Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brandon Godman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brandon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I am happier as a business owner. I thrive on having too many irons in the fire and living on the edge of chaos. I find myself to be largely uninspired if I’m not, or if life becomes too predictable. As an employee, I loved being a team player and the experiences that I had while playing in various bands or working in jobs. But I found myself the most invigorated when my passions of playing music and working on and around instruments collided. It was like someone flipped on a lightbulb. I found myself to be full of ideas of how to grow and expand the business I was working in, and was eventually brought in as a partner. As I continued to grow, my ideas and ambitions took on a life of their own and I needed the platform to explore my visions. I broke out on my own, started my own business, and have never looked back.

There are definitely moments when I question if I’m really cut out to run my own business, but that doubt usually shows up in moments of fear or when I’m tackling something that I don’t have a ton of experience with. I’m fortunate to have mentors who will listen and give advice in these moments, with the major piece of advice being “it’s okay to ask for help”. Sometimes this help will come in the form of consultations from professionals in that area, or in just handing the task off to someone with more experience. I’m continuing to realize and accept that I truly cannot do everything, but I can make sure everything gets done by asking for help or delegating.

The only times I find myself thinking about having a regular job is when I do wind up with too much on my plate, or a to-do list of things that I genuinely do not enjoy doing. In these moments, I make myself stop and consider what I get to do everyday. I get to work with instruments and bows that I love. I get to play instruments and bows that I love. And I get to be around people who inspire me and bring me joy. While one may find this in a “regular job”, I have already found this in being a business owner so I might as well enjoy it!

Brandon, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a luthier and a musician. I have led the life of a professional full-time musician in the past, but since 2011 I have been working in the violin trade as a luthier, salesman and now business owner. I own two violin shops- The Violin Shop in Nashville, TN and The Fiddle Mercantile in San Francisco, CA. I also play on the road in a bluegrass band called Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands.

The Violin Shop and The Fiddle Mercantile are violin shops that serve the string communities near and far. The Fiddle Mercantile was started in 2020 and The Violin Shop was started in 1988. Both shops have a special history of serving and catering to the fiddle communities, as the staff has always been comprised of very talented fiddlers. As the shops have grown, we have expanded to meet the needs of musicians from all types of music. We pride ourselves in offering a finely curated selection of instruments, bows and accessories, as well providing top-tier services of sales, repair, restoration, rentals and expertise. We highly value the community that gathers in our space, and strive to be a safe and welcoming space for all.

The thing I’m most proud of with my two shops is our dedication to getting to know our customers. We want everyone to feel welcome and supported when they visit us or reach out to us. For sales, we like our customers to think of us as their partner in helping them find the right instrument or bow for them. After that we look forward to being the caretakers of those instruments and bows to make sure they stay in top working order for the musicians. We have clients who we have been doing business with since our businesses open, and really appreciate those relationships greatly. It’s truly what makes the job most enjoyable.

For my playing, I perform with Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands. Laurie is a Grammy Award winner, celebrated bluegrass musician, and a female icon who has paved the way for many others to follow in her steps. She and I are kindred spirits as we both play fiddle and both have histories of owning violin shops. In early 2024, she will be releasing a new album that I played on called “Trees”.

This year I will also be releasing a solo record called “I Heard the Morgan Bell” that is a collection of original fiddle tunes that I wrote about my upbringing in Kentucky, the places and characters of my childhood, and the concept of home.

Beyond my businesses and playing, I sever on the Board of Directors of The Violin Society of America and am a co-host of the luthier podcast called “OMO”.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses.

I have been a “fiddle geek” since I started playing at age 10, and would always spend a lot of time in the violin shops I did business with. I had some experience working in shops and a genuine interest in the history of instruments, bows and their makers. In 2011, I was playing full-time on the road as a professional musician when Fred Carpenter, founder of The Violin Shop, offered me a job. He said he had always recognized my interest and knowledge and felt like I could be helpful. I decided to take him up on the offer a few months later. In 2013 I was brought in as a junior partner with he and his business partner, Ian Panton. They were starting to consider succession and wanted to reward me for the work I was doing.

In 2016 I realized that for me to have the knowledge I really needed to be successful in the field, I needed more experience and opted to leave The Violin Shop and move to the west coast to start traveling and doing business as a wholesaler in the violin trade. During this time I got to visit shops all over the US and Europe, I built relationships with colleagues who I really looked up to and had the opportunity to learn from those folks. In 2020 I started The Fiddle Mercantile in San Francisco to start dealing in the retail market again.

In 2022 I was approached by Ian Panton, who had fully acquired The Violin Shop, about an opportunity to purchase the shop. Now, did this make sense at all? I mean, I would have two shops that were 2300 miles away from each other. How could I do it? After much thought, I decided to do it.

Ian and I drafted our deal, consulted with an accountant and attorney who jointly drew up the paperwork. Largely, this process was fairly easy and straight forward, but only because we had established what our intent was, what the price would be, how it would be paid, and in what amount of time. Ian would always say, “The devil’s in the details.” This is true. We did spend a lot of time hammering out the small details, but that part was largely easy because we knew exactly what we wanted and agreed on it.

Once the transaction was made public, it was received very well by all. There was a transition period of getting to know the details of the business again, analyzing where it was and where I wanted it to go. Of course any changes needed to be made gradually and with intention.

The thing that has made it all work is by having very talented, trustworthy team at The Violin Shop in Nashville, and regular communication that allows us to feel like I’m in the business daily. We have moved all the systems used to run the business to the cloud, so I’m able to check in from anywhere at any point to see what’s going on and take care of tasks that I need to. The other thing that helped out was that I had been involved in The Violin Shop for 5 years before. I knew the community, the staff, and the core of the shop.

Of course there are challenges. There are the daily things that happen that I don’t get to be a part of. I miss out on some of the human interactions and relationships that make working with my employees so special. I have to practice delegation and management, clear and concise communication, and decisiveness on a daily basis. I also have to fully trust my employees to do what they have been tasked to do.

Now, at two years into the acquisition, I can say I feel it is a success. I’m still getting to know the business, still learning to be a manager, and still working towards making the business true to my core and vision. However, I think I’ll be doing all of these things until the day I’m not involved in the business. I remain very grateful to my staff, Fred & Ian, my mentors, and most of all, the community who supports these businesses.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The moment that I had to decide between my life as a full-time musician or a violin shop owner. I had been quite successful as a musician, but the life of a musician can be very hard due to the uncertainty of longevity. I saw many musicians who had held down long-term gigs be left without work due to the artists retiring, making band changes, or just “slowing down”. They went from making a great living to barely scraping by. I always felt I wanted to have a little more control over my well-being.

As I started getting more involved with The Violin Shop, one of my best friends realized that I had really found the crossroads of my passions and talent. I can remember where I was standing the day we had a phone conversation where he pointed this out, and likened it to his life where he had finally found a gig that allowed him to showcase and make the best use of his talents. I realized that I needed to, forgive the term, “capitalize” on this because it was my own unique opportunity. So, I did.

I’ll remain grateful for his insight and willingness to point that out to me. It really did change my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: theviolinshop.com, thefiddlemercantile.com, omopod.com, vsaweb.org
• Instagram: @theviolinshop, @thefiddlemercantile, @mrfiddler1
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mrfiddler1/

Image Credits
Tyler Bray Edward Rudolph