00:00:00 Sana: Growth is often talked about like a straight line. Bigger teams, bigger revenue, bigger stages. But anyone who's actually built something meaningful knows that skill. It brings pressure, complexity, and decisions that don't come with clean answers.

00:00:27 Sana: Welcome back, listeners to another interesting episode on the Biz Blend podcast. I am your host, as always, and I'm I'm really, really looking forward to this conversation because it is about what happens inside leadership when the stakes are high, when your choices affect livelihoods, culture and long term integrity of what you are building. I'd like to share a bit about my guest with all of you. She has spent over a decade building large scale live events and purpose driven brands as the CEO of the festival company. From producing festivals across North America to taking Extreme Mudfest, which is Canada's largest mud and music festival, onto the international stage with a major arena show in Abu Dhabi. Her work sits at the intersection of creativity, execution and leadership under pressure. And let me tell you listeners, she has been recognized as one of BC's top thirty under thirty entrepreneurs. Named a Festival Pro to Watch by Billboard and alongside her pro for profit ventures. She leads a nonprofit supporting youth and mental health through music and events. So today, we are not here for the Highlight release listeners. We are here to talk about clarity under pressure, power with responsibility, and what it actually takes to build something that lasts both financially and personally. So let's welcome our incredible guest, Billie. Billie, welcome to this plan. And I'm really, really honored to have you here.

00:02:19 Billie Aasen: Oh, thank you so much for having me today.

00:02:23 Sana: Um, really? What what, um, portfolio. I mean, what what what experience? I mean, um, music festival. I mean, it all sounds and everything on paper looks like, you know, it's it's fun, it's creative. Um, but then the TTS, the behind the scenes, the logistics, the scale, the pressure. It's a different story altogether. Um, because for the fact that, you know, I am also into the podcasting world, even bringing up one single episode. It involves a lot of logistics. But of course, the scale is different. But still, I'm just trying to build a parallel here. But then, uh, Billy, you have led teams and produced large scale events. You know, where, um, I mean, timelines are immovable. Money is on the line. I mean, there's a lot of pressure. And then public failure, it is very, very visible. So when pressure peaks, what actually helps you stay clearheaded as a leader?

00:03:29 Billie Aasen: Um, first off, I would say event planning in general is very, very stressful just because there are so many moving parts and logistics, and when the doors are open, it's very hard to pivot. Um, now festivals are even more so, uh, intense because in a, in a lot of scenarios, you're basically building a city in a field. You're, um, dealing with many different factors, including inclement weather, um, logistics, ingress, egress. And the big thing I would say that I've learned over time, and I was younger when I first started, I used to get very stressed out and everybody could see it. Now I more so have that mindset. The Marie Forleo mindset of everything is figureoutable. So yes, the pressure is there. Yes, uh, things happen in real time, but at the end of the day, you just have to make a call and roll with it and, um, and use all the knowledge that I've had over producing so many festivals at that would be the, the best scenario. So, for example, we had one year at Mudfest in Cold Lake where it literally monsoon rain. Uh, one of our operations managers actually said we shouldn't be building a stage. We should be building an ark. Um, it was quite funny. Uh, but we had our racers and competitors, which a lot of the vehicles are, like very heavy monster trucks. Some of them are coming on the back of trucks. Um, and we had them kind of loading at the top of the grounds onto our racer. Camping is. And it rained so bad that these trucks were literally sliding all the way down in mud. And so we didn't know how we would be able to flip it and send them through our box office just from like a size perspective, but from a safety perspective. It was either we completely shut down or we reroute how people are moving. And we obviously went with rerouting how people are moving. We had to move box offices, reroute roads. Um, and it worked out fantastic at the end of the day. But it was a lot of hard work and it was getting everybody on on board with it. And so I think the biggest thing when you're under pressure is trusting your team, um, taking feedback on being able to see some things that maybe you just don't see because that's not your skill set. Um, and being able to then. Choose a path and stick to it. Does that make sense?

00:06:02 Sana: Absolutely. Absolutely. Billy. One thing that I, I don't know, I cannot quantify it, but you mentioned about trusting your team, the people who maybe are there working for you or working with you. I think it is such an essential, essential part, you know, irrespective of the industry, whether it's it's the creative world or a music festival or your business or even as small as a team of ten people. But. And why I'm highlighting this because in this age of AI and digitization and everything, the essence, the essence of or the importance of having the right people in your team, it is so. So it's timeless and, um, it stands the test of time. So that is something that I am definitely going to take away.

00:06:58 Billie Aasen: Yeah. I mean, in the events world, it's funny, I think it's the one thing that can't be replaced by AI. Now, I do think that there are some fantastic, um, AI tools and we as a festival company are working on a really great tech stack to start to automate a lot more of our administration and sponsor things like that. But at the end of the day, AI is only as good as the person prompting it. Events are not about that. Events are about bringing people and communities together, and you need human beings to do that. Um, and so building a good team in any company doesn't matter if you're in events or if you're, you know, own a plumbing business or you own a daycare, building a great team is everything, because those are the people that are taking your vision as the owner, as the leader, and really helping bring it to life on the grounds. Um, and so I think that a lot of the times people are very. Cautious about hiring or they say, I can do all of it. And I was one of those people, by the way, before that said, no, no, no, I can do everything and you can't do everything perfectly. You need team members in their seats that are better than you are at that specific job, and you got to trust them.

00:08:21 Sana: Exactly. Yes. Trust. Absolutely. Yep. And that is something I think many, many, uh, leaders and in fact high achievers as well sometimes, you know, fortunately, Unfortunately, they they struggle with that. Um. Uh, so I, I'm really happy that you you shared that because it kind of reflects both, um, the power of being a good leader and being vulnerable as well at the same time, because that is something which is kind of counterintuitive, especially when we talk about leadership.

00:08:59 Billie Aasen: Absolutely.

00:09:02 Sana: Superb. Okay. Uh, moving on. Uh, decision making and that to high stakes. Now, this is something that I read about, um, like, in high stakes environments, um, decisions really come with full information. So in, in such scenarios like how do you balance intuition with data, what what exactly drives you in making those important decisions in very pressurised environments?

00:09:32 Billie Aasen: I am one of those weird human beings that the pressure of making the decision makes me make it better, if that makes sense. Um, if I have a lot of time to make a decision, I go back and forth and back and forth. Um, but when when it's right there and you need to make the choice, I'm pretty quick to make a call. Um, there is no right way, and I, I guess with that question, how you make decisions, it depends on what the decision is you're going to make. If it's making a decision on an act or a band that we're going to book, um, because sometimes, obviously their fees can be quite high. Of course, I do my research into Spotify and listen to like, how many monthly listeners they have. What do they look like on social media? Do they have an engaged following? Um, what is their previous ticket history? That kind of stuff. Of course, has to be informed. And then there are other times, you know, I'll keep it on booking entertainers, for example, when you're booking the earlier day slots and you you don't spend as much money, but it's actually the funnest part of the show to book. That's when you're going off your gut and you're going off your intuition. Because a lot of these artists don't have a ton of, um, backup market history. And so you're listening to the artist, you're seeing kind of where they're at, and you're guessing what that trajectory may be, and especially if you're booking a year in advance. I mean, it only happens if people are lucky once, maybe twice in their career. But you can book that artist a year in advance by the following year, when the show actually plays their headliner status. That part is fun.

00:11:12 Sana: It is. It is very, very interesting, very interesting. And looking back, uh, Billy, is there is there a decision you made that, um, felt right internally, but then it didn't play the way play out the way you expected.

00:11:30 Billie Aasen: Um. Try to think of an actual scenario like that where it didn't play out the way. Um, I it's it's more so, you know, not there's just certain things you can't foresee or sometimes when you need to make a decision, for example, with a supplier that, uh, you don't have time to shop for quotes, you don't have time to go around because maybe that project came up so fast and the deadline is there and you just literally are going off of recommendation. And sometimes when that happens, it doesn't always work out as well, because you didn't have the time to actually, uh, decide, you know, what the right supplier for that scenario might be. But for the most part, any of the big decisions I'm faced with, I've been through the scenario before, um, or I know someone who has, and I'm able to quickly seek guidance if I'm not quite sure what to do.

00:12:34 Speaker 4: Mm mm. Once again interesting.

00:12:38 Sana: And I think, um, there's, there's a, there's always this tension, you know, sometimes um, especially leaders struggle to name like between um, confidence and and humility. I think there's a difference between being, um, decisive and then being attached to being right. And, um, I believe scale has a way of correcting that distinction quickly.

00:13:08 Billie Aasen: Yeah, I agree, I think I think when you first start out and you're a young leader, um, sometimes a lot of people are just faking it til they make it because you just simply can't have the knowledge to to go, um, and make all of the right calls. But as you get older, the ego starts to dissipate. And it's not about you being right. It's about choosing what is right for the project or for the situation. And the more experience you have, the better you get at making those calls and realizing that it's not actually about you. It's about the business. It's about the people around you. It's about making those right calls on behalf of them. You know, when you have a team, at the end of the day, they've decided to hitch their wagon to yours. And that's a responsibility I don't take lightly.

00:14:02 Speaker 4: Totally, totally.

00:14:04 Sana: Billy, um, another thing that I, I personally am really, really curious about is, um, like, this is, um, this is more of a male dominated industries. I mean, you have built you have led teams in fast moving, often male dominated industries. So how has your understanding of confidence evolved, like from proving yourself early on to leading with authority now? What different you had to do?

00:14:38 Billie Aasen: I just had to grow up a little bit, you know? I had to go in and be brave and just put my head down and do the work. I had to seek guidance and build friendships, um, with people that had had done the thing before me. Um, and over time, the more shows I've done, the more the confidence has grown, because the more skills I've acquired. Um, yes. It's a very male dominated industry that I work in being entertainment and festivals, but I've never seen that as a bad thing. I've never turned around and felt, oh, I'm the only girl doing this. Um, I've had some wonderful male mentors. Um, and again, as you, as your skillset grows, which it does as you go and do more and more projects. The confidence just naturally comes with it and not just confidence. On turning around and saying, oh, I'm the best. It's more so the confidence of. Knowing that it will work out and having the confidence to say, I don't know this, and having the confidence to say I need help. I think that confidence level took a lot longer to acquire.

00:15:54 Sana: And another thing which I don't know whether the listeners will agree with or not, and this is specifically, um, connected with this, you know, um, idea of, uh, feminism that, uh, you know, um, as, as a, as a woman, we, we kind of, yes. Um, I absolutely agree. And I acknowledge and I hope that even the men also would acknowledge that for for women, it is a bit more challenging, um, because predominantly, uh, there are so many stereotypes. But then sometimes I think, um, specifically in these kind of industries, it often gets assumed that, oh, you're a woman, so, um, you need special help. You need this. You need that because you're a woman. That's why we are encouraging you. It's not just about the gender. But then am I equally or maybe more than capable enough to disrupt or maybe make a mark have my own identity in this male dominated industry, not just as a woman, but someone who wants to make a mark of their own in this industry? Um.

00:17:15 Billie Aasen: If your question is, do I feel that I started out at a disadvantage or that people. Helped me more because I'm a female. Um, I would say no, I think I went in, I did the work, and I think anybody who's young and trying to go for something automatically comes with the stereotype that they are young and don't know what they're doing. But the more you show up and you're willing to do the work, and the more you say you're going to do something and then actually follow through with it, the more. Confidence people build around you knowing that you're someone that does what they say they're going to do. Um, yes. Of course. Across the board, it's harder for women when it comes to building careers in specific industries. But there are so many factors that go into that. Um, especially if it's something that's heavy on operations when it comes to the physical ability or, you know, when when women go into the childbearing years and start having kids. It's you naturally are at home with your kid right away, so now you're having to make decisions that a lot of men don't have to make, so they get to advance their career while you're raising a family, even if that's for a few months or, you know, six months, it's taking you out of the game for a minute. Or even if you're keeping your wits about you and you're still working and you're raising the family, there's just different things that women have to think about when it comes to, you know, silent jobs that fall on them, that don't necessarily fall on them. And I find that is the hardest thing about being a female in this industry.

00:19:03 Sana: Absolutely. That is no doubt that's not ugly. Um, and uh, before we wrap up, um, you know, as, as, um, influence grows, um, so does responsibility, um, like, not just to stakeholders, but to yourself. So how do you think about ambition without burnout? You know when what you are building, it affects so many people.

00:19:34 Billie Aasen: Ambition without. Well, burnout is different for everybody. Um, I actually get a lot of energy from what I do, but as I've grown through my career, I've started to really realize the signs of when I am burning out and how my personality may change, or how I need to just kind of take a step back and take care of myself. I think a lot of the times many people, specifically entrepreneurs, tend to just burn the candle at both ends thinking that, you know, there will be some reprieve at the other end, but that's that's not really how it works, because you may achieve one goal, but then there's twenty more in front of it. So for me, what balance looks like, and what fighting burnout looks like is, for example, I get up at five o'clock in the morning. A lot of people turn around, but that would make me more tired. Not for me. I get up at five because my kids get up at seven thirty, and it gives me two and a half hours in my morning to set myself up for success. Um, that looks like a cup of coffee. It looks like a hot tub. It looks like, you know, working through a course that I'm doing or, um, reading something that I'm learning about that really helps with my burnout because I find if I am just, you know, waking up when the kids are waking up. And I also have fifteen emails in my inbox that are all action items, and my phone starts ringing and I'm just running like a chicken with my head cut off all day until, you know, we have dinner. I clean the kitchen and then I just go to bed. If I don't have that time for me, I can quickly burn out Burnout, and then I'm not useful for anyone.

00:21:22 Sana: And that is true. That is true. And I, I cannot imagine. I mean, yes, uh, this I mean, managing both the ends. Um, really, to be honest, I mean, I think that's why, you know, I don't know, I had read it somewhere I don't remember, um, but whether a woman is a homemaker or she's, she's managing both her professional world and her home, her family, they are brilliant managers. I mean, discipline, consistence. And whether it's work or it's home, I mean, it's very difficult to imagine what would happen if, you know, we, we they, they take just one day of holiday. How is everything going to look like. So yeah, I mean.

00:22:15 Billie Aasen: At the end of the day I think it, comes down to if you have a partner at home and not everybody does. In my family, yeah, I would definitely say I am the house manager with, you know, the kids and their activities and the meals and and all of that. But my husband's really great at the cleaning aspect of things and, and we just balance that very well. But I'm with you in the way of women. Women have a superpower to kind of be able to do it all. I think where women have to be very cautious is not not burning themselves out on all ends, trying to be the the perfect mom, the mom that's in shape, the one that sits on the PTA, the one that's the CEO of a company, the one that does X, Y, and Z. Like you can do all things. You just can't do them all at the same time. And I think that women get women have a lot of pressure. And that also comes from the economy too. Historically, you know, one parent would stay at home, usually the mother, Um, because being a parent is a full time job. If you're doing it right, it should be hard. Um, but now, just due to the sheer expenses of life, most people don't really have that ability to have one stay home. They both have to work. And what you see happen is because it's our natural instinct to mother our children and to again be a part of the community and sit on the PTA and set up the sports and do everything else. Now, what happens to women is that they literally have two full time jobs and two, two things that are constantly pulling at them. So I highly suggest women. Like I said, I do my five a m work because then I have time for me. That may not work for everyone, but whatever that is, even if, you know, even if you're again, I'm in a wonderful marriage. But if I were a single mom. If If you are able to. And if you have the resources or if you have a family member. Don't feel guilty about asking a family member for help or hiring a babysitter once a week, even if that's just to go for a walk. Even if it's just a, you know, go to a yoga class or whatever it needs to be. But you need you need time as an individual to recharge your batteries. You can't just go, go, go one hundred miles an hour and sustain it. At one point, something's going to take the hit. And whether that's your physical health or your mental health, something's going to break. And what I've realized, and what I'm continuing to lean more into and learn as I get older, is that my number one responsibility is actually to take care of me so that I can take care of them. So I don't find my five a m mornings selfish or, you know, Andy's. I go and play on a soccer team. Before I used to think, oh, that's selfish. I don't have the time. Everybody needs me. But really, it's selfless because I'm doing it for me so I can be a better version of myself for my husband, for my kids, for my community, and for my team members. So self-care should be at the top of every female's list, specifically if you have children.

00:25:35 Sana: I really loved how you how you put it forward because, um, this is such an essential part of, um, especially women in entrepreneurship or who are actually doing full two full time jobs parenting and maybe building or working something of their own, trying to make their own identity as well. And you're absolutely right. I mean, uh, if we are not able to take care of ourselves, then how we are going to show up for our loved ones. So that's that's a very, very crucial part of the conversation, and I hope that listeners can take away something from here, irrespective of their men or women. They're working or not working, or they're in any industry. Um, and especially for entrepreneurs and business persons, I think, um, if they are not able to take care of themselves because entrepreneurship, it is it is challenging. It is hard if they're not able to show up for themselves. I wonder how they're going to show up for their team members or stakeholders or for the loved ones as well, because it all starts from them.

00:26:50 Speaker 5: Well, the truth is, is that yeah.

00:26:53 Billie Aasen: When you you're, you will show up one hundred percent, one hundred percent of the time until that day comes that you don't when something, you know, it's the straw that breaks the camel's back and all of a sudden something fell through the cracks. Or, you know, as a as a mom, you haven't had a break at all. and you've been literally getting up with kids, getting them out the door, rushing to work yourself, having hugely stressful day. Um, you know, some moms are jumping in the gym at noon trying to have a fast workout before they have to go back to work and then rush to pick up the kids from after school care, and then quickly feed the kids something and then rush out to a sport. And then all of a sudden it's bedtime and you're trying to get the kids to bed and they're doing what kids do. They're being crazy and having fun and playing, and all of a sudden the mom snaps and she just yells at her kids, where normally she's approaching them with a level of love and safety and reading the books and doing all that well. That little kid's going to turn around and all of a sudden be shocked, number one, and be hurt number two and think that they did something wrong. Yeah, maybe they weren't listening at bedtime. That's what kids do, right? But those signs of becoming that snappy parent or, you know, Becoming that that snappy employer or. Even, you know, turning down meetings and shutting down. Those are signs of burnout, right? And those are things that, you know, you're burning out. But too many people just don't listen to those signs. So don't put the pressure on yourself to do all of the things and fit in the gym at lunchtime and so on and so forth. Yeah, you probably should be going to the gym because it's great for your mental health. If you go four days a week instead of six days a week, doesn't matter. Um, you know, if you have kids that are in multiple sports and you're doing the pickups and drop offs and everything else. Ask one of the other parents if you guys can swap weeks. So on Thursday night this week, I take the kids. And on Thursday night next week, you take the kids. That's what is for so that everybody can have a little bit of a break. And I think today, um, especially, you know, you go on to Have social media and you see all these things about which I love. It's all empowering females to be a CEO running your company. They're, you know, they're putting on their profiles all of the things that they're doing, which is great, and it's inspiring. But I think what people aren't putting on is the truth about how they're actually doing and how they're actually managing things, because if you're seeing, you know, someone online and again, they're in the best shape of their life, they're a CEO, they're flying all over. They've got kids at home, they're super, super happy. Everything's great. That's all a facade. They're debiting and crediting accounts. As you know, Bradley Cooper would put it. So um, or. Sorry, who said that? It's not Bradley Cooper. It's, um, the book, uh, red light, green light or green lights. Have you read that book? It's fantastic. Matthew McConaughey and he talks about debits and credits. So here's the thing. If you are crediting your work bank, meaning you are going away on a work trip and you're going to, you know, slay every meeting and everything's great, that means you're debiting your family account. So in order to do that, when you are at home with your kids, you need to build credits into that family account because you can't just keep debiting it till it's zero and all of a sudden there's resentment or vise versa on your career if you just keep, you know, wiping off meetings and being late for things and or just not showing up in general, you're not going to have much of a career for too long because you're constantly debiting that, because you're crediting too much on the other side. So I think people have to be a little bit more honest about, yes, I'm going on this trip. So, for example, I travel quite a bit for work the day before I travel for work I normally either a give my kids the day off school or b I'm done work. By the time they're off school and we go and we do mommy daughter date and sometimes that just, you know, eating popcorn and watching a movie and vegging out or baking or whatever we're going to do, and I turn my phone off because you know what? That is super important to? Yes, call it filling up our love cups. It's important to fill up their love cups so that they know that they're loved and that mommy's just going away for work. And when I get home, we'll be able to do it again. And then when I travel for work, I am there to be effective and efficient. Every moment that I'm there and away from my kids means that I better be achieving something. And you know what? Because I'm now crediting the parent account and I'm crediting the work account, it means I'm debiting my personal account, meaning my mental health or my physical health. So When I get on an airplane, I don't turn on the Wi-Fi. I sit back. I watch a movie. I get a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, and I recharge my batteries. So those are the things that I think need to be shared a little bit more of tactics of how people actually, um, quote unquote, balance themselves. Because the truth is, there's no such thing as a work life balance anymore. Balance is what makes you the best version of yourself, and it is very individual to each person.

00:32:38 Sana: Loved it, loved it. Super, super. That was brilliant. Brilliant, Billy. Um, and before we conclude, I'm very sure listeners will be so, so excited now to connect with you and explore more about. I mean, I'm very sure they would like to share their maybe thoughts or their experiences. So how how they can reach out to you.

00:32:59 Billie Aasen: I'm really easy to, uh, get in touch with on Instagram or LinkedIn at Billy Joel. Um, my spelling is a little bit funny. So, uh, you have it, but you can put it into the description. DM me. Follow me. LinkedIn me. Um, especially, you know, I have a huge, huge passion for working parents. And if you're struggling in that zone of your mental health and how to again, quote unquote, balance things, I'm always happy to share tips and tricks. And a lot of the time it's trial and error to figure out what works for you. Um, but it is, again, it's just it's the number one thing you should be protecting is your own mental health, your own sanity. Because you can't you can't deplete yourself to nothing because all of a sudden you can't give anymore. And if you can't give anymore, I said that that structure breaks down. If you have a family and a team that depend on you, they depend on you to show up as the best version of yourself, so make sure you're carving that time out to focus on you so that you can show up for them.

00:34:11 Speaker 1: Well. So listeners.

00:34:12 Sana: as Billy mentioned, I'm going to have all the details, all the links mentioned in the show notes. So just find them attached along with this episode on whichever platform you're listening to this podcast right now. And, I really appreciate because this was such a grounded and honest, raw conversation. Um, we not just discussed about leadership work, but we discussed about something which is absolutely human. And, I hope that more and more such conversations happen not just in, in communities or in, in personal circles, but also in workplaces And, networking events, you know, especially working parents. Um, I mean, there's pressure, there's responsibility. And then also the willingness to evolve without losing yourself in the process. So thank you so, so much.

00:35:15 Billie Aasen: Thank you so much for having me. And thank you for using your your platform and your megaphone for good to to help, um, educate, inspire and hopefully rejuvenate your listeners.

00:35:29 Sana: Thank you. Thank you so much, Billy. Once again, and uh, for our listeners, building teams, brands or movements of their own, I believe growth isn't just about how big you get. It is about who you become while getting there. And, uh, thank you to everyone for tuning in to this episode of this blend. Until next time, this is your host signing off, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Take care. Thank you.