Meet Robin Pandey | Music Director, Entrepreneur, CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Robin Pandey and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Robin, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I was traveling for my job and looking for flexibility to take care of my family’s schedule as they needed me here. I also did not want to miss helping out and be there for my daughter while she was growing up. So, I started music lesson business after I ran into my former colleague who had seen me perform live music and wanted me to teach his kid how to play guitar. Music has been my passion since childhood and it was a great idea to be able to teach kids music. So, I started Apollo Performing Arts and Academy. Currently we are enrolling new students and we are at 7950 Legacy Dr, Suite 400, Plano, TX 75024. Our website is www.apolloperformingarts.net

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I am now an entrepreneur and own two businesses and it all happened due to pandemic situation that I needed to rely on online technology to do business as it required masks or close of venues and restrictions. It was a challenge to start out in the beginning as I had to do a lot of leg work to market and do business, carry many heavy instruments etc. Along the process I had to do physical therapy to sustain my shoulder as playing guitar and carrying instruments were hurting it. I had to overcome from my family that what I was doing not possible. I had no students and I was teaching my nephews and they did not want to learn until I found my first student, and second student online and third at a neighborhood fair and so on. Prior to pandemic we were growing and doing well.

I am proud so far we have completed 10 Apollo Talent Shows taught hundreds of students, and students on our Apollo Rockstar Kids program go around town and perform. We teach our students to read music notes and tabs, except for adults we teach tab and other methods prior to teaching music notes. I understand teaching to read music notes and playing allows student to simultaneously grow both brain hemisphere because it talks to each other while reading music and playing instruments. We focus on quality vs. quantity. Thus, majority of our students perform well depending on how much they practice on their own. We created a reputation that Apollo Performing Arts and Students are good and that is how we grew our business from word of mouth and referrals.

Pandemic created another challenge for us to learn to do things online and we created the second business Apollo Technologies US. At Apollo Technologies US we are building value to our potential customers and shareholders. We will make our Apollo 18 (APOLO) a utility token and make it useful as well as and create useful business applications.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Since I am based in North Texas, I usually hang out in Legacy West, and Grandscape for eating and I don’t drink alcohol and my wife does so she drinks there. For Apollo Performing Arts & Academy programs we do at our office at 7950 Legacy Dr, Suite 400, Plano, TX 75024, it is the NTT Data building and around town. I like the music stage set up at the T’s Bar and Grill and I have a good working relation with the owner Eric Paluk, and we did about 5 or 6 Apollo Talent Show there. I used to go to Dallas Reunion tower, Deep Ellum (I did my private concert there), West End Market place. I like Grandscape for hanging out they have the big Ferris Wheel there and a lot of restaurants. Legacy West has good restaurants, and nowadays it gets overcrowded during the weekend. I also like Fort Worth Stockyard, downtown Frisco where Toyota stadium there and Dr Pepper arena for ice hockey and B league basketball, B league roughriders baseball near the Stonebriar Mall.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I give credit to my undergrad from NIU and MBA education from NYIT, and many years of experiences working for many corporations for running and growing my business. As far as music, I am a self taught musician and performed for public for many years. I had no formal training other than some general music classes in the high school and college. There were some books and magazine I used to read notes and tabs earlier days, and some other musicians I ran into gave me a tip here and there. Later, I used Ultimate Guitar tabs and charts to play songs online, and watch YouTube instructions videos. I practiced a lot as there is no substitute for practice.

It was a challenging moment after half of my students left while we were doing virtual classes perhaps lack of in person interaction I had with students to keep their attention in the music lessons and performances we used to do at venues. Because of the pandemic I could not go out and do in person marketing and I took the Marketing course and started digital marketing and I gained a few students still I needed more revenue to pay bills etc. I had to figure out way to sustain my revenue as I was taking courses and learning new technologies online. I stumbled into blockchain technology and started my second business Apollo Technologies US. I give credit to Google, Facebook, YouTube and Tiktok for learning new technology and starting business, as so much information is available if you want to sit down and learn.

Currently, we are soon launching our Crypto Token called Apollo 18 (APOLO), and we will be giving free tokens and enrolling members to help us develop and grow and we will be rewarding them with Apollo 18 tokens in decentralized process of fintech. Anyone can join and learn and grow with us for side hustle, learning new technology or for long term career. Apollo Technologies US website is www.apollotechnologiesus.com

Website: www.apolloperformingarts.net

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apollo.performingarts/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinpandey/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ApolloPerformingArtsandAcademy

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/apollo-performing-arts-and-academy-frisco

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/HumanExpressiontv

Other: www.apollotechnologiesus.com