Latest / Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney / How TikTok changed my Wedding Business - Interview with Jack Brierley

Transcript

How TikTok changed my Wedding Business - Interview with Jack Brierley · Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney

• 0:00
  Jack: And yeah, we have great fun on it.
• 0:01
  I think it's definitely, TikTok is the way forwards I think for
• 0:05
  the kind of wedding industry.
• 0:09
  Becca: I'm Becca Pountney, wedding business marketing expert,
• 0:12
  speaker and blogger, and you are listening to The Wedding Pros
• 0:14
  who are Ready to Grow podcast.
• 0:17
  I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life
• 0:20
  examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
• 0:24
  If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion
• 0:27
  and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business doing what you
• 0:31
  love, then you're in the right place.
• 0:33
  Let's get going with today's episode.
• 0:37
  Today I'm chatting with one of my lovely wedding pro lounge members,
• 0:40
  Jack Brierley founder of JB Performers.
• 0:42
  Jack is not only one of the loveliest people you could hope to meet.
• 0:45
  He's also incredibly talented and can play five instruments.
• 0:49
  He's passionate about providing quality music for weddings and events, and
• 0:52
  has quite the international fan Club.
• 0:54
  Thanks to success on TikTok, you are going to love hearing his story.
• 0:58
  Jack, welcome to the podcast.
• 1:00
  Jack: Hello.
• 1:01
  How's it going?
• 1:03
  Becca: Very good.
• 1:03
  Thank you.
• 1:04
  I'm so excited to have this conversation with you.
• 1:07
  But before we get into business, I have many questions for you.
• 1:11
  So first of all, what are the five instruments that you can play?
• 1:14
  Everybody wants to know the answer to that one.
• 1:17
  Jack: Okay.
• 1:17
  So as I have this bit of a habit, whenever I go, I kind of go through
• 1:22
  phases of learning new instruments kind of every month, which is really bad
• 1:26
  for my bank account, mainly because it becomes very expensive very quickly.
• 1:30
  But I play.
• 1:32
  Piano is obviously my first one, so I play piano, trumpet, guitar, banjo, ukulele.
• 1:40
  Oh, here I've got another one, an accordion.
• 1:42
  So actually I play six now that I've, I've just added the banjo in the other week.
• 1:46
  So yeah, I just get excited about learning new stuff and just go out onto eBay.
• 1:52
  I'm like, can I get a banjo in the next couple of days?
• 1:56
  And I am playing banjo now
• 1:57
  Becca: I, I absolutely love that, especially the accordion that is such
• 2:00
  a random instrument to choose and really difficult to play, isn't it?
• 2:03
  Jack: Oh, well, do you know what you say this, but I've actually find the accordion
• 2:07
  really quite easy to play because one side of it is like keys, like the piano.
• 2:14
  So it's almost, if you play piano beforehand, it's actually
• 2:17
  really quite easy to pick up.
• 2:18
  It's just a left hand trying to get the kind of intricacy of.
• 2:23
  All the buttons and stuff.
• 2:24
  But yeah, no, I find it the easiest out of all of the instruments to pick up.
• 2:28
  So yeah, maybe that's what everyone should pick up from now on and just
• 2:32
  start playing accordions in the street.
• 2:34
  Becca: Yeah, we can start getting the accordion back on the map.
• 2:37
  Maybe we need to have more accordions at weddings maybe.
• 2:40
  Jack: Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.
• 2:41
  Maybe accordions, I said walked down the.
• 2:43
  Walked on the aisle.
• 2:45
  Becca: I love that.
• 2:45
  Now, the other thing I saw when I was reading your bio was that you are a
• 2:49
  massive musical theater fan, and I am a massive musical theater fan as well.
• 2:54
  It's something that I like to talk about a lot.
• 2:56
  So before we talk about business, we need to have a little bit of
• 2:59
  discussion around musical theater.
• 3:00
  So the first thing I wanna know is what was the last musical that you went to see
• 3:04
  and what's your all time favorite musical?
• 3:07
  Jack: Ooh.
• 3:08
  So actually last night I went to see the play that goes wrong.
• 3:12
  Oh, in London, which was really, really great.
• 3:14
  Really, really funny.
• 3:15
  Highly recommend.
• 3:16
  My favorite musical, no, my favorite musical changes, like every week.
• 3:21
  It depends what mood I'm in.
• 3:23
  Like sometimes I'm like, oh, you need a bit of hairspray in your life to
• 3:26
  really get you through that house cleaning that, that sort of thing.
• 3:30
  But my favorite one has to be, I think, oh, Joseph and the Technicolor Dream coat.
• 3:36
  Yes, it's always a good time.
• 3:38
  Everyone loves a bit of Joseph.
• 3:39
  Absolute classic and appeals to everyone,
• 3:42
  Becca: I think.
• 3:43
  Well, the thing is, I wrote down mine cause I thought if I'm gonna ask Jack
• 3:46
  he might ask me back and Joseph is written down in front of me as my
• 3:50
  all time favorite musical as well.
• 3:52
  So we need a visit to London to go and see it because Oh my gosh, yes.
• 3:56
  It's like one of my favorite musicals from being a child I absolutely loved.
• 4:00
  I mean, he is in the news a lot at the moment, but I absolutely
• 4:01
  loved Philip Schofield when he was.
• 4:03
  Playing Joseph and I actually wrote to him and rang him up on live and kicking
• 4:08
  back in the day and asked him a question, and it's just one of my all time.
• 4:11
  No favorite memories.
• 4:13
  So Joseph is massive.
• 4:14
  My favorite.
• 4:15
  At the moment though, I'm going through a bit of a Hamilton moment.
• 4:18
  I absolutely love.
• 4:20
  Okay.
• 4:20
  Yeah, everyone goes, I'm loving the Hamilton moment.
• 4:23
  Jack: Ok, I see where you're at.
• 4:24
  Becca: But also, I think musical musicals interject at certain points of your life.
• 4:27
  So I actually gave birth to my first child to the Les Miserables soundtrack,
• 4:32
  and I recommend that to anyone out there.
• 4:34
  Jack: Oh, that's, that's quite a story.
• 4:37
  Jean Valjean is not my name.
• 4:40
  Ah, kids coming out.
• 4:41
  Becca: It's actually, but it's very motivational.
• 4:43
  It's about the revolution.
• 4:44
  It's like, yes, we can do this.
• 4:46
  We can get through this.
• 4:46
  So yeah, I absolutely love musicals.
• 4:48
  And finally, before we get onto business, and I promise we will
• 4:51
  get onto business, but I just need to indulge myself at the moment.
• 4:55
  What is your dream role?
• 4:56
  If you could play anything in the West end?
• 4:57
  Jack: Ooh.
• 4:59
  Oh, so this also changes, but I'm in love with the book of Mormon.
• 5:04
  And I would love to play elder price.
• 5:07
  That would definitely be the ultimate dream come true.
• 5:10
  So, any producers or casting directors listening, you know, I'm also available
• 5:15
  for the next, next round of casting.
• 5:17
  You know, just putting that out there.
• 5:19
  so yeah, if anyone wants to gimme a job, I'd love that.
• 5:22
  Becca: Absolutely love it.
• 5:23
  I've not, I'm yet to see Book of Mormon.
• 5:25
  I've seen some clips from it and I've seen some like parts of Medleys, but
• 5:29
  I haven't seen the full show and it's definitely on my list of things to go see.
• 5:32
  Jack: Oh gosh, you have to go.
• 5:33
  If you like Joseph, you will like, it is the ultimate comedy night.
• 5:37
  I brilliant.
• 5:39
  Becca: Okay, it's going on my bucket list, and I know there's lots of
• 5:41
  other musical theater fans who are listening to this podcast as well.
• 5:44
  So hopefully you've enjoyed indulging for a moment in our musical theater chat.
• 5:48
  Okay, let's get back to business then.
• 5:50
  So we talk, I, I talked in the intro about your business, JB performers.
• 5:55
  Take me back to how that began.
• 5:58
  Where did that come from?
• 5:59
  Jack: So it actually began, I think it's 4, 3, 3 years ago.
• 6:05
  Three and a bit years ago.
• 6:06
  Whenever I moved to London, so before that I had like played in
• 6:10
  like churches, stuff like that.
• 6:12
  I'd always sang at kind of random events throughout kind
• 6:15
  of Belfast and stuff like that.
• 6:17
  And then I came to London and I really didn't wanna work whenever I came over.
• 6:21
  So I was like, how can I utilize what I do and what I love to kind of build
• 6:28
  up like a, a business that I can.
• 6:31
  You know, make the, the money myself, keep it myself, invest it in myself,
• 6:36
  invest in my training, that, there sort of thing, and have all the flexibility that
• 6:41
  I need and like want to live over here.
• 6:44
  So that's kind of how it kind of started.
• 6:45
  And then my friend, well my partner and I, he had an e-commerce business and he
• 6:50
  was like, oh, why didn't you set it up?
• 6:53
  Like actually do it properly?
• 6:55
  I was like, oh, right, okay.
• 6:56
  And then he helped me set it up, which was really, really great.
• 6:59
  And yeah, no, he's been a great help and we've set up website
• 7:02
  and then we've exhibited at the wedding shows and stuff like that.
• 7:06
  So that's kind of how it came about.
• 7:08
  And then obviously I trained in musical theater, so I had
• 7:11
  lots of friends that were.
• 7:13
  Huge influences on like my music style and stuff like that.
• 7:17
  And then that's where I kind of got my singers and other pianists
• 7:20
  as well from, and cuz everyone at drama school is just so talented.
• 7:25
  Oh my goodness.
• 7:26
  The amount of talent that people have, like playing instruments,
• 7:30
  singing, dancing, everything.
• 7:32
  And I was just like in awe.
• 7:33
  So I've definitely utilized some of my friends and drafted them into
• 7:38
  coming to sing at weddings as well.
• 7:40
  So yeah, that's kind of how it all became a thing, and I've loved it ever since.
• 7:46
  Becca: Well, that's good because you're doing something that you love, right?
• 7:48
  Instead of being in a job that you hate all of the time, you are being
• 7:51
  able to use that passion and go out there and perform and also give work
• 7:55
  to some of your friends as well.
• 7:57
  So how did you find your first clients?
• 8:00
  Jack: Well, my first clients, so I can tell you this, one of
• 8:03
  them, my very, very, very first inquiry was an absolute nightmare.
• 8:10
  I was on the phone to this lady about three times a week for about 45 minutes
• 8:14
  at a time, answering questions, and they weren't even remotely related
• 8:19
  to music sometimes, and I'd just sit there and try and answer, but she ended
• 8:25
  up not going through, which was fine because it was so difficult, but it
• 8:29
  gave me such a clear like, A clear path of what kind of client I wanted, where
• 8:35
  I wanted to go within the industry.
• 8:38
  Like I know people say like, oh, the wedding industry is so big and like
• 8:42
  there's so much opportunity there.
• 8:44
  But within that I always find like there's loads of different segments,
• 8:48
  like on where you want to go, like what style that there sort of thing.
• 8:52
  So it really narrowed it down.
• 8:53
  And then my very first client was actually.
• 8:56
  Another musical theater lover and we went and performed at her wedding
• 9:01
  wedding reception and I took four of my friends with me and we all, like, we'd
• 9:07
  set up before we added in, we had like five part harmony going at one stage.
• 9:11
  And this girl's wedding, it was, I think it was Brighton at this point.
• 9:15
  And yeah, we sang musical theater songs for an hour and a half
• 9:18
  and we absolutely loved it.
• 9:20
  And she was a joy and she was just fun and giggly, loved everything we did.
• 9:25
  And she was up dancing along, singing along.
• 9:27
  At one point she took the mic and was like, I want to sing.
• 9:30
  Define Gravity on my own.
• 9:32
  Wasn't in the right key or anything, but you know what?
• 9:34
  We all had a great time and yeah, all the guests loved it.
• 9:38
  So she was definitely the ideal kind of client for me.
• 9:42
  Really lovely, really sweet.
• 9:44
  And this is the one thing that I'm not.
• 9:46
  Loving about the wedding industry is you don't get to work
• 9:50
  with like your clients again.
• 9:52
  One time it's like, oh, I would love to work with you again.
• 9:55
  I've really enjoyed this.
• 9:57
  I would love to stay friends though, cuz I build such a connection
• 10:01
  with everyone that I've had that I'm like, oh, you're so lovely.
• 10:05
  We really get on.
• 10:06
  And it's just like that kind of bittersweet moment of the wedding,
• 10:08
  like getting to know them and then.
• 10:11
  Going to perform at the wedding, and then that's it.
• 10:13
  Becca: Jack, I've got a business proposition for you.
• 10:15
  Maybe we need to get you running a night, a musical theater, live night in London
• 10:21
  once a quarter, and then you can invite all of your clients and me along to
• 10:25
  it, and we can all come and have sing.
• 10:28
  Jack: Let's do it.
• 10:29
  Let's rent out the Novella Theater for the night.
• 10:31
  Let's do that.
• 10:32
  Why not?
• 10:34
  Becca: Why not?
• 10:34
  Because then you can have something to invite your friends
• 10:36
  along to from your clients.
• 10:38
  Yes.
• 10:38
  Cause you're right, it is difficult in the wedding industry cuz we're
• 10:40
  always looking for new people.
• 10:41
  Right.
• 10:42
  We're always looking to get our name out there to find new people.
• 10:45
  Cause.
• 10:45
  Most people only get married once, and therefore we need to
• 10:48
  find clients all of the time.
• 10:50
  Now, one of the things I know that you did, last year to get more
• 10:53
  clients, I think it was last year, maybe it was even this year, was to
• 10:56
  exhibit at the National Wedding Show.
• 10:58
  And I wanna talk to you a little bit about that because the National Wedding
• 11:01
  Show here in the UK is something that quite a lot of people think about doing.
• 11:06
  They're a bit nervous about doing it.
• 11:07
  It's quite a big deal.
• 11:09
  It's, it's a fairly big expense.
• 11:10
  So how did it.
• 11:11
  Come about and what was your experience?
• 11:14
  Jack: So I've actually exhibited two times now.
• 11:16
  So I set up, I think it was in my first year of running, within
• 11:21
  the first couple of months, I was thinking, oh, how can I kind of gain
• 11:25
  traction to JB performers as a whole?
• 11:29
  So that was kind of the first big event that, that I took my singer with, with me.
• 11:34
  And we went and sang and played piano and stuff like that.
• 11:37
  So, yeah, no, we had an absolutely amazing time.
• 11:39
  The first time we exhibited at the Olympia in London, it was really great.
• 11:44
  I was just like blown away, by like the quality of all the
• 11:48
  stands and stuff like that.
• 11:50
  So that was the first time.
• 11:51
  And then the second time was in just passing that October, which
• 11:55
  is, I believe, whenever I met you.
• 11:58
  So the first time I didn't think I, I knew you.
• 12:00
  I think, I think I was with Kelly Mortimer, your friend at that time,
• 12:05
  and then the second time, yes, I was with you and yeah, had an absolutely
• 12:09
  amazing time this time in the Excel and yeah, absolutely loved it.
• 12:14
  Brought the piano along.
• 12:15
  We had an amazing time.
• 12:17
  We had a right old Bop of the time, playing some musical
• 12:20
  theater songs as well.
• 12:21
  And yeah, I had a really, really amazing time seeing everyone, meeting
• 12:24
  new people that there sort of thing.
• 12:26
  And I think the second time I had more of a strategy put in place from
• 12:31
  your kind of learning set up that you have like the, the exhibit exhibiting.
• 12:37
  So the first time in my own opinion, was an absolute throw.
• 12:42
  For a way of my money, which is really disappointing cuz I didn't
• 12:45
  really know what I was going in doing.
• 12:48
  I didn't have a strategy in place.
• 12:50
  I was just going, oh, here's my email.
• 12:52
  If you like me, kind of send me an email or gimme a call.
• 12:57
  So that wasn't the best success.
• 12:59
  We got a couple, I think we got three people booked from it, which was really
• 13:03
  great considering we had no strategy but.
• 13:05
  No, the second time around we got a whole lot more traction, a lot more followers.
• 13:10
  People were a lot more engaging.
• 13:12
  I took phone numbers, emails and that, there sort of thing.
• 13:16
  And I knew what I was doing.
• 13:18
  Then from the past experience, actually talking to people, cuz
• 13:22
  I always find there's like, I was going in with the seals, like
• 13:25
  being like, oh, Come look at this.
• 13:27
  We've got this amazing thing.
• 13:29
  Oh, I'll do you a deal.
• 13:30
  This is, this is what I'm gonna do.
• 13:32
  And I was trying to act like a car salesman, which really doesn't work,
• 13:37
  especially not at wedding shows.
• 13:39
  So the second time, Ryan, it was a lot more conversational, really getting
• 13:42
  to know people and stuff like that.
• 13:43
  And, Yeah, no, as I said, had a really amazing time getting to know people.
• 13:47
  So yeah,
• 13:48
  Becca: and I think it's really brave of you actually to do it again, because
• 13:51
  you've, by your own admission said that you felt like the first time was throwing
• 13:55
  money away, and a lot of people would've just thought never gonna do that again,
• 13:58
  was a waste of time, waste of money.
• 14:00
  But actually to reflect and to realize maybe it was mistakes you
• 14:03
  made rather than the show itself and to go into it again is really brave.
• 14:08
  So what things would you say to someone if they're thinking of doing the National
• 14:11
  Wedding Show or doing one of those?
• 14:12
  Big things where it's gonna be a decent amount of money
• 14:15
  spent to get involved in it.
• 14:17
  What kind of thing would you say to them to make sure they've got
• 14:19
  sorted before they go for it?
• 14:22
  Jack: I think definitely make sure you have all your campaigns ready.
• 14:26
  Make sure you have your email marketing, your text, marketing everything, all the
• 14:31
  plans in place, have everything scheduled.
• 14:33
  That was my biggest thing.
• 14:34
  I had to have my Instagram posts or TikTok, or I had them all
• 14:39
  scheduled for the entire weekend.
• 14:41
  Because I knew I wasn't gonna have any time at all to sit down at night
• 14:46
  after doing, like, being there from six o'clock in the morning until
• 14:49
  like Jerry knows what time at night.
• 14:51
  So I had all those schedules, and the first time I remember I tried
• 14:55
  to do things as cheap as possible.
• 14:58
  And this is where I get going, trying to do things as cheap as possible.
• 15:03
  But there is cheap and then there is just like almost tacky.
• 15:08
  And I think I went beyond the cheap, into the tacky, and I, I think it reflected,
• 15:14
  really badly on JP Performance's brand.
• 15:17
  Cause that's not what I wanted at all for the kind of brand that I was going for.
• 15:22
  So, second time round I bought a bigger stand.
• 15:26
  I actually need.
• 15:28
  The stand out of wood.
• 15:30
  So I made paneling out of wood and like painted it all.
• 15:34
  I drafted in my flatmates that there kind of thing, all my friends, my
• 15:37
  family, and spent a bit of money on it because I thought the quality and
• 15:43
  the look of this stands really stands out and I think people do notice.
• 15:48
  So that would be definitely, I think it's definitely worth
• 15:50
  spending money on the stand itself.
• 15:53
  I think the compromise should probably go to the stand size.
• 15:57
  If you have a smaller stand size and a more high quality stand, I think that's
• 16:02
  definitely the way to go, in my opinion.
• 16:04
  Yeah, make sure you have your flyers, all those contact information all in hand.
• 16:09
  The spreadsheet to get people's details is the biggest thing.
• 16:14
  I remember saying to my singer, Fiona, I was like, I don't care
• 16:18
  if you don't get along with them.
• 16:20
  Just please make sure, as long as they like who we are and
• 16:23
  they're liking what we do.
• 16:25
  Make sure we get our phone numbers because if they're liking us, then that
• 16:29
  that's the best thing we can call them.
• 16:31
  Then we can organize for like a kind of conversation over Zoom that there
• 16:36
  sort of thing, and we can get to know them, build up the relationship there.
• 16:39
  Yeah, that was our biggest thing and I definitely think that helped out
• 16:42
  so much because then we added them into their email campaigns, that sort
• 16:47
  of thing, phone calls, and a lot of them ended up converting, which is.
• 16:52
  Exactly what we aim for.
• 16:54
  So
• 16:54
  Becca: yeah, absolutely.
• 16:56
  That's perfect.
• 16:56
  And I think your stand looked amazing when I saw you at the Excel.
• 17:00
  I think you, what you did with the brand colors and your logo
• 17:03
  and the wood, it really did pay off and it did stand out a mile.
• 17:06
  And again, if people.
• 17:08
  If people are listening to this and thinking about doing something like
• 17:10
  that, I recommend going along to the show as a guest and having a look
• 17:14
  first because it is a big investment.
• 17:17
  And actually when you go and see what other people are doing and the standard
• 17:21
  of some of the stands and how terrible some of the stands look like when people
• 17:26
  don't dunno what they're doing, like it's really worth doing your research for sure.
• 17:30
  And I think that paid off for you for sure.
• 17:32
  Jack: I actually went back to the Excel the other week.
• 17:35
  They, give us some tickets and I was like, absolutely.
• 17:37
  I would love to go because I think it's really good to evaluate what
• 17:41
  you've done the last time and like, well, what can I do this time?
• 17:45
  Maybe I can use the same material, but what can I do to make it better?
• 17:48
  That there's some stuff constantly trying to better yourself.
• 17:51
  Definitely, I, I think it's worth paying the money to go see it beforehand.
• 17:55
  Becca: Hundred percent.
• 17:56
  And actually quite often if you contact them, the National Wedding
• 17:58
  Show particularly, and say you're interested in in exhibiting, they'll
• 18:02
  quite often give you complimentary tickets to go and have a look around.
• 18:04
  So do take that insider tip from me and go and contact them if you want.
• 18:08
  Go and have a look around the show now, Jack, the next thing I
• 18:11
  wanna talk to you about is TikTok.
• 18:14
  Now, TikTok is something that many people in the wedding industry are a little bit.
• 18:18
  Nervous about and feel like they're not quite cool enough for, and they avoid it.
• 18:23
  But I know that TikTok has been instrumental in the, some of
• 18:28
  the success in your business.
• 18:31
  So talk to me about TikTok.
• 18:32
  Let's go back to the start.
• 18:33
  Like when did you go on TikTok?
• 18:35
  How are you feeling about it and how did you get started?
• 18:38
  Jack: So TikTok at the start, I was just posting like videos of me playing piano
• 18:44
  and stuff, like videos of my singer singing that, there sort of thing.
• 18:47
  Not really wasn't getting that much engagement.
• 18:50
  Then I was like, I was trying to think of new ways to get business
• 18:55
  into the business on how to make money in different way, as in like, why
• 19:00
  am I only concentrating on London?
• 19:02
  How can I appeal to the, not only the greater UK, but also
• 19:06
  to the rest of the world?
• 19:08
  And then I was like, oh, what if I offer recordings?
• 19:10
  Because a lot of people often think, oh, I would love live
• 19:14
  music, but can't quite afford.
• 19:17
  The full live music price that comes with it.
• 19:21
  So I was like, oh, this is a really good, great idea.
• 19:24
  I can record my piano playing through my computer and it gives
• 19:28
  like, it sounds like an actual pianist is playing at the wedding.
• 19:32
  So then I started doing these kind of tiktoks where it goes
• 19:35
  in from like pachabels canon into like, you are my sunshine.
• 19:39
  And then it just started taking off from there.
• 19:41
  I think I remember sitting up in like bed one morning and I woke up and was
• 19:46
  like, Oh my gosh, I've suddenly got like 800,000 views on one of my things.
• 19:52
  I was like, what?
• 19:53
  What is going on?
• 19:54
  So, yeah, no, it's been really amazing and actually is where I make most of my
• 19:59
  money from now rather than live weddings, is cause I find a way to streamline the
• 20:05
  kind of TikTok side of things, the custom recordings where, you know, one recording
• 20:10
  can do this, this, this, and this.
• 20:12
  How can I adapt that to fit this?
• 20:14
  That there sort of thing, and it's made it more streamlined and almost
• 20:18
  a bit more e-commerce side to it, which I think is actually really quite
• 20:23
  important in the wedding businesses, the e-commerce side, how, how can that
• 20:27
  influence the business sort of thing.
• 20:30
  But yeah, no, since then I've been trying to post like, I think I've
• 20:33
  post three times a week at the moment, although I'm up in it currently because
• 20:38
  around this time of year we, this is whenever we've, I've noticed that
• 20:41
  we get most of our recordings from.
• 20:44
  So I'll be posting maybe like three times a day now, which is really great.
• 20:48
  And yeah, that's really where I go from.
• 20:51
  I've been going live a lot recently and getting quite a lot of people who
• 20:56
  come on live and are like, oh my gosh, my, my daughter's getting married.
• 21:00
  Let me send this to her.
• 21:01
  And then she comes on the live, then we have a conversation on the
• 21:04
  live about like what she wants and like what kind of music she wants.
• 21:07
  And then I'll play a bit for her and yeah, no, it's really
• 21:10
  great and it's really nice.
• 21:12
  I think it's.
• 21:12
  I think it's very personable as well, like getting to actually have a,
• 21:16
  it's almost like a live chat before the, the live chat with just me
• 21:21
  and yeah, we have great fun on it.
• 21:23
  I think it's definitely, TikTok is the way forward I think for the kind
• 21:27
  of when industry showing it off.
• 21:29
  I've noticed quite a few, like DJs as well, like given kind of top tips out
• 21:34
  there sort of thing on like entrances.
• 21:36
  Yeah.
• 21:37
  And then with within my package I was, A lot of people were asking me like,
• 21:42
  oh, when does such and such enter?
• 21:45
  Like, when does the bride's mother enter?
• 21:48
  When does my flower girl enter?
• 21:50
  So with it, I developed like different packages.
• 21:54
  So you can get like a standard package, which is just the recording
• 21:57
  itself, and then you can get like our standard one, which is.
• 22:01
  It has like a recording of me, like talking over to the top, the top
• 22:06
  of it being like, this is whenever bride not bride number one.
• 22:09
  Bri, what do you call?
• 22:11
  Oh my gosh, I've completely forgotten it.
• 22:12
  Bridesmaid, bridesmaid, bridesmaid.
• 22:14
  I could not think of the word.
• 22:15
  I was like, it's bride something.
• 22:17
  And I was like, oh my gosh.
• 22:18
  Complete mind blank.
• 22:20
  How funny.
• 22:21
  Yeah.
• 22:21
  This is whenever bridesmaid number one comes in.
• 22:23
  This is whenever groomsmen comes in.
• 22:26
  That their sort of thing.
• 22:27
  And yeah, that's, we kind of developed a package by that and yeah, packaging
• 22:32
  is my new favorite thing to do.
• 22:35
  how can I create packages for different things?
• 22:38
  Cause I think it really works.
• 22:40
  So yeah, that's kind of gone really far off TikTok.
• 22:43
  But yeah, no, I love TikTok now.
• 22:45
  I love it.
• 22:46
  Love reading all the comments as well.
• 22:47
  Cause I get some like, oh my gosh, my Grandad used to sing this
• 22:51
  to me whenever he was like two.
• 22:53
  I know I'm having it as a, as a wedding entrance, and I like stories
• 22:57
  like that, just like really touch me and it's really great to hear
• 23:01
  like people all around the world.
• 23:03
  Talking about their different stories and it, yeah, it, it, it really
• 23:06
  makes me feel happy about what I'm doing and adds like a next level and
• 23:11
  an extra dimension to it, so, yeah.
• 23:13
  Becca: Yeah, and I just love how this TikTok explosion has kind of taken
• 23:17
  your business in a bit of a different direction, probably to where you expected
• 23:21
  it to go with these recordings and growing and reaching an international
• 23:25
  market, and it's really exciting.
• 23:27
  One of the things that I think is really smart about what you've.
• 23:30
  Is that you've kept the concept on TikTok the same, so it's very simple, isn't it?
• 23:35
  You're always, you're not trying to do new things.
• 23:37
  Now on TikTok, is it always pachabels canon that you start with and
• 23:40
  then you go into something else?
• 23:41
  Jack: Well, we do love, I do.
• 23:43
  I do love a bit of Pachabels canon, and actually a lot of my
• 23:46
  friends make jokes at me, now
• 23:47
  they're like, they start singing a song and then they go, well, if
• 23:51
  you like such and such, it's the perfect wedding entrance for you.
• 23:54
  And I'm like, okay guys.
• 23:55
  Right.
• 23:55
  Come on.
• 23:56
  But yes, I mainly do pachabels canon or like the kind of traditional wedding
• 24:00
  march as well, which goes into it.
• 24:02
  But I've actually, recently, I've been doing a lot of mashups, so I
• 24:06
  done a mashup for Abba the other day.
• 24:09
  Absolutely loved it.
• 24:10
  Slipping through my fingers.
• 24:11
  Had me in tears recording that one.
• 24:14
  I literally emailed the, the client was like, you've, you've got me really upset.
• 24:18
  I'm so, I'm so love, I'm so in love with this recording.
• 24:22
  I really hope you love it.
• 24:22
  And she was like, I'm now crying at it as well.
• 24:25
  Let's come up FaceTime.
• 24:26
  And then we FaceTime and we're like, I just love this so much.
• 24:29
  And I was like, no, I love this so much.
• 24:30
  And yeah, no, it was really, really great.
• 24:32
  So I'm doing a lot of mashups and stuff like that.
• 24:35
  And then different kind of, I'm trying to find new ways of kind of giving
• 24:39
  top tips that they're sort of thing like, yeah, no, as you said, it's
• 24:43
  completely different direction to, to what I was initially anticipating.
• 24:48
  Like I was expecting to be like, Actually in person at weddings.
• 24:52
  But no, this works out a lot better for me with the kind of
• 24:55
  lifestyle that I have at the moment.
• 24:57
  So, yeah, no, really great love TikTok.
• 24:59
  Becca: I think it's really inspiring.
• 25:01
  I love the success you've had, and if you haven't seen Jack's
• 25:03
  TikTok do go and check it out.
• 25:05
  Or if you feel like you're a bit scared of TikTok, he does post some
• 25:08
  of his videos over on Instagram as well, so you can go and have a look
• 25:10
  at those over on his Instagram.
• 25:12
  But it's just fun and it's a simple concept, but it really has.
• 25:16
  Been so successful for you.
• 25:18
  You've had clients from all over the world.
• 25:19
  Tell me, where are some of the places that people have bought your recordings from?
• 25:23
  Jack: So we've, I think, I can't remember how many I've counted
• 25:27
  the other day, but we've had ones, quite a few from Australia.
• 25:30
  We've got Texas, New York all the way down America.
• 25:35
  We've got ones in Columbia, New Zealand, where else?
• 25:39
  Dubai.
• 25:40
  Russia had one.
• 25:42
  Yeah, we've had loads.
• 25:43
  I think the furthest I've had was Iceland.
• 25:46
  I was like, right.
• 25:47
  Okay.
• 25:48
  That's cute.
• 25:50
  So, yeah, no, we've had them all over.
• 25:51
  I just think that blows my mind.
• 25:54
  Like my piano playing is literally, All over the world.
• 25:59
  And that is like, ah, it just, yeah, mindblowing.
• 26:03
  Becca: And as a performer, that is one of the greatest compliments to know
• 26:07
  that your wedding, your music is being listened to at one of those biggest
• 26:11
  events of their life across the world.
• 26:14
  That must feel good.
• 26:15
  It,
• 26:16
  Jack: it feels immense a lot.
• 26:18
  Honestly.
• 26:18
  I, it just, it's just really nice hearing everyone's stories and
• 26:23
  things like that and highlight.
• 26:25
  Different parts of the world, like fair, like where is it that I think it's
• 26:30
  Texas, that the You are my sunshine.
• 26:33
  It's like their main theme tune, but they love that there you are my sunshine.
• 26:38
  Stuff like that.
• 26:39
  So, yeah, it's really amazing.
• 26:41
  I love it.
• 26:41
  Becca: So we know that you are out there doing weddings in person.
• 26:46
  We know that you are finding success on TikTok as well.
• 26:50
  What do you think is next for you and JB performers?
• 26:53
  Jack: I have been saying for years that I want to set up a band.
• 26:58
  I've been saying for the minute, I dunno how young I was, but I always used to,
• 27:03
  in my, in my, nan's house, I always used to put on performance performances
• 27:07
  for, and like ever since then, I've loved the live music kind of aspect.
• 27:11
  Like music is a huge part of my life.
• 27:14
  And I love that, that, I think that's definitely the next step is setting
• 27:18
  up a band going forward, the kind of reception music a lot more rather
• 27:23
  than the ceremony music at the moment.
• 27:26
  But definitely I think bands live music is the way forward.
• 27:30
  Trying to find a new, unique way to put on the bands will be the next project.
• 27:36
  I think for me, I think definitely by the end of summer I'm gonna have a band.
• 27:40
  I said this probably a new instrument by the end of summer as well,
• 27:44
  Becca: and maybe a new musical theater night in London that
• 27:47
  I can come along to as well.
• 27:48
  You never know.
• 27:49
  Let's do it.
• 27:50
  Maybe you need a band that specializes in musical theater songs, because one of the
• 27:53
  things I found for my wedding way back in 2010 when I, I booked a band and they
• 27:58
  were a great swing band, but some of the songs I wanted them to do, some of the
• 28:01
  musical theater songs I wanted them to do.
• 28:03
  They were like, we just can't really do that.
• 28:05
  Like, that's not really our thing.
• 28:06
  So there's definitely a gap in the.
• 28:09
  Jack: Oh wow.
• 28:09
  Maybe.
• 28:10
  Maybe we need to have a full on musical day then.
• 28:14
  Well, this is music to my ears.
• 28:16
  I absolutely love that.
• 28:17
  I love, there is nothing better than hearing, like, especially
• 28:21
  whenever you go to shows, you hear the orchestra kind of kick off.
• 28:24
  Imagine that at a wedding.
• 28:26
  I would have such a great time if I had musical theater at a wedding like that.
• 28:29
  Becca: Yeah, absolutely.
• 28:30
  And it's, it's definitely a growing thing.
• 28:32
  You see the musical theater, waiters and waitresses going into weddings and also
• 28:36
  the musical theater community is huge.
• 28:39
  I don't know if you've seen in London now that they have these musical theater
• 28:42
  raves where they take over a nightclub and just play musical theater songs.
• 28:45
  So there is a big fan club out there.
• 28:47
  Jack: Nuts, absolutely nuts.
• 28:49
  Musical theater.
• 28:49
  People are nuts.
• 28:51
  I love it.
• 28:52
  Becca: We absolutely are.
• 28:54
  Jack, it's been such fun talking to you today.
• 28:57
  I always end my podcast interviews with the same question, which is,
• 29:00
  what's one thing you wish you'd known sooner in your business?
• 29:04
  Jack: Oh my gosh, this is really hard.
• 29:06
  I think one thing that I know I sooner is relationships.
• 29:12
  I think relationships are key, and I really underestimated how
• 29:16
  much you rely on relationships with not only your clients, but.
• 29:20
  Only the other wedding businesses because I think getting jobs from other wedding
• 29:26
  businesses is the ultimate compliment.
• 29:30
  Yeah.
• 29:30
  I think relationships are really, really, really important.
• 29:33
  And I wish I knew that earlier because I think we would've been
• 29:35
  a bit further on than we are now.
• 29:37
  But we grow, we learn.
• 29:39
  And we keep going.
• 29:40
  Becca: Absolutely.
• 29:41
  And if people wanna find out more about you and what you do, or they
• 29:45
  wanna get in touch, maybe they're another wedding supplier and wants
• 29:47
  to build a bit of a relationship with you and your business, where's the
• 29:50
  best place for people to find you?
• 29:52
  Jack: You can find me on every social media platform thinkable.
• 29:56
  At jb performers dot com is my website.
• 29:59
  And at JB Performers, you can search me up anywhere and hopefully it'll come up.
• 30:04
  Becca: Perfect.
• 30:04
  Do get in touch with Jack.
• 30:05
  I'm sure he would love to talk with you and find out more about your business
• 30:09
  as much as you wanna find out about his.
• 30:11
  Jack, it's been so much fun talking all things, musicals and business with you.
• 30:14
  Thanks for being on the podcast.
• 30:16
  Jack: Thank you so much.
• 30:19
  Becca: I love that conversation with Jack, isn't he brilliant?
• 30:21
  Thank you for indulging us as we discussed all things musical theater.
• 30:24
  I know lots of your musical theater fans out there as well.
• 30:27
  I loved hearing his story.
• 30:28
  I loved how he's navigated the changes in his business through
• 30:31
  going so huge and international on TikTok, and I know there's big
• 30:34
  things for him to come as well.
• 30:36
  I'll see you next time.