 Yep, I did it. I started a podcast finally. It's been planned all summer long I have some really good content and I'm pumped for this podcast. The podcast is called making it happen and If you know me and you follow me on Instagram or any social media platform You know that I love to be creative I love to be inspired and I love to just do stuff as far as video creation and photography like I'm now getting more into video world and That's kind of you know been my thing right now, and that's kind of what I work in marketing I do video and photography for business called McPherson guitars in Sparta, Wisconsin, and so We're gonna we're gonna dive deep into all that stuff but I don't want to waste your time and I'm just gonna go through three different things that Kind of define this podcast who I am and why I'm doing it the podcast is called making it happen And I want to seek out creators I want to seek out people who are making their dreams happen like making their dreams come true and working hard at it and Whether they might have a nine to five and doing the other thing on the side like I want to know those people bring them on to the Podcast and learn I want to ask questions I want to dissect everything that they're doing and if they're successful like even better if they're not That's fine, too I just want to know you and I want to know the people who are making it happen for themselves and for the family so Phone call haha, it's probably silent that Johnny Q. Who am I? Alright, so Recently we moved to Sparta, Wisconsin my family and I Sarah my kid Ethan and my other kid Adeline so I have two kids and We moved from Minneapolis, Minnesota All for a job in Sparta, Wisconsin now to give you some sort of like contact Sparta, Wisconsin is a land of 10,000 people Minnesota has 10,000 lakes so it's like I feel like I went to high school And then I moved back to high school like my high school class That's how small that is but it's not bad. The people are very nice Very Midwestern, you know, Minnesota nice ish and it's not you know, we're not used to kind of the small environment small country town So in that perspective, it's hard to to be here But my job is very rewarding I get to do what I love Sarah it's getting to do what she loves and that's being a stay-at-home mom right now and she's Nurturing and you know taking care of the kids on a daily basis. And so that's why we're in Sparta, Wisconsin So if you have seen me on social posts about different things from a different city, it's because I live in a different city And yeah, it's I work for McPherson guitars incredible company incredible people and It's honestly one of my dream jobs not McPherson itself But like the work that I get to do and be creative and do video and photography just It's it's a dream job and over not even like a year ago I started to get into film and video so I pretty much taught myself I've proved myself and it's gone really well And so in that sense I'm making it happen for myself and for my family like the fact that my family can stay home and Not do anything, but just like my mom not my mom Sarah is the mom and she can work on the kids. That's a drink I mean most families today most couples have daycare that that they have to pay for and That's we don't want to do that because we want to take care of our kids They're on and you know bring them up or have their upbringing be be good in a sense So in a sense where it's not like other people taking care of the kids so I'm blessed that I can do that for Sarah and the kids and My job allows me to do that and so it's it's just super awesome. It's great and I love it Where was I I lost my train of thought No, but it's just been awesome to be here in that Minneapolis gosh to be in sparta We've been here for almost a year we moved in November and December of 2018 and so we're coming up and around a year and I really didn't really announce it to the world. It didn't announce that hey we're moving to Wisconsin because Honestly, I was just so sick of life I had been let go of a second job in the corporate America marketing world My first job was just brutal and we'll get into that hopefully in some other episodes and it was I was just not treated very fairly and My second job I did that for like three or four months and then I wasn't treated fairly there and Just a lot of things that happened in those two corporate jobs that I learned a lot I did a lot in marketing and SEO, you know, all this different all these different things of websites and then Before then I started a YouTube channel So I think I started a YouTube channel the beginning of 2018 like April or an April April or May of 2018 and That's where I began to get a lot of hate from people And it's really awkward to say that but a lot of my friends in my friend group Just were hating and just ragging on me because I was starting a YouTube channel And I think in their mind because they saw you know a DSLR like a pro camera with the microphone on top They thought I was trying to be famous and that's not really why I was trying to do that I was at the time just sick of life like my corporate job. I was trying to be a bass player I mean I was playing around town in Minneapolis. I was traveling doing different things I was managing different, you know records and producing different things And so it was all just about playing bass and wanted to be on stage or the platform and be the manager You know do all the touring stuff and just be the bass player. So That's when I started to get into YouTube and I wanted to document my entire Process and journey because as you know, I follow a lot of Gary Vee and Grant Cardone Like a lot of the big hitters that are motivational speakers But also really good with money and marketing and they were all saying Document your process document your journey. It's all about the journey and your process and not the destination, right? And so I'm like, all right, whatever. So I went to Best Buy. I bought a Sony a63 camera and started filming and Boy, okay, I didn't know anything about anything video related at that point. So this was like yeah over a year ago I didn't I didn't know anything. I mean, I knew some stuff when it comes to lighting composition and Framework when it you know when it comes to DSLRs because I was I was in photography pretty much all of my life And now going into video like what do I film in do I film in 24 frame per seconds or 60 like what is What is do I do 1080 for like? I don't know what to do. And so I really dove deep into adobe premiere, which is an which is an editing software Uh tool that I use there is stuff like final cut pro a da Vinci But I use premiere and let me tell you premiere when you first look at it when you first open it up You're like Oh, this is an editing software. This is weird. Oh, I can't do this. And so I kind of just I was like, oh, okay. I'll do the bare minimum. Where do I find the cut feature? I can cut my footage Okay, splice it together with this other footage. Yay. I made a video and it's three minutes long And the content was just pure garbage I mean I look at it now And it's just not the best, you know in regard to I guess quality of video because I was trying to I was filming in 4k the a 6300 by sony Let's you film in 4k and I was like, I want to use 4k because everybody uses 4k It's like the best resolution. It'll look so good. It's gonna look really crispy Yeah, it sucks to edit because it's so much data so much like file and It's so much It's just so much to your computer and you have to have a really good computer to edit that and it's got to be fast I do not have a really good computer Wow, that's a long story all that to say I just started vlogging and started, you know documenting my journey as a bass player Giving advice to future bass players and musicians how to do things how not to do things And yeah, my friends were just dogging on me like what are you trying to do? You'll never get anywhere. You won't make any money from it You're never gonna get famous and that's what they didn't understand I'm always in trying to do those things if they come to me That's awesome. I will accept them, you know with open hands That's because of my hard work and what they didn't understand is I wanted to do this because I was so fed up and I just wanted to do something different I wanted to push myself to the limit quote unquote And see what I could do creatively All of my friends were on instagram facebook twitter You know linked in all the social media platforms and I wanted to do something different Like how can I Johnny Q Prepare something to the world in a different form that's a little bit more post-production And a little bit more work so that when people see it They think oh, that's actually really good quality and to you put a lot of work into this for 15 seconds on instagram story Why in the world would he do that? So that kind of a mentality that's what I wanted to bring to the table And that's where oh, let me shut this off. It's it's just like Okay, it shut off That's where I was like that's where I want to put my work and effort to bring something valuable So the content that I create is valuable for you for me and everybody else watching and I want to be inspired Not for my own content, but I want you also to be inspired from it And that mentality Completely changed my my entire like Johnny Q my entire self The mentality of okay, you have to make it happen now Okay, you have to set yourself up where you're not going to fail and if you do who cares if you fail because if you know me Man, I don't care if I fail I've failed so many times and I just don't even care But like those failures and those like pivotal moments in my life where I've Quote unquote have failed Have actually opened a different door and it's like whoa If I wouldn't have done the thing that I failed at this door wouldn't have opened And I would not be where I am today. And so that's why we move to sparta That's why I have this job because I chose to do more than just you know Be be okay with with with the life that I had No, I wanted to grab life by the horns and just like take the horns off I wanted to rip them off and put them on myself and be like, ah, I got the horns That's that's really weird analogy, but you get it So that's that's who Johnny Q is and from that from the vlogging to editing You know people at McPherson saw that And I was recommended through the grapevine through my my mentor and people that I've worked with for free by the way Which that's a whole different Don't even get me started on this because people who say I need to be paid for everything that I do I would disagree with you. I have this job and this freedom and this flexibility and this amazing job and work environment Because I worked my butt off for free for years like I'm talking five plus years Okay, it was only my corporate job that I was like getting real money If you want to think like that the bass playing there's no money in music Again, that's a whole different thing that I'm going to speak on in these episodes But yeah, like that's because I chose to work for free I got this opportunity and I'm in a way better place My family is in a way better place now than ever before And it's incredible. So we're truly blessed and it's amazing. All right back to like working hard So, yeah, like I worked my butt off to create this vlog and I think I vlogged daily for Oh man, I want to say What was it? I think like almost 13 days. I was just so obsessed with learning more Finding new ways to film the same stuff like finding Yeah, different angles of my of my wife and kid walking down the street getting Starbucks like how do I create a story? And that's where it kind of started learning my craft in adobe premiere and as a videographer now And I wouldn't call myself a videographer because I'm not I don't have an aria lexa I don't have a red camera. I don't have all these, you know, big things But then I realized it's not the gear that makes you it's you that makes you And so in that sense, I was making it happen in in the midst of People saying you're not going to be able to do this. You're a photographer. You can't do video Why would you spend all your time editing when you know, you can do editing on photos and do weddings and all all the above? But I thought no Like as human beings, we should be able to push ourselves More than what we can handle obviously in a good and healthy way But this was a form for me to be creative and actually try to understand More than just one side of the creative social media platform, which is youtube I had no idea like how to start on youtube. I just did it And time after time like I just kept failing and then at one point I reached over a thousand subscribers And to be, you know, very not verified but to be like a partner with youtube And essentially to get paid on youtube to monetize videos you need to cross the threshold of a thousand subscribers and I believe it's four thousand minutes watched So people have to watch all of your content at least four thousand minutes That uh at least four thousand minutes have to be watched on your video content And I surpassed that within oh man. I want to say Four five months and that's not like whoa, that's that's a lot That's a world record because other people have Done way more in far less time. But to me that was like, oh I think I have something that people want to see or hear So why don't I continue to do this vlogging in youtube channel, but also Turn it around and actually make it about something I really do know which is photography And now video is becoming part of that and now because I did all the stuff in early 2018 the door opens for A whole new chapter to be moved to a whole different state to do the work that I You know have been kind of dreaming about but I had no idea how to do a year ago But now I get to do that full time and excel in it and Okay, sarah and I both went to the interview We kind of got to know the people at McPherson And that day I got offered a job at McPherson guitars as a social media content manager Which is I mean now evolved into like artists relations and doing a lot of marketing work with McPherson and A lot of cool stuff is happening. And so because I was You know not hesitant to Do the work up front which is getting into adobe premiere spending the money on a camera to make these vlogs If I hadn't you know if I was not able to do that in the beginning and if I was just scared None of the rest of Wisconsin would have opened up And I'm sure you know it would have in a sense where my mentor recommended me But I would not have the knowledge to do video. So that's what I'm getting at So because I started video in 2018 and dove deep like I just I literally just dove in like this ocean without any floaties on And I'm like I need to drown so that I can literally rise And actually do this. So that's what I did. I mean you can ask my wife I would spend hours editing. I would go from Like four in the morning. I would go film do work come back spend time with the family go film another vlog Come back at like 10 and then edit from like 10 30 to three four in the morning. I mean it was Brutal, but I just wanted to learn like I was pushing myself to know more about video because I know in the future Video is going to be the thing like everybody's raving about video And if you're a good creator with video and editing, dude, you can get tons of work So that's why I started it and because of that hard work and pushing myself and making it happen And mind you we were not in a good place financially Or no one a good place physically like as far as location in Minneapolis We had this rink-a-dink town home and it was just not that safe So it wasn't like oh, we were making really good money and I can just go do these things No, I was sacrificing time with my family Sacrificing time with my with my wife and kid like it's just it was not good But because of all that hard work all of that all that stuff that we went through It now has pushed us into a way better place. And so I don't know where like where you are or where how you're struggling Or what you want to do in life But the art of making it happen is in all of us We just have to find that inner like thing that drives us and make it happen It's it's very it's like it's in there. We all we all have it. I truly believe we all have it We just have to start which is why pegged like I have pegged another term I guess in my social media recently and that's keep on creating So in the midst of adversity in the midst of people saying dude, you're never going to do this Or why would you do that? You know and just dogging on you and bringing you down What are you going to do to get you where you want to be? For that to happen you have to keep on creating I 100% fully believe this Let's say you want to start a business and you are working a nine to five. Okay You might think oh, I can't do this because I don't have enough time or I don't have my schedule doesn't allow it I would say you're wrong. I'm sure you can take three to four hours per day out of your Quote-unquote busy schedule with hanging out with friends and going out to bars and drinking Scratch all that stay home work on a business plan work on what you want to create And go from there if it's creating more content on your youtube channel on your instagram Whatever it is figure out a schedule for yourself and keep on creating keep making videos keep posting photography I keep you know grinding it out because all of that work Well, won't just go unnoticed if it's truly good work and you're good at what you do People will see that and you will get work. I promise you I I have lived the part. I'm living it right now I'm telling you that when I moved to Wisconsin to the land of 10,000 people Like my high school graduating class not really I have gotten More work like people have reached out to me about brand work. They have reached out about corporate work More so than I was in Minneapolis doing the actual vlogging and youtubeing It's weird, right? You would think that Minneapolis has all these opportunities and it does But it wasn't it wasn't until I actually started You know creating for myself and creating to create and I wasn't you know All my last video did so poorly It just it wasn't 4k. It didn't look that good transitions were off I was like, okay That was a dumb video was a lame video, but that's not gonna stop me from creating the next video If I would have stopped on like the first 10, dude I would not be here like I keep saying that but it's so true and people have to know this they have to realize You don't just get there overnight I mean we see tons of people tons of motivational speakers always saying like dude You're super young be patient and just go for it. You you have all your life to live And again, that's why I started all of this and now this podcast I should have done it three months ago, but I really wanted to plan this really well I really wanted to you know make this a john and q thing and not Oh, I have to do it because everybody's doing it. I gotta start a podcast No, I'm gonna make it me and make it personal and I hope you guys like what you know what we put out so Yeah, this is what this podcast is on it's making it happen And I hope that it inspires you in some way to make your own stuff happen If you're not seeing it come to life, how can you find ways to push stuff aside sacrifice some events sacrifice some of your time And make content, you know create that business start small Like you don't go all in head first like I did unless you can handle the work And you're like truly committed because the thing that got me to here was consistency It wasn't oh I was going hard for three weeks and then I just literally stopped for two and a half months If I would have done that again, I would not be here and I would not be the video person and photographer I am today I will not be like a fast editor in premiere if I was just going to stop Like I'm pretty fast on premiere. I can edit, you know a five minute video six minute video it within like two hours You're like, oh, that's that doesn't sound hard I mean we have a lot of content in that one video that you're making with lots of b-roll and like talking head It can go up to like four or five hours depending on how good you want to make it But like I'm pretty fast and I got really good at color correcting and actually framing up the shot You know from the gecko and so that's why that's how I can do all this stuff But if you can like dive deep like I did and actually commit to it Then you'll be totally fine, but you have to be consistent. That's what I've been learning so far and it's I mean it's been come it's true its Consistency is key and there was a lull in my youtube upload schedule I think like two and a half three weeks maybe and I'm like, no I gotta get back on it And now I'm putting up videos on the daily. This is video 23 Well, not this is a podcast, but it'll be a video But currently I'm on day 23 and I'm not gonna stop Like I've always wanted to do or had a goal of doing daily vlogging for a year That's a tough one And it's not like sparta is the most creative town ever and so I have to really Put on my creative hat and get those creative juices flowing. So wish me luck on that for sure Yeah, well, that's uh, that's what it's like 22 minutes into the podcast. Yeah, I like it Awesome, man. I should have started this months ago, but Yeah, I just wanted to make it myself and like I said, I hope this Brings you value. I hope you find inspiration in the upcoming episodes. So Uh, I would love for you to subscribe to this podcast subscribe to my channel Johnny Q on youtube and if you want to follow me on instagram, it's at Johnny Q with three underscores So Thanks so much for watching. Sorry. That's my youtube thing. Thanks so much for listening and I'll catch you next time Do I say like I'm a youtube thing. I say I'll catch you next time on the Johnny Q channel I should make I should probably make an outro Also come up with a tune, but I just want to get started and just do it So it's all right like my first video was garbage this podcast this first episode isn't garbage, but it'll get better All right, guys. Thanks so much for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Make it happen podcast All right We'll we'll go with something we'll I'll figure something out. All right. Thanks guys