Episode 56: Roger "Dodge" Woodall - The Eventful Entrepreneur

Today’s guest is Roger Woodall. Roger is one of the leaders when it comes to events in the UK. Over the past 20+ years, he’s created and owned 1,500 Live Events, 12 Bournemouth 7s Festivals, sold over 1 Million tickets and built/sold an International sportswear brand. Entrepreneurship and bringing people together have always been a part of Roger’s life. He grew up in his parents’ busy pub on the River Thames, which also happened to be next door to a nightclub. Even at the age of 10, he saw opportunities to make money and did everything from dumpster diving for toys to sell on a stand to selling Saturday night VIP Line Jump Tickets to the nightclub next door. He was earning £600 a weekend, at 10 years old! This success only scaled up from there for Roger. While in college, he started a student nightclub brands company and in total hosted over 1500 parties in major cities across the UK for over 9 years. Then, in 2007, while sitting on Bournemouth Beach, he came up with the idea for Bournemouth 7s which is now the world’s largest sport & music festival with about 30,000 people showing up every year for the 3 day event. Obviously, the pandemic didn’t allow for the festival to go on in 2020, and so Roger pivoted to create some new ventures. The first, creating a podcast called the Eventful Entrepreneur, and the second, building an online course dedicated to helping people put on successful events. In this interview, we get into Roger’s time growing up in the pubs, his love of sport and rugby, his student nightclub business, Bournemouth 7s, and how he’s adjusted to the pandemic.

Timestamps

00:02:49 Being called "Dodge"

00:03:31 Growing in pubs in London

00:07:36 Cutting deals at the age of 10

00:11:43 Becoming street smart at an early age

00:16:10 Growing up with a pet monkey

00:18:25 Going to school while living in pubs

00:22:37 Why school isn't built for entrepreneurs

00:24:11 Playing rugby and love for sport

00:29:00 The student nightclub business

00:36:55 The idea for Bournemouth 7s festival

00:40:25 The impact the Great Recession had on the festival's launch

00:46:49 Ultimate vision for Bournemouth 7s

00:48:09 His pandemic pivot

00:54:04 His driving force