Media Production Management | Content Creation | Studio Operations | Creative Story Development
One Year. February 2023 began the most turbulent time in my professional career. Today marks one year since being self employed full time. Toxic ego and weak leadership killed the last studio I spent years with, putting nearly 70 people out of work in the middle of the entire media industry imploding. I realized not long after being laid off that to go to a larger studio with a steady job just wasn’t going to happen anymore. I declined following someone I knew was doing things that were wrong, but could’ve kept my old salary going. I turned down the promise of keeping a job but kept my integrity. I’ve had my own side business since 2015, but now it was truly time to try and make it on my own. It’s often not glamorous work, with long days, little sleep, and high stress. But after a year of being my own business, I’m my own W2 employee, I have my own insurance, and more importantly I work entirely on my own terms, and have had the opportunity to be a part of some incredible and inspiring work during this time. I care about telling stories, not making content. I work to?DE-CONTENT film, bringing to life real work from real artists and not viral “content” for the sake of clicks. I’m thankful for the opportunity to make it happen on my own, without any inept studio executives or narcissistic public faces determining my life’s direction. It’s been a crazy year, and it’s only going to get crazier. But I look forward to every second of it, and the major projects to come “The question isn’t who’s going to let me, it’s who’s going to stop me” ??
You’ve got a fantastic work ethic and are a great person to work with. I’m glad things are working out for you and that you’re finding your own rythm.
Keep up the awesome work Kalen! Thank you for your expertise and guidance in navigating the industry in a turbulent time. Looking forward to seeing your next project(s)!
Was great to be able to work with you, my friend. Keep going and keep up the spirit.
Sound's Great, Kalen! We always love working with you and hope to again one day!
Congratulations! You've done well, and I'm not surprised.
Congrats on going your own way. I've worked for "Corporate America" as an employee and would again if push came to shove, because it's hard going at it on your own - and we all have to make those tough decisions about lifestyle and paying bills. (Ideally I would service big business as an independent contractor in long term/ "perma-lance" situations). But I digress... I really enjoy the freedom of freelancing. That's why my passion has turned to helping others do the same. As a digital marketer you'd think I say "not making content for the web is nuts", but an extremely important element of business is one's Unique Selling Proposition. I love that yours is "DE-CONTENT" Films/Story Telling. Stick to your guns, and when the goal seems to far to reach, remember that you don't need a million people, just a "tribe" of enough consumer/supporters of what you do, to keep your business thriving. Seek them out - and more importantly, make yourself easily found by them and you should be okay. "We can worry about what will go wrong, or we can be excited about what can go right" (I'm paraphrasing). Congrats again, on choosing the latter! ??