Today we’d like to introduce you to Larry Noto.
Hi Larry , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I had a long tourism marketing career in Baltimore – working for Visit Baltimore, Meyer Jabara Hotels
and ultimately as the Director of Marketing for the National Aquarium,
In 2015, my dad – Joe Noto – passed away and I left my career to take over Music Land – the music instrument he started in 1971.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My father ran every aspect of this business out of his head morning noon and night or decades. There were no computer systems… no point of sale reports… no huge team behind him (outside of the repair shop which has been run for 4o plus years by Gary Lindorborn).
Could Music Land even function without Joe Noto?
So I was tasked with not only learning the business and the industry… but creating a team approach of ownership, responsibility and accountability
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Outside of running Music Land, I am involved in the community and the arts scene,
I serve on the board for the Maryland Center for the Arts and am a member of the Society of Italian American Businessmen – for which I am the marketing chair for the Avena Maryland Italian Festival.
ON the side, I am a stand up comedian who has opened for headliners such as Brad Garrett, Paul Reiser and Richard Lewis…. and am the lead singer in Larry Noto and The Little Big Band – a 13-piece jazz band that plays the great American song book.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
The biggest risk I took was leaving my marketing career and taking over a business I knew nothing about.
I went in cold.
I didnt even have a key to the building until the day before my father passed away
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.musiclandstore.com
- Facebook: musiclandstore
