Sometimes you don’t need to have your future figured out perfectly. For Brandon Gilson, entrepreneur and Sharon Class of 2008 alumnus, that motto perfectly describes his path from SHS to his own successful business.

Gilson is currently the president of The Best Seats VIP, the largest New England entertainment concierge provider for over 10,000 businesses, individuals, and families globally.

However, when he graduated from SHS in 2008, Gilson wasn’t sure of the exact career he wanted to pursue. Nevertheless, he knew that it would be business-related. “I always had that entrepreneur mindset of starting my own business,” he said. “It wasn’t until college, in junior or senior year, that I realized I had a passion for starting my own business and doing it full time.”

As a high school student, Gilson’s favorite classes were biology and English. He remembered himself as a proactive student who sought to connect with teachers and classmates outside of school hours. “I was always someone who stayed after school and asked for extra help to ask what more I could be doing,” Gilson recalled.

Gilson credits his enthusiasm for business to his experiences in college, at Lasell University. There, Gilson explored his interests in sports and entertainment, taking on internships in ticket sales, live concerts, and sports teams. Eventually, he discovered a gap in the entertainment industry he knew he could capitalize on: entertainment concierge services.

Part of the hospitality industry, these services specialize in curating experiences for individuals and businesses at events ranging from concerts to sporting games. “I saw a very niche market, an untapped space, that I wanted to capture,” Gilson explained. “Businesses want it done a certain way—they have a disposable income, and they’re looking for the best of the best.”

That vision led Gilson to found his own company, The Best Seats VIP. Now in its eighth year, The Best Seats provides exclusive access to live events, such as behind-the-scenes operations at concerts, Super Bowl games, and Lebron James meet-and-greets.

Gilson attributes much of his success to hard work and the challenges he overcame during the business’s inception, especially with branding and outreach. “When I first started, I didn’t have a huge book of business, obviously. People were a little skeptical and they thought it was too good to be true,” Gilson remembered.

As a result, Gilson offers an important piece of advice for students interested in business: network, network, network. “As cliche as it sounds, it’s not about what you know, but who you know,” he said. “Plant as many seeds as you can and just put yourself out there.”

Gilson himself learned the importance of networking when he attended a charity event hosted by a Boston Celtics player. After distributing business cards and meeting many new faces, he was unsure if he would receive any responses. Three months later, a player called him at 2 AM asking for help with concert tickets. “That goes to show you, you never know, right?” Gilson pointed out.

Despite his success in the industry he had long looked up to, Gilson warns against getting too fixated on one job at a young age. When he graduated high school, he had dreamed of working for a pro sports team. Now, instead of working for one, he runs his own business as a liaison for clients and entertainment companies.

“A lot of times, students get so hung up on, ‘I don’t know what I want to major in, I don’t know what I want to do for work,’” Gilson said. “When I was growing up, I had this thought of what I wanted to do, and it’s totally different from what I’m doing right now.”

Gilson encourages those interested in business to gain real-world experiences and experiment with their passions. “In every line of work, there’s some sort of business that’s going on,” Gilson explained. “If you’re looking into sports, healthcare, biotech, or automobiles, reach out to those certain businesses.”

Even though it has been eighteen years since he graduated, Gilson traces much of his current life, from the person he is to the company he founded, back to the education he received at Sharon High. In fact, he still stays in touch with many of his original teachers.

“Sharon shaped me and instilled the discipline I needed to do the work, the tests, and the projects,” Gilson said. “It was a great town to grow up in, and I definitely would not change that for anything.”