The COVID-19 pandemic almost destroyed Wayne Nolden’s business, Fun Pros.
He had been providing inflatables for events, trivia for about two dozen bars and a variety of entertainment “upgrades” for parties. The pause in 2020 brought all that to an abrupt halt, but Nolden wasn’t ready to throw in the towel.
“I promised myself when this got done, I was going to work my tail off to get my business back and more,” he says.
From 15 bars post-COVID, Nolden has built the trivia and music portions of the business to include close to 50 bars across Green Lake, Fond du Lac, Outagamie, Winnebago, Waupaca and Calumet counties. Fun Pros is an affiliate of DJ Trivia.
Nolden says he built the business by cold calling bars and relying on a strong staff that helped him build an effective digital marketing and social media strategy.
“We have more than 2,000 players a week, and I couldn’t do it without my awesome staff,” Nolden says.
Fun Pros employs 20 people, and one can find trivia somewhere through its network of bars most nights of the week. Nolden says he has no problems finding hosts.
“It’s really good part-time money for them,” he says. “Hosting is a great time. You get to captivate the whole audience with your voice and talent.”
While he continues growing within his established territory, Nolden has ambitions to expand into the Wausau area and has added corporate entertainment services even as he has ended the inflatable rentals.
The Fun Pros team built a couple of game show sets for “feud” style and “match game” style shows, and the company offers casino games as well. Using his existing business connections and an association with the Society for Human Resource Management, Fun Pros has targeted businesses looking for entertainment and team-building activities.
Nolden says the quality of his staff has allowed him more time to spend with family.
“As a business owner, you want to work on your business, not for your business,” he says. “I feel that I’m very lucky that I was able to find a product that I can excel with.”
