Meet Brandon Francis

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brandon Francis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brandon below.

Hi Brandon, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

I never knew what I wanted to do in life, but I have undoubtedly found a purpose in audiobook narration, and it is the last career I should have. I am the most fidgety, restless, spaz of a person. So, obviously the infamous SSR (“sit down, shut up, and read” – remember that, fellow millennials?) time in school was very enjoyable for me. I loathed reading. In fact, I also despised feeling trapped in a tiny space…and now I make a living being trapped in a tiny space, narrating aloud for hours at a time, and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Perhaps I can justify this dichotomy by pulling out some kind of wisdom like, “The exact thing you’re avoiding is the thing you most need,” but that would be sugarcoating it, I’m clearly just a masochist. Lucky for me, that means I fit right into the amazing, particularly smutty niche of the booktok and bookstagram communities.

Choosing the right influences and experiencing life changing adventures when growing up, I learned to prioritize not what I wanted to do when I was older, but who I wanted to be. Like most of us, our public education system taught me to think about society as a “rat race”, to go to college and find a job that can make me a living-what a joke. I was making less in a job that required a bachelors than I was in pizza delivery. So, while I had a great internal compass, I have absolutely no idea what to do for my profession. So, I decided to industry hop and get a variety of experiences until I found my way: mindless office work that turns 20 minutes of labor into 8 hours of “looking busy”? No. Adrenaline-fueled duties upon which life and death are managed by narcissistic superiors? Not quite. Then, in my darkest hour and feeling hopeless about life, I decided to throw my chances at something completely different, and came upon a career in which my success not only relies on what I can do, but on who I am. All of my introspection and character-building, and possibly charming but absolutely ridiculous personality feel vindicated. I never considered myself an actor, but it was clear I had creative needs that were not being met anywhere else. Ultimately, I didn’t find my purpose, my purpose found me. I have no idea what that means either.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Never did I imagine this industry would have such a chokehold on me, and that this year I would have such a meteoric rise that I was able to leave the 9-5 to pursue this dream full time. It feels like I won the lottery, and I couldn’t be more grateful to the authors who, despite me not having any acting experience or training, decided to take a chance on me. In return, I get to make their vision come true by giving life to their art and characters, channeling the raw emotions from my experiences into empathetic performances that can leave such an impact on listeners. Yet it’s so much more, it’s: networking, web and graphic design, demos, auditions, trailers, video editing, social media marketing, and LIVE collaborations. It’s my amazing fellow narrators and community who I am proud to say have become my found family. It’s the endless potential for creative growth and variety that finally satisfies my relentless ambition, drives me every morning I wake, and puts a satisfied smile on my face every night I go to sleep…you know, once I’ve stopped thinking about what more I could be doing in this industry to support my amazing wife and our upcoming firstborn son, first of his name, breaker of…

Future plans?

Some people (literally no one, but this is a great segue) ask me why I chose the name, “Peak Narration” for my brand, why not just use my name for my website? After I completed my first audiobook and knew this was for me, I decided I needed a professional website, but I wanted to have long-term goals for it. I knew if I could make it far enough in this industry with the right impressions, networking, growth, and support, my personal reputation would be synonymous with the name, and this could go far- very far. I am always honing my narration skills and learning vital facets of the industry, and I would love to apply that knowledge and wisdom to the Peak Narration brand, turning that website into a platform and business, but I shall say no more until my plans are underway.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Confidence, resilience, authenticity.

Confidence:
Imposter syndrome is an issue everywhere, even in extremely positive and supportive industries like audiobook narration, and it’s ok to feel this. I believe the culprit to this feeling is a societal (social media) coercion for us to compare ourselves to others. While most would say this is unhealthy, I say there’s no avoiding it, especially as freelancers who rely on social media marketing and presence, so you might as well embrace it. If you’re going to compare yourself to another, why not look at those at the top of their game? What are they doing right? Where can they improve? It’s unavoidable to judge, but pull back and analyze objectively. What about this person makes you feel like you’re not good enough? Is it something you can perhaps improve within yourself? Is it worth it to mimic them, or do you think you have your own special uniqueness to offer? As long as you’re putting in the work and introspection to improve, you best believe you belong wherever you are.

Resilience:
Too often in our society, and this industry, people can’t handle even constructive criticism, but it is so vital to our growth. If you want to grow in this industry, you rely on feedback. Sometimes feedback can be absolutely useless and even hurtful, but sometimes it gives you the key to improvement, so learn to yearn for it. I can’t tell you how quickly I jumped at the opportunity when an author offered me feedback on a failed audition. Normally, the only thing you receive is a standard rejection email. If you get enough of these, it’s normal to start considering whether you should change things up, but how can I begin to know where to improve? Feedback. I was told I was boring…yep. Thing is, he was not wrong. I just had to realize that I was not allowing my full personality to shine through my performance. How did I fix this? I created a social media account devoted to performing whacky, cartoony character impressions to get out of my comfort zone, and it has improved my performances spectacularly. Know yourself, so you can successfully compartmentalize criticisms into useless and meaningful feedback.

Authenticity:
In a society filled to the brim with superficiality, it pays to be authentic. Be yourself, really. People can see and hear the uncanny valley of someone not being true to themselves. Authenticity brings reliability, trust, and charm and who doesn’t want to work with someone who offers that? If you feel that your authentic self isn’t enough, perhaps look at that “confidence” section again, or consider more life experience and introspection. I know how it feels to be in industries where your true self needs to be contained and it causes depression and burn-out real quick. Find an industry that loves you for who you are, and you will feel absolutely liberated.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

With a meteoric rise, comes a humbling awareness of vocal health. I never thought I would be in such a position where I have to turn even massive offers so my schedule does not implode. My ambition and ego are telling me to keep the momentum going, to accept every offer possible, to stack my book-prep days onto my narration days!…but vocal health has its limits. I am quickly realizing I need to allot more time for recovery between projects and to give myself grace, as they say.

My voice is everything to me. It took decades of pain and overcoming insecurity to find mine, and it’s the way I truly express myself. Yet I have a nasty tendency to push past my limits and get frustrated when my body can’t keep up with my aspirations. This mentality led to broken bones when playing sports in high school, but getting to know these limits is so pivotal to a lasting career. It has been difficult to consider health when most industries I’ve been in condition us to prioritize work and income; that our bosses never believe, or even guilt us when we call out sick, that it’s taboo and weak. However, I am coming to realize just how supportive this industry really is in this regard. Vocal health is something to take seriously, but it is so frustrating to hear from professionals that I can’t actively do anything to heal and just need to take time to rest, which can take weeks or longer.

Recently, I had to make the decision to delay and even cancel projects in order to heal, support my wife, and save some vital narration for my soon-to-be newborn son. To help prevent these issues in the future, I have networked, researched, and purchased everything possible to enhance my vocal health and stamina. I’ve allotted more time for vocal rest, and will be working with a vocal therapist. This work and my family are my two biggest passions in life, and I will give them my all.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://peaknarration.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandonfrancisnarrator/
• Other: TikTok:
  https://www.tiktok.com/@peaknarration.com

Image Credits

Sara Cate