Daily Inspiration: Meet Chad Bourquin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chad Bourquin.

Hi Chad, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
At age 17, a band came to my high school in Colby, KS. My buddy turned to me during the concert and said, “you should get a guitar and we’ll start a band”. My life path changed at that moment. To take lessons, I drove 200 miles round trip every Sunday for six months to get down the basics and eventually landed in a group that was playing every weekend and would eventually go full-time playing 4-6 nights a week for five years. We traveled all over the midwest and into Canada and I was having the time of my life. One day our lead singer left and I was faced with a decision, do to I keep pursuing music or go find a “real job”? I now coach people how to pursue their passions, but at this point in my life, I chose to find a real job. The agency that was booking us hired me as an agent which lead to the next five years of learning and developing that skill. I also sold vitamins for five years and owned an advertising company for five years.

It was at the end of the advertising company that I realized I was miserable not pursuing my passion. I made a decision to return all into music and was either going to get to the top of the mountain or die on the side. But at least I would be happy. That was the beginning of the successful climb of our group my brother and I have called Big Time Grain Company, as well as our own entertainment agency my wife Tami and I own called Generation Relevant Entertainment.

Big Time Grain Company now tours the nation performing festivals, fairs, corporate and private events. The group performed for 800,000 at the Royals 2015 World Series Celebration.

Generation Relevant Entertainment began by repping entertainment for one shopping center in Kansas City and now does that for almost every major KC shopping center as well as a lot of other great clients and private events.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have definitely been struggles along the way. But it seems anything worth pursuing is going to have at least some challenges. I believe the key for me was how I handled those. I’ve had to get better at rolling with the punches. Having a life/business coach for the last ten years has been a major part of learning how to do that. Starting the day slow is another habit that has kept me on track. My most creative time is in the mornings, so not jumping into a bunch of tasks right off the bat is very helpful to me personally which in turn helps the businesses.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Time disappears for me when I play guitar. It doesn’t matter if I’m in front of thousands or by myself in my studio. I am always working to get better and love to see the fruit of that. I like to be super prepared for whatever I’m doing but have also worked hard to be ready for situations where I don’t get to be prepared and need to go with the flow. I would say that I am known for being the type of person that will do what I say I will do and people can count on that. One of the things I am most proud of is the success we have seen building an independent music career in an industry known for requiring the record label industry to achieve the same success.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I believe the subject of finding a mentor comes down to two choices. Do you want to take the long hard road discovering and making all the mistakes yourself, or do you want to skip some of those mistakes, get help and reach your dream faster. I’ve done both in my life. I will always choose the mentor path now.

Contact Info:

• Email: info@generationrelevant.com
• Website: bigtimegrain.com & generationrelevant.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigtimegrainco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BigtimeGrainCo/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BigTimeGrainCo

Image Credits
MF Photography No. 9 Photography Brian Rice