We recently connected with Brandon Paul and have shared our conversation below.
Brandon, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today
Knowing what I know now, there’s quite a few things. I would 100% start off by going out and shaking hands; this industry is about connections and relationships. I would go out and intentionally meet more people, expand my network and develop relationships right away. I would also be very open minded, less and less opinionated, abolish thoughts of competition, and try to have more patience. Also, I would change my thoughts and habits on the business aspect of music. Music is the art and only 1 side of it, business is the other half. Improving professionalism, rates, communication, network, etc all play a huge part in having success as a musician.
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 touring musician and music teacher. Guitar is my first instrument and I also sing. I am often referred to as a “hired gun”, which is a musician that is hired to play with different artists for touring, etc. I do also compose and perform my own original music. When I am not performing I teach guitar lessons online full time from home. I have a very strong passion for education and helping people improve on their journey. I also own an online guitar school (brandonpaulguitaralliance.com) and have courses out too.
I do believe the educational/teaching side of things separates me from others. I’ve developed an online presence and buzz around my teaching whilst touring with artists & acts. I like to think that my passion comes out when I play and teach- setting things a little different from others. I feel most proud of the impact I may have had with students; watching them grow and feel good about playing music. At the end of the day, knowing I helped others means more than anything else deep down.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I was a traveling basketball player in middle school and some of high school. I had never played guitar nor had any friends/family that exposed me to it. In my mind, I wanted to be in the NBA or some professional organization playing basketball. When I was a junior in high school, I came across someone playing guitar non stop. It rubbed off on me, and I started playing and felt I had to choose 1 or the other (basketball or guitar) based on time, focus, etc. I ran with the inspiration of guitar/music and I’m really glad that I did many years later! Making that initial pivot was extremely challenging, and I often second guessed myself for a handful of years after. Shifting from an athlete to a musician is very difficult in my opinion, and not often the situation for people.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I am still very much so building my online presence and learning more about branding, growth, etc- but I do have a good amount of followers with 10’s of millions of views accumulated across my channels. A-lot of what got me off the ground was doing guitar covers; specifically solos from players I deem as legendary. Then guitar lessons came into effect, live footage from concerts I perform and stories (referring to instagram and facebook stories) which seem to build trust and connection with the viewers.
My best advice is to just be you; don’t try and be someone else with your branding, words, and certainly delivery on video. The more “real” you can be, it actually coveys way better to the viewer IMO. I would 100% recommend against copying or plagiarizing (yes, so many people do this now) content and channels. You will get better and better over time (years typically) of posting and building and being you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.brandonpaulofficial.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/brandonpaulofficial
- Facebook: facebook.com/brandonpaulofficial
- Youtube: youtube.com/brandonpaul89
- Other: My online guitar school – www.brandonpaulguitaralliance.com Monsters of rock guitar course – https://www.udemy.com/course/monsters-of-rock/