We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brandon Carpenter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Brandon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I wish I had started much sooner. My channel is focused on cooking and I cook nearly every day. I began my journey as a content creator after I retired as a Firefighter. My reason for starting a YouTube channel was to document my recipes for my family. I don’t typically cook from written recipes, and seeing the way something is done usually translates better than an old index card in a box. My mother was an amazing cook, and sadly she passed away before I could document her recipes. I didn’t want the cycle to continue with me, so I started recording. I would have especially featured the things I cooked for my crews at the Fire Department over the years. I missed out on years of content and exposure. I believe I would be much closer to my current goals had I started a few years earlier.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I currently have a channel on YouTube called BKC Cooks. My channel focuses on cooking and all things food. I went to culinary school after graduating High School, and I was always in the kitchen as a kid. I eventually left professional kitchens to become a full-time Firefighter. I retired as a Captain after 20 years of service. I never lost my passion for cooking, and I cooked thousands of meals for my crews over those years at the Firehouse. My videos are made so that people of all skill levels can produce fantastic meals. I try to simplify and demystify what’s going on in the kitchen. I have been told by many that I have a knack for explaining things, and I think that shows up in my work. I try my best to show my viewers that they can be successful in the kitchen. It just takes good ingredients, a few basic techniques, and a bit of patience. It always makes me proud when I get comments from viewers who were successful after trying my recipes.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I don’t believe most people realize how much time and effort it takes to do what we do. I’m a one person operation. From recipe creation, shopping for ingredients, operating all of the video and audio equipment, editing and marketing, I do it all myself. When someone watches a 10 minute video, they’re looking at the end result of two days worth of work. Most creatives endeavor with little expectation of reward or recognition. It’s best to just do the work and in time, recognition will come.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

It doesn’t have to be perfect. I was trained by a stern French Chef who demanded I strive for perfection. When recording my early videos, I would spend hours making sure nothing on screen was out of place, every voiceover had to be flawless, etc.. I have found over time that my viewers don’t care about perfection, they just want to be informed and entertained.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/BKCCooks
• Instagram: bkccooks
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bkccooks/
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/bkccooks