Exploring Life & Business with Joshua Bowers of Bowers Audio & Lighting

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Bowers

Hi Joshua, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My first professional experience with the live event industry was in 2017 when I started working at the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex (KCAC) on the campus of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). When I first started, there was good guidance on rudimentary principles for sound and video but I was still missing a lot of pieces.
The large majority of events at the KCAC were corporate-based and lacked any thrill or excitement. After a few years of working there, I made new friends; one of which was Ryan Sharp. Ryan was a guy who had a limitless amount of energy and knew thousands of people on a personal level.
After a few challenges in my life, he invited me into a new project with his band. They had recently rebuilt and were looking for someone to run sound. With the limited knowledge and borrowed equipment I had at the time, we set out on countless gigs.
As I was growing my skills and expanding my reach into the community, Mike Feight of Feight Audio took an interest in me. He had a relationship with the KCAC for their auditorium shows and concerts. After several conversations with him, he finally considered selling part of his business; equipment and clientele.
From there I spent the next several years mastering my craft, expanding into further regions, and investing what I could into this passion.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There were two major challenges when entering into this particular industry: Passion & Gatekeeping.
Having a passion for this kind of work is imperative or else it leads to immediate burnout and disappointment. Most people expect to make an immediate profit when first starting and it’s hard to break even most times. There’s an eventual tipping point where you can start turning a profit, but if you don’t enjoy the events you get to create and participate in then it’s all for nothing – you have to have a love for this industry.
Gatekeeping has also been a challenging part of entering the industry. The larger players in the local industry did not like the competition, especially when trying to expand and grow. There are very few ways to learn in this industry, but working for/with someone larger than yourself is typically the best way to expand. Finding someone that is willing to pass the knowledge down is rare so learn all that you can from them.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Bowers Audio has been over a 5-year venture as a freelance audio contractor.

What matters most to you? Why?
What matters to me is having fun and enjoying what you can with the time we all have left.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BowersMediaGroup/