Give Yourself A Try

Give Yourself A Try

Andrew Lopez
Devin Miller
The Inventive Journey
Podcast for Entrepreneurs

7/3/2020

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The Inventive Journey

Starting and growing a business is a journey. On The Inventive Journey, your host, Devin Miller walks with startups along their different journeys startups take to success (or failure). You also get to hear from featured guests, such as venture firms and angel investors, that provide insight on the paths to a successful inventive journey.

ai generated transcription

give yourself a try don't be afraid to put yourself out there I know it's scary I know it's tough there's financial burdens sometimes just don't be afraid to give yourself a try because if you let that slip 5 10 20 30 years later that's where the regret sinks in [Music] [Music] everyone this is Devin Miller and welcome to another episode of the inventive journey I'm your host Devin Miller work a patent trademark attorney who works with startups and small businesses as well as a bit of an entrepreneur I have a great guest on today Andrew Lopez I will let him introduce himself a little bit more but he has a work there he's out in California did some video business scripting and working on videos and a little bit with ESPN and our journalism at Boise and all our all sorts of different things but he can walk you a bit of his journey so both come on to the podcast Andrew Devin pleasure to be here man so glad to be connected with you so glad to have this opportunity and I'm hopefully people can resonate just with this reinvention story has now is a time for reinvention so yeah I'm a videographer turned business screenwriter I say that because my business elegant shorts is small video production company focusing on those short videos that thought leadership the message that you want to say be a video that was before this whole ordeal that we have going on here so I say I transformed I reinvented into a business screenwriter when you take video a lot of people have fears when it comes to video it's not necessarily the cameras or the lights it's that fear of yes it's intimidating but it's also what do I say is what I'm going to say be is going to be what excuse me is what I'm going to say going to be heard the right way it small it comes down to the message you look at the Gary B's of the world or you look at the Chez bro bottoms of the world and all these influencers the video isn't always the highest quality but it's the message that people resonate with so that's kind of you know in short form and I can go deeper but that's been the thing right now is I've really embraced this time it's a bummer we can't be outside hanging out eating french fries you know at the bar with our friends but this is a time of reinvention and I've really really embraced this type of reinvention it's allowed me to create so many things as an extrovert being forced to be introverted so from the business from the point that I don't have to be extroverted so this is this lights up with personality anyway no that's cool so maybe what we do is well let's jump back a little bit so went to school to journalism and I think you mentioned your dream was to be on ESPN right oh yeah you know I went to school good old Boise State you know go Broncos football fields that aren't blue are weird to me so you know there's that little piece there for you but yeah I want to go to ESPN I wanted to talk about college football I want to talk about soccer I want to talk about golf I'm you know playing sports all growing up never played football but just I love college football I love everything about it so I just I want to be on ESPN sitting there next to rece Davis on Saturdays and Kirk Herbstreit just talking about why Boise State should be in the top 25 and what's going on and who should win the Heisman like I love it so much and that was always my dream so I got to interview Chris Peterson when he was the coach there I wrote for the school newspaper I got to do some cool stuff just around all the sports that were going on at Boise State back in 2014 so yeah and then kind of took a turn you know my dad told me and you you know journalism is great you know it's it's good hobby but what are you gonna do with that so I took a turn and I I started working in IT you know IT reseller doing all these things you know that it's not journalism it's not you know there's messaging and there's crafting of that which I can get into but I just totally ditched everything that I would school for and I was like alright I'm gonna go work for a company here in Orange County and I'm gonna kind of see where that takes me and I spent five years and loved IT great great great industry a lot of stuff you know security like it's so important but I didn't have the true passion for it and that's the key word you know I was skilled at what I was doing with the marketing and the sales and this and this and that but it came down to just what do I want to do when I grow up or what's the passion or what do I do best and what makes me feel to build so right there so before so because that's always a trade-off right like I may be the most and I'm not but I could be the most passionate basketball player and it doesn't matter to be honest doesn't matter how much I practice I'm never gonna go to the NBA I could be the best basketball player I don't have the Hyatt I don't have the skills like be really passionate and so one thing you always had to balance is a little bit as passion versus practical and you sometimes you go one way too far the other right so ITU said hey let's do something practical let's do something that I know that I can earn sales on or I can earn money on maybe I'm not half as passionate about it or if you know the other extreme of hey I'm gonna go try and be an NBA star when there's very little likely so how do you balance passion versus what weight is practical or what you can do I was phenomenal question I think so in in my journey with that it was just realizing practical salary benefits you know being 27 you know be 28 on Sunday but like looking at that from back oh thank you very much yeah excited for it 27 has been a very interesting year but probably one of the best years all around but the going back to May last year just coming from IIT coming from that world of great world great companies great ideas I just I was doing some video stuff on the side I had had an interview show called partner channel OC or out interview business owners here in Orange County I got to 75 episodes up to last last November partnered up with a couple people Craig and Quentin you know that we were doing some stuff around hospitality and filming hotels and filming you know a show around the goodness of California so what's funny is you know doing that on the side led to all these other things and where I got to this point in June last year I was like you know what you know I want to give myself a try I worked for a tech startup for a couple months and gave that a whirl but it was August of last year it was that big just aha moment like you know what I have nothing to lose I'm 27 no mortgage I'm single I want all of those things in my life and when I get to that point of life right now it's kind of the jumping-off point what do I want to do now is the time to take hold of that and that's that's when elevated Schwartz was born and I just kind of said you know people from the interview show in the past Andrew what else do you do with video I'd love to talk to you about it love to do more of these things together so that was that moment that moment it was kind of just you know let's go for it let's give it a whirl and I have nothing to lose hmm so you decide your win tie t-shirts didn't start up and then you said okay I'm gonna go for I'm gonna go after what my beatin would be my passion or what I think is gonna be a you know a pious interest of that and so you decided to make the job go after that and you say that was about last August is that right yeah August is when I made the decision to kind of that took the month of August to really think about it but September was the official start date of elevated shorts but it was that August kind of like you know what things haven't worked out the right way you know might not have been the right fit here we go let me think about this so I just I pondered you know all of obvious last year kind of sat around for a little bit was like what do I want to do do I want to chase this it was that fear that hurdle sometimes the hardest step in starting a business or even starting anything is taking that first step and I think once you take the first step you're gonna start ugly I forgot who the influencer was but there was a guy on LinkedIn a couple years ago that was like your first video is gonna be ugly or your first proposal is going to be ugly you have to be okay with starting ugly you know you've been doing this podcast for a while but I'm sure that first episode same thing was like good perfect no problem or no changes whatsoever exactly but that's that thing so I just want to embrace that I jumped off you know over the hurdle like I was like you know what it's not gonna be perfect right off the bat I just took the step and if you look back the last you know seven eight months it's been so amazing you know I looked at myself and I was so scared and Here I am eight months later you know all this professional growth all this personal growth it's you pat yourself on the back but it's also like alright you know I want other people to feel what I'm feeling too no matter what age so mmm yeah let's dive into that just a little bit more so you made the jump specially started in September I remember kind of what we talked about before that was kind of more of a videography your going out and actually recording things and doing the video and all that and started to pick up steam a little bit start to get momentum and then I think tow with it right yeah absolutely gonna then you get to figure out when you can't go and do on-site things and filming and people aren't you're not to have large groups and especially with you in California where they've been a bit more restrictive how did you deal with that or how did you make the pivot and when did you make the pivot and kind of all of that how did that go for you phenomenal question you know I started out in September doing just short little brand videos you know I had had an idea from a close friend of mine where you manage me you should be you should be like someone's Dean rock you know Gary Vee he's got his videographer go into all these things his name is D rock or David Rock but dere on for short and he's the one who follows Gary be around hey going to this meeting we're going to this we're going to this push play I was thinking about doing that I was trying to find these like movers and shakers here in Orange County that we're trying to do those big things like hey can I go film you at your speech or can I go to your meeting and just capture all of this content and you know it's hard because not everyone up the bat wants to do that it's kind of that that fear for them like well do I come off as like this this like you know come on fist hot-headed do I come off as the wrong person is all just kind of that whole thing so a few people that started you know I'm part of a networking group and I'm part of a a business club here in Orange County and I just getting connected with them and asking those questions you know what are you looking for with video and at the beginning it was it was those / end videos those hey I want that short 60-second content of me not talking about my services but just kind of providing value and what I do so it started out there and then the holidays hit and the big you know 2020 the new decade hit it was kind of just like people were kind of thinking about shifting not because it's the new year because it was the new decade it wasn't new year new me in January it was new decade new me or new decade new business so I spent all of December and all of January and early early parts of February really just instead of hard selling instead of putting myself out there and trying to push play on the camera I really just listened but there's a true power when you listen and when you let people talk and you let people get their message across even a ninja's casual conversation and you know I'm someone who's very engaged I'm someone who likes to listen and and really take notes and understand people um you know it's one of those phrases that my great grandfather always said you know in order to be interesting you first need to be interested so that's something that I've always really just kind of held on to is like be interested be involved from there you yourself can be interesting so I just listen to people and I'd be like hey you know financial adviser here or realtor here what what would you want when it comes to video and most people are like Andrew I just want to be able to share my message I don't need the sweeping drone shots I don't need you know super fancy camerawork I just want to be able to share my message and share my expertise with the world to start a conversation it shouldn't be a sales pitch it should be a conversation starter so I was like you know what that is phenomenal I love that and that was the story that I'd gathered you know 15 20 times so my pivot again or my my shift you know going from just trying to push play and capture events and conferences and you know brand videos it shift it to like okay let's let's make this more of like the thought leadership or a servant leadership let's make this more of a uh a conversation starter and that's kind of been where I've found where people really want to go with video you know video used to be something I feel and you know other video people can can feel free to agree or disagree but video was something that was always in our world we felt that it was a necessity but most people thought that video was a nice-to-have or oh they have money for their marketing they can spend it on video but as we as we shift into what we've been through the last you know nine ten weeks it's like video is almost a necessity now it's another way to connect to another way to share your story it's another way to just reach out virtually you know you do your prospecting you do all this kind of stuff it's that extra layer now that oh I can't meet them in person for coffee like I normally would send me a quick little thing so it was recognizing that and hearing that um so a couple things that we were doing me and my buddy who does all my editing another thing that we were doing was focusing on that in February and in March and then when this happens production goes out the window so it was basically just you know I thought elevated shorts was done I thought I thought it was a good six months learned a lot punched in the nose a couple times I'm like wow this is 27 this is this is life you know this is tough what do i do do I go back to working do I go back to IT I had those thoughts those anxieties and I just took the first couple weeks here and I'm like you know what what do I do best you know it's I had seen in this Instagram video of Drake you know the rapper and he was answering a question in the same thing what do I do best he was like you know what I'm a great rapper yes I'm a great producer yes I do great music videos I'm a great performer but he's like if you asked me what do I do best he's got a writer because I've written all these hits for people I've written all these hits for myself and everything comes down to being a writer and I resonated that with that so much because that's the same thing with me if you look at all the things that I've done as a kid in high school writing music you know writing short stories writing these video vignettes writing very good emails you know working in IT everything has come down to the writing and that was the same story with with the videos so take the time just take the time to assess I like to write it you know I'm saying you like to write I'm like I like to write but much different I write patents and trademarks most people don't like to read so a little bit different but you take that you say okay I like to write I need to make a pivot you know things have changed a little bit taste a couple weeks and then how did you these how did you land on where you're at now or what you're gonna do now as far as kind of we're writing big business video scripts and all that how did you know how did you decide okay I'm gonna put my passion for writing here mm-hmm yeah it was in that same realm of discovering what I do best I asked myself that question yeah what is my best skill what does andrew lopez do best yes I'm talented in a lot of ways sure but what does it come down to and when you take the testimonials I had gotten from the people I've worked with lat end of last year in the beginning of this year is again drew the videos you make are great and in what you guys do is but why I've worked with you is because you helped me clarify my message and present that message to the public and you've chosen video to be that channel or that Avenue so that's been my mission statement with elevated short says I'm here to help business owners or entrepreneurs clarify their message and then present that very message or messages to the public could be a video but it was it was it was recognizing that so it was the first two weeks of quarantine and I was like you know what am I gonna do this is gone it's out the window but then I you know again found that and I said you know what so many people wouldn't tell me that it's the message it's it comes down to that so that's where I said you know what what if I just production can it's gonna be what its gonna be as we move out of this but where do people struggle the most and as I said earlier people struggle the most with at least from what I've collected that it's that message it's what am I going to say to the public are people gonna listen to me are they gonna think I'm wrong are they gonna think I'm crazy it's that concept of crafting that and that's why video production I feel gets so difficult it's just it's pushing play and saying that so I've taken that skill and what I've been doing the last eight weeks and I've really been focused on just helping people hey what do you want to say I have a series of questions that I ask in a process where I just simply will will sit with a business owner be a zoom and say you know ask questions like what do people come to you for most what are you seeing happening in your industry and how are you changing that you know what is something that people don't know about your industry or what are some misconceptions that are involved around your industry and how are you fixing that so it's just asking those questions and pulling information out of people you know going back to the journalism days of Boise State it was taking five pages worth of notes or five pages worth of prose and condensing that down to 600 words and that's the same thing with video I challenge people to say push play show yourself show your personality show what you what you're passionate about but do it in 60 seconds you know elevated shorts it's a one question cuz I think that makes a great sentence of what you're doing but you know though oh and this is my personality problem so I may be the outlier and so by all means but you know I always at least for me when I've done videos and I've done recordings them before it's always more a bit more if I can do a Nashville or off the copper I can you know put it in my own words I usually if I do a video recording I don't say the same thing twice but it takes you takes I end up putting it in one way or it in one way and that if I do it again I'll have to say message but weird is it different so how do you when you're doing scripts for people or helping them to find their message how do you keep it in their own voice so it doesn't come to be you know Andrews message rather than their message or make sure that it maintains authenticity or maintains what how they would say it or how they want to say it it comes down to the listening portion in the interview process it comes down to just being engaged paying attention so if I asked you a question about you know patents and stuff and I asked you you know Devon what do people come before most I'm sure as a lawyer you provide people so many services right like you can do so many things help people all these ways but I would ask you and if you you know not knowing that but if you would said hey we focus mainly on patents and trademarks I would say them there's your there's your first video there's your first topic like yes you you you present yourself with this is what people come to me for most but then I would just gather so you're gonna talk about this talked about this talked about that I'm just gonna say for your video hey I'm Devon Miller I'm you know a patent attorney with Miller IQ law I'm here to help you a B and C I'm just gonna write the a B and C for you just from what I've heard I'm not so that's where the wording might be a little tough is in these business screenplays it's more so just finding the topic and it's finding what you want to say because if I hold someone to a script there's that same fear I'm just like you I'm off the cuff I'm you know I don't try and rehearse many things the most the best things that I've put out on video have been me just snapping into it and saying you know what I have my bullet points in my head if I just try and read a script even as outgoing and as expressive as I am as myself I get nervous oh my gosh I didn't say that sentence I need to do it again you you pinhole yourself so I don't write in this business screenplay I don't write it word for words say this cuz that's your right is this Andrews message or is this my message I just pull it all out and I say here's this a B and C we're talking about worker composition we're talking about HR we're talking about sales just break every video down if it's 45 to 60 seconds have a your intro and an outro figured out and just have just make your points a B and C so even if a B and C are on the wall and the camera behind you at least you can be like a B C okay as long as I say those three things the video is fine so that's more what I do in that regard it's kind of just finding those bullet points nailing the bullet points and just delivering it in that way that's very insightful so now we take all that finally are kind of pivoted a few times kind of discovered what you think is restraint where you want to go where you're headed taking about eight weeks where do you think the next sixty or six months or a year takes yeah or where do you think you know this is how do you what's the direction or what lays urge lies in store for you over the next six months or a year I think it's more I I've always enjoyed the production um I've put a lot of passion in everything that I do but looking forward to the next six months or even just the next the next month excuse me as we get into June and as things starting to open up out here in California I'm won't focus so much on the production as much because as I've said I've pin hold not pin old but I put myself in a position where I help people and I can partner with a lot of videographers now I can partner with other production companies that are like you know what Andrew we're so good at what we do with the videos in the production but we expect our talent to show up with the words to say and that's another story that I've gotten from from people is like oh I've showed up I've paid people to show up for their day rate for two hours or you know paying their hourly rate and I freeze up and they got to come tomorrow and I gotta pay again it's nothing they've done wrong it's just me not being prepared so it's just as we move out of this you know there's a couple people locally that I'll do some production for just people that are here in Orange County but I'm honestly able to work with people across the country now I have some proposals out you know to various places across the country and it's amazing I never thought that I would have that opportunity you know through the power of 6° networking which is the networking group up a part of and then Norton down here in San Diego has done a phenomenal job of what he's done on a virtual landscape because we're normally an in-person meeting twice a week group a networking group so it's it's finding those virtual you know virtual happy hours or virtual meetings and it's it's doing all the writing as I've mentioned beforehand so someone can say hey I have a videographer that I work closely with out here in Boston but they don't do what you do and you can you write or help me craft my message and then I'll have my videographer push play so I think that's the big thing and if you would ask me to six months ago I would have been so prideful when I would have said like no I have to shoot it I have to be the one to to do that we have to do it at the same time it's like you realize is you mature a little bit and you have a mindset it's like no it's okay to share the wealth with others because not many people do what I do specifically they might do it in a way so I'm willing to kind of partner and help out in that way so I see myself you know to fully answer the question just partnering a lot more you know I'm all about collaboration and I know that there's a lot of competitors when it comes to the video space but I'm all about embracing collaboration and saying hey we're two pieces of the puzzle that fit and let's tackle this project together let me do the front piece you can handle the back piece and everyone everyone's happy everyone's good no that sounds like a great plan and a great month or six months or whatever forward so it sounds like it'll be an exciting time so maybe what we'll do is we rapping towards the end of the podcast and always more things to want to talk about the time to talk about them I always have two questions I asked after the end of the podcast though lassos now is the first question is always what is the biggest business or worst business decision you ever made um I think just trying to do too much you know that I don't know if it's a millennial mindset or if it's everyone else has similar mindset no matter what age you are but trying to do too much and I think that was where I was headed in February trying to take on too many things oh yes I'll do this I'll do this all this I'll film at I'll film that I'll film that cuz it was more of a cash grab it was more like oh my gosh I'm a new business I need to make money so I can start paying the bills and I realized and that's where I kind of think coronavirus in this sense um it's been a friend to me in an awkward different way but I think that was the big thing in March and this is because it made me think okay that might have been some good money I made for the month of march towards everyone's story and all these things lined up in the month of March and it all went kaput but mentally I would have gotten caught chasing a lot of different things and I would have burnt myself out you know you can't burn out if you're not on fire but I was I was starting to smoke up a little bit and I think that was a business decision I was making because I was hungry because I was willing to do it but I know that that would have that would have uh that would have burned me out so I guess if that answers the question right just trying to do too much and trying to be the yes-man all the time and that could have been so much more detrimental oh I think that's a great answer certainly insightful and I think that often times both of you in the startup mode or if you'd like to be an entrepreneur and innovator that often times there are five things and I'll catch your interest or you want to do these great cool things and oftentimes you bite off more into rather than focus on whenever you could add mass for that and then slowly grow out from it so I think that's that's very insightful okay second question I always ask is so for someone that's getting into or either just starting out or and in a startup or wants to get into being in a start-up for small business what's the one piece of advice you'd give them give yourself a try don't be afraid to put yourself out there I know it's scary I know it's tough there's financial burdens sometimes just don't be afraid to give yourself a try because if you let that slip 5 10 20 30 years later that's where the regret sinks in so I get it slightly different position because yes I'm not married yet I don't have kids yet I don't have a mortgage yet so I'm in a different case I have the freedom I have the ability to just put myself out there but for anybody who's younger than me coming out of college or anybody who's in their 40s or older that's just like you know what I've always wanted to do that just don't be afraid to give yourself a try and you know putting yourself out there and just taking the first step you know it's a general answer but it's it's a very concrete one because that's the biggest thing fear is everywhere and I understand fear everyday but it's just that phrase just don't be afraid to give yourself a try and just believe in yourself no that's great advice and I think that's often times you'll have fears and you let things that worry or concerns or how am I gonna make this or husband in you you never actually give that sometimes you'll give it a try and you'll fail but it's better at least to give it or put yourself out there try it see if you really do want to do it see if you can do it and if not then as you do as you medicated you can always make the pivots you can make the adjustments so that you can find both where your your passion and your talents lie and where that intersection is and be able to to be able to build build something around that so perfect well I think that's great so with that then I want to give you a chance if people want to get connected with you they want to use your service if they want to reach out to you or any anyway get connected with you what's the best way to get hold of you um still trying to figure out which way to go with the website so I don't have a website quite yet but I do a lot on LinkedIn if everyone out there is active on LinkedIn you know I have another small show called reinvention daily I interview people on a daily basis and talk about how they've reinvented their business right now Andrew Lopez I know it's a common name but elevated Schwartz is my business my cellphone is area code nine one six two seven six three zero three eight based here in Southern California and my email was Andrew at elevated Schwartz comm again to stay tuned for a website here in the next little bit but love to connect or simply just to be a resource you know now is the time to give now is a time to collaborate now is a time to really just hone in on what you want so for those out there that would love to to write a miniseries or do a business screenplay I'm all about it but if you have any questions or just they want to connect and and kind of chat about things I'm an open book and I'm I'm glad to be here well awesome well I think that's great and we will certainly include that in the show notes and so people can know how to connect or connect with you and reach out so well thank you again for coming on it's been a real fun to talk about your journey about what you've been doing what you're going to be doing the pivots you've made and the successes you've had and where you're the failure users you've had because it's insightful and all the way around as to what we can learn both from successes failures and the ups and downs so thank you again for sharing for those of you that are wanting to or maybe interested in coming on the podcast and being guest feel free you can reach out it just go to inventive journey and apply to be on the show and we'd love to have you and to hear your journey I mean that for those of you that are startup or small business or looking for help with the patent or trademark also feel free to reach out thanks again and you for coming on it has been a pleasure and it's been great to talk with you and hopefully everything works out for you and the next six months or even better than the last absolutely David thank you for the opportunity thank you for your enthusiasm your time and trusting me all right perfect thank you and have a good one Chris man [Music] [Music] English (auto-generated)