Music Lessons: Will Mason of Mason Music Shares about Teaching Children, Entrepreneurship and the Upcoming Woodlawn Theatre Renovation

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Will Mason of Mason Music joins Carrie on this week’s episode of The Localist. Will is a Birmingham native who is making big moves in the local music world. Will and Carrie start off the conversation with Will and Mason Music’s biggest venture yet: opening up a music school AND music venue in the renovated Woodlawn Theater. Will tells us about their process for opening each of the different locations, the weird things you find when you renovate, and how they went about getting investors to really see the vision behind Mason Music’s aspirations through. 

Will and Carrie then dive into how owning a business can change your attitude about taking risks, letting go of control, and what they believe the hardest part of owning your own business is (there seems to be a theme among our guests so far). Will tells us more about training staff, developing and evaluating processes, and learning how to delegate. 

Will and Carrie wrap up the conversation by going back to the beginning of Mason Music and how it all came to be (hint: accidental entrepreneurship). Will tells us how they encourage a sense of community with a Rock Band League (how fun does that sound?!), and the power of meeting people where they are. Will even gives us the scoop on their new Story Brand inspired mission!  

Mentioned in this episode: 

Mason Music with Will Mason

Mason Music on Instagram

Church Street Coffee and Books

Woodrow Hall

Cornerstone School in Woodlawn

Woodlawn Neighborhood Association

Iron Tribe 

Matthew Mayfield

WorkPlay

Saturn Birmingham

Iron City 

Events at Haven

Will and Reed Lochamy

Story Brand by Donald Miller

Infomedia

About Carrie

Carrie Rollwagen is host of the Localist podcast and cofounder of Church Street Coffee & Books. Currently, she works as Vice President of Strategic Planning at Infomedia, a web development company in Birmingham, Alabama. Find the Localist at @thinklocalist on Instagram and follow Carrie at @crollwagen.

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