Adam Pickstone: A Dancer's Journey to Video Strategist

What happens when a professional dancer decides to trade spotlights for camera lenses? Adam Pickstone's remarkable journey from performing on international stages to founding PixFlix, a thriving video production company, reveals powerful lessons about reinvention, purpose, and building a business that honors your values.

In this captivating conversation, Adam shares how his background in dance and children's theater unexpectedly prepared him for entrepreneurship. "I think some of the strongest people in the world probably had some theater training or dance training," he reflects, explaining how performance skills translate directly to business presentations, adaptability, and thinking quickly under pressure.

But the heart of Adam's story isn't just about career transformation—it's about consciously designing a business that supports his family priorities. When faced with a crossroads between a lucrative corporate job that would keep him away from home or building his own company, Adam chose the path that allowed him to be present for his children's milestones. "I want to make sure I'm around," he explains, challenging conventional narratives about entrepreneurial sacrifice.

Perhaps most valuable is Adam's evolution from "videographer" to "video strategist." He articulates a crucial distinction many business owners miss: "A videographer hits record. A video producer creates good content. A video strategist understands what outcomes these videos need to reach." This perspective shift transforms how businesses approach content creation, focusing on strategic placement and measurable results rather than simply producing videos that gather digital dust.

Through COVID pivots, self-doubt battles, and the constant balancing act of creative and business demands, Adam's story offers a refreshing blend of practical wisdom and emotional honesty. Whether you're considering a career change, struggling with your business direction, or simply curious about the human story behind a successful entrepreneur, this conversation will leave you inspired to define success on your own terms.

What would your business look like if it truly aligned with your values? Listen now and discover how one entrepreneur found his answer.

Resources from this episode:

• https://www.pixflixproductions.com.au
• https://www.youtube.com/@pixflixproductions
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-pickstone-650288a5/
• https://www.youtube.com/c/TalkVillePodcast

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Adam Pickstone
• 9:07 From Dancing to Creative Entrepreneurship
• 17:42 The Journey Through Children's Theater
• 27:37 Building PixFlix and Business Evolution
• 38:36 Video Strategy vs. Videography
• 49:09 Navigating COVID and Business Pivots
• 1:00:49 Family First Philosophy
• 1:15:43 Overcoming Self-Doubt and Business Challenges
• 1:26:51 Closing Thoughts and Takeaways

Transcript

JD: 0:09

Hi listeners and welcome to the JD's Journal podcast where, every week or two, my guests and I share some of our life's journey, our successes and failures and the valuable lessons and resources that we've gathered along the way. This podcast is being recorded on the traditional lands of the Dharug and Gundungurra people who pay our deep respect to Elders, past, present and emerging. This land always was and always will be Aboriginal land. The content shared on this podcast is intended to inform and entertain and it should be applied with your own good judgment. As always, your feedback good and constructive is always appreciated. The podcast is produced by me, so please forgive the occasional glitches from time to time. Anyway, enough of the formalities, let's get on with this episode. Hi listeners, and welcome back to the JD's Journal podcast. As always, it's great to have you here. As I promised in a previous podcast or in the previous podcast, it's time to have some guests and I'm absolutely thrilled to have a guest with us today Adam Pickstone.

JD: 1:23

I've known Adam for about 10 years, about 12 years actually. Now We'll talk a lot about that. I first encountered Adam actually as an audience member in a production of Monty Python's Spamalot and was so enamored with that production and the performances that we saw. With that production and the performances that we saw, it wasn't long about six months afterwards that I had the absolute joy of performing with Adam on stage in Cats where he played impressively played the role of Shimbleshanks, demonstrated his incredible talents as a dancer. I played the role of the old Deuteronomy in that show and you know, again, it was quite remarkable to be a part of that with Adam and the rest of that cast and my family, which I think I've talked about in previous podcasts.

JD: 2:13

So Adam is the founder and the CEO of Pixflex, a small business here in Western Sydney that provides videography and photography and production services. I've seen the quality of the work that he's produced for local community theater and I can tell you that it's impressive. No question about that. Adam is also a very devoted husband and a father of three wonderful children and I'm pretty certain that we'll be talking more about Adam's family as we as we go through this podcast episode.

JD: 2:42

I'm going to say that you know adam's talent as a dancer and his ability to take over the stage completely. You know we're thrilled to watch throughout the season and through the rehearsals and the shows I could see firsthand adam's commitment to delivering memorable experiences. It was so incredibly obvious that he worked his butt off, frankly, to entertain the audiences there and deliver great content, and I know, and I'm certain, having seen the work that he's done since he established the Pixflix organization, that his focus on delivering great outcomes for his customers is just the same, and so we'll talk more about that. But that's my introduction. But, adam, did I get it right? Is there something that I've missed or something you'd like to add to your bio there?

Adam: 3:29

No, you make me sound better than I am. No, honestly it's yeah. I've had a lot of different facets of my life and you've encapsulated it out in that little intro, so thanks.

JD: 3:41

Awesome, awesome. Well, I'm happy to be your marketing person for a fee, anyway, look, so you know, we've talked about what you do. We've talked about what you've done and we will spend some more time on both of those topics. But you know, one of the questions that I always like to start with with any of my guests is what is your purpose Like? Why is Adam Pickstone on the planet and what's the legacy that you want to leave behind?

Adam: 4:05

That is a tough question because I feel like there was an answer for a long time and then that answer shifted and changed over a course, and I think that's natural with any humans, right? I think we have an idea of our head of what we want to do when we grow up and then that may actually come through or it shifts. So I think, you know, if you asked an adam at 18 to maybe early, late 20s, it would be, you know, to be a performer, be performing all over the world, and I got to do that, which was, which is great. But I think my purpose now honestly has shifted and it's just to be the best husband and father to my children, provide for them in whatever possible way. That is which is weird, because it's not totally about me. It's about making sure these people, you know, progress in their life. So I think it's just to be the best person, the best, best provider I possibly can be.

JD: 5:07

Well, having known you, I think that all resonates and all makes perfect sense, and it's a pretty important purpose as well. Um, I think we synergize on that pretty well. To be honest with you, Um, do you have a sense of the change that you just talked about? What was the catalyst for that? What for that? Where do you think that shift took place and what do you think was the driver for that shift?

Adam: 5:28

I think for me. I worked overseas on cruise ships for about nearly two years and then I came back home and I worked at Apple here at Penrith, just as a means to the ends, while I was waiting for my next contract. And then things just shifted. I think, you know I I got out of a relationship with not my current, well, my actual life, um, but I got out of a relationship with someone I met on ships and then that shifted and then I ended up just getting getting with my wife now and things just changed over it just it was a natural progression to where I am and suddenly I think performing didn't become the everything that I wanted it to be, and whether that was my own kind of thoughts of I wasn't as good as the people that coming up or the opportunities were there, I don't know it. Just things naturally progressed to me going I need to find something else to do. That was still creative, and then it kind of shifted. And then, of course, kids came and that just knocked everything else out of the park.

JD: 6:38

Funny, how that happens.

Adam: 6:39

right, kids change everything, I've always said that you know to be a parent is a selfless act, and if you can't understand that, then maybe being a parent isn't for you and you have to unfortunately this sounds a bit, I guess, dire sacrifice a little bit of yourself in order to make sure that those young people who need your help foster and grow that's so relatable as a dad for myself, that's incredibly relatable.

JD: 7:11

Now, I totally get that. Um, one thing I didn't mention listeners in the intro was that one of the things that made adam so memorable in that very, very first exposure to him in in spam aot was that the night that we were there on that show during the bows, adam brought the show to a halt while he proposed to his wife during the bows. I can tell you that the theater full of people were mesmerized by his very visible demonstration of his love for Sarah and that was an incredible moment that I'll never forget. I'm sure you'll never forget it either. But that was definitely I could see, it was apparent to everybody, I guess that just how you felt at that time. So I think that's fantastic. Um, can you take some time and kind of walk us through in a little bit more detail your journey, like you know, again, coming from your background in in dance, on cruises and so forth, to where you are today, maybe the highlights and even if you've got some lowlights there on that journey. Walk us through that.

Adam: 8:11

Yeah, sure. So I grew up in a performing arts family, not my mom and dad, but my siblings. My sisters danced and as a young kid I was interested in it. Apparently. I was at the back as a two-year-old shaking it in their classroom. So my mom put me into dance from two and a half, so really, really young. So my entire early childhood was just dancing. That was my life Dance, dance, dance. Five days a week, dancing. And then, when I was around probably nine or ten, I auditioned for my first musical. Never sung a note in my life. Jess was a dancer.

Adam: 8:53

My mom, um put me into audition for peter uh boy from honestly, first original production with todd mckinney. Um, and I got cut pretty much straight away. But I already had singing lessons like a week before, so granted. But from then on, like the musical theater bug kind of kicked in and my mom is a lover of. And I got cut pretty much straight away. But I already had singing lessons like a week before, so granted. But from then on, like the musical theatre bug kind of kicked in, and my mum is a lover of old classic Turner, classic films and MGM films. So I was around musicals in the movie sense for my entire life. But then still grew up dancing, dancing, dancing, auditioned for shows, got really close as a kid in some shows. There was going to be an Al Jolson musical which never came. I got really close to that. I almost was in singing in the rain when it came. When I was a kid, like I was always really, really close because from Boy, from Oz onwards, my mum was like we'll go put you to drama and singing classes. So that's what we did as well, but dancing was still the first tier thing.

Adam: 9:45

Grew up dancing, um, and then, when I was going to high school, my sister, my older sister, rebecca, said to my mom oh, you should put adam into a performing arts high school. My mom was very hesitant. You know, growing up the west not really, there's not all the performing arts high schools you know, in the uh, late late 90s, early 2000s was all city-based and my mum was very skeptical of that. But my sister was like, no, he should audition for newtown high school. So I did so. I got into newtown high school, performing arts, uh, for dance, uh, and yeah. From then on, like just my entire high school career was at as at. But in year eight I auditioned for Oliver Cameron McAdosh's production. That was at the Lyric Theatre. I was successful in that. So that was my first theatre job and I was even more hooked like the line and sinker from there. Musical theatre was just everything and my hopes and dreams was let's be on Broadway, let's all do that kind of stuff. But yeah, and then things happened family dynamics and drama happened in my, my, my HSC kind of years and things kind of took a back burner and it kind of shifted. But I still love performing.

Adam: 10:57

Um, and then I found myself working in a lot of children's theater, so working with companies like Nickelodeon and DreamWorks. I worked for Nickelodeon in Australia for about 15 years, which is amazing. Got to tour around australia, uh, which is incredible. An opportunity to come on new england cruise lines in the nickelodeon department came. I auditioned for that, got successful. That so did two years on new england cruise lines in the nickelodeon program that was on board the ships. Um, and yeah, I worked overseas and other variations of shows in Dubai and Singapore doing children's theater, which is people I think a lot of people in the performing arts think down on children's theater, but it's actually one, I think one of the most rewarding theater.

Adam: 11:38

Yeah, because you are bringing joy to these little humans. And, yeah, people might go, oh, it's not real theater, you're, you're speaking childish or you know you're not, you're not doing, you're not truly performing. But I think there's a. It's a different, it's a different kettle of fish, it's, it's, it's a different bone. And a lot of people think they can easily jump into children's theater and they can't. Um, and then you have to understand, like the children's psyche, which I think maybe has helped me become a father. I am as well, because, you know, one of Nickelodeon's philosophies was we don't speak down to the children, we speak at their level, like we talk to them. We don't hover over them like a towering colossus, we come down to them, we speak at their eye level. We, you know, we talk to them like just people, because at the end they are. I love that, um, so, yeah, so I found myself children's theater and and you know, did other things as well um, worked on the cruise ships, came back and, yeah, I still had a love of musical theater.

Adam: 12:35

So I found community theater and I guess a lot of people also think down on community theater. Um, you know, people aren't being paid to be in shows, so they're not as good. And I'm not saying all community theatre is amazing, because there is some community theatre that is not. But I think there's a thing to say about community theatre where the people that are involved in that have a true passion. And I'm not saying professionals don't, but when you're being paid it's a little bit different, bit different. Right, you can go through the motions because it's a job. But I think you know people in community. You know they're turning up, they're spending you know what three, four months rehearsing for a show to put on a show for maybe only a week, like and they're doing it. Why? Because they love to perform. They. They love to entertain people and I love being on a stage. So I think community theatre A is a good training ground for people that might move into professional, but also for someone like me that found myself in a situation where I think professional performing I don't think I was good enough. I got to a point where there was much better people and it took a while for me to realize that and it was a little bit sad about that. But I then found this other place and this other community that you know I was allowed to come in and play and have fun and enjoy that performing. So that came into that.

Adam: 14:04

And then when I was working at Apple, like I mentioned earlier, my now wife said to me oh, you've always liked making films Because I used to as a kid. I used to always like make films, like you know, with a camera and you know, in my backyard with my little brother. And then in high school I did do a film for year 11 and 12. I did film studies, which really wasn't that much so I've always had film and video production kind of there as like a sidekick to my performing arts. I was like, oh yeah, okay, let's look into it. And she found me a full-time course, a film production course.

Adam: 14:42

When I did that two-year bachelor of video production and from then on it was like, all right, cool, this is my next, my new passion, like, and how can I also bring performing arts into this as well? Which is kind of how it would be. So then, yeah, finished that bachelor of film course, and I was like, all right, let's make opportunities for myself, let's create a company. What's it going to be, I don't know, but let's work it out. One of our mutual friends.

Adam: 15:09

Gail gave me my first film opportunity to film her concert many, many, many, many years ago at the Carrington. Goodness, if I did that today, it would be very, very different, because obviously I've learned a lot more. And then what was the first thing I did after that was let's go into weddings. That's a good, that's a good place. People need their weddings filmed. So they were my first kind of things event filming, filming events, whether it be weddings, concerts, um, because obviously from a dance background I was able to connect with dance schools, start filming their end of year productions, um. So then that was that was originally what Peakflix was. It was a side hustle of filming events, weddings, things like that.

Adam: 15:52

And I got an opportunity to go and work for a year with Canon Australia, so I worked for them as their videographer, uh, in there, which was a big training ground for me. It was my first job as videographer and learning about branding and how that's important and how like that is you know when you are creating content from a corporate sense. Because my film production course was all about how to be well in a production, how to be a producer, how to be a director of a film. It wasn't really about how to work with businesses as a corporate kind of sense. So Canon was my first introduction to that.

Adam: 16:28

That was a gamble actually, because it was only a three-month contract and I was working full-time at Apple. I just got married, we just had our first child, so to leave a full-time job just to go for a three-month contract was a massive gamble and it took a while for me to kind of say yes to that and that ended up being almost 12 months and then, you know, that job kind of ended, uh, and then from there it was. It was kind of no turning back. Then I started working in the real estate market area and yeah, and then from there things just evolved and I'm sure we'll get to it later on where it shift to today. But I guess that's the story from performing arts to camera.

JD: 17:11

There's so much in there. There's just so much in that description there. So, first of all, your reinvention is remarkable and I think you know that the thing that I observe in people who are ultimately successful is the ability to have that honest conversation with yourself and assess where you are and then reinvent and adapt. And adapt, leveraging the strength that you've already got, but then layering them with a new set of skills and so forth. So I love that you shared that and I think we will talk more about that.

Adam: 17:41

I think reinvention is scary for people. Yes, and don't get me wrong, more about that. I think reinvention is scary for people. Yes, and don't get me wrong. Every time I reinvented myself I was terribly scared, you know, because you know the stakes are always high in everyone's situation and I think um out of probably everyone anyone in my family I'm probably the most adaptable to change um, and I think it's just through experience and through what life throws at you.

JD: 18:04

Well, that adaptability is going to be such a value to you, you know, forever. The reality is that, again, that what I see is that folks with the ability to flex and adapt and change and and grow other people who are ultimately successful. So kudos to you. Uh, in terms of that journey and I remember you and I talking at the very beginning of that journey and the aspirations that you have, and nine years in I guess it is now it's been amazing to watch the journey that you've been on.

Adam: 18:29

Yeah, and I remember we're sitting in your home right now and I remember coming over and we chatted for a few hours at the back of your office and it was just an idea and you really kind of helped spark something in me. So I want to thank you for that first kind of chat. You really were one of the first people that I kind of connected with from like a business sense and like business mentorship, even though it was only a short, you know, like that one night. It really sparks that journey for me.

JD: 19:02

So thank you. Well, the gift for me is seeing what you've done, Adam. It's really amazing, and I've been following your journey and loving it. It's amazing. So you know, when you think about the dancing and what you've done in that space, how does that influence you today? I don't believe for a minute that that's not still having an impact on you in your life. So how do you think about the way that performing influences the person you are now?

Adam: 19:30

I think performing brings a lot of people, gives a lot of people, a lot of people different things, and I think some of the strongest people in the world are probably people that had some theater training or some form of dancing training in their life. And I'll go to the grave saying that, um, you know, whether it be how you present yourself on when you're talking to people in in a client meeting, if you know, if I relate performing arts to business, it's like how can you hold yourself in a in a, you know, in a meeting with the front of people or a presentation? I think that really helps. I think adaptable to change and being quick thinking is also forming arts as well, especially dance. Like you know, I might go into the amount of auditions I've had. I can't tell you how many I've had. You know probably hundreds of auditions in my early childhood until late adulthood. But you know you go in and you have to learn a two count, eight routine within 15 minutes and then perform it and get judged. Well, that's you have to be quick, you have to be really responsive and into that. So I think that that part of performing arts has really helped in the business sense. Um, and I and yeah, so I think in totally dancing and the performing arts in general, has just given me confidence in certain aspects of business.

Adam: 20:48

I'm not saying it has helped with everything. You think I've something that I've been saying lately because people are always like oh you, when you're talking, you, you know you talk so well, you're in front of people, you know it's great. I'm like, I feel like I'm like an introvert masquerading as an extrovert and I feel like I still get nervous about things, but I'm able to maybe put on a persona. When it comes to certain aspects of it it's still me, but it's able to go from adam that might be a little bit quiet, a little bit into like let's go. You know, right now I'm might be putting on a podcast voice, even though it's still my voice, but that energy that I'm able to put out there. So I think dancing and performing has helped me do that I think that's so very true.

JD: 21:33

Uh, you know, for me it was being a disc jockey for a couple of years for the same reasons, right, but I think that's very true and I do think we. There is an element of performance when you're engaging in a business level. There is an element of performance when you're engaging in a business level. There is an element of presenting a person in a particular style or a particular role or persona. That's required that you can do that. Adaptability. It's interesting. I've worked with I'm an extrovert, I've worked with a lot of introverts, and some of those introverts are incredible in terms of their stage presence. It's almost like a completely different person off the stage or off the boardroom table or wherever it happens to be, than there. And I think there's a lot of truth in what you said there in terms of that ability to step into a role, and it doesn't change the authenticity of the person beneath, but it's the mouthpiece that they have in terms of how they communicate.

Adam: 22:25

One thing I will say and I say this because I think it's only maybe the last two years I've realized this too is I do think some part of performing has also scared me in business and I want to be honest about that. I think auditioning and getting a lot of no's, no's, no's has maybe scarred me a little bit. So I do get like a little bit anxious when I come to maybe presenting a solution to people, which has probably deterred people away from me in those regards too. So you know, I think there's a good and bad in anything you do, and it's about how we can kind of overcome that. I think is important and I'm still learning that like every day, like if I have to get on the phone and have a difficult conversation with someone or or I get a no from someone in business, now my soul does shatter a little bit and I think it's that scarring of being told you're not good enough for the performing arts.

JD: 23:16

You know I was going to ask you about auditioning actually because in my experience and you know I've got a performance family too, and you know I've got a performance family too but in my experience there are two types of people. There are people who love the auditioning process and then there's people like me who'd rather have a root canal than do an audition, and I've had my share of completely horrible auditions that I've done. What style are you? Are you a person who loves auditioning or a person who oh, I hate it, man, I hate auditioning.

Adam: 23:42

So how do you prep?

JD: 23:43

Oh, I, hate it, man. I hate auditioning.

Adam: 23:45

So how do you prep? I think it's, I think, prepping for an audition. I think it depends upon an individual Myself, I think I just I haven't auditioned for a very long time. I've been running my business now for almost 10 years and I decided not to to do any theater because of having a young family. So the last audition I had was very long ago.

Adam: 24:10

So, um, yeah, me bringing back that memory, it would be just more just kind of being as prepared as I can, making sure I'm singing through. You know, I always, I always saw myself as a, a actor, singer. So singing was always my weakest and probably is even more weaker that I've not trained that muscle, because singing is a muscle. So I would just be prepared as much as I can with that song or those songs that you might have. You know, when I was auditioning for professional theatre, you'd have to make sure you have the right catalogue for that. So making sure you're prepared for that, so you're just making sure that you train yourself, like anything. If you're going to go into a business meeting, you're not going to go in there and go, all right, what are we talking about? You're going to have some form of preparation, right. So I think auditioning is being as prepared as you possibly can in that situation.

JD: 25:05

But I never loved it. I have been to a few of those business meetings that were like that, though I gotta say, of course, not saying we're all perfect. So so you know, using the metaphor of auditioning, with those kind of business meetings that you go into, because I do think there's a, there is synergy there in terms of particularly where you're you're trying to win a new business and you're going in to have that first engagement. How do you prep? I mean, is there similarities there in terms of how you audition, to how you prepare for that auditioning for a new business?

Adam: 25:33

I think, yet again, it comes down to preparation. So, hypothetically, let's go. A lead comes through to me. The first thing I'm going to do is obviously, however they come through to me hopefully they've given me the right information that I possibly can is then going ahead and researching that company a little bit, not extensively, but the first thing I'm going to do let's go to their website. Let's have a look at what their website looks like, find out about them, what's their visuals on their website as well, and that really gives a sense of that business. Looking at their socials as well, just really judging from an aspect of what's their online presence like, and then I can get a sense of this is probably what they need from what I'm looking like.

Adam: 26:15

And then going into that meeting and I do have a bit of a structured meeting so I do my discovery sessions, which generally go for about 15 to 20, 25 minutes, where it's all about finding out their problems, not about what solution I have for them, because at the end of the day, that's what I need to get. I need to get A am I a right fit for them? And B are they a right fit for me? And I think a lot of businesses don't do that. They don't go all right. Am I going to actually be able to serve these people? So just being prepared and then having a bit of a structure in that meeting, so then you can find the right outcome or right solution.

JD: 26:58

Look, I think what you just talked about is so vitally important and, coming out of the corporate space, I've met with plenty of vendors who just came in and wanted to sell me a product. Uh, and the the notion of of discovery is a vital one, uh, in terms of understanding that the customer's problem is, um, or the customer's opportunity is, or what happens to be, before you start presenting your solution.

Adam: 27:21

I think is vital well, what does all businesses have in common? They all have a problem that needs solved. It doesn't matter what it is, and that's ultimately what businesses do they solve problems for other people.

JD: 27:35

So you've got to find that Well, and I presume that for the vast majority of your customers at a high level, the goal that they've got is the same it's about advertising their business and bringing in new customers and raising awareness of the services they provide, and so forth. So I think that makes sense. But obviously, once you start to peel the onion, the challenges that face that customer or the opportunities that are there for that customer are different. Yeah, of course, and so you know. Digging down a little bit deeper, how do you get to that discovery? How do you work that out?

Adam: 28:06

Well, my discovery is it's really about just gathering as much info as I possibly can, not really digging really deep. Those deep kind of things come if we go into a strategy session and I will give them a solution from that. But you are right on the surface level. You know, most people that come to me don't? They don't have that awareness in their brand or their brand. Their brand doesn't showcase who they are in the best light, which is probably the main, main kind of problem. And then also time poor. They don't. They don't know how to solve the problem that they have. They don't know how to pick up a camera and film it uh, they don't have that. So they're coming to find someone that can give those solutions to them. But then it's going ahead and making sure that we are finding a solution that is right for them or unique to them. So that would be more done in our, in our strategy kind of sessions and then even further in our onboarding if they come on as a client, where we deep dive into their clientele. You know their values more, those kind of things. So it seems like a long process, but it I think it's really important to me.

Adam: 29:14

I I've said for years that I'm not a videographer. I'm a video producer, but I've recently I've tried to become more of a video strategist, which just sounds like a whole bunch of words, but for me, a videographer is someone outside of uni or in uni outside of high school, that gets a camera from JB Hi-Fi, hits record, doesn't know what they're really doing, you know, just hits record for the client because they've asked them to do it. A video producer is someone that produces videos in a really good way and that's what I've been doing for years that does deep dive into things a little bit more, but basically, after that production is done, just hand it over to the client and goes there, you go, have fun. It doesn't really kind of get a sense of how that video is returning on their investment, which is a thing that is really hard to kind of get a sense of how that video is returning on their investment, which is, you know, a thing that is really hard to kind of track.

Adam: 30:11

Video strategist is someone going all right, this video or these videos have a certain outcome that we need to reach for you and that these videos need to be placed in these places once it's done. And you need to do this, you need to put them out as an EDM. Are you on YouTube? No, let's get you on YouTube. Why? Because it's the second largest search engine in the world. Also, whack those videos on your website. Why, seo is going to help you.

Adam: 30:39

So a video strategist is going to say where can you put these videos? Sorry, this is what these videos are going to do for you. This is what you're going to do with these videos, because there's no point going. You know, you feel my client, you've got this business. You go, all right, you're going to make this an awesome video for me. There you go, there's the video, and I check in with you six months time and it's had 33 views. Has that, you know, is that 10 grand or five grand had a return on your investment? Probably not. So it's really making sure that and I'm learning this right now, like via strategies is only kind of something that I've really been toying with in the last well, probably since the beginning of the year. I've just picked up a book that I'm reading as well. It's a little more more along those lines too. So that's where I'm hoping to be and something where I'm I am striving to be.

JD: 31:31

Uh, more in my business is that video strategy, so I'm I'm grinning because this is resonating with me in such a big way.

Adam: 31:37

So it was a long way right, well, but there's a.

JD: 31:40

there was a very short period of my career where I was trying to be a salesperson. By the way, I was an absolute failure and, as a salesperson, horrendous. If you ever see me apply for a salesperson by the way, I was an absolute failure as a salesperson horrendous. If you ever see me apply for a sales job, just throw me away.

JD: 31:55

But it was interesting because it was a sales role, selling to small electricians and plumbers, selling an accounting system to small electricians and plumbers, and the merit behind that was a noble merit in the sense that most electricians who've now established their own business, or plumbers who've established their own business, or, I guess, carpenters or whatever, they're very good at their domain space. They're very good carpenters, they're very good plumbers, they've been working for somebody who's been running a business, now decided to go alone, but they don't know how to run the books. Well, by goodness. They don't know how to do marketing either. And so I think what you just described makes perfect sense, because sure, I can produce videos to promote that carpenter or that plumber, but to get it discovered, to get it seen, to get it to bring customers, it's not their skill set either.

Adam: 32:40

Yeah.

JD: 32:40

And so I think what you're describing bridges a significant gap for small businesses who need that expertise.

Adam: 32:50

And the thing is right. You know the amount of times I've had meetings with people and they're like, oh so you know, maybe not in these exact words, but basically have said what's my going to be my return on this investment? How much money am I going to get from your video? And the truth of the matter is I cannot say that to anyone. I can't say this video is going to cost you five grand. You're probably going to get 30 to maybe 40 grand of income from this video. If I said that, I'm absolutely lying.

Adam: 33:16

And if any videographer, any video, anyone is saying that this video is going to give you money, uh, are just making a farce out of it because we can't track those stats unless you are doing a campaign. So you're putting money into meta or youtube ad or wherever where, if that video is being advertised, you can track that return on investment and see how much money you are getting from that on your conversions. But just putting a video up on your website and going awesome, going to get my clients from that, going to return, I can't do that. But what I can do now is say, all right, the awareness, the engagement if you do these steps with this video is going to get more eyes, because the truth of the matter is, video is a slow burn in your business, it is. And if anyone says it's going to be, it is a slow burn in your business, it is. And if anyone says it's going to be a quick-fire way to get clients, it's not. It's a slow burn way, but it's that consistency in your marketing that will get you clients at the end of the day, because, as human beings, we judge books by cover.

Adam: 34:27

We're a lot more skeptical when we hire people as a consumer or a business nowadays. You know you need a plumber. What are you going to do? You're going to go to websites, you're going to check out on the socials, and if they're not being active for six months, let's move on to the next one. Simple as that is, but we do. We want to see that the people that we're engaging with can we like them, can we trust them and, uh, you know what's their price point too, of course, but no, like trust are the three most important things when it comes to businesses, and video helps tell that story if you do it effectively, and repetition is king.

JD: 35:05

Consistency is key yeah, no question about it. No, there's no question about that whatsoever. Um, again, I'm going back to my days in sales and a little bit more in terms of where I was doing consultancy work. Are you finding situations where the customer's coming to you with something and you're seeing that it's not the right solution for them? Are you? Are you?

Adam: 35:24

always yes, always really because people think they see things from other people in maybe a similar industry and go, oh, I need that, but it might not work for them. Right, right, absolutely. I think you know we see where we see sunny objects and we we want that object, but is that object the right thing for us? The hard thing is telling people that. The hard thing is people accepting that maybe this is the solution.

Adam: 35:53

I had a client that I had for a while that, at the end of the day, I don't think they valued my opinion and my opinion was that this is where we should be going with your content. But there was a lot of chefs in their kitchen. They were all talking to each other but they weren't really talking to me, and then I'll give solutions and it would just be pushed down and we don't work with them anymore and that's fine, there's no hard feelings. But I want to work with people that trust that I can find the right solution for them. Now, at the end of the day, you know your business and I get that, but you've come to someone like me for our expertise in an area that you don't know anything about. Take our advice, okay, or try something new.

Adam: 36:44

Yet again, it's that people are scared of change. So, yeah, absolutely. People come to me all the time and go I just need this type of video. I go, all right, let's chat about that. No, this is what I need. So some people don't even want to have a discovery or a strategy session where you can go. I mean, they just want what they want.

JD: 37:03

Well, the reality is that the world has changed dramatically in terms of marketing. You know, I've got my newspaper, I think, or that rag that gets delivered to my driveway every week, what's a? Newspaper. Yeah, exactly right, and it's full of advertising and every time I look at it I'm like who's looking at this advertising?

Adam: 37:18

And I can tell you, newspapers advertising is not cheap. Yeah, you know, half a page could cost you $500.

JD: 37:24

I just got to wonder how effective it is.

Adam: 37:26

It's not.

JD: 37:27

In this TikTok era. Yeah, it seems like an odd way.

Adam: 37:30

I also save buses too. People go. I'm going to put a campaign on a bus I go. Are you a real estate agent?

JD: 37:36

They go, no, I go well, it's probably not that effective. Anyway, continue, no, no, that's good. So, going back to your business, right? So it's been nine years, coming up to 10 years, yeah, and frankly, you know, given the statistics on small business, that's a success, that's a great story, right? Well?

Adam: 37:54

it's been nearly 10 years, but most of that, the first seven years, was part-time and it was only after COVID that I went full-time. But yes, it's still around, so thank you.

JD: 38:08

It's an enterprise that's lasted nearly a decade, and so you know I think you've got a lot to be proud of there. But I was going to ask you. You just mentioned COVID, and you know COVID, in terms of shutting down, the typical events that you would be participating in must have been horrendous.

Adam: 38:24

So kind of talk me through.

Adam: 38:25

You know how covid impacted you and and kind of how you weathered that storm so I was probably in a better position than most um videographers at that point, or because I had a full-time job working in film um for a real estate marketing company. So I was still getting uh in my check every week, versus some people that lost their income completely. So it was a much bigger situation. However, we did rely on that money quite a lot, um, you know, and we didn't really realize how much we relied on it until it wasn't really there, but we still were able to survive. But it decimated the, the, the event industry. It decimated theater, decimated so many kind of. In that period of time, you know, and in that period of time I mainly was doing, I was probably 70 weddings and then the rest was in other events, dance, concerts, that kind of stuff didn't do any corporate stuff back then. Might have done one or two here and there over the years, but it was like, yeah, I could do that yet again video videographer, I could hit, record and and and go um. But then when covid hit um, I remember quite clearly I had one night where I actually had a breakdown because I was I got so, so depressed um, I'm an emotional being, probably because I'm performing arts, so I laid my heartstrings on my on my sleeve um, I'm an emotional being, probably because I'm performing arts, so I lay my heart strings on my on my sleeve. Um, I had a breakdown and I, and I said to my wife I was like I don't know what to do, I don't want to do. And then I woke up the next morning. I go I need to pivot and what are people needing right now? And live streaming was where it was like they needed live streaming services. Um, cool, let's invest in a lot of money in live streaming gear. Let's learn as much as I can about that in a very short period of time. I can do that.

Adam: 40:23

So I got into live streaming and I reckon in that that year of COVID I I live streamed a fair few weddings, a lot of high school graduations. Uh, near the end of the year we we did live stream some dance concerts too. So, like we live stream became a big kind of part of that point. But then I was like, okay, that's good, that's given me income and money right now. But I don't think this is going to be sustainable because I think once things go back, live streaming is going to drop off a lot and it has not saying people still don't live stream. They do, but it's a lot less in that period, right, um? So I was like, all right, corporate, let's get into that a little bit.

Adam: 41:09

So I dabbled with that. I put out the thing saying, yeah, hey, I'm doing some free promos for businesses. You know, you want to get back on their feet, hit me up, and that's kind of where it is Actually. Funny story Arana, here in Springwood. They are a fine dining restaurant. I don't know if you've been there. They took up my opportunity for a free video because I filmed a wedding for the family and they go yeah, adam, come over. They didn't have a restaurant. We filmed a promo video in their friend's kitchen, still on their website today, and now, five years later, we are now working with them, ongoing too.

JD: 41:45

That's awesome. So yeah, funny story.

Adam: 41:54

That's great seeding business, isn't it? Yeah, I think it's awesome. So, yeah, um went to corporate and then corporate was just became more enjoyable than weddings. You know, I remember um. So I now don't do weddings.

Adam: 42:05

However, I have slightly gone back into it every so often, but I shut weddings down and the reason I did that was I didn't enjoy it anymore and I didn't also enjoy being away from my kids, because, being a wedding videographer, um, you're away most weekends in the wedding season. You won't see me. Could be doing. Sometimes I'll do triple headers a Friday, saturday, sunday Absolutely crazy and always away. You know, could be in Canberra, could be in Mudgee, could be anywhere. So you know I remember quite clear the moment I decided to stop doing that I did. It was did three weddings in a week and a half. They were all at the same venue and it was all wet weather. And on the third one I was like I think I'm done because my creativity was lost as well. Like it just became same same and I think if anything in life, if something becomes the same, you gotta make a change, otherwise you just get locked in this state of just I don't know boredom. Weddings are tough.

JD: 43:14

They are.

Adam: 43:15

And a lot of people lately have asked me like oh, don't you make a lot of money out of weddings? No, no.

JD: 43:21

No, I mean, I was a wedding disc jockey for a few years and just being a DJ at weddings is tough. But being a photographer, I've done a couple of weddings. A couple. It's a 10-hour commitment for each one, quite literally. You can't do it for less than 10 hours.

Adam: 43:35

Yeah, absolutely, and the thing is like wedding photographers and videographers are the only vendors that are with the couple the entire day. Yeah, you know, celebrants are there. For what? Maybe an hour? Yeah yeah, yeah, the reception are there for a four to maybe six-hour period.

JD: 43:51

I can tell you DJ's five hours.

Adam: 43:53

It's almost exactly five hours, but like with a videographer, like we were doing, minimum 12 hours, maybe maybe 14. So, yeah, it's a lot of work.

JD: 44:04

It's tough, and it's very tough to have a happy customer too.

Adam: 44:06

It's hard work and I started learning a lot more about business when I started going into the corporate world as well and looking at you know what things were costing me in terms of my time and I just looked at the numbers and I was like this is really not making a profit and I understood that there's a lot of money for those clients to invest. Five and a half, seven and a half grand to me and I respect that. Someone who went through a wedding and had to pay that you know totally. But from a business model, I wasn't making much profit from it.

JD: 44:39

I have huge respect for successful wedding photographers, because it is a tough, tough gig and if you can pull that off, you're a hero in my eyes. So you've obviously participated in and done your work with, a wide array of events and activities and so forth. Is there one or two standouts that are memorable that you cherish?

Adam: 45:05

In terms of PicFlix? Yeah, um, cherish in terms of pickflix? Yeah, um, yeah, I don't think so. Um, I always love filming theater. I think anytime I film theater in any way that I feel like it's a piece of me to be part of, I was, as as weird as it sounds, even though I'm not on stage with those people, I feel like I'm a part of that show. Does that make sense? Yes, it does. You know BMS up here just in the mountains that he'd come from away and I did a lot of video work for that show and then they gave me a car shirt and a crew shirt and I was like that made me feel really special.

JD: 45:48

So for listeners, the theater group BMMS, blue Mountains Musical Society I have to talk about them. I was on the committee there for quite a while and they were my introduction to musical theater. My first show, as we talked about earlier, was Cats with Adam, courtesy of Blue Mountains Musical Society. I agree with you.

JD: 46:05

I think you are, as the person capturing that production, you are inherently part of that production.

JD: 46:11

There's no way that that's different, and I would say that the gift to the company, the gift to the performers of being able to see themselves, it's one of the most sad things. I think. When you've done months and months and months of rehearsals and preparation and you perform in a musical, and maybe you perform in eight shows or 10 shows, what happens to be, and the season comes to an end and you don't, you don't have anything, there's nothing. You've got memories, you've got wonderful memories and community, but you may never, ever get to see yourself performing in that show. Because you're performing and so that ability to you know, for some shows where you can, to be able to have a chance to see yourself performing, even if it's just in a promo, is such an incredible gift. So I again, I'm with you 100%. I think that you are an integral part of the production, both in terms of the promotion of the production, which is so vital, but also the value that it gives to the cast members and production teams yeah, thanks, man.

Adam: 47:10

So I think, yeah, like to answer your question. Like anytime I film, theater is really this special to me, um, and even more special when I hear that my videos have helped sell tickets and get bums on the seats, which is ultimately the goal for every show right yep, um, but yeah, piece of me that misses the stage gets a little bit, a little bit back each time I film and then I see my work um online or what it does for the for for the people involved in the show.

JD: 47:38

So so you're a closet dancer?

Adam: 47:40

no, what do you mean about Closet Dancer?

JD: 47:45

I mean, do you still dance?

Adam: 47:47

No, that makes me sad. So for years, obviously, I was a dancer. I also used to teach dance. I taught tap dancing for 15 years locally in the Penrith and Lower Mountains area and a lot of my students that I taught are now adults and married kids and homes, and it makes me feel older. So, yeah, no, in terms of a closet dancer. No, but I miss dancing. Yeah, I do.

JD: 48:20

Maybe one day, maybe one day, get out those little soft shoes we talked about. We're going to go back to your customers in terms of PixFlix, and we talked about the fact that you know you do more than just capture for them. You do more than just produce for them, and I'm curious, you know, like, if anybody's listening to this show, who's thinking about getting in somebody like PixFlix to help them out, what can they do Like? What should they be thinking about? In in somebody like PixFlix to help them out? What can they do? Like? What should they be thinking about in terms of preparing and selecting a vendor and getting the maximum value out of an engagement with somebody like yourself?

Adam: 48:58

Yeah, look, it's kind of hard to answer that only because everyone's business is at a different stage of what they need. I think it's being open to listening to the right advice and not just going in, going this is what we need, but saying this is what we'd maybe like what can you do to help us? But being open to listening, because I think that's really important. And then finding the right people. There's a lot of companies out there. There's a lot of individual people out there, but it's about making sure that the right people that you select have got your best interests. You know, we're saying off camera that there's some companies that offer everything but only specialize in something right offer everything but only specialize in something right. So I think it's finding that right company that specializes in what you need, not just the shiny objects around them.

JD: 49:57

So what questions should they be asking? You know any potential vendor?

Adam: 50:01

Yeah, I think it should be things like is this your specialized field? Like, is this what you do day in, day out? That's really really important. It is you know. Can you give us some insights of what we should be doing, be open to listening to those people's advice from a video sense, not from, you know, maybe a branding or a PR sense, but like from a video sense Like how can we take what we do and show online in the best way? Right, I think that's really, really important.

JD: 50:34

Okay.

Adam: 50:34

And just be open to listening to that person's advice.

JD: 50:40

So I know that you have your own podcast these days, on the occasion, on the occasion. Well, I mean, I'm a little bit the same. I'm back in it regularly now. So tell me about your podcast. What's the purpose of that?

Adam: 50:53

Oh look, so it just was something that I wanted to do. There's a couple of things about a podcast, and I think for businesses out there too, podcast is a really good way of getting content out. That is easy. And what I mean about easy is that having conversations or talking about something that you are an expert at, just sitting down here to record, doesn't have to be professional setup like we have today, could even just be whatever it is, but talking about what you do or asking people's advice really good way of getting content out into your market. So that's kind of what it kind of initially started for was let's create a podcast so we can get some content out on my channels. You know that was it. But then I was like, okay, it needs to be a little bit more than that.

Adam: 51:39

I was like I want to talk to business owners and talk about why they got into this, why they got into business. Because I'll tell you what uh, business is not for the faint of heart, whether you own a business or you're a major partner in a business. Being a business owner is not for everyone and it's really tough. It can be really lonely too If you don't have the right support network around you. Business can be lonely, so I wanted to sit down and just chat with business owners and find out their story. Not about what they do, because people can find out what they do online, but why do they do it? What got them into it, what have they learned?

Adam: 52:21

So it was more of a bit of business therapy, sitting down and going and then maybe I'd learn something from them. So that was kind of the. That's the whole idea of my podcasts. Um, I haven't done an episode for a while. There's been a lot of things that's happened this year. Uh, the last episode I did, I think, was with Richard Fox, um, which was a little bit different because he doesn't particularly run a business, but he has an interesting story and he's he does run a business of, I guess with Paddle Australia and these wonderful gold medalist girls. But yeah, that's basically what it is.

JD: 52:55

That's awesome, and we will share some links to Adam's content in the notes for this podcast. You mentioned the production, so I have to say this is the most produced episode of my podcast has ever been. We're sitting here with microphones and cameras and lights and so forth, and for anybody that's been listening to my podcast, you'll know that I'm the director, producer, editor, everything else my own podcast and I use a single microphone and some fairly simple software. So this is fantastic. This is a very, very different experience for me.

Adam: 53:26

Did you think you'd get away with it when you asked me to?

JD: 53:28

come. I fully had expectations that this would be a production. I'm loving it. This is fantastic. I may publish a photograph of the setup here as part of the podcast um. Along the same line, so you recently released version one of your content, uh, growth playbook.

Adam: 53:44

Um, talk to me about that look, I think think a lot of people don't know what to do online in anything. So my idea of this playbook is something that evolves over time with my knowledge, and it's about empowering people to do their own content, because I'll be naive to say that I can do everything for every business. Truth of matter is I'm not with every business 24-7, right. So the content growth playbook is all about empowering them with knowledge that I have on some platforms and what they should be posting on those platforms A little bit of my four pillars of content that I like to structure my content around, so, um, which is really important, so a little bit information about that, uh, and give them a bit of a calendar of what they could be posting every day.

Adam: 54:42

So it's literally it's just some information that I've kind of dumped in a pretty little playbook, and my hopes is to evolve that um and just kind of add new pages to that it's. I just want it to be a free resource for people that they can just go to and go. All right, like I need some advice on how to film my own stuff. There's a chapter on how to film some stuff in their chapter page, um, but yeah, something that I'll be evolving over time and I wouldn't say it's a hundred percent amazing, um, but I hope it will be one day and I just want it to be something that just I can go ahead and have this, have, have a thought and go all right, let's just like a new page in there. Yep, and you know it's, it's a link for people, so that link will just constantly update, so they can just favorite the link and then go to it whenever they want.

Adam: 55:31

I love that Empowering people to kind of grow and do this stuff, and if they do need help they can come to me.

JD: 55:37

Absolutely yeah. So listeners there. If they want to get their hands on this, how can they do that?

Adam: 55:42

I guess they can either contact me through my many channels. You know you can dm me on all my socials or send me an email, or I'm sure all my details will be in the show notes but yeah look, yeah, send me an email or a dm and I'll send the link through simple, fantastic.

JD: 55:58

No, thank you for that. It's really interesting. I haven't taken a look at the actual detail yet, but I'm going to be reaching out to you for a copy of that, oh look it's?

Adam: 56:04

it's it's pretty basic. I wouldn't say it's an advanced look at how you should grow your content, but some basic knowledge that I've learned. Yet again, it's more related to user-generated content, so content that businesses or that can do themselves. Um, and because a lot of time they don't know where to start, yep, yep, yeah, they have a phone and they go yeah, okay, I can record something, but what do I record? Yep, so there's some information about you know what they can record and come up with ideas, and you know power of there's some AI prompts in there to help them come up with ideas as well, like that I even use in my business.

JD: 56:43

So yeah, well, that's a great segue. One of the questions I was going to ask you was you know, ai it's big, it's topical, it's everywhere. But when you think about you, when you think about PixFlix, what do you think AI will do to your business and how are you thinking about it?

Adam: 56:59

Yeah, look, we're not Skynet yet, so we're all live right now, so that's good. I always joke about ai being skynet. Um, I look, for me it's. It's a tool that I I utilize in my business in a in a couple of facets, um, but yet again, that word tool is really, really important. I think when you start using that to replace that's a completely different thing. Um, and especially in my industry, it cannot replace what we do. Yes, there's software, there's websites now where you can AI generate videos and you can make AI clones of yourself, and even I've dabbled with seeing how that works. But it's the connection, human connection, gets lost in that.

Adam: 57:48

There's a term in film called the uncanny valley. I don't know if you've ever heard of that term. Basically, the uncanny valley is a place where you can't connect because it feels soulless. A really good example of this would be when they brought out that live actionaction, lion King. You just couldn't connect with the emotion behind those lines. Even though the CGI is beautiful, the Savannah is beautiful, if you look at their faces it's just something that feels uncomfortable, something that you can't resonate, whereas if you look at the cartoon because cartoons can be a lot more animated in how they can animate things. You felt you could feel more connected and the uncanny valley is something that just makes you feel uncomfortable. Okay, so you know, these ai clones of people just feel uncomfortable and of course I'm sure it will get better over time, but it can't replace human connection.

Adam: 58:47

So the ai for me, I use it in variations of tools. So I'm not an amazing writer, never have been. I've always been a creative solo, if we said of this podcast. So how do I use? I can come up with ideas, but I'm not really good at writing, so I use ai to help guide me into certain areas. I'll write something down and you know I'll say, hey, can you make sense of this, can you tweak it? I, I create tone of voice for my business. I create tone of voice for my clients, because that's really important too with ai.

Adam: 59:19

If, especially if you're using things like chat, gbt is it's a machine learning, right, so you're more information you pump into that the more, the more closer to what it can do for you becomes yep, so when I'm creating content for my, my clients, I'm putting in as much information so that they can understand them and what I'm doing for them. Yes, and then help that. So it's. It's a way of creating that tone of voice or um, writing things, because I'm not an amazing writer and there's other, some other great AI tools as well. There is some tools to help edit certain things, like. There's some amazing tools to help edit long-form podcasts like this, but they're specific to those things. So it's just finding the right tools for you and making it work in your business to streamline, help and guide, but not replace. So that's my thought.

JD: 1:00:09

That makes perfect sense. It is interesting, I do. I'm trying to, you know, visualize where we're going to be in five years. I'm always interested in where's this going to go. The rate of change that we've seen with AI already is amazing and somewhat scary, to be honest with you, from my perspective. But going back to your point around authenticity, around being that having that connection, I do think it's going to be key here in terms of we will use ai content audio and visual content but I do think humans will detect that it's ai versus human and and we will value authentic human interaction differently. So it'll be. Again, I'm curious about how this plays out. I use AI heavily in terms of my own research and prep, but really, more than anything else, I'm getting it to do heavy lifting in terms of research and language, like you are. Yeah, I'm not a.

Adam: 1:01:04

You know, my one claim of fame in scholarship in high school was getting first in standard year 11 English. My mum will always say that she got me that because she helped me write my essay. I had AI before AI was around and that was my mum. Good on mum.

JD: 1:01:20

Yeah, absolutely so. You talked already about the challenges of running a small business and, again, anybody who's been down the road of establishing a small business knows that it's not for the faint-hearted and the survival statistics are not fantastic and we definitely go through periods, as small business owners, of that solitude, that loneliness and fear that happens. What's carried you through that?

Adam: 1:01:51

Yeah, I would sit here and say it's not been a tough year for me because it has been, um, as we said, off camera. We talked about this off camera. I think for me is I don't have a choice and I don't say that in a. I don't have a choice like a terrible way, but I don't think this is what I want to do and also the lifestyle I want to be able to do for my family. You know, when I decided to go full-time for PicFlix, I had a crossroad, all right, and that was either A I could go I had an opportunity to go to work for a company full-time and get decent money or go down the route of Pickflix, full-time. And though the decent money job seemed shiny and good, it would remove me from my family, family and what I mean about that is it was city-based, I'd be out the door by six, wouldn't be home, sometimes to seven, seven, thirty, and I have small children, so would I see them and that was really important. Like I want to make sure that I'm around and you know I'm a different type of parent than what my parents were and don't get me wrong, my parents are amazing parents but they weren't, as I guess, super affectionate and super wanting to be involved in everything, and I'm not that type of parent. I love looking at my kids, giving them a cuddle, telling them I love them and being around for them. People might call it helicopter parenting, but it's not. It's just how I like to be.

Adam: 1:03:42

So that crossword was easy, like let's go full-time run my own race, race, be around my family more, be able to go and watch them in their easter hat parade, or or go do a parent teacher at three o'clock or whatever you know be. You know, make sure I'm always there on their swimming lessons on a monday afternoon. Do you know what I mean? Yes, first thing, not seeing them until you know, maybe saying good night to them if they're not already asleep, or being a weekend parent and there's nothing wrong with that. People out there that do that, kudos to you, because I just couldn't do that. So my choice was simple pick Flix. And even in these hard times, which it has been for this first year well, first year, this part of the year that power of wanting to be around our family is what's keeping me and fueling me forward. So the no choice that I referred to is that's the choice I chose years ago. It's a conviction, and that's the choice that I want.

JD: 1:04:45

Yeah it's a conviction of your own life, harmony, yeah, and look, does that answer your question? It does you know, and and again, you and I both dads, um, and I'm a granddad, um, and so, yeah, it's relatable to me, and and those years fly, I mean and and when they're gone, those years are gone my son's 10 next year, which is just I I remember being 10, you know, going for bowling, for a bowling party, and he's going to be 10 next year, like nah.

JD: 1:05:12

No, I totally respect. Like again, I would say you've made a decision to harmonize your life between your work and your family and I respect the hell out of that. And I think everybody has their own set of priorities, their own design of their life and you've chosen the design and you've committed to that and so I understand as a compulsion, you know in terms of where you want to dedicate yourself and how you want to balance the business, balance your work life with your home life. I think that's fantastic. So there's a couple of questions that I ask all my guests to kind of close this out. The first one I want to ask you is that you know if, magically, you had the ability to go and talk to yourself at the beginning of this journey, right with all the knowledge and all the experiences and the bumps and the successes on the roads, what would you tell yourself at the beginning of this journey? Put me on the spot here at the beginning of this journey.

Adam: 1:06:08

Put me on the spot here. I'd say it's not going to be easy. Keep working on it and it will get easier, or hopefully get easier. So that's probably one thing. Other thing would be learn a little bit more about business as soon as you can. Though I'm a creative person, I still struggle at the business side, and you know, that's just that's.

Adam: 1:06:42

The moral of the story for me is that you know, sometimes I feel like I'm not a good businessman. I want to make that is. I see some strong business owners out there that say this is the way we're doing it, and they seem to be amazing and they're just so strong and determined in what they do, whereas sometimes I back down a lot. So, yeah, I think, just learn about business more, get early into understanding that as much as you can and actually I think no one teaches you about business. You have business studies at school, but first of all, if you select that, but they don't teach you about how to be a business owner, if that's a route you want to go down, so learn as much as you can, yeah, that makes perfect sense.

JD: 1:07:28

So learn as much as you can. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. So I guess, if I paraphrase back at you, what I heard was go into it with your eyes open. You know there are going to be days. It's tough. Yeah, be aware of that, but also build that acumen, it's not?

Adam: 1:07:41

going to be easy. Just keep on going.

JD: 1:07:43

Yeah, but build those fundamental skills as quickly as you practically can as well and I think it's fair to say that no two businesses are alike as well. And so textbook business management, textbook bookkeeping and business management, marketing and whatever are okay, but you are going to go through the school of hard knocks, you are going to go through the learning journey that's appropriate for your business. So whatever you can have as foundational knowledge is going to help you get through that. Maybe the. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point.

Adam: 1:08:16

I think that's a really I'm really stuck on this, john, because I don't look up to anyone in terms of these people are a mentor to me or I want to aspire to be like them Again. If you asked me when I was in my teenage to early adulthood, it would be Gene Kelly and all those kind of things. But it's completely different nowadays, and so I don't really look up to or get inspired by other people per se. I just get inspired by people that just, I guess, seem. I don't know, I don't really have anyone. Yeah, I know that's probably not the answer you want, but I guess it's just. I guess I get inspired when I feel like I've achieved something Right. So I'm not saying I get inspired by myself, but I get inspired by things that I'm proud of and want to keep on going down those routes of being proud of.

Adam: 1:09:33

Okay. But you know, saying like I'm inspired by some business person, I'm not because I yeah, yeah, you're your own guy. I guess I just like all these people. You know, I know that people in podcasts go. I guess I just like all these people, you know, I know that people in podcasts go.

Adam: 1:09:51

I get inspired by this person and this person and what they do, but yet again, they run their own race, they do their own thing. It might not be exactly how I. I see my, see him. You know, I've read a lot of business books at times and some of them and some of them are dry and some of them I get inspired by little bits here and there. So I guess it's a culmination of just knowledge that you learn over time. But I'm more of a doer, so I learn by doing and get inspired by the things that I'm doing, and I guess just the constant evolution of learning on the job I think is something that inspires me is keep on learning, because you're not always going to be right. So true, so I think you're reading my question sheet, because the next're not always going to be right.

JD: 1:10:29

So true. So I think you're reading my question sheet, because the next question I was going to ask you was if you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what book would it be?

Adam: 1:10:41

I'm not the biggest reader, much rather be an audiobook person. Well, sure, but that's okay.

JD: 1:10:48

I mean, I do audiobooks too, so is there a book you'd listen to?

Adam: 1:10:50

um, no, no, look, does it have to be business related? It could be. I don't.

Adam: 1:10:58

I like to escape, you know, I like to escape, sometimes, the reality of the world. Or, or you know, as a business owner it's hard to switch off. Sure, it is like you know, as a business owner it's hard to switch off. Sure, it is Like you know, people say, oh yeah, it's a nine to five. It's not when you're your own business owner, it's never nine to five. And the only times I really get to switch off is if I'm doing something that lets me dive into something, whether that be playing a video game, watching a movie with my wife or my kids, seeing a theater show, um, those moments where I can switch off from that. So I guess for me, uh, books, anything I can kind of switch off. So yeah, I don't know, I'm not a big book reader, I much rather go watch a theater show than readable really okay, yeah, so I don't think the only thing, the only books I've ever read multiple, would be the harry potter series or probably the hunger games.

Adam: 1:11:54

They're the only books I've read multiple, multiple times neither of those.

JD: 1:11:56

Surprise me. What are you saying? No, I think no.

Adam: 1:12:01

Look it's fantasy, it's escape. I like that stuff. It it's you know. Yeah, so anything that kind of you know lets me dive into a world that's got good storytelling, and I think that's ultimately what I like to do in life, anyway in my business is tell whatever stories I can.

JD: 1:12:19

Well, that's why I said I'm not surprised. That makes perfect sense to me. Is there a favorite podcast or one that you would recommend to our listeners, apart from the adam?

Adam: 1:12:31

yet again. There's so many podcasts in the world and it comes down to what you want to do. If it's a the business podcast, then I'm sure you can find something that's around your niche that you can kind of really dive into. Um, I really like listening to um not a business podcast. I like listening to michael rosenbaum's podcast. Michael rosenbaum played lex luther in smallville right many, many years ago. I don't know if you ever watched small yeah um, and he has. He's had a podcast for many years called inside of you uh, and his podcast is sits down with his guests and, yeah, they're all actors or famous people, but they don't really talk a lot about you know their career, but he likes to like talk about like you know them growing up and get inside of them, like that kind of stuff. So I like listening to that podcast, every so often switching off to that.

JD: 1:13:21

I would check that out.

Adam: 1:13:23

If you like, diving into maybe people that you think would have all their life together. Who? Who you know, famous people?

JD: 1:13:32

yeah, it's a, they're good podcasts to talk to okay, I will check that one out and I'll also share the link. Uh, in the notes. I like a good podcast. Unlike you, I there are some business podcasts that I listen to, but now that I'm a newly semi-retired individual, I'm listening to different podcasts today I think publishing business podcasts can him be sometimes dry.

Adam: 1:13:50

Yeah, um, yet again I try to escape when I can.

JD: 1:13:55

Sometimes, no, I love it. It's good. Um, is there a ritual or a hack that you've adopted over the years that's had a fundamental impact or positive impact for you? Ritual, so something you do? On a regular basis or a habit.

Adam: 1:14:11

I really tried hard to be a morning person for a period there and realized that's not for me. So that's definitely not a thing. I listened to it. I read a book called what's it called? Not the 5 am Club? No, what's it called Morning? Can't even remember the name of it. What's it called Not the 5 am club? No, what's it called Morning? Can't even remember the name of it. But he was talking about, like you know the mornings, you know use it for yourself and you know journal and all that kind of stuff. I just, I, just I like sleeping. Look, I think my ritual is just, I like to cook. So I generally cook dinner every single night for the family. What's your signature dish? My bubble days, Really. Yeah, I spent years perfecting it.

Adam: 1:15:00

No, and I don't say that facetiously, like actually yeah. I believe you. No, I love cooking. I don't know there's something about you. Know, I've never gone master chef or anything like that, because I don't know half as much as what those amateur cooks do. They come out with things all the time going. I have no idea, but I like cooking. I think cooking is fun. You know, maybe it's piecing everything together into something. Well, it aligns beautifully with your creative side doesn't it.

Adam: 1:15:35

But in saying that, like that's what I do, like you know, I come home and I cook for the family, yep, that's my, I guess my contribution contribute. I contribute to the family household in that regards. So our routine would be just, I think, as a as a business owner and as a family person, naturally you have to get into routines, you know. Everyone has to, you know.

JD: 1:15:50

So, yeah, my ritual would be just cooking every night and making sure that I can well, it sounds like it's your moment of zen, your your period of of uh, you know escape.

Adam: 1:16:00

I also mean, I don't have to wash up, which is also it's a deal. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah I washed up.

JD: 1:16:07

yeah, yeah, that's good. No, I, I love that. I love cooking myself, to be honest with you, and I don't do nearly enough of it, but I do think it's a, it's a great thing to kind of be creative and switch off and feel like you're contributing. That makes perfect sense to me. So, and again, I can see you in the kitchen rattling those pans, making bolognese. So I want to ask you two questions, kind of back to back here, and the first one is you know when you need your superpowers, when you know that you've got to do something that is going to be hard, you know, or challenging, or whatever? You know what is your rocket fuel? Where do you get your energy from?

Adam: 1:16:43

I say that it's just being prepared as best as I can be. When I go into that situation, I'm trying to think of what those situations may be, whether it be a big film shoot, whether it be a meeting with someone, whatever it may be. But being as prepared and knowing what we need to do kind of, I guess, fuels me that we have that power to not power, but we know the knowledge of what we're going to be doing. If I take an example, um, we had a big shoot last year. That um was a shoot with a celebrity host that was hosting this, this, this um, these videos, um, and the scripts were given to me by the client. But then I had to interpret those scripts into the structure of the day, how we wanted to shoot it. So I was prepared as much as we could. You know, we went and did a recce, which is a reconnaissance of the site, and it wasn't so much storyboarded but it was scripted in a shot list of what we needed to be prepared. And then on the day day, we were able to be flexible with that we had. We actually had four team members that day. Two teams were doing something else, the other team was doing something else, so being making sure I was, I was orchestrating that as being organized as possible.

Adam: 1:18:01

So the fuel of that was just being prepared as much as we possibly can, yeah, um, but apart from that it's just, I guess adrenaline too. I guess I thrive off of adrenaline, like maybe that comes from, definitely comes from performing arts, that adrenaline rush of of of being on stage and that um, but also you know, from my events and the wedding. I think the wedding what the wedding industry really taught me was the how to be quick thinking in that field on my feet, that adrenaline rush of what that day is, the how to be quick thinking in that field on my feet, that adrenaline rush of what that day is, and how to be calm under pressure and those kind of things. So now we might have talked a little negative towards the wedding industry. I think it definitely helped a lot into fueling me and helping me what I do now, yep and it does.

JD: 1:18:47

I mean the weddings require orchestration, preparation and so forth. There's no question about it, so I can see that I also have seen you in the zone um, and you know I do get quite focused.

Adam: 1:18:56

Yeah, you're going to flow.

Adam: 1:18:58

I've seen you do it I think it's also like what I'm, what I'm am working, is then able to like see what else I need on those perspectives too, and try to be as quick thinking as I possibly can, if that makes sense. Yes, it does, you know, and in terms of when you've seen me probably work in theatre, like I have a pretty extensive knowledge of musical theatre, so most shows that I film I know those shows quite well, or I've listened to those albums or I've seen them on stage. So I kind of know what's next. So I can preempt that. But that comes in being prepared.

JD: 1:19:33

Well, but it does make perfect sense. I mean filming musical theatre if you don't know the show is really tough. Making sure that you're in the right place for the right scene, for the right perspective is tough. So your knowledge of that space has got to be an advantage for you. Yeah, in filming in that area. But again, when I've seen you in the zone, particularly obviously I have seen you in that mode doing videography, but obviously I'll go back to the periods where I'll start again and we'll clip it. So I have seen you in the zone and I've seen you in the zone as a videographer or photographer, but I've absolutely seen you in the zone as a dancer. Uh, no question about it, and I'll go back to you know, skimbleshanks and cats and having a being observant of you during those rehearsals and then the productions, man oh man, like you were like zero focused, uh, on what you were delivering.

Adam: 1:20:31

it was a different adam back then, much thinner and with hair um, but uh very obvious yeah, yeah, no, thank you.

Adam: 1:20:38

um, yeah, I like to be prepared when I can be. Yeah, um, and that comes down to what I said earlier like you know, being a videographer versus a video strategist being is video strategist is someone that's prepared, someone that knows the being a videographer versus a video strategist Video strategist is someone that's prepared, someone that knows the outcomes, where a videographer is just someone that turns up and that's kind of, yeah, I want to know what we're going to be doing before we do it.

JD: 1:21:00

Yeah, yeah, not just turn up and go.

Adam: 1:21:02

All right, let's go.

JD: 1:21:03

I'm not saying I can't do that, and I've made some good stuff from that, but I much prefer the knowledge going in, but I I hear your energy and your confidence is higher if you've done the prep. Yeah, so let's spin this around. So what's your kryptonite?

Adam: 1:21:16

you know what's the thing that will sap the energy out of you um, I honestly I think it's um negative thoughts on coming to my head. Okay, uh, self-doubt. I self, I have a lot of self-doubt, which you might be listening to this or watching or whatever, and thinking this guy has lots of confidence. I have a lot of self-doubt, sure, um, and I think yet again it stems back what I said earlier, maybe that the trauma, the traumatic experience of auditioning for things and never getting them. But I think it sometimes can take one little thing and I can just get into a self-doubt spiral and that whole day, maybe even week, can be, can be, can be done.

JD: 1:22:02

Look, you know you're not unique in that space, right? Let's be honest. So I've talked about imposter syndrome on previous episodes, and the thing that struck me with imposter syndrome when I first became aware of that, for instance, was that I thought it was just me, and then I met senior executives, vice presidents, senior vice presidents, who were dealing with their own insecurities for that, you know, that same similar thing, and and so what I've certainly learned over my years, both as a leader and as a coach and and uh and a podcast owner, um, is that we all go through periods of questioning ourselves. There's not a single person I've met yet that hasn't gone through those periods, and but it's the folks that acknowledge that in themselves, that power through that, that are successful, no question about it. So I guess the following question for you is that you know when you are in that state, when you are doubting yourself, what is your strategy? How do you manage that?

Adam: 1:23:03

Yeah, at times it's tough.

JD: 1:23:07

Yep.

Adam: 1:23:08

At times it's tough to really get out of that. But sometimes what gets me out of it? I'll come home and my kids will ask for a cuddle and I can feel a little bit better about myself the power of a hug. You know, when I get home and you know I hear the words daddy, and they run at me. That probably helps me get out of that mindset for at least a period of time. Yep, and it comes down to, you know. I guess my why which you asked me at the beginning of this podcast was why do I do it? It's for them, so seeing them is probably what helps me most.

Adam: 1:23:48

You know my wife as well. She, she, she's along this journey. She's a partner in the business as well and you know, though she's not in the business 24 7, she does help a lot with the bookkeeping and stuff like that, like I had to. I think as a business owner. It's also understanding that you're not going to be good at everything and you need help, get the people that can help you with certain things and delegate those tasks. And one thing I did, you know, many years ago, was delegate the accounting stuff to her, because you know that would just go in my ear, out the other, I wouldn't have time for that. So you know it's talking through things with her, but yeah, but um, yeah, and also just talking to some of my best friend who's in the same industry too and talking through the struggles he has and getting and knowing that we're not alone, or getting his advice or things like that. So that's what I try to do, um, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't sure.

JD: 1:24:43

Well, there's strength in knowing you're not alone. There's definitely strength in knowing you're not alone, which is why, again, why I I talk're not alone, which is again why I, I talk about you know, imposter syndrome again for me. Firstly, the recognition that it wasn't just me, uh, and then the recognition that people, regardless of their success in their history and their title and their salary and whatever else, are all dealing with the same insecurities. There is. There's an element of uh, of strength that comes from that and and an element of being able to acknowledge it for what it is, um, and then, and then kind of move beyond it. I'm not at all surprised that a lot of your energy comes from your family. I talked about it at the introduction, uh, in terms of you, I know you as a family first guy, uh, and I think that that aligns well with the talk that we had or the conversation we had, my and I think that aligns well with the talk that we had or the conversation we had.

Adam: 1:25:33

One of the main reasons I don't do theater anymore is because I wanted to be there for my children, especially community. It's a lot. You're doing two rehearsals a week for maybe a three to four month period of time and then it means I can't be there for them. So, it's hard.

JD: 1:25:48

Yeah, no again. 100% relatable. I totally get it and I'm sure many listeners will be hearing the same thing and be resonating with what you're saying, and this has been an absolute joy.

JD: 1:25:58

I hope so, no, it's been great. It's been really good to catch up with you. I've loved having the production here as well. It's been fantastic, fantastic. My lounge rooms never looked like this before um, but it's. I think you shared quite a lot of insight in terms of you and the business and what you're doing there, and I appreciate your, your transparency and your vulnerability and the things that you shared as well. I think it's it's empowering for others to hear what you're going through look behind every business is a person, right?

Adam: 1:26:26

um, and that's what I think people need to remember too, is that you're dealing with people, not just a business or a brand, and when a business or a brand is so close to that, you show interest in that person. Like Pickflix is with me. Yeah, I think it's. You know, people might say that I overshare or I shouldn't say certain things, but it is who I am. Yep, um, people can like it all, but I've always been that type of person that has, as I said, it, warmed my heart on my sleeve again.

JD: 1:26:59

I believe a lot of our listeners will be reflecting and and and synergizing with what you're talking about. I think it's been very, very good, very revealing. So thank you for that. Folks, this has been this episode of JD's Journal. As I said, I'll be releasing with this the connections and contact details for Adam and for PixFlix. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you. Even if you've just got questions about the business and questions about the content, strategies and so forth, I'd say, reach out to Adam and have a chat with him. He's a very accessible and helpful individual. As I said, I've known Adam for well over a decade. Thanks for joining for this episode.

JD: 1:27:37

I have another guest episode coming up in another week. Send us your feedback. As always, I love to hear from you. Let me know if this is useful content for you. Love to have your suggestions and feedback as well. If you know a local hero like Adam that you think should be on the podcast, also let me know about them. I'd love to hear about it and for that I hope you're having your best life or living your best life out there. Please be good to one another. Talk to you soon, thank you.