Lattes and Lenses Coffee Connection With
Local Entrepreneur Steven Ziegler
From 9-5 Steve Ziegler is the Director of Philanthropy at Mercy Neighborhood Ministries in North Philadelphia. He not only works tirelessly in his efforts to raise funds and awareness to get Mercy on the radar of people who will be a valuable asset to the community, he also has a genuine concern for all of the participants that benefit from the services at Mercy. But at 5:01 Steve loosens his tie and shifts his focus because now it’s all about the Hustle, Entrepreneur Life and making a name for himself and his business. When I asked him to participate in this “Lattes and Lenses Interview” he graciously asked for some time to gather thoughts as he’s in the beginning stages of a Giving Tuesday Planning Campaign. But in true Steve fashion, he returned this short story about how he started his business and what hustle means to him.
~The name of our business came about in a phone conversation probably just over a month before our first show. My partner, Matt Durkin, and I were putting together a variety show and we realized we needed a brand name. “Starving Artist Prevention” is what we agreed upon and it stuck. Too often in the art world, gigs like ours were not paid and while our moniker may be slightly “on the nose,” we thought people would like to the tongue-in-cheek quality of it. That was in May of 2014. Since then, we’ve produced and attached our name to nearly 20 shows and learned the importance of partnership. Your network is going to have talent, designers, salespeople, bartenders and clean-up crew; you’re going to need all of them. I’d like to believe that somewhere along the line, Jeff Gordon (LiveNation) was counting tickets on his coffee table and making last-minute calls the way I do before a show.
In these three years, we’ve also learned what it means to scale, which is part of the reason why we focus on stand-up comedy. From an artistic standpoint, it is raw, cathartic, controversial, and universal rolled into one. From a business perspective, it is easier to produce than a concert, which we’ve done, and hope to do again. Some days, I think about being in front of the audience instead of behind the scenes and while that is intriguing, it comes with difficulties that I wouldn’t be able to handle. I have a tremendous respect for the artists who work with us. Today, they’re the foundation of the business we are building and one day they’ll be the pinnacle.
“Hustle” to me has always been an alluring feeling. As a teenager, I was obsessed with making money, but you learn quickly that there is a ceiling to having that as your end goal in whatever work you are pursuing. Looking at the giants of this industry like Berry Gordy, Jimmy Iovine, Russell Simmons, and Jay-Z, to name some of my favorites, you realize that they were in it because they were passionate about the art. The profit came but only because they changed the world. The motto of Starving Artist Prevention is “Cause a Scene.” In 2018, it is my goal to do just that in at least one other major U.S. city.
*Publishers Note: Having recently attended one of Steve’s productions I have to say while I never considered myself a comedy person (I like actions and adventure) I found the night to be full of laughs. I had a great time and look forward to the next event.
If you are interested in being a featured entrepreneur or know someone who’s got an inspiring story to share contact us at wanda@madcrisimages
