Early this month I publicly announced my video production business, Native Films. Making a social media post doing so seems like a small thing, but it was a big step for me psychologically, and it actually took me a few months to build up the courage to do so.
The story that’s been at the center of my adult life has been the story of shedding my programming and discovering my true nature. A quote by Thelonious Monk explains this sentiment perfectly: “A genius is the one most like himself.”
That’s where the name Native Films comes from. I am obsessed with uncovering the reality behind what meets the eye, and I want this idea at the core of my business. Applying this to creating content & stories means we take the time to listen & understand the subject (brand, character, etc.) and strip away all the bullshit to reveal what’s True. This is hard to do consistently because we are so clouded with bias. We are slaves to habits of thought and patterns of behavior which misguide us and develop automatically if we aren’t careful. We want to help people and brands become Natives of themselves.
Even though I just launched this company in Salt Lake City, I’ve physically been in Brazil for the last 3 weeks and will be for at least 3 more. My lovely girlfriend, Jess, lives here, and we didn’t get to see each other much last year due to the pandemic, so it’s been really nice to spend some quality time with her in the beginning of this year. I’m heading back to Salt Lake at the beginning of March.
It’s beautiful down here. We are right next to the beach on the southern coast. I love being immersed in the Brazilian culture and the Portuguese language, despite the friction in communication. Brazil has been great. Minus the rain. I could do without the rain.
I’ve been taking advantage of my remote situation by focusing on editing & sales.
In January we closed a few clients who need consistent editing. It’s not the work I want to do forever, but it has been perfect for my current remote situation to keep production running and build some much needed predictable cash flow.
Much of January was spent shifting our outbound sales into a customer discovery campaign. I realized that what we were trying to sell was somewhat disconnected from what our market needed, and beyond that, we could have defined our market much more clearly. So we started collecting leads for companies all over the US that we thought were close to our market, and started having conversations with brands in an attempt to be more proactive about offering something valuable.
It’s gone well. We’ve definitely learned about the market and gained some much needed clarity. Many of the discovery calls have turned out to be prospects who were interested in working with us, so we’ve done a lot to fill the pipeline in January, one way or another.
The biggest adjustment I want to make is to build a stronger foundation in Salt Lake City. The service of video production is one of depth, not breadth. Focusing on our local community and servicing the brands there, building good relationships that will lead to referrals, and making a name for ourselves in that area seems like the proper order of operations. It all starts with doing great work.
Slow and steady.
February’s film is well underway in the edit bay. I’ll be sending that out in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!
What’s the biggest adjustment you want to make going into February?