What Your Social Media Says About You

… this was the title of an article that popped up in my newsfeed this week.

And of course, with all our collective pre-occupation with social media success combined with the fact that this was a fantastic ‘clickbait’ title, which surely meant I wasn’t the only one that stopped what they were doing to have a read.

(And yes I appreciate the irony that I’m now using the same title for my article, so as a thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my article [which is one of a million you could have chosen] let me share some thoughts with you in the hope they will provide you some value you can apply to your own life).

My intuition says that currently social media accounts (I’m talking namely Instagram here) have devolved in to places we go to convey some sort of pseudo-reality in an attempt to portray marketing image of ourselves to the world.

I also believe that we each have a clear motivation why we use social media, whether that’s at a conscious or subconscious level, we each create a ‘brand’ for ourselves in the type and theme of content that we post.

For example, maybe for you Instagram is a place to share photos of your holidays, social time with friends and generally a platform about your life outside of work. Or perhaps instead it’s strictly business, where you post work-related images to market yourself to your network with the aim of landing new clients and opportunities.

Now it would be audacious of me to pass judgement on whether this is right or wrong but it would be utterly foolish not to accept the fact that like it or not, that’s our current situation and today if you want to make an impact, social media has to be a crucial part of your marketing mix.

To me the world of marketing is absolutely fascinating and was lucky enough to be able to specialise in Advanced Sports Marketing during my studies at Loughborough University. One thing that stuck with me from my research is that everything we do, every marketing item we by or every image we post on social media is a statement about ourselves.

Ergo, we don’t buy products because one is better than the other, we buy it because we like what it says about us.

Let me explain…

… a pair of £200 jeans probably aren’t all that different from a £20 pair of jeans.

But many people are willing to buy the £200 pair of jeans because just having that logo is a statement in that firstly your successful enough to buy the £200 jeans, you’re stylish and have great fashion taste and more importantly you’re conveying a supposedly ‘better’ image to the world by wearing more expensive jeans.

In my opinion rappers don’t wear Gucci head to toe because it’s comfortable, stylish or the best product, it’s because it shows they have money, serious money.

I don’t buy Planks Ski Clothing because I’ve made a judgment about their quality and style (the fact they are amazing, quality, style and price is just a bonus and no they didn’t pay me to say this). I buy from them because they’re a brand from the U.K. doing amazing things from the U.K. snowsports scene, which if you know anything about me at all, it’s one I’m hugely passionate about and want that to be the reflected in the image I put out to the world. Therefore Planks are the obvious choice.

Of late, I’m sure much like your own, my social media newsfeed seems to be a constant stream of people talking about their own achievements, both huge and minuscule. It seems to have bceome and online soapbox where we all stand everyday and shout about how great we are to anyone willing to listen.

Now don’t get me wrong, my intuition says there’s some are hugely deserving to be posted about.

For example one of my good friends just broke two world records as part of an all female trio who have just rowed the Pacific Ocean (we’re also making a film about it, coming later this year) and being honest they’ve been really modest about the scale of their achievement and in my opinion deserved to have filled up the newsfeed for weeks on end with details and highlights of their adventure. (Learn more about them here… https://www.facebook.com/pacificterrificcrew/).

Then there’s the other end of the spectrum, nowadays there’s so many posts about tiny things that it dilutes when you actually achieve something momentous.

What’s more with social media becoming a stream of other people’s accomplishments it’s unsurprising that so many people feel depressed and unsatisfied with their own lives as they’re are reminded of it every time we log in.

Therefore from now on I’m trying to make a conscious effort of making my social media more real and authentic. That’s why this week’s post is me sat in my car writing this blog post on my phone (which I should really get my cracked screen replaced on and free up some storage on it too). I’ve messed up my work life balance this summer so haven’t achieved all I was hoping to and consequently I’m not in a great place mentally or physically.

And my intuition says that’s ok.

I hope this post is a reminder that maybe if you’re not at 100% right now and are the best version of yourself, that’s absolutely fine. Because it’s impossible for everyday to be our best ever and the good days wouldn’t feel so good if we didn’t haven’t days that were tough.

For me this whole summer has been a challenging one, and not full of glamorous instagram moments. Don’t get me wrong my life is incredible and I’m super grateful for the experience I’ll have in the short time I’m lucky to be on this floating rock in space, but I feel excited for all I’ve learned during these past few months and the mental position it’s put me in going in to the winter, where hopefully I can do bigger and better.

I’ll finish with a quote this week I heard from Elle Mills, a 19 year old YouTube star who recently went through a serious and very public burnout and after a break has come back with this new mindset, one I hope we can all take a little something from…

“I’ve just got to keep on working on improving myself every day and taking some time to enjoy the ride”*

So think what your social media posts say about you.

And I wish you every success,

Jack

This story was originally posted on www.jacktompkins.co

What I’m Currently Reading…

‘Crushing It’ — by Gary Vaynerchuk — it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

About Jack

I help people, brands and business communicate more effectively with their customers through visual, audio and written content.

I do this through Southpaw Sport, the sports content marketing company I’m currently building as well as on a freelance basis working for agencies and production companies.

Visit www.jacktompkins.co

You can follow me on YouTube where I post weekly vlogs sharing my experience and opinion on content production.

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/user/jackt18

And my social media for behind the scenes look at what I’m up to

Instagram — @jackwrtompkins

Twitter — @jackwrtompkins

Elle’s Video here…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glIBS8DCTiQ&t=260s

Building a Business isn't Cool

Nowadays it’s easier than ever to start up your own business…

… and it’s great to see so many people excited and motivated to set up on their own, all enthusiastic, motivated and driven towards the goal of being their own boss.

And I feel obligated before going any further to remind you I’m only 10 years in to my own career, so this article is a nothing more than my intuitions and experience, hoping to give you some value in the form of thoughts you can apply to your own career.

I’m not anywhere near successful or experienced enough for my opinion or advice to be taken on as gospel, but if there’s one thing I can state with absolute certainty from the past decade of my career, it’s this…

Building a business isn’t cool.

Of late, I’m sure much like me, you will have experienced an influx of adverts on Facebook from entrepreneurs trying to share with you their ‘secret formula’ to becoming a multi-millionaire by doing minimal work. And accompanying are numerous pictures of them on their private jets, in swanky city penthouses and generally splashing the cash.

I google searched images of Jeff Besoz to research this week’s article, he’s supposedly the world’s richest businessman and all I could find were pictures of him at business events wearing reasonably nice looking suits. Nothing flashy, not him posing by his private jet or his yacht.

My intuition says when you are actually succesful, you don’t need to do things to make it look like you are.

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about social media and am becoming increasingly conscious of the effect that we have upon our contemporaries by constantly posting the ‘perfect image’ of happiness, success and enjoyment.

Of course, I’m not the first perosn to think this, but there seems to be a narrative building where we are recognising the negative impact it can have.

From now I want to make a point of more often making my Instagram more photos real, rather than edited images I’ve spent time touching up to make look better. I want it to be real and authentic in the hope it doesn’t make anyone doubt themselves or what they’re doing.

Most of your work days are probably more fun and enjoyable than mine, regardless of what I post.

Too often during a great period of a workday I’ll take a quick Instagram break, watch a few stories and all of a sudden my productive and positive mood can so quickly turn into despondency and feeling of self-regret when someone’s using a better camera than me, or out doing something than I wish I was.

This week, after months of searching my business partner and I have finally secured ourselves a studio space. And although it’s very exciting and something I was proud to post about it, in reality I’ve truly enjoyed our new studio probably for about 37 seconds and have spent the rest of the time realising the responsibility it brings.

And in my experience this seems to me be largely the reality of being a business person. Each day you probably have about 30 seconds where you feel contented, proud or comfortable in your situation and the rest of the day is spent working, worrying, problem solving, dealing with clients… the actual, unattractive nitty gritty of being a business person.

To end, again I’ll paraphrase an idea of Gary Vaynerchuk which to me seems of great relevance and importance for social media and self marketing when you’re an entrepreneur.

“When you’re building a business you actually have to make money. It feels great to say you’re an entrepreneur and put it in your Instagram bio, but you can put astronaut in their as well and that doesn’t make it true”.

So remember, building a business isn’t cool.

If your day is full of unglamorous work you wouldn’t put on Instagram, I think you’re probably doing it right.

I wish you every success.

Jack

This story was originally posted on www.jacktompkins.co

What I’m Currently Reading…

‘Crushing It’ — by Gary Vaynerchuk — it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

About Jack

I help people, brands and business communicate more effectively with their customers through visual, audio and written content.

I do this through Southpaw Sport, the sports content marketing company I’m currently building as well as on a freelance basis working for agencies and production companies.

Visit www.jacktompkins.co

You can follow me on YouTube where I post weekly vlogs sharing my experience and opinion on content production.

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/user/jackt18

And my social media for behind the scenes look at what I’m up to

Instagram — @jackwrtompkins

Twitter — @jackwrtompkins

On Getting Older

I turn 28 next week…

… and although that’s not the most significant of birthday’s, but right now it feels very much as if it’s the turning point to being a proper adult.

Indeed in recent weeks there’s been a lot of things going on that have meant in many ways I’ve had to take a long hard look at what I’m doing and really grow up.

The topic of my inner thought over the past few weeks has been responsibility, and how if I’m completely honest with myself up to now I didn’t really have any.

Sure I have bills to pay and client deadlines to meet, but now things have changed. My business partner and I have just taken on a studio space, so now I have a responsibility to him to be able to pay the rent every month.

My dog (who I don’t often talk about as to me he’s my escape when work gets stressful), has a serious health condition and if I can’t afford to pay for his medicine every month, the unthinkable is going to happen.

(I want to talk about health in a future blog as it’s something that’s waying heavy on my mind).

And I’m just about to start some new business ventures, one of which I feel particularly lucky to have the opportunity to make a go of, and therefore I feel I’ve got a responsibility to put absolutely everything I can in to making them at success.

I’ve said it before, by this point in life I’d always hoped that by this age I’d have achieved something so momentous that I would be famous and well respected within my chosen field.

Nowadays with the advent of the internet and the myriad of opportunities it’s brought and the numerous examples of teenage who have made millions, it seems to me there’s seems that there is a huge societal pressure to be a success even before you’ve reached adulthood.

And I’m not even close.

But on reflection I’m so glad that I haven’t reached that point yet.

Sure, I’m frustrated I’m not further along but I’ve learned so much from my mistakes…

There’s a saying I once saw that said something along the lines of “you’ll get there as soon as you’re ready” and it stuck with me.

I wish I knew the answer to if whether our destiny is fully our own or whether we’re being guided along a certain path in our lives and careers but the immense good fortune I’ve had in my own career (the level of which everyday I really feel undeserving of but at the same time immensley grateful for) leaves me to believe that there is a bigger picture behind it all.

My favourite business thought leader Gary Vaynerchuk often says he feels so much younger than is and to me that’s reassuring. At the time of writing he’s 42 and often tells people he meets…

“I might be over 40, but I feel like I’m just starting”.

Although Gary is unimaginably more successful than I am and again his advice will be far far more beneficial to you than my musings, I take solace in the fact that he feels this way when he’s more advanced in years than myself.

(“More advanced in years” is a nice, respectful way I was once told to say someone’s older than you should you ever need it).

Maybe you’re not supposed to be a superstar at 18 because you need to learn an important lesson at 32 that changes your course in life so by you’re 56 you’ll be in position to achieve something monumental.

One of my favourite actors and now YouTube creator Josh Peck, recently released a video of him surprising his friends with the news he was going to be a Father (it’s amazing if you have the time to watch, link here… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYkn4ZlvSVA)

In the video he visits widely respected filmmaker Casey Neistat who talks about how after becoming a parent you realise the life you were living before was a hugely selfish one and after becoming a parent you will always have a purpose, drive and ‘fuel in your tank’ because you know you need to deliver for the people dependant on you.

I know my new responsibilities aren’t even close to the level or signifigance that a parent has, but recent changes in my life have given me somewhat of the same effect.

So you may be getting older and my intuition says that’s a good thing, because if you’re young that means that maybe you haven’t had the experiences and life lessons you need in order to be truly successful.

And what’s more, maybe the added motivation age and responsibility brings will spur you on to a far more meaningful and greater goal.

I wish you every success.

Jack

What I’m Currently Reading…

‘Crushing It’ — by Gary Vaynerchuk — it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

About Jack

I help people, brands and business communicate more effectively with their customers through visual, audio and written content.

I do this through Southpaw Sport, the sports content marketing company I’m currently building as well as on a freelance basis working for agencies and production companies.

Visit www.jacktompkins.co

You can follow me on YouTube where I post weekly vlogs sharing my experience and opinion on content production.

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/user/jackt18

And my social media for behind the scenes look at what I’m up to

Instagram — @jackwrtompkins

Twitter — @jackwrtompkins

Be Real

I’ll be honest…

… this week there’s things some things going on that mean I’m not in the right place to write the normal optimistic, uplifting blog post I usually aim for.

This week I wanted to write something true and authentic, and ultimately be real. Because my intuition says that a large part about what we share of our lives online, isn’t a reflection of our true-selves or how we are feeling at that point in time.

Contrasting this, I’m sure that you’ve had adverts from multi-millionaire, 20 year old entrepreneurs bombard your newsfeed, particularly over the last year, all of whom are desperate to teach you their secret for a small price.

And what’s more with the photos of their lavish lifestyles, private jets and fast cars, how could you not want to get your own piece of the action that these ‘entrepreuneurs’ have achieved so easily.

In my experience, the truth about running your own business could not look more different.

If you read this blog to gain tips about being self employed or setting up your own business, I would implore you to look very critically the sentiment that people like this are pitching.

As always you must take my advice with a pinch of salt, I’m only 27 and still very much at the bottom of the mountain when it comes to being a successful businessman.

One of my favourite podcasts is hosted by two comedians, one is 22 year old and the other 46 year old.

In a recent episode the 46 year old went on a comical tirade about how although teenagers today are in many ways perhaps the luckiest generation that have ever existed on this planet, the majority mope around, despondent and miserable, always longing for more and unappreciative of what they have.

When analysing the root cause of this issue, unsurprisingly social media was brought up.

I noticed recently that my habit of watching Instagram stories first thing in the morning was perhaps one of the most negative and self-destructive things I do.

Regardless of what I’ve achieved the day before or what I’m doing that day, it doesn’t’ take long to find someone who’s using a better camera, or working on a bigger set and ultimately send me down a negative path, where I criticise myself for not being more successful.

And that’s not healthy.

Coming back to the podcast the somewhat sagacious 46 year old drove home his point with a very matter of fact assertion that although overall life is great, the majority of moments it comprises, isn’t.

And if we expect every day to be filled with the magic moments so easily accessible by social media, no wonder we’re going to feel saddened that our lives, both personal and working, aren’t as amazing as we’re expecting.

All my experience and intuition says that much like life, although overall it may be incredible to be self employed and run your own business, the majority of the minutia that make up day to day running a business, are moments that really aren’t all that great.

The reality is not helicopters, private jets and luxury yachts, in my experience of business, it’s long hours grinding away with the occasional phenomenal moment that reminds you why are you sacrificing so much for and I hope if you are thinking of being your own boss you are lucky enough to regularly experience lots of these.

As always I draw reference to the working lives of many business owners I’m lucky to call friends and although they are at a level of success I dream of, they’re still battling with the day to day tasks I also have to do, doing accounts, budgeting, continually having to innovate their offering to compete.

My intuition says that this is the reality of running your own business.

If you are feeling pressured that you’re in your twenties and should be living the lifestyle all those ‘entrepreneurs’ on Facebook appear to, don’t be.

Because if you are truly a great ‘entrepreneur’ why are you spending millions on personal luxuries and not re-investing it in to things that will make you billions.

To put in perspective Mark Zuckerburg is worth over $65 Billion, but wears jeans, plain t-shirts and drives a Honda*

In closing, we all want life to be wall to wall amazing, but be real, it’s not like that.

And if you’re expecting it to be, my intuition says it’s not healthy, productive or beneficial.

There’s good times and bad times, both are important.

So remember, be real and I wish you every success,

Jack

*I obviously can’t state this complete certainty, but from the information I’ve seen it appears to be true.

What I’m Currently Reading…

‘Crushing It’ — by Gary Vaynerchuk — it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

About Jack

I help people, brands and business communicate more effectively with their customers through visual, audio and written content.

I do this through Southpaw Sport, the sports content marketing company I’m currently building as well as on a freelance basis working for agencies and production companies.

Visit www.jacktompkins.co

You can follow me on YouTube where I post weekly vlogs sharing my experience and opinion on content production.

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/user/jackt18

And my social media for behind the scenes look at what I’m up to

Instagram — @jackwrtompkins

Twitter — @jackwrtompkins

People are the Priority

I don’t really care about money.

And although ostensibly many may think being focused on finances should be at the top of business owner’s priority lists, I firmly believe that shouldn’t be the case.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned over the first decade of my career is that people should always be the priority.

Now I’m not writing this in my own hubris, or to make myself feel good, because I know my constant decision not to prioritise money in my business decision making repeatedly infuriates my accountant and business mentors. (All of whom who are far more successful and experienced than me and in many ways it may seem myopic not to alter my behaviour upon their advice)

But as I’ve grown up the biggest lesson I’ve learned, both through my academic study and real world experience is that the only way to succeed is to be your truly authentic self.

We are all so smart and information rich these days and we can sniff out in mere milliseconds when someone is putting on an act or pretending. A lesson Gary Vaynerchuk continually emphases the importance of is that the only way to success is to ‘speak your truth’.

Even a decade in to my career, I’m essentially just starting out in the wide world of business, so as always I can’t speak from a place of wisdom or certainty that my beliefs are the key to success. All I can share is my intuitions in a hope that they’ll be of some minuscule value to you in your endeavours.

Of late a key thought that’s been on my mind is that in order to be truly happy and successful in business, you need to be yourself.

And I know deep down for me I care about my legacy, over currency*.

*This is probably my all time favourite Gary Vaynerchuk quote, which in it’s most basic form means caring more about how you make your money, more than how much money you make.

Over the last week I was truly reminded how important the thought that “people are the priority” is. For anyone reasonably well established in the video production business it’s not uncommon to get aspiring and new videographers reaching out and asking for advice.

In fact for some of my very successful friends, I’m genuinely surprised how they get any of their own work done with the amount of emails and Facebook messages they receive asking for their advice.

There’s one particular colleague I know who goes above and beyond in helping upcoming videographers, even being so selfless that it’s cost him to lose his own clients when his protege’s have gone in and pitched against him at a lower cost. But still he continues to selflessly dedicate large amounts of his time to supporting the next generation. (If you’re reading this you know who you are and I’m incredibly grateful for all the time you dedicate to me, thank you).

It’s a trait I’ve tried to emulate, and whenever someone reaches out to me, however often, I will do all I can to offer helpful advice. And although you may be thinking this is time better spent on paid work that you could be making money from.

Again I don’t know everything, but in my experience it’s funny how things work out, and how a few minutes spent helping someone who may have nothing to offer you in return, is something I implore you to make a priority whenever the opportunity presents itself.

As always Gary Vaynerchuk has an incredible talent to summarises these important thoughts in a tagline…

“Giving without expectation is the only way to win”.

Let me share an anecdote with you from this past week…

A couple of years ago I met a really great guy (let’s call him James) when he came to be a model on a film shoot. We started talking and it turned out he also did some video editing and was currently undertaking his drone pilot license.

Having just passed my own pilot license and knowing how difficult it was I told James to give me an email if he ever wanted to chat about anything.

I didn’t really expect to hear from him but over the next two weeks we talked a lot over email, the pattern being he would ask questions and I’d try my best to help him understand and guide him through the license process.

The last I heard from him was late 2017 where he told my that he’d passed his course, for me just knowing that I’d hopefully played a very very tiny part in James’ success was a great feeling.

Fast forward to this past week and all of a sudden I get three emails asking to book me on projects and suprise suprise I’d been recommended to all of them by James.

I’m sure you’ve often had the conversation that in any business, it’s “who you know, not what you know”.

In my experience, prioritising legacy over currency has been the right decision, both for my soul and for my bank balance.

I’ll finish with a quote another filmmaker I respect (Jakob Owens) has talked about recently…

“Life gives to the givers and takes from the takers”.

So remember, people are the priority.
 
 And I wish you every success.

Jack

What I’m Currently Reading…

‘Crushing It’ — by Gary Vaynerchuk — it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

About Jack

I help people, brands and business communicate more effectively with their customers through visual, audio and written content.

I do this through Southpaw Sport, the sports content marketing company I’m currently building as well as on a freelance basis working for agencies and production companies.

Visit www.jacktompkins.co

You can follow me on YouTube where I post weekly vlogs sharing my experience and opinion on content production.

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/user/jackt18

And my social media for behind the scenes look at what I’m up to

Instagram — @jackwrtompkins

Twitter — @jackwrtompkins

You Do Your Best Work When You're Not Working

That’s what I think anyway.

If you work in the video production industry, at this time of year you most likely won’t even have a spare second as these few weeks in August are always jam-packed with opportunities, whether it’s sporting events, weddings, music festivals or most of other types of work.

It goes without saying that this is an incredible time to get your head down, work on lots of really exciting project and also save some money to see you through quieter times.

And although my advice to anyone new to the business would be to really capitalise on the earnings and experience you can gain at this time, it’s all too easy to overstretch yourself.

I was very fortunate to have just spend an amazing 3 days filming in Italy working alongside incredibly talented Director of Photography Paul Cook, who’s just about to release his 4-year film project ‘Magpie’ (it truly is phenomenal, check the trailer out here… https://vimeo.com/281796827).

Outside of filming the beautiful city of Florence, we were able to spend several hours talking shop over some traditional Italian cuisine, an unsurprisingly given the time of year, we talked a lot about creative burnout.

From sharing personal experience and anecdotes, we collectively agreed that although you need to work hard to succeed in this business, the quality of your work is unquestionably a key factor too.

My intuition says that however hard you try, you can only truly do your most creative and effective work when you’re healthy and well rested.

Over the past few weeks it’s been all too common to open Instagram stories from filmmaker friends and see them working on back to back shoots with the most minuscule amounts of sleep in between.

And yes, there are times when you need to accept you’re not going much rest and just keep working to achieve success, but to me it seems you need to recognise when this is being detrimental to your overall career.

It all comes back to the quality vs. quantity argument and although there’s no perfect answer, I feel that we all personal can identify a ‘sweet spot’ where we are producing the most amount of our ‘best work’ that we can.

And to recognise this it takes a good amount of self-awareness (a trait Gary Vaynerchuk preaches as arguably the most important in business) and my intuition says that you need time away from work, to be able to take a step back and truly analyse how effective you’re being.

On a related, but completely different note I’m a huge fan of the Legend of Zelda video games. (For the tiny majority of you who thought I possibly could be quite cool, I’ve now shattered that illusion, deep down I’m very much a geek). 
 
 When I was 9, I was playing Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64 (for you Zelda fans out there who were interested) and was stuck on one particular section for weeks on end. I didn’t know that you could look up guides online at this time, so struggled for ages trying every possible thing I could think of, but sadly to no avail.

A few weeks later I went on summer holiday with my family and although at that time of my life completing the Zelda game was perhaps my primary ambition, for the two weeks I didn’t give a passing though to it and like every kid just enjoyed being on the beach.

I remember we were walking somewhere one day and all of a sudden a new idea on how to complete the section popped in to my mind out of nowhere (just like often happens in our brains) and sure enough when I returned home a few days later and tried that idea out, it was the answer I had been so desperately searching for.

It’s an idea that endures today, with the problems and challenges I need to solve in business today, however hard I sit at my laptop and try to work them out I only ever think of the best solution when I’m doing something completely different.

Whether it’s going for a run, walking the dog or going food shopping, the best ideas always come when I’m not working. Perhaps it’s the same for you too?

So what’s the lesson in this?

My intuition and experience says that if you really want to be successful, you need to build in time where you’re not working, it’s only then that your brain can really have the space to process everything it needs to in order to work out your next move.

So remember, you do your best work when you’re not working.

I wish you every success.

Jack

What I’m Currently Reading…

‘Crushing It’ — by Gary Vaynerchuk — it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

About Jack

I help people, brands and business communicate more effectively with their customers through visual, audio and written content.

I do this through Southpaw Sport, the sports content marketing company I’m currently building as well as on a freelance basis working for agencies and production companies.

Visit www.jacktompkins.co

You can follow me on YouTube where I post weekly vlogs sharing my experience and opinion on content production.

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/user/jackt18

And my social media for behind the scenes look at what I’m up to

Instagram — @jackwrtompkins

Twitter — @jackwrtompkins

Should You Work For Free?

Let me save you some time and tell you that in my opinion the answer is yes.

Of course, there are a whole bunch of caveats and exceptions, but let me explain…

This blog has always aimed to be a help to you if you are thinking about starting your own business…

And only being in the early stages of my own career I don’t have all the answers on what it takes to achieve success, but I do have a decades worth of experience, the lessons from which I’ve tried to share every week. All in the hope for maybe just a couple of people it can help them fast-forward through some of the lessons it took me a long time to learn.

Now, working for free is a bit of a taboo topic, especially in the freelance video industry and I’m sure that there’s people right now screaming at their phones telling me I’m completely wrong, and maybe I am.

All I can share on this blog with any certainty are my thoughts and intuitions and from the past five years of regularly volunteering to produce video projects for free, my intuition says that if you choose the right projects to help on, it can be a massive springboard to bigger success, whether that be in your career or financially.

My own career started when one day a guy walked in to one of my lectures at University and said he needed help with a netball project he was working on. I emailed him and said, “I like making videos, would that be a help to you?” A year later I was producing paid sports projects for the university, which then led on to working for a London Sports Agency.

After doing my first voluntary project, a couple of weeks later I had the chance to use camera’s like this

Taking projects on for free can be a huge confidence booster too. If the person doesn’t like your work, or you make a few mistakes, there’s no problem. With no money on the table the client can’t expect anything, so whatever you can produce for them is a bonus!

If you’re wanting to launch your own photography/videography business but are hesitant to actually start producing paid work, I would offer you this very simple advice…

Look through your own network, your friends and family, friends of friends and I’m certain you’ll be able to find small business owners or athletes, musicians, aspiring models, someone who would benefit from having some great photos or videos to share on their website, social media etc.

Approach them and very honestly tell them your situation and say how you hope by working together to produce some content you could both benefit.

The first one is the hardest and by the time you’ve done this for 5 clients, I’m sure you’ll feel ready to start doing some small paid work.

And before you take that first voluntary project on, below I’ve written 5 lessons I’ve learned from all the work I’ve done for free, I hope that to you they can be a useful guideline when you’re deciding whether or not to take on the project…

Lesson 1 — Can you still pay your bills if you take it?

I’ve always wanted these blogs to have a huge dose of practicality in them and the first question you should ask yourself when a project doesn’t have any budget, is will you still be able to pay your bills if you do it?
 
 It shouldn’t cost you a lot of money or time to do the project and if you are doing the work and giving up your time for free it’s not unreasonable in any way to ask for expenses like travel money.

Sometimes if you really want to do the job you might have to pay fuel and other costs out of your own pocket, but that’s a decision only you can make.

Lesson 2 — Make sure the person or client is not taking advantage of your good nature

Sadly there’s been a few projects I’ve worked on that it’s become apparent the client is trying to get as much out of you as they can for free and really doesn’t appreciate the sacrifices you’re making for them.

When you’re young and just starting out it’s hard to tell if this is the case, this leads me on to lesson 3…

Lesson 3 — Everyone will promise you the world, decide whether they actually have it offer

Everyone, and I mean everyone, will tell you that if you do this project for free there will be lots more paid work down the line that they can give you.

There’s not.

If they tell you this I would be hugely sceptical about taking on the work. If they use the ‘future paid work’ line is most likely a bargaining chip to convince you to do the project.

And if you think about it, if they’ve got the budget to pay you later, why aren’t they paying you now?

What’s more the moment they do get a big budget, they’re not going to spend it all on you as a thank you for doing the work for free, especially if you’re a new photographer/videographer, they’re going to go look for the biggest, most exciting production company they can get.

The best opportunities I’ve gained from doing free work and when I’ve directly approached a client and said, let me produce this for you for free. If you like it, I can do more in the future for this amount of money.

Lesson 4 — Establish time frames, a one off video is fine, don’t let it become a recurring thing

If you set the precedent you’re happy to work for free, it can become a dangerous thing. Establish you’re happy to do one video for free, then the next has to be paid.

It’s easy to turn a free client in to a paying one after one video, after five or six videos it’s nearly impossible

Lesson 5 — Put as much effort in to a free project as you would in to your paid work, it’s supposed to be great to show what you can achieve

This all ties in to the idea of producing one video for free for a client.

Choose the type of film or photos you want to produce, make a great one for free and then use that to pitch to all the other clients in the similar industry.

My favourite business thought leader Gary Vaynerchuk regularly talks about how “karma is practical” and “giving without expectation is the only way to truly achieve success” and in my experience I’ve found this to be completely true.

There’s no better feeling than producing a great project for a friend, not expecting anything for it and then watching your content help them achieve their goals.

My intuition says that the old saying “Life gives to the givers and takes from the takers” is a very important one to remember.

So I hope this article has been a help in your decision whether or not to do a project for free.

And I wish you every success,
Jack

What I’m Currently Reading…

‘Crushing It’ — by Gary Vaynerchuk — it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

About Jack

I help people, brands and business communicate more effectively with their customers through visual, audio and written content.

I do this through Southpaw Sport, the sports content marketing company I’m currently building as well as on a freelance basis working for agencies and production companies.

Visit www.jacktompkins.co

You can follow me on YouTube where I post weekly vlogs sharing my experience and opinion on content production.

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/user/jackt18

And my social media for behind the scenes look at what I’m up to

Instagram — @jackwrtompkins

Twitter — @jackwrtompkins

Be Freelance for the Right Reasons

How do you become a mega successful freelancer with a great quality of life?

I don’t know.

But here’s what my experience and intuition says…

For the last four years I’ve spent the majority of my time working as a freelance video producer and before that I worked in-house at a London Sports Agency.

In the final few weeks of university I was intending to chase the freelance video dream the moment I walked out of my last exam. If it hadn’t been from a chance email from a friend, telling me about an opening at a sports agency I know I most certainly would have dived in and gone freelance.

Looking back I’m so glad I didn’t.

At that time I wasn’t anywhere near ready for the big wide world of freelancing. Having the guidance, training and often brutally honest feedback from my former Sky TV producer boss during my time in house, meant I was able to get the experience and skills necessary to get to an industry appropriate standard for freelance video professionals.

When working in house I would be out on location filming at least 2 or 3 times a week and spending 70 plus hours of my week immersed in video production.

Working at the Rugby World Cup in 2015 was pretty special!

This was an incredible opportunity to work with and learn from other professionals, experiment with new kit and practice, practice, practice, all under the watchful eye of my producer and the big bosses.

Most importantly, if something went wrong, at the end of the day there was always a safety net.

I was never solely accountable for production budget, timescales and the quality of the content we were producing. The buck didn’t stop with me, it stopped much much further up the chain.

To me if you’re working in-house, as long as you show up on time and give your best effort that means you’re doing your job correctly.

It’s up to the people paying your wages to make sure what they’ve asked you to do, is feasible, the right decision and ultimately will make the client happy.

I always showed up before my boss and worked later than he did, I gave up weekends, evenings and pretty much everything else I enjoyed in life in order to be better at my job.

After a few years I felt I was plateauing and there wasn’t a whole lot more to gain from working at the agency. So after a lot of consideration, I chose to go freelance to take on more challenging projects, work with a whole range of different clients and ultimately work towards becoming a better video producer and businessman.

I am so grateful for the time I spent working in house, but the moment I walked out the London agency door for the last time, I was so excited thinking that I had escaped the so called ‘rat-race’ so many of us desperate to avoid.

The truth is, the moment I walked out on to the street, I had just started a much tougher race, the freelance rat race.

And it can be so easy to get swept up in it without even realising…

You spend your life desperately trying to produce as much as you can, whilst simultaneously chasing that next project. In order to make sure your bills are paid you take the jobs that guarantee income rather than perhaps the ones that are better for your career. And most sadly you’re scared to book any holidays or time off because it could mean you miss out on an amazing opportunity.

I don’t know whether it’s a sign or pure coincidence, but this summer I’ve very luckily got to meet and work alongside some very talented freelance videographers and photographers, and the majority of whom have said exactly this to me and that they are looking to get out the game and work on something of their own.

How do you measure success as a freelancer? Is it how much money you earn? Is it the prestige of your clients? Is it how full your diary is?

My intuition and experience tells me it’s none of this.

At the moment my immediate goal is to buy a place to live. I want to stay in the area I’m in currently which means I either need to win the lottery, rob a bank or work my face off to be able to afford even a one-bed flat.

As a freelancer you’re selling your time, and the most obvious way to earn more money is to work on more projects. For me late last year there came a point where I realised there is only so much work you can do before some serious negative consequences.

After a week straight of 16 hour days, on the final day I had another 16 hour work day, this time with a four hour drive to the location (and then a four hour drive home). I arrived to the location before 9AM, dived in to a petrol station to get a coffee and was just shaking, I felt physically sick and was genuinely unsure if I’d be able to stand up all day, let alone operate a camera with any skill or quality.

It was that moment that I realised working freelance does require you to work hard but it doesn’t mean working yourself to the breaking point.

I’ve close friends that have worked themselves far, far beyond that point and thankfully they’ve come out the other side stronger, happier and are now on a new path to be much more successful. But this game can take you is a horrible, dark place.

If you’re a new freelancer or aspiring to be, please heed this article as a word of warning. It’s going to be tough and you should be prepared to work harder than you ever have before in order to be successful. But every low point you come across, make sure to ask yourself if you’re still happy with your situation. Make sure your physical, mental and overall well-being is always your number one priority.

This leads us on to how, in my opinion anyway, you define being a successful freelancer…

Are you happy?

Photo Credit: Syzmon Nieborak

The most successful freelancers I work with are also the happiest. There are some that have so few days off but they’re also the ones that live video production. For them any chance to have a camera in the hands and be filming is pure joy, the fact they get paid handsomely for it to is just a bonus.

They work they produce is also phenomenal and there is most definitely a direct correlation between how happy you are and the quality of videos you produce.

My intuition says being freelance is not about the money. It’s about the flexibility it gives you…

Whether you use that flexibility to pick and choose the projects that are the best for your career, or plan your working life to maximise time with your family or even be able to take a holiday whenever you feel like it, those are all great reasons to be freelance.

Don’t do it for the money.

Yes, you can earn a great living being freelance, but it’s an incredibly unstable financial life.

If you’re considering going freelance, I would say go for it, but only if…

• You’ve worked in the job you want to do for another big company for at least 18 months, and gained all that expreience.
• If you’re willing to live a very unstable financial life and are prepared to get part time work or other odd jobs to make sure you can pay your bills and support the people dependant on you financially.
• If you want to be freelance for the lifestyle, and to use that flexibility to either further your career, be with you family or focus time on the things that are truly important to you.

I wanted to write this blog as it’s a topic that has been on my mind for some time now. I’m most definitely not at the top of the freelance video game yet and still do want to keep my hand in to keep learning and improving.

Although I will be doing less freelancing from now on, I’ll always feel incredibly lucky for all the life and business lessons my time as a freelancer has taught me.

It feels like the right time to focus on a new challenge, one I know will be incredibly difficult and one with lots of potential to learn, improve and gain skills I need to.

If you have any questions about being freelance, I’m always happy to share my thoughts and experience, please email me at jack@southpawsport.com

And remember, be freelance for the right reasons.

I wish you every success.

Jack

What I’m Currently Reading…

‘Crushing It’ — by Gary Vaynerchuk — it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

About Jack

I help people, brands and business communicate more effectively with their customers through visual, audio and written content.

I do this through Southpaw Sport, the sports content marketing company I’m currently building as well as on a freelance basis working for agencies and production companies.

Visit www.jacktompkins.co

You can follow me on YouTube where I post weekly vlogs sharing my experience and opinion on content production.

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/user/jackt18

And my social media for behind the scenes look at what I’m up to

Instagram — @jackwrtompkins

Twitter — @jackwrtompkins

Life's Not All Smiles and Sparkles

I wish I could take credit for this pearl of wisdom, but it was coined during a sunny day in the French Alps by one of my good friends Charlie Aprahamian.

Now I’m going to pause here as Charlie is currently approaching the end of mammoth 1,000 mile cycle ride, raising funds for new developments at Home Orchard, which is a care Home for Adults with Learning Difficulties.

If these blogs have bought you any value I would please ask that you visit their Just Giving Page and strongly consider if you are able to offer any financial support this worthy cause. Thank you in advance…

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/homeward-bound-for-harriet

“Life’s Not All Smiles and Sparkles” became the catchphrase of our two week video shoot out in the French Alps late last year.

It was an incredibly special trip, full of amazing moments filming in the mountains, one I know we were all very grateful to have shared (me in particular, thank you Will, Charlie, Jimmy and Celia!).

But like anything else, it wasn’t without difficulties and challenging moments.

A busy production schedule meant there were days where we worked from before 8am right through to the very early hours of the morning. And then got up and did the same again the next day.

The extreme cold was a real challenge for the camera’s and a constantly changing production plan meant we didn’t really stop working for the whole two weeks.

A two week trip to film in the mountains must seem like a dream. And you’re 100% right it is.

I know there wasn’t one moment when we lost sight of how lucky and grateful we all were to be working on that project.

And of late a key thought has been constantly on my mind, it’s the key takeaway of this blog…

My intuition says that if you are in position where you’re able to be able to chase your dreams, you have no right to complain about what you’re going through*.

If you have the luxury to spend your working life pursuing your own ambition, you can’t for one second have the audacity to complain that you’re tired because you worked over the weekend, haven’t had a day off for a month or have to miss out on a social gathering because you need to finish a project for your client.

I know that people currently in jobs they don’t fully enjoy as well fellow entrepreneurs, will have absolutely zero sympathy for you. Remember, busy isn’t a brag.

(Read more about that here… https://medium.com/@JackTompkins/busy-isnt-a-brag-ccb07d0fccf3)

I feel when we look back, our minds have a tendency to only remember the good parts of an experience and to me that seems a very dangerous thing.

During the happiest times of my life I know there was a combination of intense highs as well a lot of low moments too.

As mentioned before, everything can only be defined in relation to what it’s not. A good day is only good because it isn’t bad.

We need opposites and extremes. Days without smiles or sparkles are good, because they mean you can truly enjoy days that are of full of them.

I’m currently trying to save to buy a house and in order to work towards that goal I’ve been taking on a lot of projects that are better for my bank balance than they are for my soul.

And don’t get me wrong, I’m still very grateful to be doing what I’m doing, but perhaps of late work has been more of a slog, than full of smiles and sparkles.

It’s a parallel I can draw to my creative experience too. Looking back, I know the projects that today I’m most proud of, were often the ones that were the toughest to produce.

So remember, sometimes life isn’t all smiles and sparkles.
 
 I wish you every success.
 
 Jack

*I’m sure this a thought I’ve paraphrased and learned from Gary Vaynerchuk, loving reading his latest book, link below if you’d like a look…

‘Crushing It’ — by Gary Vaynerchuk — https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

About Jack

I help people, brands and business communicate more effectively with their customers through visual, audio and written content.

I do this through Southpaw Sport, the sports content marketing company I’m currently building as well as on a freelance basis working for agencies and production companies.

Visit www.jacktompkins.co

You can follow me on YouTube where I post videos sharing my experience and opinion on content production.

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/user/jackt18
 
And my social media for behind the scenes look at what I’m up to

Instagram — @jackwrtompkins

Twitter — @jackwrtompkins

You Never Know Who's Watching

You never know who’s watching you…

… in a good way.

This thought doesn’t stem for a place of paranoia. But rather one of surprise.

I’ve always wanted these blogs to be a resource for you if you’re looking to tread your own path in your career.

I can’t pretend for one second that so far I’ve achieved any notable level of succes, but I’m hoping that by sharing my thoughts and experience, it can help you get a head start and fast-forward through a whole load of lessons I’ve learned along the way.

An idea that’s been at the forefront of my mind recently is that although you might be going it on your own business you’re never really fully alone…

There’s always going to be a voice in the back of your mind telling you the right thing to do is to give up and go get a secure job.

And it’s something I’ve witnessed from people of all levels of success.

If you’re self-employed or running your own company, the sheer fact of not knowing where your next pay-cheque is coming from can be a terrifying thought, especially the older you get and the bigger the bills you have to pay each month become.

Only you can properly decide whether that voice of doubt is telling you the truth or if you should ignore it and keep going.

It’s an important decision, one that I have no business advising you on.

But it does sadden me when I see friends in my own and in other industries who I believe are in the early stages of something really special, who have ‘giving up’ as such a concrete plan if they don’t meet certain targets by a certain time period.

And if there’s one thing I can tell you with my complete certainty is that in life and in business everything is going to take much longer than you think it will.

Whether or not giving up is the right choice is something you need to deploy serious introspection on.

But at the end of the day if you can chase your dream whilst still being able to pay your bills and support your family, why wouldn’t you go for it?

Gary Vaynerchuk has been my favourite business thought leader for many years now, and yes I know I harp on about him in every single blog post but I truly believe his unique perceptive on the business world will be of unbelievable benefit for you. You should stop reading this article and consume his instead, it will help you more).

(I’m sure the reading figures on my blogs aren’t so high because I’m sending so many people to Gary’s content… that’s what I’m telling myself anyway).

There’s a tale Gary often tells to people he meets, I’ve paraphrased it below…

“Imagine you’re working on your business idea, you get a year or so in and it hasn’t blown up the way you wanted it to yet, so you throw in the towel.

At the end of your life you get to heaven and God says, I really wish you’d kept going…

“If you’d just kept going for three more weeks it was going to happen”.

It’s darkest before the dawn is a massive cliche, but for myself and others it’s funny how often I’ve seen the biggest breakthroughs come when you’re reached points of despair.

I love the content creation industry for many reasons, one of my favourites is the cyclical nature of it and although there’s certain colleagues and friends you may not work with every day, it seems to be that every year or so you’ll find yourselves working together again on a project.

Of course nowadays in our industry everyone is sharing their content as much as possible but over the last year or so I’ve been surprised by friends and colleagues who have seen certain things I’ve worked on.

And my intuition says you never know who’s watching you.

I’ve talked in a previous blog about the belief that one view from the right person is all you need to catapult you forward to opportunities in your career that you never thought possible.

And you never know the right person might just stumble across that next piece of content that you post.

But if you give up and don’t keep posting, they’re never going to see it.

So I hope if you are ever at a low point and considering whether or not to keep working towards your ambitions, this thought will be a helping hand in your decision making.

And remember, you never know who’s watching.

I wish you every success,
 Jack

What I’m Currently Reading…

‘Crushing It’ — by Gary Vaynerchuk — it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

About Jack

I help people, brands and business communicate more effectively with their customers through visual, audio and written content.

I do this through Southpaw Sport, the sports content marketing company I’m currently building as well as on a freelance basis working for agencies and production companies.

Visit www.jacktompkins.co

You can follow me on YouTube where I post weekly vlogs sharing my experience and opinion on content production.

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/user/jackt18

And my social media for behind the scenes look at what I’m up to

Instagram — @jackwrtompkins

Twitter — @jackwrtompkins

Busy isn't a Brag

Being busy isn’t something to brag about.

It might seem like it is, but let me explain…

When I first went freelance back in 2014 my primary focus was to be busy.

When you’re trying to build a business, rather than stalling and trying to figure out all the specific details of what that business is, my intuition said it was easier to “steer a ship that was moving*” in to the direction you believed was right, than it was to start the journey knowing exactly where you wanted your final destination to be.

*That’s a quote from YouTuber Louis Cole (a.k.a Fun for Louis)

And although it might ostensibly seem that the further you are in your career, the busier you should be, my intuition of late has been saying that the more successful business people actually are the ones who are the least busy.

Let me explain…

Of course a CEO of a company is going to have far more on their to do list than an intern but rather than trying to do every single thing on that list themselves, they learn to prioritise, delegate and most importantly pass up on any tasks on opportunities that aren’t directly related to their goals.

Within the freelance video industry there seems to be an unwritten rule that if a fellow freelancer asks how things have been, the stock answer is “busy”.

And I used to think that being “busy” was a sign of success and don’t get me wrong if your inbox is full of people wanting to work with you you’re probably doing something right.

For the last four years I’ve tried to be as busy as I possibly could be and fill every available time slot in my diary. That included evenings, weekends and days where I really should have been resting and recovering and anywhere but behind a camera or in front of my laptop.

For me being busy has been detrimental.

Sure in order to get a new business off the ground you can’t shy away from paying clients that perhaps aren’t exactly the kind of work you want to be doing. But there has to come a point where you narrowing down and truly focusing on the meaningful work you believe will forward your career.

Saying thanks, but no thanks when an opportunity presents itself is always difficult, especially when you’re freelance and don’t know where your next paycheque is coming from.

But in my experience without realising it, all of a sudden you can fill up your diary with projects that aren’t quite the right choice for you and then not have any time left over to focus on your goals and ambitions.

There’s an adage in the video community that you shouldn’t say yes to a project unless it offers at least two of the following three things…

1. Payment
2. Portfolio
3. People

Payment is an easy one, we’ve all got to pay our bills and if there’s a job that lets you do that, it’s an easy decision to take it.

Portfolio. Is it the kind of project that you’ll want to add to your portfolio and show to potential clients in order to get future work.

People. Are there the right kind of people on set that you enjoy working with or want to network with/gaining experience from in order to further your career.

To me this seems a near perfect model for deciding whether or not to take a job, but there’s one more thing I would add that is a key component of deciding whether to do a job or not.

Passion.

Getting to make your living producing films is an incredible way of life and one we should all be grateful for. But if you end up taking job after job that you really don’t feel passionate about the outcome, I’ve seen firsthand how easy it is to descend rapidly in to a negative spiral.

The bottom of that is a place you really don’t want to be.

Being busy is great, but for me in recent years, being busy has meant a lack of priority, a lack of focus, a lack of clarity in the direction I wanted to head.

There’s a magnet on my fridge I read everyday, it says…

“When you can’t see the wood from the trees, stand back”.

And if you get caught up looking at every tree in the wood, it’s easy to lose sight of the overall direction in which you are headed.

If you’re in the early stages of a new endeavour, chase every opportunity that presents itself. But when the ship has set sail, be ready to pass by certain channels and focus solely on the direction you want to be heading.

So going forward I’m trying not to be busy, but to be busy doing things I need to be doing for my career. I’ll let you know how it works out.

And remember, being busy isn’t a brag.

I wish you every success.

Jack

What I’m Currently Reading…

‘Crushing It’ — by Gary Vaynerchuk — it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

About Jack

I help people, brands and business communicate more effectively with their customers through visual, audio and written content.

I do this through Southpaw Sport, the sports content marketing company I’m currently building as well as on a freelance basis working for agencies and production companies.

Visit www.jacktompkins.co

You can follow me on YouTube where I post weekly vlogs sharing my experience and opinion on content production.

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/user/jackt18
 
And my social media for behind the scenes look at what I’m up to

Instagram — @jackwrtompkins

Twitter — @jackwrtompkins

Being Under-Estimated is the Best

I’ve never understood how people can be comfortable telling others how great they are.

I haven’t done anything vaguely noteworthy yet, but even when I’m introduced to people as a ‘good videographer’ it makes my skin crawl.

In today’s modern business world, social media has become a key place to tell your potential customers how great you are and convince them to buy your products and services. I don’t for one second deny that it truly is an important part of modern marketing.

But scrolling through social media sometimes I can’t believe how blatantly people are standing on their soap box and singing their own praises to the world.

My intuition says that today people are smart, incredibly smart.

With the unbelievable amount of information we receive on a daily basis, how can we not be.

What’s more, with the amount of advertising content we’re exposed to, we need to develop a filter to help decide what to pay attention to. Just to allow our brains to cope.

To me it seems the key component of this filter is being able to instantly decide whether the message we are receiving is an authentic one, or not.

“Speak your truth” (quote: Gary Vaynerchuk)

Let’s imagine a photographer called John Smith…

If John Smith comes up to you and says “I’m John Smith and I’m an amazing photographer”, do you really believe him?

Probably not.

If a friend comes up to you and says “You should look at John Smith, he’s an amazing photographer”, do you believe them?

Quite possibly.

There’s a lot more to it than that. You’ve still got to form your own opinion.

In this example, you’re most likely going to log on to John’s Instagram and see what his work looks like.

You go to his page and it’s full of amazing photographs. You read a few of the captions.

Imagine it says…

“Look at this incredible shot I took last night!! It takes real skill to get a photo like this!!”

Put your trumpet down John, no one wants to listen to you blow it.

But imagine if instead it was a matter of fact description

“Went out on a photo mission last night, here’s my favourite shot”.

You can’t ignore the fact that determining the quality of a piece of content is a subjective decision.

If you’re a new videographer and show your recent work to your Auntie who doesn’t watch a lot of videos, she may think it’s incredible. Show it to Spielberg and he’ll have a different opinion. Yet the original piece of content is exactly the same.

The old-saying “self-praise is no recommednation rings true” and for years Gary Vaynerchuk has talked about how “self-awareness” is perhaps the most important factor in business success.

My intuition says that a key part of self-awareness is being able to realise how what you say and do is interpreted and received by others.

I’m certain that if a person or brand is a serial self-promoter on social media, you as a consumer see through this facade in seconds and start to disregard what they’re saying.

If you truly are great at what you do then you won’t need to tell people, they’ll know.

There’s also no better feeling than when someone has no expectations of the quality of work that you are capable of producing, then you present them with a piece of work that blows them away.

It’s not about modesty, it’s about self awareness.

No-one thought less of Muhammad Ali when he self-proclaimed that he was “the greatest”, because everyone knew that he was.

Keep working your face off until you don’t need to introduce yourself.

And remember, being under-estimated is the best.

I wish you every success.
 
 Jack

What I’m Currently Reading…

‘Crushing It’ — by Gary Vaynerchuk — it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

About Jack

I help people, brands and business communicate more effectively with their customers through visual, audio and written content.

I do this through Southpaw Sport, the sports content marketing company I’m currently building as well as on a freelance basis working for agencies and production companies.

Visit www.jacktompkins.co

You can follow me on YouTube where I post weekly vlogs sharing my experience and opinion on content production.

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/user/jackt18
 
And my social media for behind the scenes look at what I’m up to

Instagram — @jackwrtompkins

Twitter — @jackwrtompkins

Consistency is Key

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this…

… but I’m a huge Casey Neistat fan.

Now before you shake your head and click away, I was a fan of Casey years before his vlogging days.

His borderline-genius talent for storytelling captivated me from the first few frames I saw of his work.

Stop reading my article now and go to YouTube and watch “Office Exercise”, “two dollar bills” or “NYC soda ban expalined, sort of” and I’ve no doubt that you too will be able to appreciate the rare gift that Casey has for filmmkaing.

Even before pressing record for his very first vlog he’d reached a level of success many of us filmmakers can only dream of. However it wasn’t until he started daily vlogging that he climbed to the far greater level of success he is now achieved.

When Casey started vlogging, slowly but surely heading to YouTube to watch Casey’s latest video became a part of my daily routine.

Like most viewers, I was entertained and inspired by the way he leads his life.

But as a filmmaker I lived for the episodes where he shared candid and unfiltered opinion, thought and practical technique he used in his day to day work.

Although I can’t pretend for a second that I’m on a level even remotely close to Casey right now, the way he shared his learnings and experiences have been a major inspiration for this blog. I hope in the way that he inspires creators like myself, in some small way this collection of words I write each week will at some point in time, be a help for someone starting their journey.

Throughout his first stint of daily vlogging Casey managed to post a daily video for over 550 days in a row.

Casey’s success was due in large part to his incredible work ethic, talent and entertaining personality. However the consistency in filming, editing and uploading a new video every single day (weekends included) during the so called ‘experiment’ that was his original daily vlog, was perhaps in many ways the most important factor.

This was the first time that I truly realised how a posting schedule, which gave your audience a reason to come back to your page every day and see what was new, was a huge factor behind growing a successful audience.

“Just Keep Uploading*” is a mantra Casey embodied from a fellow YouTube star Roman Atwood.

*Contained in this statment is a very important sub-text that speed is more important than perfection (that’s a Gary Vayernchuk thought), I’ll talk more about this in a future blog.

As filmmakers we all want every one of our projects to be incredible.

If like me you do a lot of work for a range of different clients, there’s the added pressure of wanting to make sure every time they hire you, you’re delivering the best work you can possibly do.

With any creative endeavour the dream is always to turn up to the project well rested, with lots of new inspirations and ideas in your head and ready to create something truly special.

Spoiler alert, this job isn’t like that at all.

As filmmakers I’m sure we can all think to back when we first fell in love with video production and we’d spend days, even weeks on a video, making sure everything was absolutely perfect.

But as soon as you get in to the industry, that goes out the window.

It doesn’t matter if you were shooting until 1AM the day before, or if you’ve only got 10 minutes with your talent when you need an hour.

You’ve got to get the job done. And it’s got to be good.

Many of the professionals I aspire to be like in this industry are ones who can turn up, think on their feet and make something amazing.

To me, the most succesful content creators seem to be the ones who are most consistent in both the quality of their content and their upload schedule.

My intuition says that being able to turn up and consistently deliver great quality work, whether you’re working for a client or producing content for your own business or channels, is hugely important in today’s media landscape.

So remember, consistency is key.

I wish you every success.

Jack

I’m currently reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book “Crushing It’”, it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

Never Not Working

It’s an incredible way of life, but…

… if you are hoping to be a full time filmmaker, I hope that by reading this blog it will give you a bit of an insight in to the reality of what this job truly involves.

It’s not meant to discourage you, but instead prepare you for what’s ahead.

And it can all be summarised by three words…

Never Not Working.

For the last four years as a media professional I’ve been working freelance and when people say ‘oh that must be amazing’, I always respond…

“It’s the best job in the world, but it’s also the worst job in the world”

Let me explain…

Oh and before I go any further, I don’t in any way truly believe that it’s the worst job in the world. In reality there are far worse ways to earn a living and there are working situations that are truly terrible. Filmmaking is not even close to being one of them.

Being freelance you are incredibly blessed to be able to be in full control of your career. You can work whatever hours you like, you have unlimited holiday and full autonomy over how you spend your working day.

Amazing right?

Yes and No.

Being freelance, the buck stops with you.

You can’t clock off at 5pm if the works not done.

You can’t leave it to someone else to finish that big project, you’ve got to stay up and keep working until it’s done.

And most importantly, you’ve got to go out and find people who are going to pay you to make videos for them.

You’re not on a salary, just showing up in the morning and spending 8 hours at your desk doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to pay the bills.

Even in times when you do decide to step away and take a break, your mind never truly stops working and going over new ideas or plans you have for your business.

But as Gary Vaynerchuk says “If you have the audacity to want to live life on your terms, you better not complain and you better work your f***ing face off!”

I’ve Paraphrased that quote above and it’s an amalgam of Gary’s thoughts. I know I mention him every blog, but he will truly help you more than my content will.

Although a lot of us in the industry might use this “never not working” mantra as a badge of honour, in recent months I’ve learned that although it’s a very easy lifestyle to slip in to, maybe it’s not the most effective.

I’m currently finishing up a project that is the piece of work I’m most proud of to date, (not least because I got to collaborate on it with my unbelievably talented friend Ben Marlow. His Instagram is @benmarlow ).

We only had 8 hours to film it and just over a day to edit it, and although we wanted far more time, these deadlines meant we needed to be laser focused and unquestionably productive to get the best result.

And perhaps unsurprisingly this intense level of focus meant the project turned out way better than many others that don’t have such time restraints.

I hope this is the main takeaway from this article for aspiring young filmmakers. It’s tempting to work all the time but maybe not the best option.

Although if you do want to be successful sometimes you’re going to need to be prepared to work all the time. As I’m writing this it’s 11pm at night before this blog’s posting day…

…it’s got to get done.

My intuition and experience says that doing things you don’t want to do but know you need to, is a key part to success in this industry. I’ll cover that more in depth in a future blog.

So remember if you’re never not working, maybe you need to focus on being more productive.

I wish you every success.

Jack

I’m currently reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book “Crushing It’”, it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

It's Nice to be Important... It's More Important to Be Nice

I’m sure you’ve understand what this whole article is about just by reading the title, so please feel free to click away and carry on with your busy life.

But if you do have a few minutes I’d love to indulge you in a topic I feel hugely passionate about.

There's one photo that's my favourite in the whole world. It’s of hugely respected former U.S. President Barack Obama giving a fist bump to one of the care-taking staff at the White House.

It’s the ultimate act of self-awareness, humility and respect. Arguably the most important man in the world appreciating that regardless of our position in society, we are all human beings and deserve to be treated with respect.

Amongst the video production community I’ve heard lots of stories and personally experienced many situations where the famous person you are working with won’t even look you in the eye or reply if you address them directly.

I find the irony in the situation that without us the media covering their lives, they wouldn’t be anywhere near as successful. But that’s their choice.

And we all have a choice…

We can’t decide what talents we are born with or what type of work our personalities mean we’re best suited to.

But we can always decide whether or not to be a good person.

We all need to buy food, pair our bills and support our families and whether you do that cleaning the streets, as a CEO or many other of the the multitude of jobs in this world, that deserves respect.

Simultaneously regardless of the level of wealth or success people have achieved in life, if you can’t respect your fellow person has it really all been worth it?

Gary Vaynerchuk talks a lot about the idea of Legacy and what you want yours to be when you’re gone.

And to me it seems a very binary choice between whether you want your legacy to be the numbers in your bank account or your reputation that people will talk about long after you’ve gone.

My intuition says that in the long run trying to be nice, rather than trying to be important will bring you far more success in all areas of your life.

So remember it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.

I wish you every success.

Jack

018

I’m really enjoying Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book, check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR

Scroll Time

I’m a huge sports fan.

And for the majority of sports fans, the rush of supporting their favourite team or athlete throughout the highs and lows of a competition is the most enjoyable and entertaining part.

But not for me.

From a young age and right through to this day, I’m absolutely fascinated by every single aspect of sport. Except what actually happens on the playing field.

I love sports media, sports marketing, sports sociology… everything that goes on behind the scenes in the sports industry. Getting the chance to study all of this at the world’s top sporting university was a life-changing experience.

I remember vividly from my first day on campus, all I wanted from my time at Loughborough was to come away with First Class Sports degree. The way I saw it, anything other than that would meant I had failed.

It was an ethos that us sports geeks would refer to as ‘Lombardian’, derived from the career of famous American Football coach Vince Lombardi, who’s famous belief was that…

“Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”

Although Lombardian philosophies may ostensibly be hugely myopic for success in your wider life and career, his binary outlook arguably led to incredible success in his chosen field.

Today, the argument of whether university is the right choice in today’s business world is a highly debated topic. However in university your time becomes completely your own and no-one’s going to make you go to lectures or study. You’ve got to become self-motivated and disciplined.

Recently I came across an incredible businesswoman called Amy Landino and in a recent video she mentioned something she does called “scroll time”.

This took me right back to my university days and reminded me of a productivity technique I tried during my final year.

Back in my university days I was just starting to get serious about video production and often while I was working my mind would wander and remind me of all the cool videos I’d watch recently on YouTube and that I needed to stop the work I was doing immediately and watch them again.

Obviously this wasted time wasn’t helping in achieving my goal, so I came up with a plan…

I kept a pad of post-it notes next to me at all times when working and whenever a video I wanted to watch popped in to my head, I wrote it down to remind myself to watch it later that evening and then carried on working.

Amy idea’s of “Scroll Time” is a half hour slot that she blocks in to her calendar every day after dinner, where she can sit on the sofa with the TV on in the background and sit and scroll through her phone and look at whatever she likes.

What’s weighing heavily on my mind at the moment is how I’m using my time and to me it’s becoming increasingly apparent that the tiniest of choices on how to spend our time have a massive impact on our overall success

As Vince Lombardi said…

“Winning is a habit, unfortunately so is losing”.

It’s the few minutes wasted spent watching a YouTube video or needlessly scrolling through Instagram before bed. They may seem insignificant, but actually couldn’t be more important.

So now I’ve been trying to build the habit of only going on social media during scroll time and full disclosure I don’t achieve this successfully every day, but it’s something I’m working on.

So remember, save it for scroll time and I wish you every success.

Jack

017

By the way I did get a First.

Also I’m thinking of changing these blogs to twice a week, what do you think?

And finally I know what you’re thinking, wow he’s actually talking about someone other than Gary Vaynerchuk. But dont’ worry I learned about Amy through reading Gary’s book “Crushing It’”, it’s a great one! Check it out here… https://amzn.to/2t13pmR)

Doing the Right Thing is Always The Right Thing To Do

My first job was being a windsurf instructor.

After several years teaching at the local lakes near my home I spent time working abroad, instructing at several different centres in Greece.

And although I learned countless lessons during that time, there was one that I remember more than any other…

You could be a better instructor by working at lots of different places.

By working at lots of different places you got to see how business operations were carried out by different companies. Fundamentally all were offering the same service, but there was a huge variance in the day to day operation and ethos of each organisation.

Fast forward to the present and I’ve now spent the last 5 years of my life, working for the most part, as a freelance video producer.

In that time I’ve worked with Hollywood Producers right down to people doing their first film job and everyone in between. I’ve learned something valuable from each and every one of them.

If you are an aspiring filmmaker reading this, I urge you to make one of your goals to work with someone new at least once every month. It will be the fastest way to improve and get where you want to go.

In our industry of content creation there’s no right or wrong when it comes to how you arrive at the final product but there is definitely good and bad practices and methods. 

We all have a different approach and most of the techniques of my working practices are an amalgam of the ones I’ve seen colleagues employing on productions that regularly achieved positive results. 

The video production is an interesting one, especially in the freelance world.

It’s a weird competitive but collaborative playing field.

We are all competing against each other to prove we can offer clients the best service in the hugely saturated video production industry, but at the end of the day when a big job comes in and we need a spare pair of hands, we turn to our contemporaries to save the day.

My intuition says collaborations like this are going to be hugely important for success in the future.

And so this brings me to the main point of this article, doing the right thing.

If you’ve been in this industry long enough you’ll surely have had an opportunity where you were  asked for your business card whilst on a freelance job or asked to quote on a project for a client you know belongs to your friend.

There’s no written rule and naturally your first thought is the monetary gain seizing an opportunity like this could have.

But deep down you know the right thing to do. It’s tough but I can guarantee it’s a far better feeling.

It really is a small world and I’ve said it before, but it reigns true that your integrity is all you have. Not only in business but in all aspects of life.

So remember, doing the right thing is always the right thing to do.

I wish you every success.

Jack

016

Negativity Is Easy

Hopefully I come across as a positive person, but just like everyone my inner monologue is a battle between positive and negative thought.

And when negative thought arises I make every effort to not express it in my words or actions.

But recently I’ve noticed what an impact this has on my mindset.

Lately I’ve gotten really in to podcasts. Spending a lot of my life travelling in the car to film shoots, they’ve become a really useful tool to help use this time more productively.

My two favourites are “The Gary Vee Audio Experience” where Gary Vaynerchuk* shares his business advice and experience and then the new “Couples Therapy” podcast by filmmaker Casey Neistat and his wife, businesswoman Candice Pool.

I can’t remember exactly what the wording was, but in the last episode of “Couples Therapy” Candice said a sentence so poignant it clarified the recent thoughts I’d been having about negative thought…

“Getting down and being negative is the easy option”

Now this quote above is most definitely paraphrased from Candice’s original statement but that was the sentiment.

And it got me thinking.

In an area so subjective as filmmaking and content creation, it’s so easy to get down and disheartened.

Not having the perfect equipment, enough time to get the shot or a brief that allows you to fulfil the creative vision you had for the project are just a few regular occurrences that can send you down a negative path.

And I’m sure in many aspects of your work, whatever that may be, there’s ample opportunity to negatively react to the situation in front of you.

But’s now thanks to Candice, I know that’s the easy option.

Sure it’s easy to get negative that today I’m not using the really expensive camera I want to be, but the harder option is to figure out how I’m going to do everything in my power to make the camera I am using, look the absolute best it can.

Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t mastered this mindset yet but my intuition says it’s going to be incredibly important in order to achieve success in the future.

Of all the negative thoughts, the one that resurfaces in my head most often is of that of being frustrated of not achieving the results intended. What’s more this thought so easily leads you down the road of thinking “well maybe I should just give up”.

Although fictional, the character of Dr. Kelso is the sitcom “Scrubs” shared pearls of wisdom from time to time. The one I most vividly remember was…

“Nothing worth having in life comes easy”

Watching this as a teenager growing up I’m not sure I really understood it then. But now it couldn’t understand it more clearly.

So remember negativity is easy and I wish you every success.

Jack

015

PODCAST LINKS

• Gary Vee Audio Experience — https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/podcast/
• Couples Therapy — https://anchor.fm/couples-therapy

*I know I reference Gary Vaynerchuk a lot. This guy’s going to be the most important person in the world, check him out now. Spend your time reading his content not mine, it will help you way more.

I Have A Problem

I have a problem.

One that keeps me up at night,

A concern that’s on my mind all day

And for the last several years, something I’ve planned my life around it so I can get a fix every few hours.

My problem is caffeine.

And I drink far too much of it.

Before I go any further I have to stop and acknowledge that something so trivial as drinking too many cups of coffee is in fact one of my major problems, I’ve somehow been dealt a pretty incredible hand in life and am incomprehensibly lucky.

But it’s because I feel for whatever reason I’ve been given such a fortunate experience of life, it’s my responsibility to make the most of it and to strive to achieve all I can, hopefully one day being in a position to have a serious positive impact on the lives of others.

My problem started during the last few years at University. The late nights, early mornings and a time spent ploughing through countless pages of research were made that much easier by having a hot cup of coffee on hand next to you.

It’s a habit that’s stuck with me since and now when I spend many hours a day in front of my computer editing or planning and it’s rare not to have a cup of coffee or tea on the go at any given point.

I had my tipping point recently. One morning I went to meet a client and hadn’t had time to grab a coffee on the way. It was a project I was really excited about and someone I really enjoy working with, but however hard I tried to focus and concentrate I could feel I wasn’t as sharp as normal.

In fact I was so slow and useless may as well not have been there.

So this brings me on the main and hopefully most practical part of this blog. Sacrifices.

More specifically, things you need to sacrifice in order to be successful.

I’ve tried to give up caffeine before and most commonly last barely a couple of days before falling back in to old ways. What’s more on the days I do give it up, I feel so much better. I’m more alert, more productive and generally more like the person I want to be.

My intuition says in many ways we all know the bad habits or activities that drain our precious time and that ones we need to give up in order to achieve our goals and aspirations.

I know deep down I want to be successful more that I want to drink coffee. It’s a close run thing, but I know it’s true.

I also have far more serious ones that drinking too much coffee but to me it’s a symbolic way of acknowledging and making a change to give up these self-sabotaging behaviours

I’m at a very exciting point in my career with lots of new things on the horizon, I have no idea how they will play out, but I want to be able to look back and know that I gave full effort and commitment to them.

So as I write this I’m drinking my last cup of coffee (and last caffeinated beverage) until this time next year.

My intuition says sometimes there’s things we have to sacrifice if we really care about being successful, for me caffeine is at the top of the list.

I wish you every success.
 
 Jack

014

Everything’s My Fault

Everything’s my fault.

Although upon first glance this may seem a negative and destructive statement, my intuition says that actually it’s a key belief if you truly want to be successful.

Let me explain…

Essentially in my understanding, the crux of this concept is that by truly accepting responsibility for the position you’re in your working life, it can be the most liberating and inspiring thing possible.

Growing up I always thought that the age I am now I would already be hugely successful and be a celebrated and respected businessman.

Being honest I’m not even close.

And although it’s really easy to play the blame game and use a myriad of things in my life as an excuse at the end of the day it’s 100% my fault I’m not further along.

But what’s great about accepting responsibility for it, means that simultaneously you believe that the decision to actually be successful is fully in your control.

If you want to achieve all this success all that’s standing between you and your dreams is a bunch of work.

(I’ve definitely stolen that quote from Casey Neistat, check him out, he’ll help you more than I will)

For a number of reasons I’ve been self auditing a lot over the last few months and although it’s a harsh realisation to recognise you’re not doing the right things you need to in order to succeed, it’s hugely motivating to identify the problem and realise what you need to do.

I think this quote is by Charles Kettering, it’s a good one…

“A problem well stated is a problem half solved”

Staying topical and practical, in order to make choices working towards my goals this week I read an article how choosing what to consume in today’s modern media landscape is a lot like choosing what to eat.

Sure we know what’s good for us, broccoli, spinach and green beans (the media equivalent of which is reading thought provoking books, insightful articles and listening to educational podcasts)

Then there’s the opposite, junk food! (Endless social media scrolling, clickbait and mindless media content).

After reading the article, I’ve set myself a goal in the coming weeks is to consume a much healthier media diet and whenever I’m tempted to dive back into unhealthy habits, instead I’ll either open this great app (Medium) and find something interesting to read, or log on to YouTube and watch a video learning a new business skill I need to master.

And of course everything in moderation, having the occasional bit of junk food isn’t the worse thing in the world.

If I’m not where I want to be, it’s all because of my actions and I need to deliberately do something different to change that.

So remember, think to yourself everything’s my fault and I wish you every success.

Jack

013

*As usual this article is an amalgam of thoughts from people I look to like Gary Vaynerchuk and Casey Neistat. They both run multi-million dollar business so it makes a lot more sense to listen them rather than me.