Kingdom of Mind: Episode 3 – The Fun of the Game

Geoff Shames, Co-Founder of Crowd Control shares his journey through the music business from record label founder to promoter to talent agency marketer before establishing his 12th venture - Crowd Control Digital.

Each pivot has been driven by excitement to explore opportunities. His all-or-nothing commitment, thrill in the pursuit of solutions, and love of playing the game by his own rules make Geoff's career in digital marketing and creative strategy synonymous with fun.

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"This is fun. This is my hobby, my joy."

"People are following on social media because they want to experience the journey and you as a person. At the core of everything we do we’re trying to be fun and add value and make it exciting - hoping that whoever's on the other side enjoys it and it adds a little smile to their day. That simple moment is the end goal."

"It's been a while ride. It's been really exciting. It’s the only thing I think about. It’s what I do for fun. It’s what I do for work. It’s literally all I do…. I could be on vacation and I’m still working. It’s because it’s not work. It’s literally fun."

On the impact of the pandemic on Crowd Control:

"It's been an exercise in the need to pivot. That’s something I've had to learn over the years. When a wall pops up in front of you how do you get around the wall? Do you climb the wall? Do you bust through the wall? Do you dig a hole? Whatever makes the most sense... We've pulled off the pivot. It’s been surreal to look back and say we’ve pulled it off. We’re extremely lucky."

"I've done one too many things over the years but that’s because I get excited about things... I don’t regret anything that I’ve done. It's all been fun. It’s all been exciting."

"The act of doing it is fun to me. I like the game really. I’ve always had that mindset. Every time I’ve decided to do something or try something it was because at the time that is what I wanted to do and I wanted to give it a try. If you’d asked me during that time period for each one of them that's what I was going to do for the rest of my life. I was going to put 150% into it and I was going to retire on that. That's changed over time but it’s been all or nothing for everything."

"I was never great at traditional school. The reason for that is I didn’t like the structure. I didn't like playing by the rules. I had that mindset of "I’ll just figure it out". I’m just going to figure out how I get there my way does not lend itself well to school, but it does lend itself well to what I’m doing these days."

"At every level of business in any sector everybody is just trying to figure it out and that's fun. There is no structure. The business itself is more like music, it’s free-flowing."