We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brandon Gathers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brandon below.

Brandon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

There are actually 3 things that I believe are the biggest challenges to profitability in my industry. They are knowing your worth or value, sticking with your business standards and attracting the right consumers. In this industry especially as small businesses, the market is unreliable, unpredictable and requires plenty of hard work. I believe that it first starts with you knowing your value because if you don’t know your worth, it will be difficult to convey that to people who want to pay you and even people who don’t want to pay you for your services. Effectively sticking to your business standards is just as important because you can be confident all day long, however if your verbiage and/ or pricing is not consistent to what you have chosen for your standard pricing, it will be hard to make a profit with your business in the long run. Being able to attract your desired clientele is so vital also and by no means do I think that’s an easy task.

I went to a festival recently to film one of the music artists that were performing for my personal pleasure. I enjoyed the music and I ended up editing a recap video of that artist’s performance. I was able to get in contact with the artist via social media and sent them what I created. In return, they loved my video and their manager offered me a paid opportunity for a big event that they have coming up. First, even though I filmed the artist for fun, I was confident enough in my abilities for me to send off my work to the artist. Secondly, I already knew what my pricing structure was prior to reaching out to them and when we discussed numbers, I respectfully did not waiver on my price. Lastly, being that this was an artist that I wanted to work with and there was a 50/50 chance that we might not work together, I proceeded anyway and if I continue to deliver quality work and customer service, this will be a great long lasting relationship with this new client.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a 27 year old humble, God-fearing, young black professional that desires to be great at whatever I do. I am grateful making a living being able to do what I love. Some of my many talents include, playing the drums, singing, writing songs, and creative directing, but my professional work is videography. After graduating college in 2019 and moving to Charlotte, NC, I purchased my first camera for my birthday in June. I wanted to get into photography for my personal pleasure and as time passed, I noticed that even though portrait photography was fun, filming videos became more of a passion.

Since middle school, I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mindset. So making money on the side was always a goal growing up. When I moved to Charlotte, Jamal Clark, a good friend and brother of mine, taught me how to start perfecting my craft. I ended up joining him in his journey as he started his company, “The Creative Hub CLT.” As my skills enhanced, I was able to charge for my services. This gift quickly made a great side income for me. I was able to grow with this company over the next few years and provide as much value as they had to me. In January 2023, I decided to start my own business, “Bran Bran Productions.” As my business grew, clients needs changed and now I am solely focusing on providing videography services to clients that have events. This clientele includes, but is not limited to, music artists, creatives, business owners, small businesses and corporate companies. Creating a captivating, heartfelt, and exciting recap of an event or moment is what I strive to do every single time with all of my clients. Being that every client is different, I am able to articulate and formulate what their desires and needs are and execute them.

When I come into contact with new clients, I provide exceptional quality work and professional customer service. I am able to gain their trust and what my clients have done for me has been extremely amazing. I am most proud when I was awarded the opportunity to go on tour with a very talented music artist by the name of Jamison Ross. He and his team brought me on tour to capture as many moments as possible. I was able to create a recap from every city that we traveled and performed at. Many of those cities I never visited before. It was truly a life changing experience and I will never forget it.

Even though this road of being an entrepreneur has not been an easy one, it has been worth it. Every day I am thankful to God for allowing me to have the abilities, knowledge and the time to do what I love to do. I am humbled to be living out my dream.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

My first passion was selling inspirational pin back buttons that turned into my main business but eventually I started navigating into the career field of photography and videography. Fast forward two years later, I decided to make that into my full time career and I took a leap of faith. While working full time at Wells Fargo before i decided to make that decision I always knew from the beginning that I was destined for something greater in my career. I knew pursuing my passion meant letting go and letting god because If wanted to be successful in this field I had to be available, work effortlessly, and build cliental. I had the challenges of not making an sufficient amount of income, taking on additional jobs with another business I was working with at the time called the creative hub, and even doubting myself.
Through the years, working in this industry has allowed me to connect with many business and individuals. I have worked with companies such as the NAACP, Carolina Classic Hair & Fashion Show and The Greenhouse. Some of the projects from these clients along with others have helped push my business to where it stands today. With every client, comes challenges that I must overcome. Whether that be how to light a subject for a certain scene to what frame rate would be best to film in. Overcoming these obstacles has given me the insight, knowledge and guidance on how to film, direct, and edit videos in such a way that captures the essence of the client’s vision.

I’ve learned that there are a plethora of passions that a person can have and that’s ok. Even though I may not be working on all of everything that I love to do the same time, as life continues, I believe time will make room for me to experience all of them extensively. I am grateful for this career and I say to anyone that wants to pursue their passion, It’s never too late. You still have time. Make it happen!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think that being able to understand what a client desires and being able to execute their expectations has helped build my reputation. I truly pride myself on building a foundation of strong customer relationships and I believe that my actions as well as work speak for that. My creativity is unmatched and customer service is second to none. From working all the numerous jobs that I have at such an early age, it became evident that customer satisfaction is key. My clients continue to work with me because I provide great value to them and their business and I will continue to do so for as long as I can.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.brarnbranproductions.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/branbranproductions
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-gathers

Image Credits
Jeremiah Drumming – the photo of me holding the camera