Latest / Reframe / 20: Andrew Cooney, Passion & purpose through storytelling

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20: Andrew Cooney, Passion & purpose through storytelling · Reframe

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever wondered what truly fuels a creative mind?
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: What ignites their passions and drives their creativity?
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: G'day, I'm Dean McGuire, an Australian fine art photographer.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: From the moment I stepped into the world of photography, I have been captivated by the community and the stories behind the lens.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Join me as we delve into humble beginnings, explore artistic visions, and discover how we as a collective reframe our minds through the power of creativity.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Before we dive into this episode, I'd like to give a quick shout out to the incredible team at Nisi Filters Australia.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Nisi offers world-class products like high-quality filters with minimal colour cast, an impressive range of cinematic lenses, and various other accessories to fuel your creative endeavours.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Nisi Australia actively supports the greater photography community through workshops, educational events, and live streaming webinars on YouTube and other social media channels.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: As a special treat, Misty Australia are offering all Reframe listeners a store-wide discount of 5% off.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: You can even combine this with sale items and other promotions for further discounts by using the code ReFramePodcast at checkout.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Visit Mistyfilters.com.au today.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you and welcome to Reframe.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: I had the pleasure of sitting down with good friend and fellow creative Andrew Cooney.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: In this episode, we dive deep into creativity, the power of storytelling, business, personal branding, and mental health.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Andrew also takes us on a journey from the humble beginnings of chasing a career as a landscape photographer, how he began creating in the commercial world to his now passion of podcasting and podcast production.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoy this episode.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show, Andrew.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: How are you going, mate?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Good, man.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm good.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm feeling ready.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: How was uh jujitsu this morning?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm I'm very much now used to getting beat up every single time I go in.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like, yeah, it's one of those things.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: If anyone's ever done jujitsu, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's I actually started it because uh my mentor or the therapist I was seeing at the time, he's a massive advocate for you know healthy masculinity, being like those real solid, I guess like Christian values of men being the providers and and the traditional in the traditional sense, not necessarily like from a religious standpoint.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he just said, like, all men should do something that really challenged challenge them.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: So whether that's you know, some kind of combat, whether that's um sport, footy, um, something that really, really challenges you physically and mentally.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I started last year and um got injured just so I can kept getting injured, and then took a couple of months off and then just came back recently.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's such a good, such a good sport.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I I love it on so many different levels.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I got I got choked out this morning and the guy didn't like it.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't tap and he um and I couldn't verbally tap either because he had my neck so tight and it it just was it was painful.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: It was painful, but I'm here, I'm alive, and uh I'm ready.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if you're ready, uh let's take it back a little bit and uh tell us a little bit about yourself.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um clearly not a great jujitsu artist.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but yeah, look, my my name's Andrew.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um look, the who I am um is is a lot of things.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think, you know, um trying to put anyone into a specific box, uh, a specific label is you know, never does it justice.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's actually a big part of my story.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've always really struggled with, you know, who I am and trying to work out where I'm going and and it's something I'm sure we're gonna dive, dive quite deep into.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, I I've been a creative at the heart of everything.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've been a creative for the last, oh, what, literally half of my life.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm 28 now.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I picked up a camera at 14 years old.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: So half of my life, um, it's kind of what I've known is to be a creative.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Started out in photography, um, then moved into video as that became more of like a you know, more popular.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, really spent majority of of my uh career.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um started my business at 17.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Really, majority of what I did was was video, but having both was always great because you know, I could go to a client and they were like, oh, well, we want a video, but we also want photos as well.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh, cool.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I can do both.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, kind of kick kicked off, kicked off business when I was 17, was never great at school, didn't really um, didn't I finish, but I didn't really care about it.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I kind of I would just all I remember from from school was I had as soon as I got my peas, I would drive to Terrigal.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up on a farm, so the closest beach for me was about an hour away, a bit over an hour.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I would drive there, um, jump in the ocean for sunrise, and then rock up to school late and just basically try my best to sit on my laptop and edit my photos.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it was, you know, it was all good with the teachers.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Majority of the times it wasn't.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I kind of knew where I was going pretty early on.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: I was kind of like, look, this is this is the direction I'm going.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't know how I was gonna do it.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then straight out of school, got a really, really solid opportunity.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um boring as batshit job.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, I was 17 years old.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was um subcontracted out to a uh it was Husfana.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it was like a lawn care business.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: And when they actually, when they called me up, they said uh it was a lady who'd been following me and and my page, so my landscape photography.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of where it all started for me was landscape photography.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And she goes, Hey, I love your photos, you know, I love what you're doing, you're passionate.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I work for Husfana and and I'd love to speak to you about doing some work.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Yes, because I was super into motorbikes at the time.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like I like I didn't race motorbikes, but you know, growing up on a farm, I used to ride every afternoon.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, How good is this?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like I get to go on, I get to take photos and probably go out and and shoot motocross races on these motorbikes.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then I found out like a week later it was for like the lawn care part of the business.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: And a couple of chainsaws and things I I I recall shooting.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: All it was was spare parts.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So it was, you know, as as exciting as tires and as not exciting as uh like washers and like literally just like springs and anything you can think of that pieces a lawnmower, a chainsaw, uh a whippersnipper together, that's what I did.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I did that for it would have been about six months to a year, and it paid me$50 an hour and it basically turned into a full-time job.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I was at 17, making about two and a half grand a week.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just going in.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: I literally just had my own room.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: I had like three people who were like dedicated to me, and they would pretty much just went and picked parts.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they brought them in, sat them down, and I just went one at a time.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Had no idea what I was doing.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it was product photography.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was, you know, as boring as it gets, product photography.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I had this like dodgy, uh, like little per purse, uh, what was it?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like a um, like a like a sheet, uh a white sheet.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: And um I had these two like like really budget softboxes and like putting the lights down and I just would uh take photos of them just like all day, every day.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, that but that was like the first gig that I got and it kind of just snowboarded.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like I think for me, I was really fortunate in that I was on Facebook in the early days, even just you know, putting out my landscape photography, but a lot of people knew that I was a photographer, and so naturally for me, opportunities kind of presented themselves, and I just kind of said yes, and then kind of after that, things slowed down a bit, and I was like, oh crap, like you know, what like what am I gonna do?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I think actually there was one month there where I made$36, and I don't even know like what I charged$36 for.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: I just remember looking, it was probably just a mate who was paying me money for something, pizza or something.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, yeah, there was a month where I just made like no money, and um then I I yeah, introduced video soon after that.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of did uh did a few trips overseas.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: The problem was with me is that I was making great money, but I was spending it.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was just spending every bit of money I made.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: You do well, you do, yeah.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like I wasn't a big party person, but it was camera equipment, it was traveling, it was like money just goes real quick when the thing you love is photography because it's just like it's endless, yep.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's an endless stream of just spending.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: You always need that other camera, that next lens, another tripod.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: It is always something.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so, and and look, I lived out of home, you know, from from 17 years old.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, there was like immediately uh a cost of living involved with it and and not realizing that, like not really getting the whole, hey, you should probably save your money and you should allocate it and you should, you know, um, lucky I didn't have to pay too much tax because I was just spending all my money on camera equipment.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it kind of, you know what, it's it's still I still suck with money even today.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it was it was a great learning curve.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then I I did a I did a project um called, I think it was called just called 30 films.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And and the idea was 30 films in 30 days.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember going out and I just started, you know, filming sunrises and filming drone footage and just getting some really cool, cool footage, and and that did really well.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I reached out to it was Glenworth Valley um and it was uh Australian Reptile Park, both uh on the coast here, um on the Central Coast, and uh they both said yes because I was like, hey, can I just, you know, come and do some filming for you guys?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's for a project I'm doing, you know, it's not it cost you anything.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that that ended up probably being the best decision or the best opportunity that I created for myself because I then went on and had them as a client.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And they ended up giving me pretty frequent work.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I I kind of reached out to a few people.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone said yes, of course.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, how many people are gonna pass up an opportunity for to get a free video, uh, especially when you've got a business.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so that really helped my business a lot.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like that for me was, you know, I didn't realize it at the time.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: I was just kind of um, which I think we'll get into into later, but I think just being a yes person was the the best thing for me at that time because it just created so many opportunities.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just like I I never I never struggled to find work because I was so okay with just going and trying things.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And um, as I've got older, that's actually reversed itself and become harder.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's it's um it was a fun start to start to my career.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, you know, I I had some really good relationships.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Glenn, who you've had on the podcast before Glenn McKimmon, he was a mentor of mine from pretty much 15 years old for 14, 15.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, he took me under his wing.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's got a lot of time.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: You also regretted every day every day since.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Regardless, I had a great time.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: So suck for him, great for me.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: But no, look, Glenn, I I owe so much to Glenn.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, um, I actually it it I it was probably probably wasn't until maybe two or three years ago where I really sat down to reflect on on that part of my life where I literally got to travel almost for free with him to to shoot video in some of the most beautiful locations all over the world.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, it's it's yeah, I'm super grateful for it and grateful that I did it when I did it.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so yeah, it kind of, you know, I I just kind of kept saying yes.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: I never really niched into anything in particular.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I I love to travel at the time.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: I loved, um, I just was like, what do I feel like doing?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like, what would I want to shoot if money was no problem?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I just did that.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then it kind of, you know, so some of it led to more work, others didn't.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, I was I was working, I was up in hot air balloons uh multiple times a year just because me and my girlfriend at the time, I was like, hey, there's this festival on.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: I surprised her with that.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: I reached out to uh it was Balloon Aloft um out in the Hunter Valley, and and I just said, Hey, I'm a photographer, um, you know, or I paid to go on there, or I just was like, I bought a ticket, you know, let's chat after, ended up chatting with them and and and they had me on board for for years after that.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um heaps of stuff like that.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: But um yeah, look, I I that obviously led me to probably really uh pre-COVID.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then and then COVID kind of hit.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: So up until that point, I was really just um, you know, working.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I built up, I mean, I I went across every industry.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I I shot weddings, I shot corporate, which was the most boring thing ever, but it paid the best.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I I did a lot of tourism, a lot of events, a lot of music, um, heaps of different things.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: And and and and um, you know, I I tried everything and then worked out what I didn't want to do from there.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good way to go.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, look, it worked for me because it it kind of leaves it, it's almost like it leaves no stone unturned.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, cool, you know, got nothing to lose.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, you know, if someone's willing to pay us for what we do, let's just do it.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I think my mindset is a little bit different now, but it's only because of where I'm at.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: You've been there, you've done it, so you now you know.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: So you can change it and you can pivot from there.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's right.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, it's um, I think, but I but I did burn out.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: I burnt out multiple times.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but coming back to the money story, I I got to a point where, you know, I had so many outgoings.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was living by myself, paying 600 bucks a week rent.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, plus I had an office which I didn't need, but that was costing me 600 bucks a week in rent.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was 22 years old.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I didn't really have any kind of idea of business and finance and this and that.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so it was just this, you know, roller coaster of just trying to keep my head above water.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that was kind of the reality of it.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then naturally I just lost the passion for everything that I was doing.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, like I said, your boring clients are the ones that pay.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's like it would have been well and good to continue to travel the world, this and that.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality was is I wasn't making great money from it.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was very contra-based.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so it wasn't sustainable for me uh based on where I was at at the time.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, I kind of burnt out.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh from that point, um, I think kind of COVID was was was coming up, um, but I did slowly weed my way out of the creative work.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, probably around it probably would have been around 2019, 2020.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then I started looking into other ventures.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: So from there, um uh me and two mates of mine who I didn't even really know that well, uh, we started a business called Bridge the Gap.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: And the idea was that to be the idea for that was to build um a a personal development platform for men.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we we were super ambitious.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, yeah, we'll get a we'll get an app and it'll hit the global charts and you know, it'll be like a pocket coach for these guys and this and that, and we'll run events all over the world.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we're pretty naive with it, but like, you know, credit to us.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we gave it a Red Hot Crack, and that that was the first podcast that I produced.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um look properly.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think we did a bit over 30 episodes in that, and we got to travel, we got to travel a little bit for that and and interviewed some really awesome people.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, kind of roll with that.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: That never made made us great money.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: It just kind of fed itself a little bit, but um, we we really needed to, you know, we we needed to step it up, but then covet hit, kind of took the pedal off that.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: I went into the into the fitness industry, um, invested into a gym and uh was in there about 12 months and then second round of COVID hit, and me not being a personal trainer, um, I wasn't really needed in the business.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I also was naturally on my way out, um, you know, thing just different alignment.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: I had different goals.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then yeah, kind of went out of that.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then another opportunity came up in in the the business coaching world for the building industry, and the the most random thing ever, but I was in that for 18 months and um that was awesome, you know, learned heaps of stuff, but just you know, my heart just wasn't in it.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: So um I left that and it kind of brings us to to where we're at now, which is um I currently run a podcast production agency, um, which is really focused on amplifying powerful voices.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: So um working with people who are really passionate about what they do, who really just want to have impact and and and drive a brand that that makes a really powerful change.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it's cool because it's diverse, deep conversations, it aligns everything that I love.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um well, you are a storyteller, yeah, after all.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and look off the back of that, um, you know, I just recently kicked off my now third podcast because my my podcasting journey has been an interesting one, uh uh, which is called Uh Unmuted.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that's now moving.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: And and my I think where my passion lies now is really helping people um tell their story, tell the stories that, you know, have really impacted them and and help them then use that story to build their own personal brand.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and ultimately I'm doing exactly that.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in the process of doing that now, and so I'm helping take people along that journey as well.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: How is it working with alongside your sister Lauren?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh it's non-existent at the moment.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, she just had a baby.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: She's just had a baby.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so she her and my, and and this is, you know, like universe working in in magical ways.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Her and I um have worked together multiple times.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: So she came from a corporate background, you know, she was an account manager, she's been in sales, marketing, um, and always had like the nine to five.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Mine has always been a little bit more bootstrapped, more entrepreneurial, um, you know, very uh not secure, whereas her priorities have always laid in, you know, building security.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she's got a family, so yeah, so um different, different priorities in that sense.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, but we always we we always knew that we would at some stage work together.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: We just had no idea how.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, when she was working for those corporate businesses, which uh when I spoke before about doing that corporate work that was boring, that's what I was speaking about.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we did a few, we did a few really cool projects together.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then she um she began to sort of fell out, fall out of love with what she was doing.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, money wasn't really like the security element wasn't really the motivator for her anymore.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: She was um she started a podcast, which she's, you know, probably 40 episodes into her podcast now, and and she's absolutely killing it with that.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so we kind of slowly made our way closer together in terms of what we were actually doing.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, she runs a podcast and I run a podcast production agency.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: So over time we slowly kind of came together, and then she was looking at at new ventures.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: She was kind of over where she was working, and I um I said we kind of had a conversation about it, and it both kind of clicked for us at the same time to go, why don't we just, you know, work together?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, um, and in the beginning, it was kind of like, well, how does that look?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because I, you know, I've got a lot of the technical skills, I've I understand the business, I understand the world of podcasting from a technical perspective and and uh a business perspective and this and that.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: And her skill set is very different.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, we we sat down and we went, okay, we're quite different, but how is that a good thing?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so we just worked that out.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, then we were very well aware.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: This was only really a couple of months ago that we we started nutting all this out.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we just said, look, you go and have your baby, do all that.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: She's like, hopefully the baby's just like super chill and like we can get off the ground pretty quickly after that.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: Good luck.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know what, we'll see.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: The baby's like what four days old, two, uh, three, four days old.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Haven't met Avi yet, but um, we we'll see.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's no, you know, there's no um big pressure with it, there's no rush with it.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, the business is in a good place.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's really just managing me at the moment.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but ideally by the end of the year, we want it to be in a place where, you know, we're both working in it, um, where it's it's doing well.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And we've got a clear direction for for for everything moving forward.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Just want to circle back.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, from the start, you said you're doing uh jujitsu as like it's a mental thing.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it's uh coming into there, and then you you started Bridge the Gap, which was also about men's mental health and and knowing you along the way, you've had your your mental battles as well.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm just wondering how have you come across these and caught them and how have you rectified them through the years uh to create help with your um your creativity and your your pursuits?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so look, I mean, in terms of in terms of the mental side of things for me, um I personally haven't experienced, you know, anxiety, um, depression.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, like I've been through my stuff, um, but I definitely, you know, I'm not, I I can't really speak from a place of, hey, I came from um those those mental health conditions or those periods.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, however, what I have battled a lot with is um uncertainty.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's kind of this interesting place where you just don't know what's next.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, no matter where I was in my life, it just didn't feel right.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was just kind of like, oh, like, you know, I'm doing, I'm doing all this creative work and I'm working for these people and you know, I'm making good money.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: On paper, it makes sense.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people go, oh, you're so good at it.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: And and and I was competent at what I was doing, but it's like, you know, it's not exciting, it's not motivating, it's not, I I feel like there's no meaning, no passion, no anything.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it leads to this, it eventually leads to a place of like, I just want to, I just want to leave.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I just want to get out of here.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and but I don't know what's next.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think, you know, I've battled a lot with that.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that the tricky thing with that is that um, and probably it's tricky, but it's also quite um it's quite there's quite a uh positive realization is that you know, there's this quote, how you do one thing is how you do everything.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that uncertainty that I experienced played out in every part of my life when it was playing out.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, so even though it was like, hey, like I'm not, I'm not feeling like I'm enjoying this creative work, I'm not, I'm not enjoying working with these clients.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I don't really want to pick up a camera anymore.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: That also was playing out in my relationship at the time.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was also playing out in my health.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my my like I just I just was on this roller coaster of of becoming really fit and then just basically becoming a slob, you know, no routine in my fitness, none of that.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so it, so then it kind of hit you all at once.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's kind of like everything kind of comes in.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Just weighs on top of you.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: It just weighs on top of you, and and and look, like um, I I made it very clear that, you know, I can't speak from a place of you know deep depression or severe anxiety, but it it definitely, I definitely have experienced it in in the way that I have experienced it.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just, yeah, I think for me it definitely came down to I just more so than anything, I felt quite lost and confused.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: And look, that's that's been a that had been a recurring pattern for a long time.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, it's it's not like I can stand here and go, you know, it comes in, but I can easily just get rid of it.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think I I when you kind of when I was experiencing that, it was I had no idea how I was gonna get out of it.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, you know.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, I started working with uh a guy named Jaguar.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um he's a you know, he's a therapist, but um I don't even know what I would kind of classify him as.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, he's a he's a physicist, he's a uh he he's he works very, very, very deeply in human behavior, human psychology.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um and he kind of I read his bio the other day actually, and it was his bio says excavator for the soul or excavator for the mind.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so essentially the way that he works is he gets down to the root cause of things very, very quickly.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so um I I, when I was going through uh a real big bout of uncertainty about two years ago or about 18 months ago, I I saw a psychologist, um, was an online consult.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it was really, it was actually mostly for my relationship at the time.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: And and I was like, you know what, it was good.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: And and he gave me some good stuff, but I didn't really feel, you know, I didn't really, I felt like there was something missing in it.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I when I started working with Jaguar, he kind of ripped me apart pretty quickly.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: And um, he was the one who who made me very aware that, you know, even though you're so focused on your initial relationship and and you can't see a way through this and and you're really struggling with it and this and that, you know, this is everywhere.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like how you're feeling right now is not the relationship, it's you.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, that's it just the outer world is just expressing the way that the inner world is feeling.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a it was a it was a harsh thing to face because it was like, okay, so it's all my fault.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: And like, you know, yeah, the the ego gets pretty pissed off at that.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it it is, and you know, um, part of part of me at the time really wanted to um not agree with that and not accept that and kind of point the finger elsewhere.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, you've got one ping finger pointing outwards, you've got three pointing pointing back.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so um that was that was a tough, tough, but I was very willing to kind of go through that.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so that kind of led to a big journey of um ultimately where I ended up with it is is taking 100% responsibility for everything that happened in my life.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, that's that feels like a big weight, but at the same time, it's also great because it's like, okay, well, you know, no one's gonna save me.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's my relationship, the way that I'm feeling about my relationship is not to do with them.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it has everything to do with me.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so if I want to work through this, then it's ultimately up to me.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: So look, I guess to circle back in how I've how I've dealt with it, you know, the the waves come and go.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think for me, um uh I'm I'm just gonna say exercise is probably one of the biggest factors.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, not wanting to go to the gym happens every day.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but on the days that I do it is, you know, I mean, you you've you've started getting back into the gym now.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, everyone knows what happens when you feel like shit, and then you go outside or you go to the gym or you go to, you know, a walk in nature.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be anything crazy, but just getting some grounding, being out in nature, just moving, because I think for me, where I was getting the most stuck was it's like, oh, like I'm so uncertain, I don't know what to do, and so I wouldn't do anything.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so how could I expect that I was gonna get anywhere when I wasn't doing anything about it?
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think that's, you know, that's just speaking purely from that um that place of not really under, not really knowing, you know, what I was doing.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: And and and also just to finish that off, too.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the most profound things that I learned too was, you know, when I felt like there was all this uncertainty, it's like, oh, you know, I shouldn't be here, like I should be over there, and you know, I shouldn't be in this relationship, and um, you know, I shouldn't be here in my business and and I should be elsewhere.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's also realizing that um shouldn't, shouldn't is such a toxic word.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's complete acceptance of where I'm at right now.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so rather than me just constantly trying to focus ahead and like I should be over there, or you know, I can't do this, or I can't do that, or it's kind of like this is right and this is wrong, as if there is a right and wrong in life when fully accepting that that's not the case is um is probably where I've gained the most freedom.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's um I I completely agree with a lot of that, uh, especially the fitness side and and going out and seeing somebody because I've just recently gone through something very similar and have had been battling it for a uh a while now, but only really came to head a couple of months ago.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: But I can I can definitely say that get getting out seeking help and also um training and getting fit again uh really helps with uh processing your creativity and getting back into it.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, I I completely am on board with that.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if if you are struggling with your creativity, I reckon just going for a walk is enough to to restart that mindset.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, in terms of the creativity, 100%.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: Movement movement is you know, can't wait for inspiration to strike, but you can create it, you can create inspiration.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's not something that you know you have no control over.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, fucking being being in the shower, going for a drive, like being in the gym, whatever it is.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: Just to come back to um what you were saying, what was the point for you where you really made a change?
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like what was what was the catalyst?
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like like the like the moment.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, was it a conversation?
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: Was it uh yeah?
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: It was uh without going too far into it, um, at the moment, it was a conversation I had with my wife and the eye-opening thing that we realized was I was how hard like I was hurting my family just because I had gone into this shell, and that was the realization.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sitting there going, well, I'm hurting the people.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: So my wife and my three kids, I'm hurting them.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: So that was the you know, the the catalyst there, and and the fact that I had lost myself.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I wasn't taking any photographs, I was sitting on my phone not doing anything, so I was watching what other people were doing versus actually doing it.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I just I lost who I was as not only a a photographer, a creative, or uh at that time was a podcaster as well.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I also lost the most important aspect was I forgot how to be a husband, forgot how to be a father.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: So that was the catalyst for me.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then so yeah, so going seeing help, getting help, and you get back to that reality, and now my mind's free.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I think I I'm creative, more creative now than I have been since I started 16 years ago.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think that's a really strong point because um it it illustrates that you know sometimes it's just a really strong hard look in the mirror and like a really uncomfortable conversation that gets you out, like or where it begins to shift, where it begins to go from, you know, down, down, spiral, down, spiral, down, to begin to turn like turn the tables, essentially.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think too, um, this is probably something that is, you know, severely overlooked, and this this applies to everybody, is like taking taking 100% ownership for your life, but also fully owning how much we lie to ourselves.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, and you know, and that's where these harsh conversations come because it's like you get to a point where you're backed, you're backed against a wall, you got nowhere to go.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: And whether it's, you know, someone reflecting back at you or it's just yourself kind of you know metaphorically looking into a mirror, and you go, cut it out.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, and I think we do very much tiptoe around this.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think um, you know, I'm not gonna go into into the macro kind of what's going on in the world, but ultimately I think for a lot of people who are really struggling, um, and I and I do say this with with a grain of salt, it's like for a lot of people, they just really need to get real.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like I totally agree.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not even uh it's not even a trying to be a a dick about it.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually if you think about it, you sit down, and and this is what's blocking a lot of your creativity and going out and you know, going out and taking that photo trip, or if you're at that point that's stopping you or preventing you from going and doing an exhibition somewhere, or releasing that video you shot, or you know, showing people your art.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: And and it's enough to block, um, yeah, I totally get it.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: It just it's enough to block you from your passion and and and moving forward.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, because it's, you know, at the end of the day, uh like, and this is this is where it comes into where it's like, oh, you know, tread carefully and pe people who are experiencing mental health, like I, you know, um, like I said, I I haven't experienced it and I'm I'm not going to to try to and I'm not gonna I'm not gonna try and be that naive person to say, oh, he's gonna fucking get up, like fully aware that you know, um that there's a lot more to it than that.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I think the the excuses um or or the reasons as to why we can't do things, you know, if someone if someone you you've got someone sitting in front of you and and a lot of the times we just want them to validate our experience and say it's okay and you know you're okay for thinking that.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I think to to have someone say that I understand it's validating, but it also keeps you there.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, at the end of the day, we kind of got to ask ourselves, like, do we even want to get out of this?
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do we even want to change?
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Do we even want like do we really want a different life?
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: And do, do we want to not experience this anymore?
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it's like, you know, you got no choice.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you got no choice.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: Someone's right, right in your face, and they're saying, you fucked up, and this is your this is your fault where you've ended up, and it's up to you to get out of it.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it can be as harsh as that, um, or it can be a a series of things that happen over a period of time, but ultimately, again, coming back to it's it's really important to understand how much we lie to ourselves and how we're we're the ones who are who are in our own way.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: And agree.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'd yeah, I'm I've kind of speechless with that because I've been through it and kind of just on the other side of it now.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I think as well as being a person who can see, like if you can see that within your friend, in uh if you're a creative, a photographer or videographer or painter or whatever, I think you the best thing you can do is acknowledge what's going on as well, but not just don't ask them what's going on because half the time they won't tell you because they're probably not comfortable.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you notice it, just say, hey, do you want to go on that trip?
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go, let's go away for a weekend, let's go on a photo trip, or hey, let's go um do some b-roll for this footage that you were shooting a while back, and and nothing.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's the best way you can help is you take their mind off it and and it what it does is it softly shows them what they've been missing as well.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: Look, there's there's so many, there's so many ways.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, for me, um, I've been doing a lot of work around um people pleasing um over the last sort of 12, 12, 18 months, ever since I started working with Jag.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing that really like, you know, I it was a hard pill to swallow for me was um, you know, this this people pleasing mentality and almost just trying to tread carefully through life and around other people purely because I didn't want to cause conflict and I didn't want to make people upset.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I cared so much about what other people thought.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: And in no way, shape, or form was one that healthy.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't who I wanted to be.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it wasn't who I am either.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was it was a it was a coping mechanism for me to just try and, you know, be friends with everyone.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so coming on the other side of that, which I still I still struggle with it, but I can feel how much better I've got at being a lot more real with people and going and and being that honest friend that you know pisses people off, but people always keep around because they tell the truth.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we all need those people in our lives.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because although, you know, it sucks to hear this stuff, again, coming back to if you've got people just constantly going, oh yeah, man, like good stuff, like you know, um, you know, it'll be all right.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, you're doing the best you can, like this and that.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's important.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: Effectively social media, um, you know, it's it's no good for anyone.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's no good for anyone.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I think I resonated so much with with um Jaguar, because he's like, man, look, you're fucking yourself up.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, cool.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: What now?
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: Moving forward, you're pretty good at creating content around a business and and trying to really promote and market your work.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you were solely a photographer or a videographer in today's climate, how would you go about marketing your brand using organic content creation?
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, look, I think um, I mean, even in the world of creatives, there's so many different, you know, types of people.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like ultimately, what what's what do you want is the first question.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, do you want to be, I mean, for me, I'm building a personal brand.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of that's that's where I'm going is I'm building a personal brand.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: So being online is very important.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I want to help people tell their stories.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I want to help people turn their stories into content that builds them a personal brand that they can then monetize and grow and build a build a business off the back of.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so for me, it's very important that I embody that.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I don't have to, but I'm like little bit of an little bit of a um, what's it called?
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh by me not embodying exactly what I do for a living, uh, doesn't feel great.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: And uh funnily enough, man, like I I appreciate you saying, you know, you you put out a lot of content and and you're good at it and this and that.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: But it's something that I've always felt I've done really bad.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: Something I've always felt like I've really struggled with.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, definitely the consistency element, you know, I set pretty high standards for what I where I want to be.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, relative to where I want to be, um, I I don't feel like I'm great at it at all.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think when I do put out content, you know, a lot of the times I am proud of it.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um but in terms of, you know, for for a creative who wants to market themselves more online, this is really going to come down to, and this is something that I've learned recently.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing, I'm doing some coaching with um a guy named Tom Noske who's um got a massive personal brand online.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I just resonate so much with his story.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: I resonate with so much with, you know, where he's come from.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he's a creative, he was a landscape photographer, very similar story to mine.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I something he said is it's like you have to make content that's easy for you and that you can do consistently.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so the way that I do content, I'm still trying to work out what's easy for me.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because up until this point for me, it's actually been quite hard and there's been a lot of friction.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, not it not hard in the sense of I don't know how to do it, but hard in that it just takes too much time.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: And when things take too much time, you kind of got to weigh up, well, based on how much time versus how much content I want to be putting out, you know, I've still got to run my business.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: And for a lot of creatives, they're also trying to run a business.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so creating content is something that isn't necessary for making money.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: However, again, this comes back to what do they want to do?
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, do they want to build a personal brand?
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: Do they want to get more leads?
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: Is growth of the business important?
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I guess, you know, let's let's say, for example, it's someone who wants more leads, they want to build more brand awareness around who they are, they want to attract better quality clients, um, or even, you know, attract people into their world.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and they want to build a personal brand for themselves.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think probably documentation is probably the best way, I think, for a creative when we can just document the process of what we do.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and there's a guy, there's a guy named Ben Hargraves, um, who I came across recently.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: And he is a car photographer, and he's he's making quite good money online.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's not my job to kind of distill numbers, but um, you know, he's making good money.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's young.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he's I think he's got, you know, eight, eight, nine hundred thousand people follow you on Instagram.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think 12 months ago he didn't even.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Really have an account and he shoots cars and he sells um LUTS and basically resources for photographers who want to shoot cars as well.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: And all he does is on his shoots, he um I think attaches a GoPro to his head, records him taking photos of the cars, and then he turns that into content.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: So he doesn't set up to do content.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, I'm just gonna do my job and I'm gonna film it and I'm gonna document the process.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's a very frictionless way of generating content.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so again, it just comes back to this question of what's easy for us as the creative, what's going to be sustainable, um, you know, and and what are we gonna enjoy creating as well?
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think as a creative who maybe wants to bring in clients for their business, we don't need social media.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, most of my clients have just come from referral.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: They haven't really come from my DMs.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so the reality is, is for my agency, I haven't really needed social media that much.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: However, what I am very aware of is that by me building my personal brand, I'm going to attract clients into my agency as a byproduct.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it has to align with what it is that the creative is doing.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, I'm telling stories through my platforms.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my agency does that.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's a direct alignment.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's like someone then comes to me, hey man, I love your story.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: I want to do the same thing.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's chat.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'll help you create a content system.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, I don't know if that answers the question.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a very tricky one without, you know, understanding the ins and outs.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I think ultimately if if a if it's a creative who wants to grow brand awareness, build clients, get leads, this and that, um, document the process of what you already do.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because it's going to build a lot of, you know, trust, authority, credibility.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's kind of these mental triggers when it comes to um building relationships with people.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um and, you know, trust is a big one, credibility is a big one, showing that you're kind of like, you can do it.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, authority, you're the you're the person to do it.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, reciprocity being giving first, giving before you take.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think when we give when we give value up front, I spoke about it all at the start of this episode.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_00: I got majority of my opportunities by going and shooting out there for free.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, a lot of creatives don't want to do that these days.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I I don't get pissed off about it because it's like, you know, why get pissed off?
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: It has nothing to do with me.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: But when people come to me and they go, hey, like, you know, how do I make money in my business?
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: I go, just go and fucking work for free.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like I must say, it does work.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's usually that easy.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: It does work because I got a potential client coming through the door with a little side hustle that I've got going on.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_01: And and that was from going out and doing a free shoot for them.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it's sometimes, I mean, there's jobs where you go, nah, that's they want too much for for nothing.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, sure, you've got to give and take.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_01: There's a give and take there from both you you and the client as well.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, but yeah, I I completely agree with that standpoint of going out and just going, hey, I've got no content, I've got no reputation in X industry.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: Do a couple of free things, grab some content, grab some footage, or grab some photos and and you put it together, then you can start marketing off those those photos or videos.
• 47:28
  unknown: Yeah.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: But no, the the other reason I asked that question is because I I very much know, and as myself included, that um photographers are at the most point very bad at selling.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: We're very good at taking the photos, we're very good at talking about it, but we're very bad at um promoting and and marketing and and that side, because our creative brain doesn't think that way.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, that's why I asked the question.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and I and from from gathering what you've said, just as simple as showing that you are actually taking that photo um behind the scenes, you know, taking a reel, sending, you know, well, you got your phone in your pocket, just do a couple of videos and and off you go.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it's a good point, and I and I'll just touch on that quickly.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like for me, um, you know, I love business just as much as I love um, you know, being creative.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that's also, again, coming back to just getting real with yourself.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's all well and good to, you know, want to be an entrepreneur and want to start a business and want to have, you know, a bit of life of freedom and this and that.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, if you don't love business, you're gonna suck at doing it because you know, it it's tough.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I think that's probably an important question to start with is like, okay, do I do I enjoy business?
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: Do I want to, you know, do I want to learn how to do the finance and do I want to learn how to sell?
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_00: And do I want to learn how to market?
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: And do I want to learn how to operate my business and build offers and charge and invoice and admin and this and that?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of the times us as creators, like, we can't afford staff.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: We're kind of just running our own show a lot of the times.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's a really important question because that's the reality of it.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, versus, you know, being a photographer or a videographer or a graphic designer or whatever in-house for a company um where you just get to be creative.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's okay if you want to be that.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um but you kind of just got to get real with like what you want.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so if I, you know, bring it back again, like I really enjoyed business.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so I loved to learn about marketing and sales.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: I love to learn about sales psychology.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_00: I love to learn about, you know, I hate I I don't say I hate finance.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_00: I just am not good at it.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that's one thing where I'm like, I should probably get someone to help me with that, um, which I think everyone should anyway.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's too big of a part of business and life to try and work out ourselves.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's just like having a having a psychologist, you know, outsourced to actual outsource to get better results.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um and, you know, because that's the reality.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like I had to learn all those things to now get to a point where, you know, I can help people tell their stories and like I'm really good at my craft, but if I suck at selling, I'm not gonna be able to help anyone.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I've got this great product, this great level of experience, all of this stuff.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_00: If I can't market or sell, I'm gonna help no one.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, again, it's coming back to what do I want to do and what am I good at and how do I really want to spend my days?
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_01: How important is finding your market?
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_00: Finding your market.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, look, okay, so this is a very interesting one, and this has been the the a massive belief that I that got shattered for me recently for the better.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: So if we look at market and we kind of say that's synonymous with niche, it's like, you know, what market am I sitting in?
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: What's my niche?
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: Who am I working with?
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: This and that.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in the world of okay, so I'm gonna come, I I'm coming at that more from a personal brainy perspective.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: I made I made good money, um, you know, just shy of$200,000 a year at 22 years old, um, being a complete generalist photographer, videographer.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like it can be done.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, a lot of people um can do that.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I know I know people who are making seven figures as wedding photographers or wedding videographers.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I know people making incredible money just shooting cars.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's probably people making great money from shooting spare parts, like, you know, not my thing.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_00: I could pull my hand up and say that's not my thing.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: But there's great money in all of that.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think what it came down to for me personally was um none of it felt on purpose, none of it felt like really like I could like I could sink my whole heart into it.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so now me building this personal brand and coming back to to this belief that was kind of shattered is like I just need to speak to the person I was 12 to 24 months ago.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so what's so great about that is that I get to not condense what I do into a box.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: I get to I get to just be who I am and I get to share what I do and all of the different parts of my life, but it all just needs to be small parts of a whole bigger picture of where I'm going.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if that makes sense, but for me, I want to help people tell better stories, right?
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so I could go, I'm gonna, you know, work with um work with personal brands and I'm gonna just help them tell better stories.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so all of my content is just gonna be right around storytelling and scripting and content creation and this and that.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_00: But if I take one step beyond that and I go, well, if I'm helping people tell better stories, shouldn't I just tell my own stories?
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_00: And shouldn't I just show that I'm great at telling stories through my own experience?
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_00: And what is gonna connect with more people?
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_00: Is it going to be, hey, here's five tips for telling better stories?
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, tip one, have better eye contact with people.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_00: Step two, you know, ask better questions, this and that.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's so shallow.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_00: And although it's important, it doesn't, it's not fulfilling.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me, I'd rather come on here and go, hey, I just nearly got, I just got my ass beat like five times in a row on the jujitsu mats.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but here's why I keep going back because it is such such a resilience builder and such a strength builder for the mind and the body and the spirit.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's turning me into a better man.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm becoming a better man by doing it.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, does that directly lead to telling better stories?
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_00: No, but it's a great story in itself.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_00: And anyone who also feels like maybe they want to start pushing themselves and they feel like they want to do something to challenge themselves, who just may also want to start a personal brand will resonate.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think it's important to understand, and this this is another part of the belief that was broken, is like I can get so specific about who I am and just speak to that.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_00: And there's still gonna be so many people who resonate.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think the fear is the market's not big enough if I if I niche too much.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_00: But I think when we can be just ourselves and just speak from that place, it's fascinating how many people are in the exact same position as us.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_01: And this leads into another question I have.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of the rare questions that I do have written down.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_01: And what would you say to a person who does have that drive or really wants to tell their story, but they're stuck procrastinating?
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_01: What would you do to help them reframe their minds in terms of crushing their passion and getting out of that procrastination sort of phase?
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_00: Of telling of telling their story.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_00: So wanting to put out more content, wanting to, you know, express themselves more.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they feel like um, you know, they've got something to say, but you know, maybe it's not good enough, or you know, what if people judge me?
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_00: Is that kind of what you're what you what you're talking about?
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, for for instance, for example, um I hit a point where I really wanted to do what I wanted to do.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to go out and take photos.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_01: I really wanted to showcase my work um being a little bit different and a little bit more unique in comparison to a lot of the other people here in Australia because we've got this golden landscape, and that's what a lot of people shoot.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so mine's that little bit different.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_01: But um, so I hit this phase of where I just was overthinking.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so what happened was I then overthought, sat down, put Netflix on, and then the next day I felt crap because I wasn't doing what I wanted to do.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where I come in and go, how do you change their minds?
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_01: or a creative's mind to really chase their passion, even though like the they've got the skill to do it, but their mindset is letting them down in that in that sort of regard.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, look, one thing that really helped me was I used to identify as a perfectionist.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's good, you know, I put so much time and effort into it, and it's you know, it's I'm focused on quality over quantity, and uh I I love all the little details and and I love planning and this and that.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then I heard a podcast that said, more often than not, perfectionists are just procrastinators, and it sucks because it's a total it's a total like kick to the identity, and again, it comes back to being pushed into a corner where you have nowhere else to hide.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_00: And looking at yourself, other uh yeah, and other than to accept that I'm not a perfectionist, I'm just fucking self-sabotaging myself.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that also is a little bit freeing because it's like, okay, cool, like I'm not a perfectionist anymore.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the thing.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just a procrastinator.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_00: So now I just have to deal with the procrastination.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_00: I no longer have this like, you know, facade or this fantasy that I'm somehow different and I'm somehow special just because my work's different and you know, um, lies, lies, lies, excuses, excuses, excuses, all the all this stuff.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think I think that's the that's the first thing.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's like more than likely if you're a perfectionist, you're just a procrastinator.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um then I think it is understanding that it is going to feel really uncomfortable, like really uncomfortable to go out and and shoot or you know, design or create, but for me it's shoot my story video, which I I released the other day, um, we which took me way longer than I'd anticipated.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it's going out there doing it and then just posting it.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, um, I can't remember what the law is.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's I don't I don't know if it's Murphy's law.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't I actually don't think it's Murphy's law.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a particular law that says however much time you give yourself to do something is how long it will take.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so rather than, you know, going, oh, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go out and shoot, and then, you know, when I get home, I'll dump my content, then I'll take a bit of a break, and then I might get to the content throughout the week, and then I'll edit bits and pieces, and then I might post on Saturday.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see where we go.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, no, I'm gonna go and shoot, then I'm gonna go home.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna upload my content.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna put a 10-minute timer on, I'm gonna see what I can do in 10 minutes, and regardless of what happens, I'm gonna post it.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think that is that is where things really begin to change, where we kind of go, where we just begin to take what we do seriously.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_00: And again, comes back to the question, what do you want?
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what do we want to do?
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_00: And and for me, I kind of, when I posted my story video, it was like 60% done.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, man, like the the sound effects in it suck.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like I just feel like my lighting wasn't great, you know, my post-production wasn't great.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_00: I would have loved to have had better music.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_00: I felt like it was a little bit clunky in areas, this and that.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_00: The reality was that it was a great story.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was just getting in my own way.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, as creatives, again, it's it's our biggest downfall is we we are very particular about our craft.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but at the end of the day, no one cares.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_00: No one cares.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like no one's going to see the imperfections that you see.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's done is done is better than perfect.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think, you know, the procrastination thing, the best way out of it is just to recognize that that's what's going on and to go the opposite way.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the good thing about recognizing, recognizing these things is like, you know, okay, I'm procrastinating.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_00: So what would a non-procrastinator do, meaning the opposite of where I am right now?
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_00: And you go, oh, well, you know, they would take imperfect action, they would just create something and then just post it and not really care.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, okay, so that makes sense.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'll just do that then.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of the that's the answer.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's the answer.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then and then over time you start to build more of a relationship with, you know, posting more, posting more and being okay with it not being perfect.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_01: I guess the other thing you could do as well is um you could schedule your posts to strike while the fires burn and and post, post, post, but schedule your posts.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_01: So then you do have that time if you want just to relax and and really go back.
• 1:01:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's something that I was doing as well, was just yeah, scheduling my post to be three top posts a week and then just doing that on the start of the week when you know, when you when everything was flowing, when you had we were in that flow state and schedule everything, so then that gives you the time to either pick up that uh pace back during later on in the week or the next week, but you're still posting, so you're still present, you're you you're just doing the thing.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think, you know, I think that's that's if you're producing multiple pieces of content at once, I think, for sure.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_00: I I think 100%.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um or or you could just create, post, create, post, create, post.
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like just ultimately, it's just whatever's gonna allow you to just put out more content.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it's there it there is a lot psychologically going on there, um, in terms of, you know, um being a perfectionist, being a people pleaser, being a procrastinator.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so I don't I don't say that as like a that's gonna cure all your all your problems.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but maybe I am the guy just to say, like, stop bullshitting with yourself and just do it.
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, maybe that'll land for someone, maybe it won't.
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_00: I I I've got I got friends who I can I can be harsh with them and they still won't do it.
• 1:02:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's like, okay, well, you, you're you're um, yeah, you can only help so much.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think um we're pretty got some great information there.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I can add to any of that.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_01: So, but um, where can people find if they wanted to come out and find you and contact you about uh creating content and and a podcast for them, where can they find you and and what is the process that you take them through to make sure it's actually right for them and you, of course?
• 1:03:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean it's a it's a it's a great question with with the agency, uh Think Loud, um, you know, there is so much time and effort that goes into what we do with our clients.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so for that reason, we don't take on many clients.
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I and I don't say that to try and be some exclusive fucking like, you know, we're the best.
• 1:03:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh but ultimately I I do hand select who I work with.
• 1:03:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, there's a there's a lot of a lot of people out there who have so much passion and so much to share and so much knowledge, um, and they know that they should be sharing it.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or you know, they know they can help a lot of people.
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they just don't know how to do it.
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that's who we're for.
• 1:04:06
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're for the person who, you know, um really wants to give this a Red Ock crack, um, who doesn't want to handle the production, who doesn't want to, because we do, we do everything.
• 1:04:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it's filming, audio, um, it's all on location.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we're I mean, we're based on the Central Coast, but you know, Sydney, Newcastle, um, if someone wants to pay our flights to go somewhere, all for it, would love to.
• 1:04:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, it's a it's a it's a big process and it's it's for the person who or the the brand or the business or whatever who really wants to give this a red hot crack and um yeah, who really wants to use is this as their main marketing channel.
• 1:04:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um so there's that for from the agency side.
• 1:04:52
  SPEAKER_00: We're also doing short form content as well for for a few people.
• 1:04:56
  SPEAKER_00: We're kind of just working all that out.
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's a big post product, there's a lot of volume in the post-production, and and we're kind of still building out the processes around that.
• 1:05:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but obviously, you know, with social media, short form content is is definitely a good play.
• 1:05:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then, you know, for me personally, like I said, um my personal brand is going to be really focused around um helping, helping people unpack their stories.
• 1:05:20
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's slightly different to Think Loud in that it's very much an online.
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_00: I work with people one-on-one, um more so in a community coaching format, um, to really individually unpack the stories so then they can go out.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_00: So then, you know, if they want to go and tell their story on stage as a speaker, you know, in content, they want to do take a similar path to what I've taken, um, then they can do that more effectively because um ultimately the the the most the thing that I think people should be really focusing on the most if they want to be better speakers, better podcasters, better conversationalists.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, build better brands, um, storytelling.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_01: And what about for those who would like to start a podcast?
• 1:06:09
  SPEAKER_01: You've also got Unmuted.
• 1:06:11
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to take me through the what the idea behind that is?
• 1:06:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_00: So Unmuted also is more geared towards my personal brand, where over time it's really going to be for, again, for the creator who wants to um really build something around themselves and who they are.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I spoke about, you know, pulling in all these different things.
• 1:06:34
  SPEAKER_00: I love speaking about jujitsu and I love speaking about business.
• 1:06:37
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, there's so many parts of my story that I'm really excited to share a lot more about.
• 1:06:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I want to help people get to a place where they can authentically show up as themselves in the content that they do.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so, um, or, you know, when they're speaking on stage or when they're on interviews or whatever.
• 1:06:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so unmuted is very much around that.
• 1:06:59
  SPEAKER_00: But with that, um, there is a lot of educational content um around, you know, building a podcast.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's a video there that takes you through start to finish how to actually start a podcast.
• 1:07:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's very high level.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_00: There's also a free resource that people can download that kind of takes them through that process.
• 1:07:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, there's there's a whole bunch of content, but really that's speaking to the creator who really wants to build something powerful around their own journey and their own story.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_01: And where can people find your find you on these platforms?
• 1:07:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:07:34
  SPEAKER_00: So uh look, Think Loud, um, Think Loud, I think it's Think Loud official on Instagram.
• 1:07:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm gonna be spending more time on Instagram.
• 1:07:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm kind of, you know, I tried spending a bit more time across platforms and I'm just slowly working out that it's not sustainable.
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's not really some platforms aren't for me.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_00: So Instagram is the best place.
• 1:07:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, thinkcloud.com.au is the website for for the agency, and unmuted is on all platforms, Spotify, Apple, YouTube.
• 1:08:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there is no Instagram for it, but that's all going to be tied into kind of in between ThinkCloud and and my personal brand.
• 1:08:13
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 1:08:13
  SPEAKER_01: Before people, if they if those listeners wanted to come and use your services with ThinkLoud, what would some of the preparation be before they come and reach out to you?
• 1:08:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's a good question.
• 1:08:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we we help people through that process, but I think if someone was serious about really giving this a crack, I think it's probably important to understand that, you know, it's a it's a it's an investment across across all fronts, um, but a very big it's a it's a it's a time investment.
• 1:08:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think, you know, if you're like, oh yeah, like I was thinking about starting a bit of like a passion project, and like I was thinking about just having some bants with my mates, and um, you know, let's do it.
• 1:09:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'd just be like, look, go for gold.
• 1:09:06
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need me.
• 1:09:07
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need me.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna waste your money, you're gonna, you know, it's not gonna waste everyone's time, but you know, put bluntly, it's gonna waste everyone's time because we want to work with people who we we can help build so that they're great and we get to be great alongside them as well.
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but but again, if you're if you're someone who's like people, people come into us and they love everything that we do and we give so much value and our our business is built off our relationships with our clients and customers, and we just really want to get that out there more.
• 1:09:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, then I think the best way to prepare is to go what's what's the key outcome you want to get from your podcast?
• 1:09:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, like what do you what do you want to get out of it?
• 1:09:50
  SPEAKER_00: Are you okay with it not making money, or do you want this to build to become a revenue driver?
• 1:09:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, is your goal to generate leads for your business, sales?
• 1:09:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, is it brand awareness?
• 1:10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Is it whatever?
• 1:10:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think getting clear about, you know, what you want the podcast to do for you.
• 1:10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then starting to look at really if you can, if you could explain the podcast in one sentence, what would it be?
• 1:10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like I said, we we work with people.
• 1:10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Some of my clients have come to me for content and I've said you need to do a podcast.
• 1:10:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not like I like force them into it, um, but I said, you know, we should really give this a crack.
• 1:10:29
  SPEAKER_00: They do, it's the best thing they've ever done.
• 1:10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so some people don't even realize that a podcast is for them.
• 1:10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and some people think a podcast is for them, and it's maybe not the best way for them to kind of approach their marketing.
• 1:10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we kind of help throughout that process.
• 1:10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're not sure, reach out and and we'll help, we'll help direct regardless.
• 1:10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 1:10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome, mate.
• 1:10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and again, thank you for joining me on this episode.
• 1:10:57
  SPEAKER_01: There's definitely a lot to unpack through um health, through creativity, podcasting, and all the bet all of that.
• 1:11:03
  SPEAKER_01: So um, but yeah, it was good to sit down and chat with you.
• 1:11:07
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I thank you again for joining me on the show, mate.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man, I appreciate it.
• 1:11:11
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate your vulnerability too.
• 1:11:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think, you know, your story and and the direction you've taken this podcast.
• 1:11:17
  SPEAKER_00: We've spoken at length about uh the new direction for this podcast.
• 1:11:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you bringing your own personal journey into this is much more powerful, much more impactful than you think.
• 1:11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, that's that's everything that I want to do is, you know, help people realize that their story is powerful and it and it makes much more of a difference than what we realize.
• 1:11:39
  SPEAKER_00: So just sharing it, getting a bit vulnerable is um is awesome, man.
• 1:11:44
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks for having me on.
• 1:11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Loved it.
• 1:11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:11:46
  SPEAKER_01: And again, everyone, there's so many people going through the same thing at this point in time, especially with the economy and and coming post-COVID.
• 1:11:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, let's all work together.
• 1:11:57
  SPEAKER_01: We're a community, let's get creating and let's do it together.