- So a few days ago, I posted a photo on Instagram.
And with that photo I attached some text
and some copy and a little message to it.
And my message was all about my fears and anxiety
about pursuing a life as a creative,
especially when I was picking what school to go to
and which career path, and to actually start a business
in this field.
And it seemed to resonate with a lot of you.
I remember reading through the comment section.
So I wanted to make this video to expand on that idea,
to share my personal experiences, to share some stories,
especially when I was picking what school to go to,
and then also my fears and anxiety
about starting a business.
And then I'm gonna leave you with some tips
and some tricks that worked for me,
and hopefully they work for you
so that you guys can push through that fear
and really just chase down the life that you want.
So this is less of a tutorial and it's more
of an opinion piece and a story piece of a vlogtorial
or whatever you wanna call it.
But we're just gonna jump right into it, guys.
So to give you a bit of a background on me
for those of you that don't know or are new
to this channel, I've always been a creative.
I think it's been in my blood since I was 8 years old.
I've had a camera in my hand since then,
I've been playing music since then.
I just knew that this was something
that I was naturally was gravitating towards,
that this would end up being a big part of my life.
Going back to high school,
I remember specifically being in grade 12 drama class
and I was talking to my teacher.
It was around the time we were applying to universities.
She said to me, "Hey. Chris, where are you applying to?"
I was like, "Oh, just some schools in the city,"
and I'd probably pursue engineering or architecture
and just like get the safe job
and hopefully make some good money,
and then I can like have fun in the evenings
and play music in shows, and also take photos
on the weekend.
She's like, "Why is that your plan?
You don't sound too excited about the engineering
and architecture.
You sound a lot more excited about the photography
and music."
I was like, oh yeah, obviously.
I would love to have a career as a famous musician
or a famous photographer or just do that with my life.
And she goes, "Why can't you?"
I remember her looking at me and being like
the why was so heavy.
I'd never really considered it before.
No one ever really told me that this was something
that you could actually do with your life.
I always thought that this was like the one-off
things that like, if you were lucky you got this career.
Instead of just actually putting the work in
to go and chase after it.
And that why stuck with me so hard.
Now going back, we would go and check out
all these different schools,
I would go look for engineering and architecture.
And I'm gonna go pick a different spot
because I picked right beside construction
and it's super loud.
Now I specifically remember going to
the different universities.
We would go to the ones that had the engineering programs,
I'd look around and be like, okay,
there's a lot of lecture halls.
There's nothing wrong about pursuing architecture
and engineering.
I just also knew that it wasn't the right fit
for me specifically.
And then eventually went to Ryerson
for their Radio and Television Arts program.
We walked inside and they had these like
epic television studios and music recording studios.
I remember feeling at home there.
I was like, this is the spot,
this is where I'm supposed to be,
whether I actually pursue schooling or I come
to this school for it, I need to be pursuing
some sort of creative lifestyle.
And it was tough because it was like you're conflicted.
You're like, well, do I do things to make my parents
happy, do I do things to just make money?
Like what is gonna actually make me happy
while I'm on this planet?
I was like, screw it, I'm doing this.
I'm gonna pursue a creative lifestyle.
So thankfully I had supportive family around it.
They still wanted me to go to university,
and that was the compromise is like,
if I went to university I could pursue
a creative lifestyle, but at least
maybe there'd be a chance to get a job after the fact.
So I went after it, it was one of the best decisions
I ever made.
I remember being so scared about being like,
where do I go, what am I doing with my life?
I don't know why there's so much pressure
when you have to pick where you wanna go
after high school and what you wanna do with your life.
But if you have an inclination
that you wanna pursue photography, videography,
just give it a shot, test it out for like a year,
and if you don't make money or you don't like it,
then reevaluate where you are.
If you know that this is something you want
and this is the lifestyle that you want,
then like, ugh, go after it.
It's tough when you graduate,
but when you get through that it's the best thing
in the entire world.
Guys, if you want to vlog in public,
just put your phone and then you can be like talking
as if you're like on the phone, then people will be like,
oh, he's just talking on his phone.
He's not talking to this camera over here.
It's a little tip.
Actually you don't have to use that.
You just gotta push through the fear of like
actually going and talking in front of your camera
in public.
So moving forward.
I graduated university and I was like,
I don't know what to do now.
I got offered two jobs.
I remember being like, do I pursue these jobs?
I kinda had this little small business
that I started while I was in school.
I remember being torn each way.
I could do this and maybe make like a few hundred dollars
or a few thousand dollars a year,
but I'm not too sure if I start my own business
and try and go after it.
Or I could make like $50,000, $60,000 over here.
And I was already getting job offers.
I could go to Ottawa, I could travel
to different places.
I remember being like, oh, just know
what the bigger goal is here.
The bigger goal is that you wanna work for yourself,
so take the risk.
So I started a company.
I got a few small contracts at the beginning.
I was like, cool, I'm making a few hundred dollars
on this one.
And the next one became a thousand dollars.
I was like, oh my God, a thousand dollars for a video.
I only have to do 40, 40 of these a year
to make $40,000.
That's not bad, 40 videos.
I can make that work.
And it just kept growing and growing and growing
until now it's a full business with like employees
and we hire freelancers and we do big projects
for like Mercedes Benz.
But I remember just being like really afraid
of going after it and really not also having
the skill sets.
In school you learn a few technical things
about production, but for photography and videography
you just gotta go and make a bunch of mistakes
over and over and over again
until your videos just don't kind of suck
and your photos just don't suck
and people are willing to pay you for those things.
So go after it but you're not alone.
Everybody feels this way.
I felt this way when I wanted to go to school
and pursue this life as a creative
or if I wanted to even just do it without school.
And the same thing about starting a business.
It's scary to go after this stuff and I was there.
I remember being like, how am I gonna make money,
how am I gonna do any of this?
How am I gonna make my parents proud?
How am I gonna do all this stuff?
It's like don't even get there.
It's okay to feel that way but just push through,
put the work in.
Be brave.
It's like in that video with Casey Neistat.
Work hard and be brave.
It's so true.
Just apply those principles and you guys will be
successful, I promise you.
Just go out there and have this like passion
to learn and be better all the time.
And you guys will be successful in your business.
Wanna talk about anxiety?
I have 13% battery left and I'm gonna try and shoot
this whole video on 13% battery.
So I wanna leave you with three tips.
To kind of overcome your fear and anxiety
about pursuing whatever it is that you love,
whether it's a creative field or photography or music
or even if it's something that you just absolutely love.
Number one is to surround yourself
with like-minded people that get what you're doing
and what your journey is
because if you don't have people
that don't believe in you, you're just gonna get
bogged down by all their negativity.
Find the people that believe in what you're doing
and surround yourself with them.
I 100% agree that you are like the average
of the five people that you spend your time with.
So find those five people, the ones that absolutely
love the same things that you do
and surround yourself with them.
So tip number two is to educate yourself.
Really understand the industry, the ins and outs.
Study successful people.
I remember when I wanted to be a musician.
I would study people like Ed Sheeran and McLemore,
and when I pursued a life as a creative
I found successful photographers, asked them questions
and learned everything about the industry
that I possibly could, so that when I wanted
to pursue this I knew this was like an actual
achievable thing that I could do with my life.
Asking somebody who's been through it is a very key step.
So educate yourself.
Alright, and my last and final tip for you
is to practice.
Practice every single day at your craft.
If you wanna be a photographer,
make it a priority to go out and shoot
as often as you can.
Say yes to free jobs, say yes to small-paying jobs.
Go and do your own personal projects.
And one of the most important things
is going back to tip number one with your network,
make sure you get honest feedback.
Not like the feedback where it's like,
this was great, and you never actually end up growing.
Make sure somebody can tell you like,
this could have been done better here
or I think you could try this,
or watch this tutorial so that you can implement this
on a future project,
because having honest feedback and trust
is a key thing to growing.
So I would use all these tips when I was afraid
of going after this lifestyle and career
and picking a school, so that I could actually
push through that fear and anxiety
of the lifestyle that I really want.
So use those tips.
Leave a little comment of your story below
of where you guys are at, or if you have and fears
and anxiety about anything.
I'll try to respond back.
Maybe everybody else can start a little supportive
community in that comment section
and maybe everyone can start growing together.
You guys like this video, please press Like.
It actually makes a difference.
Subscribe, would love for you to kick it along.
And I'll catch you next time.
Peace out, everybody.
Hoo!
(funky music)