“Hosting was never the plan!” - 8club - Add life to your calendar

It took us 2 weeks to set up this 20-minute conversation because Anamika is a busy gal. She’s a full time UI/UX designer, a full-time party-goer, and as of the last 3 months, a full-time hobbyist host.

She loves it and we can see why. The moment we sit down to talk, she’s ready with her wit, trivia, and constant check-ins to make sure everybody’s comfortable. In other words, she’s the perfect host!

It took us 2 weeks to set up this 20-minute conversation because Anamika is a busy gal. She’s a full time UI/UX designer, a full-time party-goer, and as of the last 3 months, a full-time hobbyist host.

She loves it and we can see why. The moment we sit down to talk, she’s ready with her wit, trivia, and constant check-ins to make sure everybody’s comfortable. In other words, she’s the perfect host!

But how did the designer become the host?

Guest lists and apps are two very different things to design, right? And yet somehow, by the day, Anamika is a UX designer in Bangalore. By the night, she's the reason people are socialising (her friends and strangers, both) there’s music in the air and everyone’s exchanging numbers.

But when Anamika downloaded 8club about a year ago, it wasn’t to host anything. No, she just wanted to get invited to other people’s parties. She loves high-energy gatherings. It’s her way of winding down after a long week. As her friends say, if it’s Sunday night and you wanna meet her, don’t show up at her house. Show up at the club.

“I’d rather go out and have real experiences instead of scrolling or Netflix-ing through a Sunday, y’know?”

So yes, she’s always been the cool guest. Life of the party. Hosting never even crossed her mind. As she puts it, “it sounded like a job and I already have one”. But Anamika’s curious and always up for an adventure. And people did often assume she’s a party organiser, so she thought why not give it a shot. If she didn’t like it, she could always stop after one hosting experience. Spoiler alert: she didn’t. Cut to today, she’s hosted 14-15 parties and she doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

It has been a rollercoaster though.

Guest lists and apps are two very different things to design, right? And yet somehow, by the day, Anamika is a UX designer in Bangalore. By the night, she's the reason people are socialising (her friends and strangers, both) there’s music in the air and everyone’s exchanging numbers.

But when Anamika downloaded 8club about a year ago, it wasn’t to host anything. No, she just wanted to get invited to other people’s parties. She loves high-energy gatherings. It’s her way of winding down after a long week. As her friends say, if it’s Sunday night and you wanna meet her, don’t show up at her house. Show up at the club.

“I’d rather go out and have real experiences instead of scrolling or Netflix-ing through a Sunday, y’know?”

So yes, she’s always been the cool guest. Life of the party. Hosting never even crossed her mind. As she puts it, “it sounded like a job and I already have one”. But Anamika’s curious and always up for an adventure. And people did often assume she’s a party organiser, so she thought why not give it a shot. If she didn’t like it, she could always stop after one hosting experience. Spoiler alert: she didn’t. Cut to today, she’s hosted 14-15 parties and she doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

It has been a rollercoaster though.

Here’s what nobody tells you about hosting

Party One. Party Two. Hosting gets easier over time. It’s intuitive. Logistics, however, they need some planning.

It’s five different things happening at once. You are sending reminder WhatsApp texts to your friends, you are responding to interested people on Instagram, sending somebody an invite link, and then making sure everyone knows if there’s any change in plans. There is almost always some change in plans!

“My phone is buzzing non-stop”, she laughs, “of course, it’s a good problem to have. But I am glad things are smooth now.”

Once she got the hang of things on 8club, the logistics started making sense. The app, in her words, made sure hosting wouldn’t turn into a 24*7 time-consuming full-time job.

“8club let my hobby be my hobby. And I get to earn from it too. And I’m a little bit bossy, so I love that the app makes sure everything’s happening on my terms!”

She hosts whenever she wants. Busy time at work? She’ll pause her parties for some time. Free schedule? She’s ready to host her dream parties, maybe even 1-2 times in the same week! She doesn’t have to restart the process, ever. One quick tap and everyone who’s ever attended her parties is added to her next guest list.

That’s ultimate win for her, a feature that’s actually made hosting sustainable for her. One app, start to finish, for almost everything. She puts the party up, people request invites, she picks her crowd, done. And she's still in touch with all of them when the next party rolls around. And she gets to focus on what she loves - the party and the vibe.

The girl who used to just be the guest is doing so much more now.

“Once you start, you don’t really get over the feeling. Walking into a room and knowing everybody is there because of you. I love it!”

Got a thing you love doing? Turn it into a Hotspot, a side hustle, but most importantly, a good memory. [Start hosting on 8club]