Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brianna Goldberg. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Brianna, thank you for joining us today and sharing your experiences and acquired wisdom with us. Burnout is a huge topic these days and so we’d love to kick things off by discussing your thoughts on overcoming or avoiding burnout
I experienced burnout in October 2021. My business was extremely busy and I had trouble keeping up with the demand. I felt stuck and I knew nothing would improve if I just kept doing what I was doing. I woke up one morning and knew what I had to do- move to France to study bow making full-time. I knew that having the time solely dedicated to improving my skill and learning new techniques, without the pressures of keeping up with customer needs, would allow me to change my situation. I left for France in August 2022.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I make and repair bows for stringed instruments. I started out in 2016 in the dining area of my apartment and eventually moved to a 600sf commercial space in 2019. I serve over 600 customers, mainly professional musicians with an emphasis on bows for the double bass. I moved to France in August 2022 to study bow making full-time, and I just returned to LA in March 2023. I am working on opening my new workshop in the North Hollywood area and I plan to welcome customers back soon. I am excited to incorporate more bow making into my business, and I can’t wait to show you my bows!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three most impactful skills for me are risk taking, adaptability, and networking. You have to be able to take risks and put yourself in new situations if you want to improve. Then, you have to be able to adapt to those new situations, but also know when something doesn’t feel quite right, and be able to pivot to something different. And finally, having a wide network is what makes these new opportunities possible.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
I learned that if you are in a bad situation, leaving is always a choice. When I was in France, I found that the experience was not all that I had hoped. After researching this master bow maker extensively and then going halfway around the world to study with him, I was disappointed to discover the general feeling in the workshop was not conducive to learning and felt abusive at times. I felt myself starting to hate bows, and after a lot of consultation with friends, family, and mentors, I decided to leave. This opened up a couple amazing experiences of studying with two phenomenal bow makers in Sweden. Now that I am back in the US, I am glad I made the decision to leave and I haven’t looked back.
Contact Info:
- Website: bgbows.com
- Instagram: @bg_bows
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BriannaGoldbergbows
