Interview by Rachelle Jenkins
Andrew and Rupal Bain are the dynamic duo — successful, creative, generous, and forward-thinking individuals who have built extraordinary careers for themselves. Together, utilizing their years of experience at the highest levels of their industries, they’ve created Invested Musician, with the goal of sharing their knowledge and expertise with musicians everywhere. I sat down with them last week to find out more about their new project. Enjoy.
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Can you both introduce yourselves and give a bit of your background?
AB: I am the principal horn of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, horn professor at The Colburn School, and founder of Invested Musician. I’m Australian — born in Adelaide — and I’ve been fortunate enough to have held several orchestral positions in Australia, Germany, and the United States. I’ve been principal horn in LA since 2011 and also do a little studio work. (To read Andrew’s 2018 interview, click here).
RB: I’m not a musician — although I did play clarinet in high school! I was born in India and immigrated to the United States when I was 6 months old. I come from a large family of entrepreneurs and business owners. I have a BS in Engineering, an MBA, and an MS in Environmental Sustainability. I have experience working with Fortune 500 companies and am a CRTP (certified tax preparer). I have focused my career on business strategy as well as implementation making sure my customers see tangible results. I am also a founder of Invested Musician.
What is Invested Musician?
“We want musicians to invest in themselves and their careers and ultimately be successful musically and financially. ”
RB: Invested Musician is something Andrew and I have been developing for over a decade. We’ve been putting together all of the tips and tricks we’ve used in our lives to improve our financial position, refined it, and optimized it for musicians. We now have a blueprint that we want to share with others! That coupled with Andrew’s experience as a performer, educator, and soloist makes for a really powerful foundation.
AB: We are bringing all of that knowledge, expertise, and experience to others through educational programs, workshops, online resources, and most importantly a sense of community. We want to support all aspects of your musical lives from music and performing to business and taxes. We want musicians to invest in themselves and their careers and ultimately be successful musically and financially.
Why did you create Invested Musician and what is the need you’re hoping to solve?
AB: We saw that there was a distinct need particularly from people who have finished their formal studies or are early to mid-level in their careers and looking to get to the next step. Our job is to provide continued support for them so they can move to the next stages of their careers and develop their skill sets as musicians and people. We also want to simply help them understand how to run the marathon that is a career as a musician — not only from a musical point of view but from a mental one as well. We want them to better understand how to deal with the day-to-day and the year-to-year as well as the financial ups and downs of the industry we’re in. This is particularly relevant now where, out of the blue, our industry has run into a bit of a roadblock. We should use this time to figure out how to plan better financially and develop our skills as musicians so that, at the end of this, we’re in a better position to move forward.
Why do you feel it is important for musicians to be invested in themselves and their futures?
AB: Over my career, I’ve continued my musical development beyond schooling to ensure that I kept growing as a musician. Even after winning an orchestral position, I used to have regular private lessons and small group sessions with a teacher. I found this investment vital to my development and pertinent to my winning multiple orchestral jobs.
RB: It’s all about adaptability. The world around us changes on a daily basis and we need to be prepared for that change. We had a saying at my last company: “Adapt or die.” It really is about not just surviving these changes, but learning how to thrive. That’s where we come in!
What makes Invested Musician unique and different from other offerings in the market?
“We want to get you to the place where your financial position will positively impact your artistry and development and vice versa.”
AB: Most programs on the market are really focused on one dimension of a person — either their technical mastery, musical development, or something else. What we’re going for is more about the whole person and their whole career. How can we best support them and work with them to achieve what they want to achieve? We want to get you to the place where your financial position will positively impact your artistry and development and vice versa. It’s an exciting prospect and one we’ve succeeded at, so we’re looking forward to helping others.
How do your skills and backgrounds complement each other?
AB: We’re very understanding of the journey people go on to advance their careers. We’ve both had pretty successful careers and have had to work very hard to get there. We’ve seen how much the experience on the job and the experience of having mentors have been beneficial to our career.
RB: Yes, continuing to invest and believe in ourselves has been vital to our success. We’re both on the same page with that, but also, we complement each other because we come from totally different professional backgrounds. In reality, they fit together perfectly and we have been leveraging that integration for multiple years. Implementation is key!
Can you tell us about the upcoming Invested Musician projects that you’re launching?
RB: We’re hosting a 3-day workshop next week Jun 3-5. It’s a great opportunity for people to get answers to a lot of the questions that they’ve had about music-making, finance, being a musician, the mental side of things, or anything else. You will learn A LOT in a short period of time. We stacked it with value and wanted to give back to our community. Note: it’s for all musicians or anyone interested — not just horn players!
AB: We’re also working on a more intensive summer program called “Building Your Competitive Advantage.” This program will be held July - August and is all about using this downtime and turning it into a great opportunity for development, organization, and creation. Instead of sitting around, why not use this time to set yourself up for success? We have the blueprint, so we’re going to show people how, and help them achieve results. It is geared towards musicians who could benefit from motivation, guidance, and an extra push to get them to where they want to be in their careers. Plus, we are going to have fun! It has three modules:
Instrumental Development — exclusive one-to-one and small group sessions. Elite training for mastery of the instrument and excellence in musicality and artistry;
Performance & Planning — developing the skills required in order to present your musicianship at the highest level under the greatest pressure — how to develop your planning, your mental approach, the skills necessary to win a job, and the skills needed to maintain and grow once you’ve landed the job;
Business & Finances — how to make the best use of your talent, manage your finances, reduce your tax bill, and basically plan for financial success while you are creating your art;
RB: This innovative program is unlike anything on the market and has components that you can pick and choose from based on your needs and budget. Plus, it’s tax-deductible and I’ll show you how to claim it!
Where can someone interested in Invested Musician find you?
Visit our website investedmusician.com, follow us Facebook, and join the IM Community Facebook Group!
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