Derek Porterfield- Kickstarter Poet, Writer, Musician, & Videographer (#47)

[00:00:20] Andrew: Hey guys, welcome back to anotherepisode of dead by tomorrow. We are excited to have you. We've been on a littlebit of a hiatus with a little bit of vacation, 30th birthday party, the wholenine yards. And honestly, I might still be a bit because the holidays arecoming up right around the corner. But with that said, we have a special guesttoday.

[00:00:39] Andrew: It is my cousin, Derek Porterfield andDerek being my cousin is probably his. Claim to fame by and far. And it hasnothing to do with any of the amazing things he's done in his life. That'sdefinitely just being my cousin. So

[00:00:53] Derek: obviously owe it all to you, Andrew.

[00:00:54] Andrew: yeah, that's, that's what I like tohear. That sort of works. That's the story we're going to tell at Thanksgiving,at least

[00:00:59] Derek: No, thank you for having me on. Iappreciate it.

[00:01:01] Andrew: yeah, absolutely.

[00:01:02] Andrew: So normally I throw an intro in, buthow about you give us your, elevator speech of who Derek Porterfield isbecause. I talk about you too much, honestly,

[00:01:10] Derek: Oh man. And I appreciate it. Iappreciate it. And someone needs. Uh, You know, I, I own a production company,so I do commercials and wedding videos and marketing and websites and all thatkind of stuff. I'm also, the only member of a band that is on Spotify and applemusic and all that kind of jazz.

[00:01:27] Derek: And that's honestly been kind of funlately. I've gotten to play a few more live shows because I am currently.Promoting a new poetry book because I also write books and this will be myfourth book and I'm doing a Kickstarter for it. And I'm pretty excited. it'sit's been one of the more exciting and cool projects I've I've gotten to dojust because I'm learning so much as it's, as it's going along.

[00:01:48] Derek: Cause I've never done a Kickstarter.So, yeah, that's kinda who I am.

[00:01:51] Andrew: I like it. So let's start with theproduction company and. You being basically your own boss for the last fewyears, you're probably the first person we brought on that, like at least onthe, on the freelance, scale. What's that like? What is it like being a one manshop and being solely the, not solely the only source of income for yourself onrelying upon anybody else?

[00:02:16] Derek: Absolutely terrifying. one of myfavorite quotes, I actually saw back when, when I was first starting working incomputers because I did it before I did this and it was on the wall of thistrucking company. So the only thing more overrated than natural childbirth isthe joy of owning your own business.

[00:02:32] Derek: And I kind of agree with that. It's a.

[00:02:35] Derek: 99%

[00:02:37] Derek: of the time, but there's that 1% ofeuphoria just from, from being able to accomplish and do things that are justimpossible to do when you were tied to a desk somewhere. the most remarkable,piece of it for me, especially over the last year was as the world shut downfor COVID.

[00:02:51] Derek: I was able to spend a crazy amount oftime with my daughter who at the time was eight. And that's a, that's a magicalage to be able to spend. every minute that I possibly could, every minute thatshe was over at my house, I was there because I have the joy and the privilegeof working from home.

[00:03:07] Derek: So, it's, it's been cool. It's beenmagical despite the stressors and despite the uh, the random panic of, know,where's money coming from this month, but I dig it. I really enjoy what I do.

[00:03:16] Andrew: That's awesome. And also, I, I do thinkeight is probably the best age I don't have any children is probably everybodythat listens to this knows hi for those people who assumed I had children likeDaniel. I do not, I am. I'm fully irresponsible and should not be a fatheranytime soon.

[00:03:31] Derek: That's just not true. That's just nottrue. Most responsible, dude. I know.

[00:03:35] Andrew: oh, well, we'll get into that. Maybeone day. We'll

[00:03:39] Derek: I mean your, your, my emergencycontact, Andrew. I'm, I'm pretty sure I, I trust you more than most people, sodon't sell yourself too short. You'd make a great dad.

[00:03:47] Andrew: well, now that warms my heart, but Idon't know about you guys, but like eight, it seems like, I don't know. Thatwas a good year. That was when it seems like all the good stuff was coming out.I think it's kind of when the technology started kicking over towardsentertainment a little bit more, and

[00:04:01] Derek: I agree. Yeah. Eight, years old to meis the age at which you, you finally gain enough autonomy to begin reallyexploring your own creativity, your own likes and dislikes. It's where youstart developing, not just the personality, but like the characteristics thatkind of define you. Like, like we talked about this the other day, but likeyour love of pirates has informed a great deal of your, your adult life.

[00:04:25] Derek: My daughter right now, she's kind ofdiscovering what she does. Does she like magic? Does she like hula hooping?Does she like dance? Does she like, you know, whatever you're into this is whenyou start chasing it with like a Gusto that you just can't keep or maintainthroughout the rest of your life.

[00:04:40] Derek: Too many other things get in the way.

[00:04:41] Andrew: I'm just saying. I think I would'vemade a great pirate in a past life.

[00:04:46] Derek: I think you'd make a great buy rightnow. It's just different. It's just different. You're on, you're on a, thepirate bay rather than the, the high seas.

[00:04:55] Daniel: you feel like. Eight is the time thatyou get to discover a lot of these things. And you're kind of exploring what itis that you're into. And I feel like a big part of that is you just, you've gotthe time. Like you don't have at a, you don't necessarily have a ton of thesehobbies where it's like, you've got to go do tennis practice, like five times aweek and you don't have a job.

[00:05:14] Daniel: And you're not like you're in school,but that's about it. And I feel like the whole COVID thing, we'll just call itthe whole COVID thing. That's easier. I feel like it gave a little. The adultsan opportunity to sort of be eight again, because all of a sudden you're athome and you even, even if you're super anti-social, chances are, you'veprobably got something that drags you out of your house on a regular basis.

[00:05:41] Daniel: But we all just like had this momentwhere it was, it was kind of irresponsible to, to leave your house a lot for along period of time. And so it was just this opportunity to. You know,reconnect a little bit with some of those interests and some of those passions.And so would you say that like, that's, that gave you a lot of opportunity toreflect a little bit, kind of go some different creative directions with someprojects?

[00:06:04] Derek: Well, I love that. perspective becauseit, it really did. It allowed us an inordinate amount of, of self-reflectiontime, right. Or isolation time in which you. Twiddle your thumbs for a certainperiod of time. Some of us baked bread, a lot of us watched reality television,but then when those things kind of lose their luster at month three, you'releft with what do I fill my day with?

[00:06:24] Derek: And I've been super impressed with. Allthe different projects that I've seen from, from some of my friends that, youknow, otherwise had been tied to a 40, 50 hour week job where your creativityis stifled. Your passion is stifled because you're out there trying to makemoney. But when you do that remotely I think the, the beauty of that is that somany people see, okay, most of us actually only do two to four hours of workper day.

[00:06:48] Derek: And if you are able to knock that out,Comfort of your home. You now have all that extra free time. Instead of tryingto make yourself look busy in front of Your boss, in a cube in your office. youcan now work on maybe your new album or your book or your whatever project. AndI, I kinda dig that. I think that was really cool.

[00:07:06] Derek: So yeah, I mean, it, it allowed me tofocus on a bunch of crazy random things, but I'm, I also recognize that I'mincredibly privileged in that, you know, being self-employed makes it to whereI get to do that kind of anyway, which is.

[00:07:18] Daniel: Yeah, that's awesome. And in speakingof crazy things that you've had the chance to work on, do you want to talk alittle bit about I'm not in a good place and your Kickstarter campaign and thepoems that you want to write for everybody?

[00:07:30] Derek: So this is an exciting project. This issomething that just kind of came out of nowhere, you know, had a litany ofinspiration from, from yet another bout of, of, you know, heartbreak. Reallyshould be reserved for high schoolers, but you know, the, the emo teenagerinside of me never died. So I use that to, to write a whole bunch of poems andfinished this book and started thinking about it.

[00:07:51] Derek: And I thought, man, it would be so coolto come up with a way to kind of incorporate the people that have kind of madethis successful on its own. Cause I have another pro poetry book called shedoesn't love me. I'm sad. And. That that went really well. It went a lot betterthan I expected it to. I did not expect anyone to care about the words that I writebecause it really is.

[00:08:12] Derek: It's just like the music. It's one ofthose things that I kind of do. Selfishly. I enjoy, the catharsis of writing.Just sitting down and creating, and I think the final part of creation forliterally anyone, regardless of what your audience is, should be releasing it,give it out to the wild, release it into the world.

[00:08:28] Derek: You owe that, not to just yourself, butto everyone. Because there's someone out there, there is someone with whom thatmay resonate and uh, so put it out there and it did it, it kind of clicked witha few people and, and that was really cool. And so I, I have added a tier on aKickstarter. Where I'm going to be writing poems for those people that havekind of supported these projects and those people that are essentially makingthis a reality and I'm freaking stoked about it.

[00:08:53] Derek: I think it's really, uh, it's going tobe very neat to get to know, some of these people that I've, I've never met,but that I've kind of kept contact with over social media which is very unique.I'm going to be able to write them a poem and then take that. And not just mailit to them in the. mail, which I'm going to do.

[00:09:07] Derek: I'll put a wax sealed letter in thereand mail it off to them and they'll get like this handwritten letter, which Ithink is cool and that's fun and a really unique way for us to bond, but it'salso going to be going into the poetry book and printed and it's, it's outthere forever. And I think that's really cool.

[00:09:21] Andrew: I am insanely both jealous and proudof you for doing the Kickstarter. That's something I've always wanted to do,and it's, I'm still going to do it, but now it's going to look like a copy toyou, but whatever.

[00:09:32] Derek: Uh, I'm just, I'm just glad you'regoing to be copying me for once. You know, I've copied your fashion. I'vecopied your career paths for awhile. So I think it's good that, that like thetables have turned a little bit. So it's your turn buddy?

[00:09:43] Andrew: going to take this podcast. We're justgoing to play it at Thanksgiving. That's what we're going to do. We're notgoing to talk, we're going to play this episode for

[00:09:50] Derek: oh oh gosh. That's that's setting us upfor a rough Thanksgiving, which will feel familiar.

[00:09:56] Andrew: and Daniel will get to participate.Cause I don't think he'll be in town for it. So a dam can also be there

[00:10:01] Derek: Yeah. In spirit,

[00:10:02] Derek: the disembodied voice of Daniel.

[00:10:12] Andrew: I'm going to, you know, we want toteach people different things on this podcast. So you're running thisKickstarter right now. It is it's live right now. It's been live for a littleover a week, almost two weeks, I

[00:10:23] Derek: Yeah. It's been about two.

[00:10:24] Andrew: What's been the hardest part about it.Was it the setup? Was it the post setup?

[00:10:27] Andrew: Is it the marketing? What did you runinto? And what's kind of the process been like spinning up this podcast and I'msorry, this Kickstarter

[00:10:34] Andrew: while also trying to write

[00:10:37] Derek: that's, that's a great question. I,there's several hurdles in regards to Kickstarter and some of those are, all ofthose are largely tied to my own ignorance in regards to the platform. So Ispent. A pretty enormous amount of time trying to come up with. Okay, well,what, here's our cool, you know, you want to, you want to create something thatis engaging and adds value to the people that are trying to support thisKickstarter and So I spent a lot of time just in my office and, and pacing myhouse and, and going on my evening walks, just trying to think of like, man,what, what would I want if I was trying to support a project like this? And socreating those tears took a long time writing out the little blurb that is sortof explaining, Hey, why is this book something that you should support?

[00:11:18] Derek: That took a long time. But then, thepart that I think is, is the biggest hurdle for me, just as a. A personalityflaw is marketing. I hate marketing myself. And I don't think that I'm uniquein any way. I think a lot of people hate marketing themselves as a it's alearned skill and it's something that I, I am hopefully getting better at, but,you know, hopping on Instagram and being like, Hey, not only should you careabout what I'm doing, but please give me money that you spent a lot of yourlife earning on something that you don't know anything about.

[00:11:45] Derek: You don't know me. And, that's a uniqueplace to put yourself in. And, and I kind of enjoy it, you know, it's, it's wetalked a lot, uh, when you and I were working out together about becomingcomfort, comfortable with, with discomfort, right. And this is definitely oneof those projects. And so it's been fun.

[00:11:59] Derek: It's been a learning experience, butthose are the two biggest hurdles is definitely self promotion and thenfiguring out, Hey, how do you set this up in a way that is attractive tostrangers?

[00:12:07] Andrew: That is well put that the selfmarketing is always just, it's tough. It took forever for me to be okay withhearing my own voice and then trying to convince people that like, Hey, I'mdoing this thing and it might be interesting to you. I'm still not good at it.

[00:12:19] Derek: Yeah, it's, it's, hard. Well, and, andit's, it's hard because I think honestly it dials back into you, know, we allhave some level of imposter syndrome and I definitely carry that in. All realmsof, of creativity.

[00:12:31] Derek: I was recently very, very fortunate. Igot to, uh, I was invited on a bill of a bunch of young artists here in townwho are just incredibly talented rappers, right.

[00:12:41] Derek: It was at this house party. And I am watchingthese other performers hop up and every single one of them is killing their setand, and the place is packed out. You know, we've got probably 60, 70 people inthis very small. And it's a bunch of younger kids. I'm 34. And so, you know.

[00:12:58] Derek: a lot of these kids are, are earlytwenties at the lake. so it's, it's this big divide between the type of music Iplay and the type of show that this is, and that's incredibly nerve wracking.And so I hop up on the microphone with what feels like the weight of I am inthe wrong place. Right. I am playing the wrong kind of music to the wrong typeof crowd.

[00:13:21] Derek: And no one is going to like this. Ithink more of us should be putting ourselves in those types of situations morefrequently because it, it helps enormously with overcoming that feeling insideof your brain that is constantly telling you like, Hey, this is stupid. Likeyou, what you do is dumb. What you've worked on is dumb because it forces youto

[00:13:40] Derek: throw yourself into a position whereyou are getting feedback.

[00:13:43] Derek: And even if it sucks, you overcame thatdiscomfort. And so it was a, it was a cool situation. The show went great. Theywere incredibly supportive because honestly, most people are, most people are,incredibly respectful and supportive of things that require time and energy andpassion. And I think people see, someone that's genuine.

[00:14:01] Derek: I think people will see someone that'scares about what they're doing and they like to support that.

[00:14:06] Daniel: So I love that you brought up impostersyndrome. It is such a prevalent issue within our, within our workplace. Likewe've, we've done a handful of. Work seminars with our managers, just talkingabout the reality of imposter syndrome and pulling these super talentedindividuals that have worked really hard to get promoted within the company.

[00:14:28] Daniel: They do a really good job and gettingthem to admit that they feel like they are totally missing the mark and doingthat with others that are in the same spot in there. And every single. Somebodywho's always like, oh, I thought I was the only one. Oh, I, felt that exactsame way. And it's encouraging to realize that others are going throughsomething similar and something, you said, Derek, that I feel like we shouldtake to heart when we feel that imposter syndrome is just going out there.

[00:14:52] Daniel: And I'm still really putting forththat effort. And in, you know, really honoring the work that you've done,because at the very least, like you said, You will get some feedback and youwill to grow and improve, but if you sort of back away and you don't try atall, you won't get any feedback. And if you only give a half-hearted effort,you're probably just going to get feedback of maybe you should try harder.

[00:15:16] Daniel: And so yeah, like that, that helps somuch. And so is that something where you learned that through having just moreand more experiences where you had to put yourself out there? Is that somethingwhere you've had. You know, mentors that have helped demonstrate that to you.Like how have you figured out ways to sort of overcome that imposter syndromeand still be able to grow despite that feeling?

[00:15:40] Derek: Ah, I love that question. I, I thinkit's two fold, right? So, if you were to ask a younger Derek, it would be avery different answer. So younger Derek, it was surrounding myself with peoplewho were so much more talented than me. Right. And, putting myself intosituations where they were encouraging me and they were guiding me through.

[00:15:58] Derek: Those, those strange pathways that weall take as we're trying to build ourselves within a career, within an art orwithin whatever it is that you're pursuing because that type of encouragementcomes in private, but then it also comes in public, right? Because they'recoming to your shows or they're coming to your events that you've you've puttogether and you've worked on.

[00:16:14] Derek: That type of thing is, is super helpfulin the early stages. But, uh, I think one of the most magical things that'shappened as I've gotten older in particular, after I became a. Is, I don't carewhat people think anymore. Right. Because my, my purpose changed, you know, I,it, it shifted from being this, this thing where I was like, man, I'm going tobe.

[00:16:32] Derek: A famous musician. I'm going to besomeone that people know about. I'm going to be some, someone that people havein their car, right? Like that there's, there's this goal of becoming the thingthat, that inspired me. The thing that, that caused me my entire life tochange, like music shifted my life in a, in a profound and immeasurablypowerful.

[00:16:48] Derek: And I wanted to do that for other people.And that's a pretty lofty goal. That's a thing that is, that is difficult toachieve. It's a, it's a thing that's like, there's a lot of weight surroundingthat, that type of, of purpose. Right. But then when my goal suddenly shiftedto being like, Hey, I'm going to.

[00:17:04] Derek: Best damn dad that I can be for this,this beautiful child that I brought into this world. And I want to do everything that I possibly can to make surethat it's not my dreams that are getting achieved. It's it's hers. Right? I amnow my perfect. My purpose has shifted into being someone that is, issupportive of someone else.

[00:17:21] Derek: Right.And so you, you've kind of changed from the mentee to the mentor. Andall of my projects now are able to be this thing where it's like, I play musicand it doesn't really matter if anyone likes it because I'm 34 years old. Likeyou're probably not going to like me anyway. Right. We're, we're vastlydifferent in age or we're vastly different in interest.

[00:17:39] Derek: And that doesn't matter. I'm doingsomething that I really enjoy. And the purpose of that thing that I enjoy hasso much less to do with me and so much more to do with showing that, thatwonderful kid that I have, what it looks like to chase your passion and what itlooks like to do things with without reservoir.

[00:17:55] Daniel: That's amazing. And it's as a dad, Ican completely relate to how you feel on that. I've got a Old daughter andyeah, it just, it definitely changes their perspective. And so I'm, I'm sureAndrew is sitting there and it's just kind of thinking, well, man, I guess I'm,I guess I'm screwed. I guess I'm stuck with imposter syndrome until I have akid, right.

[00:18:16] Andrew: All right. You know what? I take it

[00:18:18] Andrew: back. We're just knocking this outreal quick.

[00:18:19] Derek: It's time. Andrew, get on the ball,man. Get, get purpose. My guy.

[00:18:26] Andrew: I hate both of you.

[00:18:29] Derek: Well, so, so, here's the thing. I'll,I'll ask you

[00:18:31] Derek: this, this Daniel. So Daniel, you said,your daughter is 13 months old. Yeah. So, so in what ways did your work changeafter, after your daughter was born? So, so for me and I'll frame this, mybrain had this like completely world altering tilt where the very first thing Ithought of when I held my daughter was, Oh my God, I don't make enough. Andthat has been a driving force behind almost all of my decisions.

[00:18:56] Derek: Since then. I'm curious. What, what wasyour reaction like? How, how has your, your life, your work balance changedsince having a kid.

[00:19:02] Daniel: Yeah. So there've been a few bigchanges, a few small changes. One is now I'm completely justified and beingjust really corny and making dad jokes and just saying dumb things like. When Ifirst became, when I first became a manager, I sent just a super, super cringymessage to my team of how I was so excited.

[00:19:27] Daniel: So, and it's cringy because it wasjust really like a corny. And I was like, I'm so excited to be your manager.And I like used all these office means and not a single person replied to it.And I remember feeling like, oh man, Maybe I made a mistake here. But at thispoint now I would send something like that and that I wouldn't even look to seeif anybody replied.

[00:19:50] Daniel: I just do it. Cause that's, that'sjust part of being a dad. But I, I would say that like some of the biggestshifts are kind of like, what you're saying is that I don't care as much aboutimpressing others. I care a lot more about. Being a good dad to Riley, being agood husband to Hillary, like creating a good home structure.

[00:20:10] Daniel: And I have a lot more kind of securityand some of that identity. So I'll say dumb things to the gen Z people thatI've worked with. And I just, I don't really care anymore about looking dumb.But what I do care a lot more about is I want the people that are part of myteam. To be able to grow. I want them to be able to advance in their careers.

[00:20:32] Daniel: I want them to be able to find somepassions, hopefully it's within, you know, their work and I can help them findthat. And if it's not, I'm totally okay with that. And I don't again, have thatinsecurity of, oh, they left the company. They must not like me. So it's thatmindset that I definitely have with Riley does shift over to.

[00:20:53] Daniel: My team as well and the money thingfor sure. part of it too. The budget, the budget tightened. We Sundays ourbudget meeting days with a, in our house. So that'll happen later today and I'msure we'll cry about it. But um, now I would say that's the biggest thing. It'sjust that, that mindset of it's not as much about me.

[00:21:10] Derek: you and Andrew are remarkably differentthan me in that. You, you are both I believe a little more type a. Leaning in,in that, like you just said, budget meetings on Sundays and I'm just, I'mthinking to myself, God, I don't even think about that kind of stuff. Like Ithat's something I wish I was better at something that Andrew constantly harpson me for and has helped me in enormous.

[00:21:29] Derek: In getting better with it. God I'm, Iam a stereotypical disorganized creative guy. I am scatterbrained. I forgetliterally everything. I, I would have forgotten about this podcast. If wehadn't had a group chat. I mean, it's, it's just, my brain is a scrambled messof, of nonsense. So I respect to that.

[00:21:45] Derek: I love that you guys are able toactually keep track of your of your stuff. I think that's what.

[00:21:50] Andrew: So Thanksgiving and Christmas, we'lljust do a back to back recording, listening session for the family. Just, just,you know,

[00:21:56] Derek: Yes. I love that. I love that. Well,let me boost you some more. If we're doing that, I can just, I'll just talk youup. But John a pad is still,

[00:22:03] Andrew: I need it. Maybe my dad will finallybe proud of me.

[00:22:05] Derek: yeah, that's exactly right. That's whatwe're here for.

[00:22:09] Andrew: Excellent. Excellent.

[00:22:17] Andrew: Okay. I want to spend you back alittle bit to the Kickstarter because I know we went off into the impostersyndrome direction and I guess I'm just screwed there the rest of my life, butI want to know. The why you went for a kickstart. So you've released a fewbooks before this.

[00:22:33] Andrew: This is number four,

[00:22:36] Derek: Yes. Yes.

[00:22:36] Andrew: So, so why, why Kickstarter? Why didyou go this route with the book versus what you've done in the past?

[00:22:42] Derek: So My favorite thing about KickstarterIn general is the way that it kind of, in the same way that I think Twitter didfor celebrities, it shrunk down. the process of creation to be, kind of A peerbehind the curtain. Right? So a lot of times people see a finished book or afinished album or a finished board game or whatever.

[00:23:02] Derek: And. You get the behind scenes. Ifyou're watching Lord of the rings, extended additions with the special effectsand all that kind of stuff, you get to see what they're doing. But there'soften times a very big disconnect between like, Hey, what, what is the workthat went into this? Like what, what happened to make this, this a reality?

[00:23:17] Derek: And Kickstarter is a very uniqueopportunity for creators to, kind of open that process up and say, Hey, I'mbeing very honest about what. The funds are going and how difficult differentpieces of this creation is. And not just showing you those things, but allowingyou to kind of be an active participant.

[00:23:34] Derek: Right. And, and, I always loved theidea of taking something that, that someone can become a part of. So in thiscase, with this Kickstarter by having a poem written about them, they are notjust a name in the book. They are an active piece of that book. They're anactive piece of that art that hopefully.

[00:23:49] Derek: With any sort of you know, effectivemarketing is, is, is lasting for awhile. And you know, my, my other poetry bookis in Barnes and noble. So it's kind of cool to tell people like, Hey, likethis thing that, that a piece of you is now in a, whether or not you haveactually written a poetry book, whether or not you have actually gone throughthat, that self publishing process. As an aside, I think literally everyoneshould. I think every single person has a book inside of them. And I thinkevery single person should write it and produce it and throw it out there. Thebarrier to entry is so low now. Literally anyone can do it and I encourageeveryone to do it. I think it's incredibly fulfilling, but even if you don'twant to go through that, this Kickstarter allows you to be able to go intoBarnes and noble, pick up a book and be like, yo, this is.

[00:24:29] Derek: Right like this, this poem right here.I was a part of this book. I helped support this book. I helped to make thisbook a reality and this poem is about me. And I think that's a really powerfultool.

[00:24:38] Andrew: That's cool to get a little audienceparticipation pre-book and it kind of builds. Almost community around thecreative work you're doing.

[00:24:48] Derek: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:24:50] Andrew: If only you could do that with thewedding videography and some of the other stuff,

[00:24:53] Derek: So, so it's,

[00:24:54] Derek: it's interesting you say that becauseI, I actually do think that there is a space for that. It's something I'mtrying to do with my, with my YouTube channel a little bit. I'm just strugglingwith how to effectively communicate this. But, but one of my favorite thingsis, is I taught myself a lot about cameras through YouTube.

[00:25:09] Derek: Right? And so the way that we'reshrinking that community, the way that we're bringing people closer there is,is tutorials. Kind of opening up and saying like, Hey, this is how I filmweddings, or this is the gear that I use when I'm filming weddings. And this isthis scenario that I ran into because, you know, at this point I have a, whatare the 10, 11 years of, of experience in weddings?

[00:25:27] Derek: That's, that's a lot of value you canbring to someone that's just trying to get into it for the first time. Andinstead of gatekeeping, that YouTube has been this really cool pathway to beable to say like, This is not as hard as everyone makes it seem. This issomething I deeply believe that anyone can do just the same as I believe prettymuch any career.

[00:25:43] Derek: I, you and I have had thisconversation, but, I deeply believe I could probably do an appendectomy if yougave me enough YouTube videos. Right. Like I that's, that may be arrogance, butit's, that's how I feel. So I, I want other people to have that confidence andI want to help them achieve that competence.

[00:25:55] Derek: So yeah, I think YouTube is a fantasticway to kind of decrease that barrier and get in touch with people. Yeah. Needthat information and need those, that little helping hand, that little boost,

[00:26:04] Andrew: That's what she needed to name thatYouTube channel, a little helping hand.

[00:26:08] Derek: a little helping hand. that that littleboost, a little boost could be a great rapper name by the way.

[00:26:12] Andrew: All right, I'm going to go learn howto rap and I'm going to steal that and will become famous as soon as I figureout how to speak any faster than this Texas draw will let me

[00:26:21] Derek: I love it. I love it. And I will befirst in line to buy that. And I'm only calling you a little boost from now on

[00:26:26] Andrew: excellent. This is, has been the bestepisode yet. I'm just going away with a lot of good stuff for the holidays.

[00:26:34] Derek: damn right.

[00:26:41] Daniel: One thing that you said earlier in thepodcast is being a dad. You, you start to think a little bit more about money,but then you also just talked about with your YouTube channel. You're, you'rebasically trying to remove barriers to entry, which I don't actually know whatyour degree was in Derek.

[00:26:57] Daniel: Mine, mine was in business. And sothat's something that we talk about is barriers to entry as being a part oflike a product and making it competitive. And so how do you. How has thatworked out for you as far as do you find that your bottom line sort of suffersby like creating all of these now wedding photographers and making your jobquote, unquote, seem like, oh, anybody can do it, or do you actually see some,some bigger benefits to kind of come back around to you?

[00:27:23] Daniel: How do you justify this?

[00:27:25] Derek: Oh, that's, that's a great question.One of the things I'm loudest about is, is that don't have a degree. Right. So,I went to college, I followed a girl to college and surprisingly enough, itdidn't work out. I came back and began working in it and I recognized there's,there's a pretty enormous amount of privilege that allowed me to get into it inthe first place because my uncle Andrew's dad, hired me when.

[00:27:44] Derek: Incredibly unskilled in that careerfield. Right. But he taught me and put in the effort to get me to a level thatI was, not just competent, but really enjoyed what I was doing. You know, Ireally enjoyed that, that type of career. and so that opened up these doors andallowed me to kind of chase a career that eventually led me into being able towork for myself.

[00:28:03] Derek: And so I owe all of that basically to,to Joseph and. Telling people as I always have even when I was doing it work Icould train a monkey to do this in two weeks, is my line for every type of jobI've ever had. Because I, I think there's so many people that like to believe.They have more skills than they do, right.

[00:28:22] Derek: If you invested 20 years into learninghow to do whatever it is that you do the idea that you can't teach someone todo that quicker than you learned it. I, I think speaks volumes to how youunderstand it and not them. I like believing in people. I like reducing. The,the kind of arrogance I think that comes with, especially in my industry, youknow, there's, there's any type of creative industry where you're like doingvideo creation.

[00:28:45] Derek: There tends to be a lot of ego there.Right. Thankfully locally, we have a really good creative team. We have a lotof people here that are easy to work with and very humble. Those egos clash,when you get to some of those bigger cities or people that are not from here,where people that aren't as familiar with each other, and it's not conducive,it's not conducive to good business.

[00:29:02] Derek: It's not conducive to growing your ownbusiness. It doesn't matter if you show people how easy something is, becauseall you're doing is you're just trying to add value and show. A market forwhatever it is that you're doing. And so if more people are offering video, allthat does for me is it says, Hey look, lots of people like video enough peoplelike video that, you know, these people I taught to do video are now makinglots of money doing it too.

[00:29:21] Derek: I like the idea of, of making sure thatwe don't get, keep literally anything make sure everyone is able to jump in andif they're having trouble jumping in those of us that have been doing it for along time, it doesn't hurt you. But, but taking it a step further, it actuallyhelps.

[00:29:35] Derek: To be able to go to them and say, Hey,this?

[00:29:37] Derek: is how I'm doing what I'm doing. Thisis how much money I'm making, doing what I'm doing. This is how you can makethis much money. And this is how I built this. And this is how you can skip allof the different things that really screwed me in the early stages.

[00:29:49] Derek: The things I over invested in or underinvested in, or the things I lost money on. If you can help someone else withthat, that's just the human experience, man. And I did that.

[00:29:56] Daniel: Yeah. I liked that a lot. I. Try totake a similar approach within my job of a lot of it is really just basically communicationand relationship building with people and motivating people and those types ofthings. And I've done a lot of dumb things. And I, I try to take the approachof all right, if I'm in this position, it's great for me to be in it for awhile, but I should be working towards a place where.

[00:30:23] Daniel: Yeah, the person who's reportingdirectly to me will be ready to replace me. And if I'm gone, then they, theycan take it on and they can do it better than I can do it. And that doesn'tmean that I don't have job security. I mean, I think that really means theopposite because it, if I can create it, if I do good and a job.

[00:30:45] Daniel: And then if I can create 10 otherpeople who do that same job as good as me, or better than that's way morevaluable for the business, but then that's also a much better experience foranybody that works with me. And I, and I w I would much rather live my lifethat way than trying to say, all right, like I've curated these trade secretson how to do this job in the best possible way.

[00:31:09] Daniel: And I'm going to guard that and I'mgoing to make sure nobody else knows that and control that. Like, like yousaid, that's a different human experience that I don't want to

[00:31:18] Daniel: be a part of. So

[00:31:20] Derek: I think you touched on something kindof interesting though that again comes from a point of privilege for me, isthat I don't have a fear of. job insecurity. Right. So part of, doing this islike, if things get tough, I just kinda, you just go work harder. Right? Like Igot to go knock on doors.

[00:31:35] Derek: I gotta go hit up more people. I don'tget to be as lazy this week. Right. but when you were working for someone elseor when someone else has kind of. your livelihood, your paycheck. I think it isa very normal fear and a, and a very normal reaction to that fear to put inplace. Some things that are they're essentially stopped gaps from HR, beingable to just kick you out if they don't like you, or if the wrong manager stepsin and they say, Hey, we don't like this Daniel Guy.

[00:32:00] Derek: Because he's threatening to us. Wedon't like this Daniel Guy because he talked to this person and I don't likethat person. You know, there's a lot of weird interpersonal politics that gointo. You can set up systems in place that make it harder for you to be removedfrom that. And I, I'm torn on, on that piece of things.

[00:32:15] Derek: You know, like my, advice for youngcreatives is always like, you know, take the risk and share your work and helpother people and, and boost each other. My advice for young corporate is ahundred percent, one, 100% of the time. Watch your back don't trust anyone andmake sure you have another job line.

[00:32:31] Derek: At all times, your, your resume isconstantly updated. Make sure you are always hunting for jobs. And if someoneoffers you a higher salary, you don't go to your office and say, Hey, you know,I was offered a higher salary. Can you match this? You take the higher salarybecause now they know you're looking for jobs.

[00:32:45] Derek: It's just a very different environment.And, it sounds like you, you like the people you're working for, it sounds likeyou trust the people you're working for. And I think that's great. and that'sprobably a good place to be. Not everyone has that luxury. And I think everyoneshould act as though they don't have that.

[00:32:58] Daniel: . Yeah. So the whole idea of. Watchingyour back in the corporate world. I think that's accurate. And a lot of cases,I see a lot of people within our office that are kind of newer, that tend tofall into that a little bit. And to be honest, if that was the dynamic that myoffice had, I probably would not have been there for almost a decade.

[00:33:21] Daniel: But thing that I will say is. You havethe opportunity where the leader that you report directly to, and then, youknow, the people that they report to kind of up the chain, if you have thechance to get to know them a little bit and see if there is some of thatintegrity and some of that you know, at the time I didn't really understand theconcept of vulnerability and safe workspace, but then after I'm listening to someBernay brown and Simon Sineck, I had a better understanding of, oh, okay.

[00:33:50] Daniel: The people that I'm reporting to hereat this company and the peoples that they report to all the way up to reallythe top they actually care about the people in this company. They actually wantwhat is best for me as an individual, as opposed to always putting thepriorities of the company first.

[00:34:13] Daniel: Right. There's a balance that you haveto face in that because at the end of the day, it's the business folds. And ifthe job, if the company goes up under everybody loses their jobs and that's notgood for anybody. So there's a balance for sure. But I had the opportunity toreally, to see that and then have the chance to move into more leadership roleswhere I get to kind of further that culture and implement that with newerpeople.

[00:34:38] Daniel: And so that's the one thing that Iwould say. Those things do exist even in the corporate world, but I thinkthey're rare. And when you find that, at least for me personally, that's worthmore than you know, a little bit more money and the paycheck, because I cangenuinely enjoy my job, the people that I've worked with.

[00:34:56] Daniel: And, and I make enough money. That'swhere, you know, sometimes we get a budget a little bit to make that work, butthat's my one aside, I would say, as far as my experience in corporate affairs,

[00:35:07] Derek: I like that. I like that. I thinkthat's a, it's an interesting, it's an interesting viewpoint. And I'm glad thatyou were in a place that, that does feel safe and more secure than most. And,and that is something that is absolutely worth a monetary trade.

[00:35:20] Andrew: See I fall in between, on you guys onthis, because I am a person who has been laid off. So like, I think Derek'sviewpoint might be a little aggressive on, on the. You know, corporate side oflife. But also I do think that there is a, if you are working for somebody, youneed to have a healthy dose of backup plan, because it is you, you don't controlwhether or not you're going to be able to keep that job or whether that companyis going to go under.

[00:35:44] Andrew: Whereas if you are that self-employedbusiness owner, you, you decide what's happening. So I do think that's a greatargument for being self-employed, but also there's. There's a lot of give andtake in both directions, but that's for probably another episode. Cause you cantalk about that all day and we could go crazy with it. So Derek, before wefinish up here, we like to do stories and challenges with our guests. And soyou are the guest of the. As far as I can tell, unless Daniel's swapped on meand you're now my new host

[00:36:12] Derek: I've taken over.

[00:36:14] Andrew: So first, if you have a story you wantto share, it can be about Daniel. I, it can be about either of us.

[00:36:19] Andrew: It can be about you. It could be aboutsomebody completely unrelated or something unrelated. Whenever you want. Just astory you've got as a creator, I assume you've got something on deck. Sowithout any further tips,

[00:36:31] Derek: As far as stories, I feel like Ishould, I should share something that's like entertaining or something. I don'tknow. I feel a little caught off guard, so, there's a pressure to, to make thestory a good one. So let me, let me think for a second.

[00:36:44] Derek: I'm Tempted to talk about what, whatwas truly, I think one of the most formative vacations that I've gone on andyou were there with me when we went to Spain, I wrote three fourths of my firstbook when we were in Spain.

[00:36:56] Derek: And I think you wrote a good chunk of,of yours as well, but we would, we'd wake up in the mornings. And this was byfar the most remarkable thing about this trip to me. Stays up entirely toolate. Like, like, and, and I, I think that's objective early, too late. I don'tthink it's like a, a subjective thing.

[00:37:12] Derek: Like, oh, it felt a little late to me.Like it's like five o'clock in the morning. That is the next day by anymeasure. And these people are still partying and like dancing. And by thattoken, the next morning, no one's awake. The streets are empty. Beautiful. Imean, it's, it's remarkably peaceful and calm. And so we would wake up and wewould go get a coffee and these little sandwiches that had like, almost like aslice salami and like some tomato on a per shadow type thing.

[00:37:38] Derek: I dunno. It was like a very interestingbreakfast type sandwich. Hm. We would just sit in these empty, abandonedSpanish streets and write and just kind of process, the day before, before iteven happened. And I think it's remarkable and I, I have told many people this,I think. you owe it to yourself.

[00:37:55] Derek: If not Spain, somewhere to go someplaceforeign and go there with the express purpose of pursuing whatever it is thatyou were chasing creatively. Be that music, be that poetry, be that a book,And, and put yourself in that unique environment, put yourself in thatunfamiliar space and allow yourself the piece of that, of that space to youknow, create, because I, I deeply believe it allowed me a better and more deepsense of creativity just because of the, the strange environment, just becauseit was something so unfamiliar and because it was just so unique and calm andcool to be able to be in a space where like my cell phone wasn't working, I wascompletely removed.

[00:38:34] Derek: That's.

[00:38:35] Andrew: As somebody who was on that trip aswell. I completely agree. Those sandwiches. One were phenomenal. The coffeethat came with them was phenomenal and it was just not having. Your cell phone,not having responsibilities. It really did open this door to get a lot of workdone in the morning on that creative stuff, because you know, we'd only domaybe an hour and a half of writing,

[00:38:57] Derek: Yeah. It, wasn't not very much.

[00:38:59] Andrew: no, but it was such a good hour and ahalf.

[00:39:01] Andrew: I got way more done there than I do inan hour at the coffee shop because my phone's going off and there's people Iknow that that really is key.

[00:39:08] Derek: Yes. Yes. It's getting rid ofdistraction is key.

[00:39:11] Andrew: Yeah, getting that little hole.

[00:39:18] Andrew: Normally we follow this up with achallenge, but if you don't mind, if you like you put your challenge in there,go find that space

[00:39:25] Andrew: to,

[00:39:26] Andrew: you know, find that creativity. So Iknow that's kind of a big ass go go some foreign place or somewhere far away,but I think that's a great challenge.

[00:39:34] Derek: I want to simplify the challenge.

[00:39:35] Derek: just a little bit. If, if I were torephrase the challenge, it would simply be to create. And And I don't care whatthat creation is. If it's maybe you enjoy painting or maybe you drew a littlebit when you were in elementary school whatever that thing was, you know,we'll, we'll bring this full circle way, way back when you were eight years oldand you actually could chase that passion, whatever it is that your.

[00:39:54] Derek: Soul was drawn to at that very earlyage. That's what you should be doing now, no matter how old you are and in anyspare moment, any free time that you have, you don't have to be in Spain to dothat. I realized that that was like a, a ferry, a very privileged thing for meto, to say like, Hey, you should go overseas that you should spend a ton ofmoney and quit your job for two weeks and, and go do this thing.

[00:40:18] Derek: Not everyone is able to do that. And Ifeel incredibly lucky that I was able to, but you don't have to, you can dothat.

[00:40:25] Derek: in the quiet moments before you go tobed. When you're spending an hour watching, tick-tock sit down the phone andbegin to create. If you wake up earlier in the morning, maybe you're a morningperson.

[00:40:33] Derek: You make that cup of coffee, sit downin front of a computer and you write. And I think it's the most freeing andmost important part of the human experience because we really are not here longenough for us to waste That

[00:40:43] Andrew: That is beautifully said, and I'm noteven gonna try to add anything to that. We're going to wrap it up right there,Derek. Thank you so much for coming on with these words of wisdom. I reallycan't wait to see how the the Kickstarter turns out. It's going to be reallycool. I know I already have a poem, hopefully coming my way and if not yourthief.

[00:40:59] Derek: Not you do you do. I am excited towrite it and, and really Daniel, Andrew, I both, I appreciate both of you guys,so very much for having me on thank you. I'm looking forward to see how thingsgo with you guys as well.

[00:41:11] Andrew: Well, everybody listening, go checkout. Derrick's Kickstarter, check out his books, check out his music, check outhis production company. Everything he does is so cool and I'm jealousconstantly of his talent. So thank you guys for listening. We look forward toconnecting with you soon.

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