Brendan O’Gorman

MEET THE MAKER

My name is Brendan. I make steel string acoustic guitars out of my workshop in Cornwall. I’ve been making for the past 5 years but am only now turning it into a business and my sole source of income. After 17 years as a chef I found my true calling as a woodworker. I trained at David Savage’s Rowden workshop as a fine furniture maker. I then turned these skills and knowledge to the acoustic guitar which is the instrument I have been playing since I was 11 years old. My work is a collaboration between myself and the customer. Each guitar is bespoke and it is my job to provide the customer with their dream guitar that cannot simply be bought off the shelf.

WHAT ARE YOUR FEEDBACKS?

My objective is to make a living doing my dream job as a luthier. I plan to make around 10 commissioned guitars a year at a high price point. This will not only give me the greatest work satisfaction but also give me back a work/life balance… something that has been missing for the last 5 years as I spend all my time outside of my day job in the workshop making. Over the last 4 months I can genuinely say I have learned enough to turn what was a pipe dream into a viable business. This course has given me the knowledge and confidence to take the leap and quit my job. After completing the course I now know I have to dedicate serious time into the marketing and financial planning as well as the making time.

FIVE THINGS YOU’LL BRING WITH YOU FROM THE EXPERIENCE:

• Making a vision board was a huge help in getting all the loose threads in my head in one place so that I could begin to organise/prioritise them
• Dedicating a day a week into marketing. I haven’t implemented it yet but I know I need to soon
• Using an accountant so I can better use the time it would take me to do it making
• Getting my SEO sorted so that I can drive right kind of traffic to my website and stop spending money on clicks from people who are looking for something completely unrelated
• For me, being a fairly introverted person.. the lessons in speaking with confidence were worth their weight in gold. I also found that talking with confidence about my practice gave me more confidence in my practice. If you believe you can achieve!