It's a typical Saturday night for Brigham Larson. He strolls across a dimly lit room, sits down at the piano and plays an upbeat introduction for a local theater group dubbed The Thrillionaires. The performers enter and the musical begins, only no one is singing Broadway tunes. The music, melodies, lyrics and lines are being made up on the spot, underscored by raucous laughter from the audience.
When he's not performing, you can find Brigham tuning, repairing and restoring pianos--something he's been doing since he was seventeen. He put himself through college while working as a part-time piano technician, then decided to pursue it full-time after graduation. But while Brigham has chosen to walk the road less traveled in his career, the journey hasn't been without diversions. A few years ago his wife Karmel became a part-time real estate agent. When she reached a point where she had more work than she could handle, Brigham scaled back his piano business and joined her. Together they were able to significantly increase their income and purchase a nice home in a wealthier neighborhood. "Every career has a certain lifestyle that goes with it by default," Brigham says. As a real estate agent he was expected to dress sharp, drive an expensive car and spend every waking moment on his cell phone. He was constantly pulled in several directions at once, and while the money was good he didn't always enjoy the work.
When the real estate market turned, Brigham experienced what his wife described as "career confusion." "I felt trapped about a year ago," he says, "because we had accumulated a lifestyle with an expensive mortgage and an expensive car payment." He considered going to law school and even attended an LSAT preparation class, but didn't feel good about becoming an attorney. He also considered going back to school to become a high school or college music teacher, but that didn't feel right either. After 18 months of soul-searching and exploring, he realized that his true passion had been with him all along. He returned to his piano business full-time and changed his lifestyle so he could do what he loved for a living again. Brigham and his wife sold their house and expensive car, pulled their kids out of their various lessons and rented a small home while they searched for more affordable accommodations. "All of those nicer things do not make up for being unhappy as a real estate agent," he says. "We changed our expectations, and it didn't happen overnight. It was very painful."
Brigham's wife Karmel has supported him through the ups and downs. "We're in an off-road vehicle together," he says, "and she's willing to drive the rocky road with me." Karmel worries less about what her husband does for a living or how much money he makes than about his job satisfaction. And she deserves a lot of credit; being married to an entrepreneur isn't easy. "The cliche is that a business owner is free to work any 80 hours a week he wants," Brigham jokes. He doesn't work quite that much, but 60 hour weeks aren't uncommon. Sick pay is non-existent, and he and Karmel haven't taken a real vacation in more than ten years. When his alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m., Brigham isn't always eager to roll out of bed and work on the administrative side of his business. "If you have a boss that you fear, you'll get it done," he says. "Fear is an effective motivator, but it's not a good motivator." Building his business back up in an ailing economy has also been difficult. "I never had to make sales calls before," he says.
When asked what he loves most about owning his own business, Brigham answers without hesitation: "Freedom. I enjoy not having to answer to anyone. I call the shots, and in the middle of the day if I have an extra hour I can go to the library if I feel like it." As a piano technician, Brigham has found the perfect blend of music and mechanics. At the end of every job, he performs a piece from his extensive jazz repertoire to hear the results of his handiwork. The price of admission for these private concerts is simply the price of a piano tuning, and it's worth every penny. His customers are usually so impressed that they set a tuning appointment for the following year. "There's so much more to piano work than just fixing sticking keys or a squeaky pedal," Brigham says. "I consider myself an artist." Anyone who has heard his work will readily agree.
You can learn more about Brigham by visiting his web site.
Gerry Baird is a career researcher, writer and speaker from Spanish Fork, Utah. You can find more articles like this one at his web site, [http://www.findyourpassion.com].
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น