Today we’d like to introduce you to Gary Ware.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Gary. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I got into an improvisation on accident. It was a suggestion from a mentor since I wasn’t a fan of Toastmaster. At the time, I was a director of Paid Search for one of the largest independent search agencies in the nation. The idea was that improv would help me become a better presenter. Little did I know, I would soon fall head over heels for the craft of improv. I brought that love and passion to the teams that worked with over the years and was pleasantly surprised at how much it impacted them, We crew closer, and had huge performance increases for our clients. After pursuing my own digital marketing agency, I came to the scary realization that marketing was no longer my passion, improv was! I took the leap and started a new business with the mission of enhancing life and driving results through play.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No, it was not. It took a while to get my groove with this new venture. It was a challenge to get businesses to understand the benefits of my service. Improv is scary to most as they are scared that they are not funny or witty, and there is a lot of stigma around “play”. Play is often perceived as “childish” or a distraction. Progressive companies are starting to get it, however, the businesses that need my services the most are the ones that don’t think they have time for team building. Things started to stick when I started selling them what they want and giving them what they need. The benefit of applied improvisation is that you use the principles of improvisation and use it to develop skills and increase connection. So, instead of selling play and improv, I sell communication and culture training, and I deliver a playful experience that exceeds all their expectations.
Please tell us about Breakthrough Play.
The mission of Breakthrough play is to enhance experiences through the psychology of play and improvisation. We have a strong belief that humans are wired for play and if you can tap into their play drive you can create magic. We deliver training and retreats for corporations and professionals to help them improve communication, creativity, confidence, collaboration, culture, and leadership. Most corporate training are dull and ineffective. Our experiential experiences help the attendees learn by doing, therefore increasing the likelihood that they would retain the information. In addition, it increases psychological safety at work which in-turn reduces voluntary turnover and increases job satisfaction. I’m so proud that we are helping people better relate to one another, which is making the world a better place.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would have only focused on only marketing and communication professionals rather than trying to attract clients from all industries. I have 15 years of experience in that industry and just makes sense to niche down.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.breakthroughplay.com
- Phone: 619-717-2487
- Email: gary@breakthroughplay.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/breakthroughplay
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/breakthroughplay
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/breakthruplay
Image Credit:
Oliver Asis Photography
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