. This is how we really change the world.” I also feel insanely lucky to have my kids be a part of this creation.
Pricing:
- $30 an hour for all staffing of bar, servers and culinary
Contact Info:
- Email: hillcountryeventstaffing@gmail.com hello@silverbullettexas.co
- Website: www.hillcountryeventstaffing.com www.silverbullettexas.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silverbulleteventstexas/ https://www.instagram.com/hillcountryeventstaffing/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Hill-Country-Event-Staffing-1799135157035422 https://www.facebook.com/silverbullettexas.co
Image Credits
Rebekah Sellers, Photographer Melissa Herwick, Photographer Blanton Museum of Art
