Pacifica Films

I built a 6-figure video business in my early 20s. Here’s what I did right: 1- Did great work. 2- Stayed passionate and diligent. 3- Kept my clients happy. Here's what I did WRONG: 1- Relied 100% on referrals. 2- Did everything myself if possible and only hired when I was buried. 3- Hired my friends. 4- Worked 24/7 5- Spent any working capital I had on gear and a fancy office. 6- Stopped seeking mentorship because I was already the boss and doing well. 7- Sidelined passion projects because I was always so busy. You can build a career on great work. But often at a cost. Build a team. Give yourself time/energy to focus on the big picture. Never stop growing.

“This is the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen, heard, experienced. Thank you forever...” I’ll never forget that email. The video was impossible to edit: 5TB of archive footage, hours of Graduation B-Roll we shot in Hiroshima, Japan, and a tight deadline. And in the 9th hour, I came up with a ‘brilliant’ flourish. Why not end with an epic finale montage — and juxtapose the words of one of the graduate's speeches to FOUR YEARS worth of the students’ escapades around the world. (This was for THINK Global School, a traveling international High school) One 24 hour editing binge later, I was delirious and questioning my entire existence, but the montage was done. “Send.” A day passed. And another. Did I go too far? Another. Maybe that was too much… was that ending even good? Did it make sense? Another… And finally… “OMG, Miles………. This is the most incredible thing…” The finale montage was all anyone cared about. In fact, they wanted to make it a standalone video, and it lived on their website for years. Well worth the delirium. I’m all for work-life balance, but sometimes you’ve gotta try something different, edit til your fingers bleed, and see what happens.