We were lucky to catch up with Josh Gilpin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Josh, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

The biggest risk I have ever taken was returning to college in my 30s to study guitar. I had previously graduated from UT-Austin with a Mechanical Engineering degree, and was already working in the oil industry in Sugar Land, TX around 2007. I had hesitated to get a job post-graduation to travel and explore other options, but ultimately decided that I needed to give an engineering career a chance as I had studied it for 5 years and did not want that to go to waste. I worked as a Pipe Stress Engineer for 2 years, but knew relatively quickly that it just was not what I wanted in life. I started looking into music school options, and this was around the 2008 housing market crash. Employees were steadily being let go so I knew it was only a matter of time for myself. I wanted to be ready to make some big changes once I was relieved of my post. Within 2-3 months, I had moved back to Austin and started music school at Austin Community College. This is the type of decision that so many people are afraid of, as it is completely life-altering. I understand that NOW, but honestly, I was so excited to be attending music school, it was ignorant bliss. I had many friends and family members giving the raised eyebrow and asking questions like, “So you’re giving up your engineering career?!?” or “What are you going to do with a music degree?!?”. Though I had no answers for them at the time, I was determined to make it work. Admittedly, I had zero idea what I was in for. I spent 3.5 years at ACC, and then another 4 years at Southwestern University, graduating with a degree in Classical Guitar Performance. Both experiences were invaluable. Would I do it again? Absolutely! It was far more difficult than I could have anticipated and put many aspects of my life on hold, but you cannot put a price on happiness. This decision is what brought about my guitar instruction business, ATX Guitar Lessons, heading into its 13th year. My advice will always be to chase those dreams. If you want something bad enough, it will come to fruition.

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?

Well, the story I just shared is how I got into guitar instruction. However, teaching guitar is another thing I dove head-first into. While I was in school, I found myself holding odd jobs here and there, UPS driver, data entry, etc., and one day it struck me… why not do the thing you love as a job? Again, very naive, but the passion was there. It took a loooonnnggg time to get things up and running smoothly, maybe 6 to 7 years, but I stayed the course, and I made sure I learned everything the hard way. Hah! I have poured countless hours and energy honing my teaching style and learning how to work with different ages, abilities, styles and goals. For my clients, I like to establish their goals at the onset, making sure that we are spending time on material that is relevant to what they would like to accomplish. Definitely not a “cookie-cutter” method. It keeps things interesting, challenging and fun. Every student is different and I feel it extremely important to build on each student’s individual strengths while driving toward their goals. Something that sets me apart is I am willing to go just about anywhere material-wise with a student. I teach classical, blues, rock, jazz, theory, sight-reading, finger-style, etc. I have been challenged quite a bit, and I truly enjoy that aspect of teaching. Being able to give a student what they want and see the smile on their face is such a huge reward. No joke, I feel like I received a second and equal education from my students through teaching. I am so grateful to be able to do what I do.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

I have always done my own marketing and advertising for my business, most of which is done online now. When I was attending ACC, I had an amazing mentor who was kind enough to share as much business advice with me as I was willing to listen to. He had done the same thing years ago that I was trying to accomplish…attending school and working for himself by offering guitar lessons. I picked his brain about business management, just as much as guitar-related content. He shared with me that one way he was able to bring in clients was by posting flyers with pull-tabs at local businesses that had community boards. This had to be in the 80s/90s. Nonetheless, I took this to heart, spent time putting together an eye-catching ad, and drove all over the city in search of community boards. I found several spots and would periodically return to check if the flyer was still hanging and replenish as needed. I did this for years. I know I brought a few clients in this way, but it was minimal. The tabs were always pulled but the calls were not coming in. I imagined a little piece of paper with my phone and email on it, getting lost in people’s homes, or perhaps falling out of their pocket in the washer or dryer never to be seen again. It still makes me laugh today thinking about driving for hours around Austin with these guitar ad printouts. One particular day, I was doing my “paper route” and I got pulled over and issued a speeding ticket. I thought to myself, “There has got to be a better way”. I cannot remember exactly, but that may have been the day I built my website. Haha!

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

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone, but just like every other business in the world, I had to pivot big time at the onset of the pandemic. It was Spring Break 2020. I always take Spring Break off from work since so many students and families travel during this time. I had big plans for myself and my wife that week with lots of activities and new restaurants to try out, but the pandemic had other plans. To me, it felt like the city changed overnight. One day, everything was normal, we were out at dinner socializing, and the next, masks, social distancing, businesses shut down, toilet paper was flying off the shelves, etc. Needless to say, we canceled our activities for that week, and I focused on transitioning my students and lessons to virtual only. Thankfully, I have an amazing and supportive cohort that trusts me. I was able to retain just about every student. I had my doubts about virtual lessons at the start. I had always done in-person teaching, but being forced into this situation, I did a lot of research and learning/modifying on the job. I was more than pleasantly surprised. With a proper set-up, I find no difference between in-person and virtual lessons. I have been able to adapt my teaching style to be just as effective virtually. I make technical equipment recommendations for my students so that they receive the highest quality guitar instruction. One thing I have heard other instructors discuss is the inability to play music together with their students. I have not had this issue. I am able to play audio for the student, simultaneously playing along with them and providing instruction as we go. I have to deal with the delay on my end which is totally fine, but for my students, it is just like being in person. I do this with reading music, playing rock songs, improvisation, you name it! The pandemic was an absolute mess and threw life in total disarray, but the virtual lesson option has been the silver lining. I have students as young as 6 years old taking virtual lessons. I have taught students in Houston, College Station, Waco, Alaska, and even China, which I think is so cool. Most of my students have opted to stay virtual because you just can’t beat the convenience of having lessons from the comfort of your own home, and eliminating the driving time. I offer both in-studio and virtual lessons, and all in-person students make use of virtual as well (for illness, travel, bad weather days, etc.). While virtual lessons came about due to the pandemic, I have decided to roll it into the business as a permanent option.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://atxguitarlessons.com/
• Instagram: atx_guitar_lessons
• Twitter: @JoshATXGuitar
• Youtube:  ATX Guitar Lessons

Image Credits
Alison Narro (wedding photo)