Epic Heartbeats of a Party King with Connor Treacy
Connor Treacy’s electrifying energy fuels the Epic Heartbeats of every unforgettable party, setting the stage for nonstop excitement and legendary celebrations.
A wild house party at 19. A $4M nightclub in West Hollywood. Billion-streaming hits and Grammy-winning projects. Connor Treacy’s rise through the worlds of music, nightlife, and politics is a masterclass in heart-led hustle and bold reinvention.
In this episode, you’ll hear how Connor transformed a viral moment into a movement—building an empire that blends creativity, culture, and purpose. From navigating the chaos of COVID to staying relevant in an ever-evolving industry, Connor shares raw, inspiring insights into what it takes to lead with passion and stay true to your values.
If you’re chasing big dreams and want to lead with heart while making a serious impact, this conversation is for you.
🎧 Hit play and ride the wave of Epic Heartbeats, where music, nightlife, and bold ambition collide.
Key Takeaways from this Episode
- The essence of a heart-led business
- Transitioning from viral house parties to the music industry
- The balance of passion and profit in entrepreneurship
- The impact of personal growth on professional success
- Navigating the highs and lows of a dynamic career
About the Guest
Connor Treacy is a Los Angeles–based entrepreneur, music executive, and cultural strategist operating at the intersection of music, nightlife, and politics. At 19, he made national headlines with a “Project X”–style event, later co-founding OffSunset—a $4M West Hollywood nightclub. A former Universal Music Group manager, Connor has worked on Grammy-winning projects and billion-streaming hits.
Additional Resources
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/connortreacy
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/theconnortreacy
- YouTube: www.youtube.com/@theconnortreacy
Support for the Show:
Consider supporting our continued efforts to bring you great, free content each week. Click this link to become a monthly supporter and get a shout-out on the next episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1793649/supporters/new
Next Steps:
- Subscribe to The Heart-Led Business Show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
- Pass the Torch of Wisdom: Share this episode with someone who embraces holistic practices in their business journey. It’s a treasure trove of insights waiting to ignite their path!
- Join the Conversation: Connect with me on social media. Let’s exchange thoughts, inspiration, and heart-led wisdom.
Up Next…
- Explore heart-led entrepreneurship with Angela Tipton, Co-Founder of Tipton Franklin Marketing Strategies—a biotech pro turned marketing strategist bringing bold ideas and ethical impact to AgTech and Biotech.
- Sales Mastery Awaits: Boost your Health and Wellness sales with our complimentary training. Start selling with integrity today! → https://go.businessleadmaximizer.com/script-training
- Spread the Heart-Led Message: Loved the episode? Your review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify fuels our mission. 📑
- Need some recommendations on great tools to help with sales? Check out my preferred tools here: https://tomjackobs.com/resources
Explore the Dialogue’s Treasures: Unearth the insights within! Delve into the profound wisdom woven throughout our conversation.
Speaker: 0:01
Welcome to the Heart-Led Business Show, where compassion meets commerce and leaders lead with love. Join your host, Tom Jackobs, as he delves into the insightful conversations with visionary business leaders who defy the status quo, putting humanity first and profit second. From heartfelt strategies to inspiring stories, this podcast is your compass in the world of conscious capitalism. So buckle up and let your heart guide your business journey.
Tom Jackobs: 0:36
Welcome, heart-forward listeners to the Heart-Led Business Show. Today we’re rolling out the red carpet for Connor Treacy, a maestro of music, a connoisseur of nightlife, and a culture strategist extraordinaire from steering sensational soiree to the glitzy heights of a-list, nightclubs and crafting chart topping tunes with industry giants. Connor is all about blending passion with purpose. So buckle up as we dive into his journey of heart-led entrepreneurship in the vibrant world of entertainment. Connor, welcome to the show.
Connor Treacy: 1:09
Hey Tom, thanks for having me. And that was quite the intro.
Tom Jackobs: 1:14
Thanks. You can thank AI for that. Of course, with my prompting.
Connor Treacy: 1:17
We like the AI, love the intros.
Tom Jackobs: 1:21
That’s awesome. So I’m really excited to dive into your story’cause I think it’s absolutely fascinating. I think the audience will really enjoy your journey in the heart-led business space. But first, I always like to ask, what’s your definition of a heart-led business?
Connor Treacy: 1:39
I feel like my definition of a heart-led business is you really need a like love what you’re doing and you need to be passionate about it. And I guess like at the core of it, I would do what I’m doing now for free, you know what I mean? I like building companies. I like working in entertainment and that’s why I thought that this show was like so great.’cause it’s like how I’ve run, like my whole career basically. So that’s my definition. I guess?
Tom Jackobs: 2:12
That’s a great definition too. And the fact that, you would do it for free. And unfortunately, a lot of heart-led business people basically do it for free and that’s why they’re not in business anymore, which is unfortunate they can’t really help people. But that’s really the purpose of the show too, is to highlight people’s journey like yourself and
Connor Treacy: 2:31
Right.
Tom Jackobs: 2:31
You approach the money side and the business side of being a heart-led business. So tell us a little bit about your business and your backstory.
Connor Treacy: 2:42
So do you wanna know? You wanna know about what my businesses are now?
Tom Jackobs: 2:46
Yeah. Yeah.
Connor Treacy: 2:47
Okay, cool.
Tom Jackobs: 2:48
You consider them to be heart-led businesses.
Connor Treacy: 2:51
So I guess there’s three pillars right now What my business is around, two of them are intertwined. But I guess I’ll just explain that. So one is obviously the music pillar. I manage artists. I consult for artists, I consult for record labels, management companies. And then I also, and then I also produce records, right? So that’s the music pillar. The other two pillars I would say is there’s the hospitality pillar and then there’s the political pillar. But I would say that those two are intertwined right now. I am on a couple different like boards and have some chairs, like seats with some political groups. But mainly with that I’m doing their events. I just did the Stonewall, democratic Clubs fundraiser this past Saturday. And so that was something where I got the venue organized, the whole thing. And I’m also on the chair of that club. I guess that’s intertwined right now. But to back up a little bit I did co-own a nightclub for three years. So there could be at some point where, I’m producing music or doing the music stuff. I may have a club or a restaurant or something more hospitality related. And then I’ll also be doing the political events. So that’s like the three-way intersection that I fall between.
Tom Jackobs: 4:15
Yeah, so that, that’s fascinating. It’s an interesting kind of skill stack or you. I like to call skill stacking. But how did you get into that business and build those skills up?
Connor Treacy: 4:28
So honestly, this all started when I was. a teenager. I just was a guy that started throwing house parties. Of’em, one of’em blew up. It went viral. It was I, it was the night that the movie Project X came out. I called the event Project X on Facebook, invited like a hundred thousand people and yeah. And like it ended up on the news and all these other outlets and stuff, I have it on my YouTube page still. It has like close to a million views. And so was how it started. So I originally was just like a teenage house party thrower. That’s how this all started.
Tom Jackobs: 5:09
Lots of teams throw house parties, right? Like I threw a house party as well. It didn’t get on the news. There were a million views. So what? What made this more special than the normal teenage house party?
Connor Treacy: 5:23
Yeah. It definitely wasn’t like my first event. Like I probably had, like three or four before that. But I felt I felt like going into that one, I definitely had a little bit of momentum. There was some other factors with it. Like I brought in like the main, like bigger promoters at the time and them to co-host it with me. And then I was really good with like social media at the time. So I had this like app on my Facebook page where. I can invite everyone’s friends with the click of a button. So I was like telling people, I was like, you can get in for free if you let me invite all of your friends I was able to invite a hundred thousand people and like back then Facebook was like the platform and so it caught like wildfire. And it was that with the movie Hype a character from the actual movie was there.
Tom Jackobs: 6:16
Oh wow.
Connor Treacy: 6:17
Yeah. I didn’t, I obviously it was one of those situations I didn’t think that I didn’t think it was any different than any of the other parties I had done, but it just blew up. That was like my first taste of some kind of like success or virality or whatever you wanna call it, like my mindset going into it. So it definitely was like calculated but also random too.
Tom Jackobs: 6:39
Yeah. Do you think it was because. Or along with the Project X, which was getting a lot of publicity as well, and the hook on to that. Do you think that’s what got it to be, go to?
Connor Treacy: 6:52
It was that it was like prime Facebook where like Facebook was like, the platform event pages were huge. The. Promoters that I did it with, they were like super, like big at that time that I did it with. And then like house parties in general, like especially during that time, were just catching like crazy hype. Like people like, oh my God, there’s a house party. So it was like like a combination of events that made it get that much bigger than like your typical house party.
Tom Jackobs: 7:23
Okay. Oh, that’s cool. Going from the house party to the other events and going into the music industry, what was that transition like for you?
Connor Treacy: 7:33
I’ve all I’ll say this, like I never had a plan and I still don’t have a plan. Like I, I’m a bit more like organized with it. And I have an idea in my head of like where I want things to go, but I. I’ve always just more or less had mindset, where I just wanna keep building and amplifying like what I’m doing. And so I knew that once that party went viral, like I just had a feeling, I was like, I need to like, put my foot on the gas and run with this.’cause like I had a feeling and I still have this feeling like it’s all gonna go away if I don’t keep pressing. I then morphed into going on Google, reaching out to managers or agents and like booking artists at shitty, 18 plus nightclubs and like selling hard tickets on Facebook and that’s what it morphed into and I would say by like that summer, I. I was already like I, okay, so to give you like dates and timestamps, I would say the Project X Mansion party probably happened like March or April of 2012. By like July of 2012, I already was like booking like YG to perform at a nightclub and was like selling like hard tickets to get in and stuff like that. Yeah. So I was like, I was 19 at that time, and so I wasn’t even legally allowed to drink alcohol. Yeah, so it, it definitely moved. It moved pretty quick and it was super like raw.’cause I didn’t know much anything should cost. I didn’t have any advice from anyone. And then I was just paying for all of this through money I was getting from teaching tennis lessons. So it’s like I was making like 25 to 40 or 50 bucks an hour teaching tennis lessons, cash and that’s how I was funding all of this.
Tom Jackobs: 9:26
Oh wow.
Connor Treacy: 9:27
Yeah. And so by that summer I had booked a few big events like that where it was more like concert style, like three to 500 capacity. And like I would say the YG one was probably like the biggest name where people would know who he is today
Tom Jackobs: 9:42
Yeah. Do you think, yeah. Do you think that the lack of planning or the more kind of, I would call it almost naive just going for it, do you think that was your secret sauce to the success?
Connor Treacy: 10:00
I guess.
Tom Jackobs: 10:00
Preconceived notion it was, I’m gonna try it and see what happens.
Connor Treacy: 10:06
I guess for anyone that like really wants to know how I felt or what I was going through I never, for a second thinking about getting an internship somewhere. I never, for a second was like, oh, when I finish college, I’m gonna get this job at this company. It just wasn’t on my radar. That being said, I wasn’t like watching YouTube interviews and like being like, I’m gonna be an entrepreneur. It was just like, in my head, I was just like, the parties are what I’m gonna do. I just knew. Like I never, now don’t get me wrong, There were tons of times where I almost quit. Like where I went from making a bunch one party to then losing it all. So there was definitely like times. But yeah, for not for a second I thinking of doing anything else.
Tom Jackobs: 10:59
Did that have anything to do with your upbringing or, how your parents taught you? Were they entrepreneurs as well or did they have the job or a job?
Connor Treacy: 11:08
My parents are both retired now pretty much. But my mom was a hairstylist, and then my dad is an electrical contractor, so I guess technically yes, my dad is an entrepreneur. My dad’s an entrepreneur. My dad didn’t work for anyone. He had his own company. So maybe I got it from my dad, but like my dad was never like telling me, oh, you should be I didn’t think of like it, I don’t know. It just, by the way, back then, like I’m 32. Like, I don’t even know if like it was cool to be an entrepreneur, like when I was in high school or no one was talking about it back then. I was just something I just went with it. Like I, by the way, I’ll say this too, I remember feeling like in middle school and high school, I’d always see people where this person was the singer or this person was that I never felt like I had my thing. So then when I like started doing the parties, I was like, this is my thing. This is what I wanna do. So I felt like it was a very organic, natural thing that I fell into. And then it started to like work pretty quick where like I was like, this is what I can do. So that’s I would say the mindset I was in.
Tom Jackobs: 12:12
Yeah, and that became your purpose as well.
Connor Treacy: 12:14
Yeah, there was like some other factors too. Like, I got sober in January of 2012, when I was nine, like right after I turned 19. And so, the events became my new addiction. And so it was like all, I’ll say this too, it was all I thought about every day. Like I was, it was the only thing I was like looking up on the computer, like I was reaching out to venues and this and that, like it’s all I did. Yeah. So that was probably a big reason too.
Tom Jackobs: 12:42
Yeah. And then, so I know I have a very similar kind of backstory in terms of just always entrepreneurial. I had for my first business at 16, but I always was told you go to college, you get a job. And I actually filed that for 12 years, working in oil and gas for 10 years, which I would’ve put my head through a wall doing that. But you actually went to school, went to college, and then now you have a law degree as well. Is that right?
Connor Treacy: 13:12
Yeah. That’s also like a funny story because by the time, I originally just went to a small liberal arts school, like in Thousand Oaks, which is about like 40 minutes away. From where I live in la And so I went there for th I think I did three years and then I dropped out like in my fourth year.’Cause the events stuff just like totally took off. And then, later on, once I had gotten hired at Universal Music Group as manager, that’s when I started to notice. I was like, oh, shoot. Like, I should maybe finish school.’cause it was the first thing people would ask. They’re like, where’d you go to school? Or like it. And that was never a thing, like when I was doing the events only. Yeah. And so when Covid hit I reapplied back into school. I finished, I did my undergrad at Penn State, and then, I got my law degree at USC, and then now I have a year left of my MBA. But that was like another thing back to. My past point where I’m always trying to amplify or build on what I’m doing. I felt like if I didn’t do this, I was gonna get boxed into being the guy that like knew people and that was my value rather than, you get what I’m saying? Which I still am the guy that knows people, but I also have the school backing. So I just feel like it, it just makes me more like steady with stuff like that because the knowing people, things fickle, right? You could be best friends with a celebrity and then they get married and you’re not friends with them anymore, so, the school stuff they can’t take away. But that was something I didn’t really, I’m 32 now, so I’ll finish the MBA at 33 I didn’t really. I was like 27 maybe when I started at Penn State. And I dropped out at 21 or 22. So there was like a period where I was just like a college dropout, and I thought that was cool. Everyone makes it sound sick.
Tom Jackobs: 15:07
Yeah. Steve Jobs was a dropout as well. Gates.
Connor Treacy: 15:10
Yeah. That’s why.
Tom Jackobs: 15:11
That makes it cool. Know and I’m not, I have a degree as a bachelor’s degree, but I don’t use it that much in theater. I guess I do use it’cause it’s performance here. But if I were to do it over again and I started an MBA and I quickly quit because the professors I was learning from, I was like, they have no. Entrepreneurial like experience or things like, I was like, why am I learning this? But it’s yeah if you have that entrepreneurial, I don’t think people are asking you if you have a degree or things like that.
Connor Treacy: 15:41
Yeah.
Tom Jackobs: 15:43
cool. So transition, so you actually work for Universal, and then universal Records,
Connor Treacy: 15:49
so yeah, it’s the umbrella company is Universal Music Group. And then they have a bunch of like labels under them. And so technically I was working for Geffen Records, but then there’s also it, also was, working for Interscope Records too. So it was like they’re both on the same floor and I was working with artists that were signed to both of the labels. And so that was I was doing for two years. But that was a situation where I didn’t even apply like the. President of the label just reached out to me out of the blue when I was like club promoting. And I got hired probably just because I was like, the young, promoter person and they probably wanted someone that was like tapped in with the culture and like new artists. And so yeah, that was about I was like 24 I got hired there that so you get the, taste of having a corporate position.
Tom Jackobs: 16:43
Yeah. And was it a good taste or a bad taste or a mix?
Connor Treacy: 16:48
Just it’s just way different. But I still felt like an entrepreneur while I was there.’cause I was still working for the two different clubs I was working with and I was also consulting with this other company, so I had things going on. But there’s pros and cons to both.
Tom Jackobs: 17:03
Yeah, for sure. It’s a steady paycheck. And not always but as an entrepreneur, you’re reliant just on you to, you eat what you kill, right?
Connor Treacy: 17:16
I would say the difference between being out on your own in the streets and then working for a corporate entity is when you’re working for the corporate entity, you have consistent money coming in, but at the end of the day, you’re building someone else’s. Dream or vision or whatever. And then when you’re out on the street on your own, you’re building your own vision, but there’s not the consistent paycheck. So there’s pros and cons to both. That’s at least like my take on the situation. Some people might view it differently, but that’s how I view it. Both are great.’Cause sometimes know, you need consistent cash flow, but then also sometimes if you want to get to a certain destination, you gotta build out your own vision too.
Tom Jackobs: 18:00
Yeah. And you can, I think you can use it as a stepping stone as well, or at least to build out those skills, meet new people, network.’cause, that sounds like that’s really your superpowers that people connection and that’s what’s gotten you to where you are today, is by being out there and being visible and helping people get to their dreams.
Connor Treacy: 18:23
Yeah, no, for sure. I, I definitely would say my connecting skills are one of my strengths. Definitely one thing that I do know how to do is connect.
Tom Jackobs: 18:34
Yeah, that’s great. So as you’re building up your business and your purpose, obviously in, in business there’s always ups and downs. I. Being a heart-led business, a lot of heart-led business owners struggle with that business side and cash and just understanding money and they have usually a bad money mindset. How did you reconcile just that money side, the business side of running a purpose-led business of your own?
Connor Treacy: 19:02
I still battle with it today. I guess well, okay. I guess in response to that statement I’m constantly, and I’ve been constantly, evolving into kind of like new business sectors and situations, right? And so this was how it was with the parties. For the first two or three years, it was a situation where I’m the one that’s supposed to put up all the money and take all the risk in this. But then it turned into something where the clubs were paying me just to show up and bring people, and I was getting consistent money each time. So I guess, in response to the heart led business, at least the way I viewed it or how it usually works for me is when I’m trying to break into a new sector. Specifically like, some monetization in the first couple of years, but like I don’t really focus on that. I just try to get my feet in the door and like network and build out my like clout within that like industry. And then I feel like the monetization usually takes care of itself in like year two, three or four and you know what I mean? That’s like how I go into it. Is I I don’t really go into it, like for the monetization part. Like I genuinely feel like if I’m like doing something, I’m like, this is like what I’m supposed to be doing and building this out to help the overall vision. And I feel like the money will take care of itself.
Tom Jackobs: 20:19
Yeah. and definitely know that. I know for myself, like when I’ve, before spreadsheets and figure out like what’s the profit margin and doing all that, and it didn’t really work out that great for me versus. What you’re doing in terms of providing a great service, understanding the business, able to take the loss, or at least a break even, to know down the road that the money will happen because you’re passionate about it and you love what you’re doing and you’re just do a great thing and people recognize it, and then start paying you what you’re worth.
Connor Treacy: 20:54
Yeah, I guess for anyone that’s like curious for how I would approach it. I’ve always done like one thing to pay for the next thing, if that makes sense. So, I originally was just a tennis coach. Making 25, 30, 40 bucks an hour, however much, right? That was I was doing. And then I was using that money to pay for the parties. And during that time, by the way, I had moments where I was like, why am I like putting all this money into the parties and then losing it when I could just be like a good, like a tennis coach? Because by the way, that was a lot of money back then. So I definitely had those moments where and’cause back then I hadn’t experienced it working. So there was years where I was doing the events where I had to put up all the money myself and like some I would make and then some I wouldn’t. And I was like, man, like I’m putting all my money from tennis into this. And then it ended up working. Then it turned into like I was using the party money to pay for the music stuff and then you get what I’m saying? And then I used the music money to pay for the next, so that’s I at least know the pattern now, but usually it takes me like a few years to break into the new industry and then people will start paying me for it.
Tom Jackobs: 22:07
Absolutely. And how long are you typically in that industry then before you’re moving on to the next thing?
Connor Treacy: 22:15
I guess where I’m at right now is I would say. I was teaching tennis lessons like in high school since I was maybe in 10th or 11th grade. I started throwing the parties around the time I was 19 and I didn’t really start making money from the parties until about 2015 is when it was started becoming consistent.
Tom Jackobs: 22:36
What, three years? You’re 23?
Connor Treacy: 22:38
Yeah. Something like that. And then each year after that was like more and more. And then by the end of 2017, I got hired at Interscope, and then, so the music thing was different, right?’cause I actually wasn’t trying to work in music, but I was getting paid from that initially. But then I got to a point in 20 end of 2019, where I was getting paid by four or five different companies at the same time. But I felt like a hamster on a wheel and like I was giving all these people my resources, but I didn’t like own anything, I was making a lot of money, like salary wise from all these people. But I was like, this isn’t sustainable. I couldn’t get married and go on vacation, with my wife.’cause I felt like I was owned by all these like people and entities,so I just detached from the whole thing. I quit, Interscope end of 2019 to start my own music management record label part of it. And then around that time one of the clubs I was working at closed, and then two or three months after that, COVID hit. Basically was, I went from like fully being a product of the system of these five entities to everything just going dark. And so I had to recreate myself, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me, right? Because now I feel like I regained my footing and now I own everything that I do and it’s my own thing. And I’m not reliant on. Appeasing a boss or this or that, and now it’s each move that I do, I’m just building more leverage for myself. It’s tough man. It was tough pulling that cord when you build it all the way up.
Tom Jackobs: 24:23
yeah, exactly. And but I think, that’s the entrepreneur’s journey. It’s a rollercoaster ride and you just prepare for those dips and, ride out the top as much as you can. That’s what a fascinating story, and I can’t believe it’s getting about that time too, but what a journey that you’ve gone on through your career and to be on what you said 34 now.
Connor Treacy: 24:46
32.
Tom Jackobs: 24:47
Three, two, sorry.
Connor Treacy: 24:49
Yeah.
Tom Jackobs: 24:50
That’s great. There’s a lot of seasoned entrepreneurs that haven’t gone through what you have in the 30 years that they’ve gone through.
Connor Treacy: 24:56
Yeah. Not always that easy.
Tom Jackobs: 24:58
No, of course not. Cool. So how can people learn more about what you’re up to and, getting in touch with you?
Connor Treacy: 25:06
You can check me out on Instagram. It’s just at the Connor Treacy. Is just linkedin.com/connor. Treacy. I have connor Treacy.com, my website TikTok at the Connor Treacy, and I think YouTube’s Connor Treacy. You can probably just type in my name.
Tom Jackobs: 25:25
Yeah, I will.
Connor Treacy: 25:26
Yeah, so C-O-N-N-O-R, and then T-R-E-A-C-Y.
Tom Jackobs: 25:32
And we’ll link all that up into the show notes, so it’s a lot easier for the show guests to get on there. Awesome. Connor, thank you so much for coming onto the show and sharing your fascinating journey into heart led businesses, left right, and center. As well as I really appreciate your time.
Connor Treacy: 25:47
I appreciate it, Tom. This was great.
Tom Jackobs: 25:49
Awesome. And thank you listeners for tuning in for today’s show. We really appreciate that. Make sure you’re checking out everything that Connor is doing and we provide all that into the show notes. So just click on down there, and while you’re down there in the show notes, you’ll see a thing about rating and reviews. So if you could do me a big favor and give the show a rating review, that’ll help spread the word about heart led businesses and how we can thrive and still have a profit with our heart-led business. So until next time, lead with your heart.
Speaker 2: 26:28
You’ve been listening to The Heart-Led Business Show, hosted by Tom Jackobs. Join us next time for another inspiring journey into the heart of business.
