Brandon is the Senior Brand Director of Top Rated Local® (or, as we like to call him, the senior Brandon Director). He grew up in West Virginia on a sustainable farm with no electricity and no running water/modern conveniences. From an early age, he had quite a knack for technology, which considering where he lived, he had to find creative outlets for. That’s why, when he was 16, he started building and selling computers, which jump started his entrepreneurial mindset.
That entrepreneurial mindset has taken Brandon far. Along with his wife, Marcia, he owns Life Of The Party, a costume shop in Northern Colorado. The store itself has been around for 38 years, and the couple are the third set of owners, carrying on the store’s long-held standard of inclusivity and service. As an LGBTQ+ safe space, a woman-owned business, the largest supplier of wigs in Northern Colorado, and the only place to get popular stage makeup brands within a 300-mile radius, Life Of The Party has people coming great distances to shop, as evidenced by this story Brandon shared with us:
“We had a professional troupe of rodeo clowns come in recently. They came out from California to do a show in Laramie, Wyoming. They realized they had run out of their ‘clown white’ makeup. They drove five hours to us and told us we’re one of their stops from now on.”
After being asked, at length, about the lifestyles of rodeo clowns (what can we say, we were curious), Brandon told us that Life Of The Party sees a wide variety of customers, be it for a costume, wig, makeup, or something else entirely. Their assortment of clientele can range from people who live completely different lives on the weekend to people buying gag gifts for friends, to professional performers, costumers, and makeup artists. In Brandon’s words, “Who cares what you’re using it for as long as you’re having fun!”
When asked how his two, very different careers intersect, he said:
“They intersect constantly. It’s really a benefit to me working at Top Rated Local, because I’m constantly trying new things and educating myself… I get to try things that, as a small business owner, I would never get to try on my own. The tools I use are not unavailable to small business owners, but most small business owners wouldn’t know to use them…”
The way Life Of The Party navigates reputation management is incredibly unique. That’s not only because of their diverse customer-base, but because of the nature of the products they sell. They’re able to build a positive organic reputation by being a space for people leading alternative lifestyles to shop without judgement, as well as being a local staple. “We cater to everybody, and we get everybody. We get the college kids, the grizzled, old farmer looking for a gag gift, people in transition, rodeo clowns… We get everybody,” Brandon told us.
Of course, we were interested in finding out how Top Rated Local has benefited Life Of The Party. Brandon shared with us that some of his biggest concerns with other review platforms have been the lack of resources for businesses to report fake or false reviews and constant sales calls. Because of that, Top Rated Local has been his go-to. The aggregate score Top Rated Local offers has been particularly helpful in showing off Life Of The Party’s positive overall reputation to potential customers. He left us with this:
“When people ask me where to leave a review, I send them to Top Rated Local.”
Thank you so much for your time, Brandon, and thank you for being such an integral part of the Top Rated Local family!
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