Transcript #4 - Jonathon Conant, Founder of Trapeze School

Background...
•	“After flying in a Club Med I got back home and couldn’t find anywhere to practice and fly.”
•	“So I bought my own rig and started giving lessons where I lived upstate in New Paltz.”
What were some of the initial challenges?
•	“Since we were out in the country it was tough getting enough people to come to the rig.”
•	“However, we were able to use word of mouth to attract people from NYC to come up and fly.”
How did you expand to NYC?
•	“Some of my customers asked if they invested in me what I would do with the money.”
•	“I decided that I would use it to move to NYC.”
•	“And now we have more investors and are expanding to a second rig that will be under a tent on Pier 40.”
How did you attract investors?
•	“Partly my personality.”
•	“Partly because I love the trapeze and what it does to people.”
•	“People have a great experience and want to get behind it.”
Advice...
•	“If you do everything with integrity it goes well.”
How did you hire & train staff?
•	“You want to surround yourself with expertise.”
•	“But be patient and realize that everyone is learning.”
•	“As long as they are hard workers that is fine.”
Daily Challenges...
•	“Every day there is something new.”
•	“Recently we had to change insurance coverage from $25,000 to $180,000.”
•	“That was extremely difficult but we have good partners and we persevered.”
What is your relationship with Berkshire Hathaway?
•	“His company owns the building we are set up in Boston.”
•	“He has personally come by to our rig to congratulate us.”
How did your appearance on Sex and the City affect business?
•	“We were already booking 4 weeks in advance.”
•	“We didn’t see an instant spike, but things gradually got booked to 6 weeks in advance.”
•	“However, the Trapeze School became much more well known by New Yorkers.”
•	“Overall it was a subtle difference but a profound one.”
What is your plan for the future?
•	“To open the rig on Pier 40.”
•	“Subsidized special events with aerial arts.”
•	“Have a circus competition and invite people from all over the world to compete. Similar to what they do in Monaco.”
•	“Eventually open up new schools in other cities."
Giving back to the community...
•	“We give back 10% of our overall intake to the community.”
•	“We want NYC to know that we are not only here to have fun and do business, but that we are actually adding something healthy back.”