Opportunity Knocks

It's New Orleans: Out to Lunch

When Drew Brees was The Saints’ quarterback he was regularly out and about in New Orleans. If you ran into him, you couldn’t help noticing that for a guy who had such a dominating presence on a football field, there didn’t seem to be anything physically exceptional about him. But when he played the game, Drew had an ability to size up what was happening, and he could see opportunities that other players couldn’t.

There are similar types of people in business. Seemingly regular guys who are looking at the same business landscape we’re all looking at, but somehow, they see multiple opportunities most of us don’t. And they create multiple successful businesses in a way most business-people can’t.

For example, Jayson Seidman and Alex Pomes.

Jayson Seidman is founder and Principal Managing Partner of a company called Sandstone. With offices in the Texas hill country and New Orleans, Sandstone principally develops boutique hotels and commercial mixed-use properties. They have hotels in Texas, New York, New Orleans, Costa Rica, and Australia.

Here in New Orleans, their properties include The Drifter, The Hotel Saint Vincent, The Frenchmen, and Columns – till recently known as The Columns Hotel – which is where Peter, Alex, and Jayson had lunch while recording this podcast.

Jayson’s mother is from New Orleans. His dad went to Tulane. Jayson grew up in Houston, where he was a child actor at Theater Under The Stars, which calls itself “Houston’s home for musical theater.”

Alex Pomes is also a one-time musical theater actor turned entrepreneur. Alex is a New Orleans native who graduated from NOCCA in musical theater.

His first taste of business was cinnamon. In 2010, Alex was hired as website manager, social media point person and Brand Ambassador for a then small whisky company, called Fireball.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that the marketing of Fireball Whisky is one of the most successful alcohol marketing campaigns, ever. In 2011 Fireball had under $2m in sales. By 2014, sales were $800m.

That experience gave Alex the confidence to launch his own alcohol label, Ghost Tequila. It’s tequila that’s actually made in Tequila Mexico, infused with Ghost Peppers.

Alex is also the founder of a local marketing company, RAPJAB, that specializes in creative campaigns for breweries, bars and events.

And Alex is the co-founder of NOLA Underground Pickleball, the no-frills community-driven pickleball league whose sponsors range from White Claw to Walmart.

If there’s one thing we’re not short of in New Orleans, it’s people with a story to tell. Whether you’re at a music festival, waiting for a parade to roll by, or just in line at the supermarket, the New Orleanian next to you is happy to talk to you. And - often without much encouragement - they’ll more-than-likely tell you something fascinating. But, even in this city of storytellers and stories, it’s hard to beat the variety of tales and business ventures from Jayson and Alex.

Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworleans.com

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