Jonathan Aymin started with one San Diego wedding venue and grew CSE into a multi-state venue management company that's now been part of over 6,500 events. He's also the founder of WEVA, the first national wedding and event venue association, host of the VenueRx podcast, and — as of this year — a father of seven.

In this episode, Dana and Jonathan get into the messy reality behind the growth: taking on venues with existing contracts and no playbook, going years without an owner's paycheck, and learning to lead a team through chaos without losing your own emotional footing. They talk about the difference between following your passion and following what you're actually good at and can build a business around, why patience is a skill you have to practice on purpose, and how "growing before you're ready" applies as much to kids as it does to venues.

Also covered: the loneliness epidemic and why events are the last frontier for real connection, why social media stopped being a connection tool and became TV, the discipline of saying no to good opportunities so you can say yes to the right ones, and why timeline expectations should shift as your team grows.

**In this episode:**

- Jonathan's path from college party-throwing to staffing to venue ownership
- Why "connection" became CSE's core purpose
- The chaos of onboarding venues faster than the team was ready for
- Owner pay vs. management pay — and why Dana's first distribution didn't come for six years
- Using opportunity cost to filter which opportunities are worth the sacrifice
- Compartmentalizing family time and work time instead of doing both badly at once
- Why a wrong decision beats an unmade one

Thank you to our amazing sponsors!

Aisle Planner
Wedding Pro

Brite Biz

Lead Lock

Releventful

Event Guard
VenueX AI

Interested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass?

Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here!

Follow my new ventures:

https://mcalisterleftwich.com/
https://thegrahammill.com/